Margaret Smith

4 Apr 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive why the planned guidance of the working group on the administration of medicines in schools is over one year late.

Answer · Jack McConnell: The planned guidance is not one year late. The working group established to develop good practice guidance on the administration of medicine in schools held its first meeting on 30 November 1999. A copy of the draft guidance prepared is in the Parliament's Re…

9 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any collection of health information have been discontinued as a result of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Medical Council guidance Confidentiality: Protecting and Providing Information.

Answer · Susan Deacon: It is not known whether any significant collections of health information have been discontinued due to the introduction of the Act and subsequent guidance issued by the GMC. However, it is known that health professionals will seek patient consent wherever po…

9 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what contribution the Scottish Data Set has made in the fight against disease.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Scotland has a unique Health Data Set that permits more detailed analyses of health information than is possible in the rest of Europe, apart from the Scandinavian countries. Patient identifiable data have been collected for over 30 years, and used to link to…

9 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Medical Council's guidance Confidentiality: Protecting and Providing Information is having on the collection of personal health information for use by the health service and what implications these provisions will have for the Scott…

Answer · Susan Deacon: The SE recognises that the implications of this Act are wide ranging and its interpretation not without difficulty. For this reason the Confidentiality and Security Advisory Group for Scotland (CSAGS) was established to provide advice on the confidentiality a…

26 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is currently a shortage of generic drugs and, if so, whether this has contributed to any backlog in processing prescription payments by the Common Services Agency.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Currently, there are no significant supply issues for generic drugs. Shortages of generic drugs during 1999/2000 resulted in considerable additional processing effort becoming necessary to price prescriptions. This created delays in processing prescriptions …

26 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is currently a backlog of six million unprocessed prescription payments by the Common Services Agency.

Answer · Susan Deacon: On average 3.25 million prescription forms are processed each month in Scotland. There is a processing backlog of approximately 6.5 million forms.

26 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the 14 Primary Care Trusts will be required to cover the costs of any overpayment of pharmacists by the Common Services Agency.

Answer · Susan Deacon: No.

26 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent the budgets of the 14 Primary Care Trusts will be affected by any overpayment by the Common Services Agency of prescription costs to pharmacists.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The budgets of Primary Care Trusts and Island Health Boards routinely carry the costs of the advance payments made to pharmacy contractors each month. These are reconciled in subsequent months and either extra payments are made to contractors to make good the…

26 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is sure that patient care has not been affected by the Common Service Agency's recent computer problems.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Patient care has not been affected.

26 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures the NHSiS has in place to rectify any overpayments the Common Services Agency has made to pharmacists for prescription costs.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Pharmacy contractors receive a monthly advance payment in respect of fees and reimbursement of drug costs. This is reconciled, normally in the following month, once all prescriptions are priced and either any shortfall in payment is made good or any overpayme…

23 Jan 2001 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people enrolled on nurse training courses in the current academic year and how this figure compares with the previous academic year.

Answer · Susan Deacon: During the financial year 1999-2000 a total of 2,939 students commenced pre-registration courses to become a nurse or midwife, which is an increase of 93 over the previous year. Figures for 2000-01 are not yet available but are likely to show a further increa…

19 Jan 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many health boards offer creche facilities for nursing staff.

Answer · Susan Deacon: This information is not held centrally. You will wish to know that the family friendly policies guidance I launched on 26 January contains guidance on the options available for childcare which health boards and NHS Trusts are expected to follow.

19 Jan 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what provision the NHSiS makes for nurses with young families.

Answer · Susan Deacon: <I><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2>Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change</I> requires all NHS employers to meet or exceed best practice guidance on family friendly policies as part of the new Staff Governance Standard. To help employers, I launc…

19 Jan 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to attract nurses back to work after they become parents.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive is keen to encourage former nurses back to work. <I>Our National Health, A plan for action, a plan for change</I> requires all NHS employers to meet or exceed best practice guidance on family friendly policies as part of the new Staff G…

17 Jan 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients were waiting for admission to hospital in (a) Scotland and (b) each health board area in each quarter of (i) 1987 and (ii) 1992 and how many patients were waiting for admission to hospital in each NHS Trust in each quarter of each year from 1995 to date.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Prior to March 1988, information on inpatient and day case waiting lists was compiled to a completely different set of definitions and procedures, and is not comparable with subsequent data. Information on the number of patients awaiting admission to hospital…

12 Jan 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the expenditure was in real terms on health by head of population in each year since 1979, broken down by health board.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The tables provide details in real terms of total health board expenditure per head of population for the period requested. Two sets of figures have been provided for each year. <P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The first set gives expenditure per head based on weighted pop…

