Parliamentary questions
Mary Scanlon
4,514 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
27 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it is expected that the Electronic Clinical Communications Initiative will be available throughout Scotland.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Electronic Clinical Communications Implementation (ECCI) is a Scotland-wide programme to ensure the development of electronic clinical communications between primary and secondary care throughout NHSScotland. By 2003 it is expected that extensive implementati…
27 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why only six medical oncologists in Scotland are funded by the NHS, given that cancer is one of the top three clinical priorities in the Scottish Health Plan.
Answer · Susan Deacon: As indicated in the answer to Ms Scanlon's question S1W-10403 there were 14 medical oncology consultants at September 2000. Of these, eight consultants held an honorary contract with the NHS and a substantive contract with a university or research organisatio…
27 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Health Technology Board for Scotland's assessment topics for this year reflect the three clinical priorities of cancer, mental health and heart disease as outlined in the Scottish Health Plan.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanning in cancer, organisation of screening services for diabetic retinopathy, and interventions to overcome alcohol dependency will be the first Health Technology Assessments (HTAs) performed by the Health Technology Boar…
27 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why the Health Technology Board for Scotland is not evaluating any drug treatments this year.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The Health Technology Board for Scotland's (HTBS) assessment of interventions to maintain recovery from alcohol dependency, one of the first 3 topics for assessment, includes the evaluation of several drugs.<P>Additionally, HTBS will comment on all National I…
27 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why NHS Trusts are able to consider utilising midwife-led units remote from obstetrician access when the report of the Tayside Acute Services Review recommends that the safety issues surrounding these units should be fully explored in order to find if such units are safe.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Evidence from midwife-led units around Great Britain suggests that, where there is a geographical imperative, community maternity units may be considered for low-risk women with a normal pregnancy. This may provide a model of care for remote and rural areas, …
27 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many genetically modified crop trials are necessary for there to be sufficient evidence regarding any potential risks to health and the environment.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The farm scale evaluation programme is not designed to test the safety of the GM crop. The Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) and scientific advisors on other statutory bodies have advised ministers that this crop does not pose a safety …
23 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to ensure that the instances of an NHS manager's management style being "unreasonably intimidating" and NHS staff being treated in an "unreasonable and unprofessional manner" identified in the report of the Kilshaw Inquiry Team into Tayside Health Board are not …
Answer · Susan Deacon: The management style and actions of the senior management team in Tayside Health Board during the mid 1990s was clearly not acceptable. Since the Kilshaw inquiry report NHSScotland organisations have become more open and accountable to the public and action h…
23 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which health boards or NHS Trusts have made payments to staff in lieu of annual leave not taken in the past three years, specifying in each case the total amount paid in this respect.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The information is not available centrally in the detail requested.
23 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is now available to NHS Trusts in relation to the preparation of financial recovery plans.
Answer · Susan Deacon: NHSScotland bodies are well aware of the requirement to achieve and maintain financial balance, and to have financial plans which support that objective. The Executive has made available guidance on the way in which these plans should be presented to give a c…
23 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is putting in place to ensure effective financial monitoring by its Health Department and improve the accountability of NHS bodies to the department following the Auditor General's audit review of National Health Service bodies in Tayside.
Answer · Susan Deacon: <I><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2>A plan for action, a plan for change</I> sets out the Executive's plans to improve the governance, performance management and accountability of NHSScotland. Further plans for the implementation of these changes are currently being…
23 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what rate of return on net relevant fixed assets each NHS Trust achieved in each of the last three years.
Answer · Susan Deacon: NHS Trusts report the rate of return on net relevant assets achieved in their annual accounts for each year. <P>The 1999-2000 accounts for each NHS Trust were laid before Parliament and can be found in the Parliament's Reference Centre. Table 1 gives the repo…
21 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it is giving to the possibility that article 12 of the European Court of Human Rights entitles women to fertility treatment, and whether any changes to policy are planned in this area.
Answer · Susan Deacon: There is no ECHR case law to date which imposes a duty on states to provide funding for women to receive fertility treatment.<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P>The report of the Expert Advisory Group on Infertility Services in Scotland, which was published in Febru…
20 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to address the above average unemployment rate in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government, which takes the lead on funding and delivery of the New Deal. In Scotland it does this in partnership with the Scottish Executive and contributing organisations.<P>Within the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter…
16 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government that the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care being established under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Bill should be included as a prescribed regulator under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.
Answer · Susan Deacon: We intend to pursue this matter with the UK Government with a view to including the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care as a prescribed body under this Act. We also intend to take similar steps regarding the Scottish Social Services Council.
