Questions and answers

Question reference: S6O-00519

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to improve the support that is available for people who are affected by strokes.

Question reference: S6W-04507

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 30 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that no dental surgeries in Fife are registering new NHS patients.

The dental sector has been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and pre-COVID levels of patient volume are not currently achievable with the current infection prevention and control (IPC) guidance. The majority of dental treatments involve the use of aerosol generating procedures which potentially has a higher risk of transmission of the virus. We are working closely with the sector to improve capacity which is why we have provided £5m funding to improve surgery ventilation and a further £7.5m has been allocated to for the purchase of new drills. These measures are intended to increase the productivity of practices, enabling them to see more patients, within the current IPC constraints.

Additionally, funding of £4.7m has been provided to NHS Boards to enable the Public Dental Service (PDS) to improve access to NHS dental care in their area, particularly for people who are unable to register with a dentist at present. Any patients who require dental treatment before they are able to register with a practice should contact the dental helpline in their Board area. Contact details for each Board can be found on the NHS Inform website at: https://www.nhsinform.scot/care-support-and-rights/nhs-services/dental/dental-emergencies .

Question reference: S6O-00422

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the number of referrals to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services that are declined.

Question reference: S6W-04062

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 01 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 10 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-02154 by Maree Todd on 27 August 2021, whether it will launch a consultation on restricting the advertising and promotion of Nicotine Vapour Products (NVPs) in November 2021.

Question reference: S6W-04059

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 01 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 10 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish a response to the results of the Prohibiting smoking outside hospital buildings: consultation.

Question reference: S6O-00334

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the 2019 Scottish export statistics.

Question reference: S6W-02308

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme 2021 national report stating that fewer people have been admitted to hospital with a stroke during the COVID-19 pandemic, how many out-of-hospital deaths due to stroke there have been in each reporting period of the last three Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme national reports.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) publish deaths by cause in their vital events reference tables, including stroke, available under cerebrovascular disease, table 6.04: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/general-publications/vital-events-reference-tables

Background information on how NRS record deaths can be found at:

Deaths - Background Information | National Records of Scotland (nrscotland.gov.uk)

Deaths with an underlying cause of stroke (identified as ICD-10 codes I61, I63 and I64), by location of death, showed that in 2018, 698 deaths occurred in a non-hospital setting, in 2019, this figure was 682, and in 2020 it was 847. This includes deaths which are categorised as taking place in a Care Home, Home /non-institution or Other institution.

Question reference: S6W-02307

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 4 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria need to be met in order for an area of a hospital to be designated a stroke unit; how the capabilities of stroke units have been maintained during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that people who survive a stroke receive full stroke unit care; which NHS boards have had their stroke units downgraded during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how many stroke patients have had their recovery impacted as a result.

The core criteria for defining a stroke unit are well described in the academic literature, including in Langhorne et al (2002). Though the size and configuration of stroke units across Scotland may vary depending on local factors, most will be in a defined ward setting and have a specialist stroke multidisciplinary team.

Covid-19 has had an unprecedented impact on the world, NHS Scotland and stroke services. Each service will have responded in the best way that it could, depending on the specific issues affecting them.

The 2021 Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme Report (which includes 9 months of the pandemic) shows slight deterioration in performance against the stroke standards for stroke unit access (77% in 2020 compared to 82% in 2019).

While stroke unit access declined, achievement of standards in other areas, including brain imaging within 12 hours of arrival (86% in 2020 compared 84% in 2019), time to carotid intervention (61%; 59%) and mean thrombolysis door-to-needle (DTN) time (51 minutes in 2020 compared to 53 minutes in 2019), improved.

All of these aspects also have an important impact on recovery from stroke, and therefore it is not possible to isolate the recovery impact based on one standard (such as stroke unit access).

Question reference: S6W-02304

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 4 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme 2021 national report, what it considers the impact on stroke (a) mortality and (b) recovery would be if all NHS boards achieved their targets for stroke bundle provision, and what its position is on whether achieving these bundle provision targets represents an acceptable level of stroke care.

There is evidence that achieving the stroke bundle reduces mortality and increases the chance of patients returning to their usual place of residence after stroke.

There are a number of other factors in achieving an acceptable level of care for people with stroke. However, the stroke bundle is a simple metric which has been shown to be associated with improved outcomes. The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme Team will continue to support NHS Boards to achieve the Stroke Bundle as well as supporting improvements across the stroke pathway.

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