4 Jan 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many beds were available in each NHS Trust in (i) 1979, (ii) 1990 and (iii) each year from 1992 to date.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Information on bed numbers, by NHS Trust, has been collected centrally since 1996-97. Prior to that date, it was collected only by health board area. Details of bed numbers are published annually in <I>Scottish Health Statistics</I> which is available in SPIC…

4 Jan 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many operations were cancelled and, of these patients, how many were not re-admitted within one month in each year since 1995, broken down by health board.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Information on the number of operations cancelled by NHSScotland is not available centrally.<P>Details of cancellations of planned admissions to hospitals are collected centrally and published annually in <I>Scottish Health Statistics, </I>which is available …

4 Jan 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) total budget and (b) amount of any budget deficit was for each NHS Trust in each year since 1995, broken down by Trust.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The number of NHS Trusts reduced from 47 to 28 after reconfiguration on 1 April 1999. Table 1 gives the information post reconfiguration, table 2 for the period prior to 1 April 1999.<P>Table 1: 1999-2000<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=531><TR…

4 Jan 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which (a) NHS Trusts and (b) health boards fall within which parliamentary constituencies.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The following table shows the health board area in which each parliamentary constituency is located, and the NHS Trusts which provide services from locations within the health board area:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=606><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP"…

3 Jan 2001 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what recent steps it has taken to reduce waiting times for first appointments with neurological consultants.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Reducing waiting times across all health specialties and at all stages of the patient's journey is a key priority for the Scottish Executive. The Scottish Health Plan <I>Our National Health</I> reaffirmed our commitment to ensuring that the patient's journey …

22 Dec 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients are currently awaiting admission to hospital for (i) child health treatment, (ii) cancer treatment, (iii) cardio-thoracic treatment, (iv) elderly treatment, (v) ENT/OMF treatment, (vi) genetics, (vii) treatment, (viii) general medical treatment, (ix) general surgery and…

Answer · Susan Deacon: The number of patients awaiting admission to hospital on 30 September 2000 for inpatient and day case treatment in the specialties of paediatrics, cardiothoracic surgery and cardiology, care of the elderly, ENT/oral surgery, general surgery/urology, neurosurg…

5 Dec 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it has taken to encourage the recruitment and retention of nursing staff and flexible return to work options for nurses who have left the NHSiS.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Our <I>National Health: A Plan for Action, A Plan for Change</I> made clear that all NHS employers will be required to meet or exceed best practice guidance on family friendly policies as part of the new Staff Governance Standard. To help employers, guidance …

15 Nov 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the implementation of the National Strategy for Carers.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Since the strategy was launched in November 1999 we have been acting on a number of fronts to turn the strategy into action, including:<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We have asked local authorities to spend £10 million from this year on supporting carers, double the fund…

15 Nov 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the implementation of its Learning Disability Services Review.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: When the review was published on 11 May 2000, views were sought on how to implement its recommendations. These views are now being considered, and an implementation plan is being drawn up. £36 million has been made available for implementation, over the next …

14 Nov 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what recent representations it has received concerning waiting times for first appointments with neurology consultants.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive has received a recent request to discuss neurological services with Scottish neurologists. Officials will shortly be arranging a meeting with representatives from the four neurology centres in Scotland.

14 Nov 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current waiting times are for first appointments with neurology consultants and what the equivalent figures were for each of the last ten years, broken down by health board.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The median waiting times for a first outpatient appointment with a consultant neurologist, following GP referral, by health board of residence, for the years 1993-94 to 1999-2000 are given in the table. This data was not collected centrally prior to 1993-1994…

14 Nov 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many neurology beds are currently available and how many were available for each of the last 10 years, broken down by health board.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The numbers of average available staffed beds for Neuroscience specialties, by health board of treatment, for the years 1990-2000, are given in the table.<P>NHS in Scotland: Average Available Staffed Beds<SUP>1</SUP> For Neurosciences: By Health Board Of Trea…

14 Nov 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the services available to patients with neurological illnesses.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Neurology was one of the specialties looked at in detail by the Acute Services Review. It concluded that in a specialty such as neurology, sensible restructuring, with proper integration with primary and community care, was desirable in order to achieve impro…

14 Nov 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-2687 by Susan Deacon on 25 January 2000, what recent steps have been taken to improve the diagnosis and management of patients with neurological illnesses.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Diagnosis and management of patients with neurological disease requires close collaboration between GPs, consultant neurologists and other health care professionals. Individual health professionals are expected to keep up to date with the latest advances. The…