Parliamentary questions
Helen Eadie
919 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
15 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the head of the Cabinet Office European Secretariat.
Answer · Linda Fabiani: The Prime Minister’s Adviser on International Economic Affairsand Europe and head of the Cabinet OfficeEuropean Secretariat, Jon Cunliffe, was present at the Joint Ministerial Committeeon Europe on 5 December which I attended. Scottish Government officials ar…
15 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a European policy co-ordination office.
Answer · Linda Fabiani: European policy co-ordinationis carried out by the Scottish Government EU Office in Brussels and Europe Divisionin Edinburgh under the overall responsibility of the government’s EU Director, currentlyMichael Aron.</p>
15 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions on matters related to public procurement it has had with the joint HM Treasury and DTI Procurement Policy Unit since May 2007.
Answer · John Swinney: Officials from the Scottish ProcurementDirectorate have met, and are in regular contact, with colleagues from the Officeof Government Commerce Policy and Standards Division (previously known as HM Treasuryand DTI Procurement Policy Unit) to discuss matters re…
15 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it last had discussions with other EU regional legislatures on matters related to sport.
Answer · Stewart Maxwell: No meetings or consultationshave taken place with other European Union regional legislatures on matters relatedto sport as of yet. Sports Officials attended the EU Sports Directors Conferenceon 12 to 14 July 2007 where Sports Directors from the 27 member stat…
2 Jan 2008 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many ministers, and which ones, have attended meetings in Brussels in the last three months on business related to the European Commission¿s work programme.
Answer · Linda Fabiani: In the last three months oneScottish Cabinet Secretary, one Scottish minister and the Solicitor General forScotland have attended meetings in Brussels. All of their programmes have included business relatedto the European Commission’s work programme.</p><p>Ri…
5 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that the move towards free prescriptions will enable women and children who are victims of alopecia to have prescriptions for real hair wigs, as opposed to acrylic wigs.
Answer · Shona Robison: I have approvedthe reduction in the cost of a modacrylic wig in line with the reduction inprescription charges leading to abolition of the charge from 1 April 2011. Where the clinician prescribes a human hair wig tomeet the patient’s clinical need, the charge…
5 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for anticipatory care in respect of inflammatory arthritis.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Although we can dolittle to reduce the risk of developing inflammatory arthritis, early interventioncan reduce symptoms, improve function, and reduce deformities and damage of jointsby optimising treatment. This delays the progression of disease, and improves…
5 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what conditions will be targeted in 2008 by the long-term conditions toolkit.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The fundamental aimof the toolkit is to encourage generic approaches to long-term conditions in a waythat encourages consistency of approach across the whole of Scotland. Theaction plan derived from each toolkit is intended to inform each board’s arrangements…
5 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will evaluate the success of the long-term conditions toolkit.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: We intend to workwith those who have completed the toolkit to review their experience of the process.This will help us to draw out and communicate widely common themes of good practicefrom all over Scotland. The analysis of the action plans derivedfrom each t…
5 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what changes in service provision have been identified for patients with rheumatoid arthritis by the long-term conditions toolkit.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Community HealthPartnerships Long Term Conditions Toolkit is intended to be used generically forall long-term conditions. In its first year of implementation, the focus has beenon establishing the baseline for services to manage long-term conditions.</p><…
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made by NHS boards in developing a combined falls and bone health strategy.
Answer · Shona Robison: Health departmentletter HDL (2007) 13, issued on 21 February 2007, asked all health boards to developa combined falls prevention and bone health strategy by the end of 2007-08. the Scottish Government will monitor progress towards the end of 2007-08.</p>
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions there have been with (a) officials and (b) NHS boards to ensure that appropriate services exist to (i) prevent, (ii) diagnose and (iii) treat osteoporosis in younger patients.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: We are aware of concernsabout the need for younger (i.e. under 70) women to have access to treatment whentheir risk of fracture is equal to, or greater than, that of women aged over 70.The information to NHS boards from SIGN Guideline 71 is to target osteopor…
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) timescale and (b) cost would be of developing an operational combined falls prevention and bone health implementation strategy within community health partnerships, as set out in HDL (2007) 13 - Delivery framework for adult rehabilitation: prevention of falls in older people.
Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-5095 on 29 October 2007. Allanswers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website,the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.…
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) timescale and (b) cost would be of appointing a falls prevention lead or co-ordinator to work alongside the rehabilitation co-ordinator within community health partnerships, as set out in HDL (2007) 13 - Delivery framework for adult rehabilitation: prevention of falls in olde…
Answer · Shona Robison: Health departmentletter HDL (2007) 13 asks all health boards to take the lead in developing a combinedfalls prevention and bone health strategy by the end of 2007-08, under which CommunityHealth Partnerships can establish operational implementation strategie…
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding will be provided for the implementation of HDL (2007) 13 - Delivery framework for adult rehabilitation: prevention of falls in older people, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Governmenthas allocated funding to support the appointment of rehabilitationco-ordinators, for each health board area, for a period of two years. These postsare likely to be introduced later in the year and £10,000 per NHS board has beenallocated…
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people waited (a) four weeks or less, (b) eight weeks or less, (c) 12 weeks or less, (d) 16 weeks or less, (e) 20 weeks or less, (f) 24 weeks or less, (g) 28 weeks or less, (h) 32 weeks or less, (i) 36 weeks or less, (j) 40 weeks or less, (k) 44 weeks or less, (l) 48 weeks or les…
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The information requestedis not available centrally.</p><p>Specific coding whichpermits the identification of bone density scans has only recently been introduced.Therefore, it is not currently possible to provide a waiting times analysis, however,it will be …
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for a bone density scan, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer · Shona Robison: The information requestedis not available centrally.</p><p>Specific coding whichpermits the identification of bone density scans has only recently been introduced.Therefore, it is not currently possible to provide a waiting times analysis, howeverit will be a…
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many bone density scanners are currently in operation in NHS Scotland, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer · Shona Robison: This information isnot held centrally.</p>
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the mortality rate from the after effects of osteoporotic fractures is projected to be in each year to 2025, also broken down by gender and NHS board area.
Answer · Shona Robison: This information isnot held centrally.</p>
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the mortality rate from the after effects of osteoporotic fractures was in each year since 1999, also broken down by gender and NHS board area.
Answer · Shona Robison: This information isnot held centrally.</p>
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are projected to be diagnosed with osteoporosis in each year to 2025, also broken down by gender and NHS board area.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The information requestedis not held centrally. Data on the observed incidence of admissions to acute hospitalswith a diagnosis of osteoporosis from 1999-2006 inclusive, broken down by genderand NHS board area, is available in the answer to question S3W-5087 …
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were diagnosed with osteoporosis in each year since 1999, also broken down by gender and NHS board area.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: This information isnot available centrally in the form requested. SMR01 data provides an estimate of the number of people diagnosed with osteoporosis in a given year, and this is setout in the following table.</p><p>Incidence<sup>1</sup>of Hospital Admissions…
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a named individual within its health department with responsibility for the development of policy on osteoporosis.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: A number of areaswithin the Scottish Government Health Directorates contribute to thedevelopment of policy on osteoporosis.</p>
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what recent discussions have been held with (a) ministers, (b) officials and (c) NHS boards regarding appropriate investment to improve the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of osteoporosis.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: ScottishIntercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) Guideline 71 on osteoporosis sets outthe evidence for the optimal management of those with osteoporosis. We expectNHS boards to implement that, and other relevant guidelines, locally.</p><p>The ScottishEnhance…
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many osteoporotic fractures there were, also expressed as a percentage of all fractures, and what the cost was of treating such fractures in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer · Shona Robison: Information on thecost of treating specific clinical conditions is not available centrally.</p><p>Total running costsfor the acute surgical specialty of orthopaedics (where much of the hospital-basedtreatment for fractures takes place) are published in the Sc…
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost was to the NHS of treating (a) osteoporosis and (b) hip fracture in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Shona Robison: Information on thecost of treating specific clinical conditions is not available centrally.</p><p>Total running costsfor the acute surgical specialty of orthopaedics (where the majority of hospital-basedtreatment for hip fracture takes place) are published at…
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the projected increase is in the incidence of (a) osteoporosis and (b) hip fractures among (i) the total population, (ii) people under 65 and (iii) people aged 65 or over for each year until 2025, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer · Shona Robison: The requested informationis not available centrally.</p>
3 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital admissions there were for (a) osteoporosis and (b) hip fractures in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The information requestedis given in table numbers 1 and 2, which show the number of hospital admissions for Osteoporosisand Hip Fracture for each NHS board of treatment for financial years 1999 to 2006, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliamen…
7 Feb 2007 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to encourage environmental volunteering.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: On 5 February, I launched thepublication of a report by Jane Dalgleishthat considered how the Scottish Executive could help encourage the growth of environmentalvolunteering in Scotland. I also published a document outlining our response tothe issues raised i…
14 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what advice and guidance has been given to local authorities following the publication of its report, How to Plan and Run Flexible and Demand Responsive Transport Guidance.
Answer · Tavish Scott: My officials wrote to Heads ofTransportation of Scottish local authorities on 23 May 2006 to advise them thattwo reports, <i>Review of Demand Responsive Transport in Scotland</i> and <i>Howto Plan and Run Flexible and Demand Responsive Transport</i>, would be…