16 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being considered to provide a mental health unit for adolescent forensic provision.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Currently, there is no forensic mental health unit for adolescents in Scotland. The very small number of adolescents who require such care are referred to one of two adolescent forensic units in Newcastle or Manchester. These units receive referrals from acro…
16 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any proposals to provide mental health inpatient services for children.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive over the past two years in particular has been working with health boards and others on the planning and re-structuring of mental health inpatient services for children and adolescents.<P>In terms of recent change, the children's inpati…
16 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether generic prescribing is ever used in order to ensure the most effective and efficient treatment.
Answer · Susan Deacon: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-10675 on 9 November 2000.
16 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why the drug Co-codamol is being prescribed on the NHS at a cost of #6.4 million when it has been classified as a drug of "limited value" in the British National Formulary.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Co-codamol is a drug that is considered by the Joint Formulary Committee, under whose authority the British National Formulary is published, as "less suitable for prescribing". Although preparations labelled in this way may not be considered as drugs of first…
16 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to ensure that drugs of "limited value" and "little therapeutic value" according to the British National Formulary are not prescribed in Scotland.
Answer · Susan Deacon: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-13966 on 21 March 2001.
15 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being taken to address the 13% vacancy rate for clinical psychologists in the NHS, as highlighted in the Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education's Annual Report 1999-2000.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education (SCPMDE) monitors and funds the training of Clinical Psychologists in Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Executive. SCPMDE has secured formal agreements which will guarantee a minimum of 32 tr…
15 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional staff and how much additional funding will be needed to provide the 250 hours of postgraduate dental education for all practitioners over a five-year re-certification cycle announced by the General Dental Council.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the personal responsibility of the dental practitioner as a professional. The Scottish Executive already makes a significant contribution to postgraduate dental education via the Scottish Council for Postgraduate M…
15 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place to use human genome data to identify people who are susceptible to heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Although the Human Genome Project will lead to the sequencing of the human gene complement, it will require a great deal of further research before the actual function, and hence health implication, of each of the genes identified is determined. Research proj…
15 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to ensure that investment in research and development in the healthcare sector is attracted to Scotland and encouraged to remain.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The attraction of high-level research and development activities and the strengthening of the biotechnology cluster are two of the key strategic themes currently being pursued by Locate in Scotland (LiS).<P>As with all the projects that it helps attract to Sc…
15 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much additional money will be allocated to local health care co-operatives to help development and innovation in patient care in each of the next three years.
Answer · Susan Deacon: We have stated in <I>Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change</I> that we intend to develop primary care services and strengthen the role of LHCCs.<P>The LHCC Best Practice Group and Audit Scotland have both reviewed the progress, to date, of…
15 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to reduce NHS Trust and patient exposure to any unnecessary risks as a result of any lack of formal documented medical equipment training policies for staff as highlighted in the Audit Scotland Performance Audit, Equipped to care: Managing medical equipment in t…
Answer · Susan Deacon: I expect every NHS Trust in Scotland to take the necessary action to remedy any inadequacies in their policies or procedures highlighted by the Audit Scotland Performance Audit <I>Equipped to Care</I>.
15 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to address the issue of mismatch between expenditure on new and replacement medical equipment and depreciation of such equipment as highlighted in the Audit Scotland Performance Audit, Equipped to care: Managing medical equipment in the NHS in Scotland.
15 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will make available data on total capital and revenue expenditure which is not available from national financial returns as highlighted in the Audit Scotland Performance Audit, Equipped to care: Managing medical equipment in the NHS in Scotland.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Health boards and NHS Trusts are responsible for keeping adequate financial records and inventories of medical equipment. I have no plans to collect this information centrally.
15 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it holds on whether any research is being undertaken in Scotland into xenotransplantation; whether it is currently funding any such research, and what plans it has to attract further research and any related technologies to Scotland.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Policy on xenotransplantation is a reserved matter for the UK Government.
13 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will implement the recommendation of the Sutherland Commission and of the Health and Community Care Committee in its 16th Report 2000, Inquiry into the Delivery of Community Care in Scotland, that a single body should be given the role of budget holding, planning and commission…
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Our position on this, as on other recommendations of the Health and Community Care Committee, is as set out in the response we provided to the committee on 24 January. The response was debated in Parliament on 14 February.
13 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many unfilled posts there currently are for (a) NHS occupational therapists and (b) social work occupational therapists.
Answer · Susan Deacon: There were 34.7 WTE vacant posts for qualified occupational therapists in NHSScotland at 31 March 2000, the latest date for which data are available centrally. Of these, 14.7 WTE had been vacant for more than three months.<P>There are currently no centrally h…