Parliamentary questions

Mary Scanlon

4,514 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

4 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any nurses or advisors on breastfeeding have been disciplined as a result of (a) not achieving or (b) breaching NHS board policies in relation to infant feeding.

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-34139 on 15 June 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

3 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what disciplinary processes are in place for (a) nurses, (b) midwives, (c) health visitors and (d) infant feeding advisors regarding infant feeding policy in NHSScotland, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government has as part of its suite of HEAT Targets, a target in place which seeks to increase the proportion of new-born children exclusively breastfed at six to eight weeks from 26.6% in 2006-07 to 33.3% in 2010-11. HEAT Targets provide support…

2 Jun 2010 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many of its employees earn more than an MSP’s salary.

Answer · Mike Pringle: Forty-one SPCB employees earn more than the basic MSP salary of £57,521. This equates to less than 8% of the total number of staff employed by the SPCB.

2 Jun 2010 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body for what reason MSPs and their staff are unable to obtain places in the Parliament car park on occasions when several parking places appear to be vacant.

Answer · Alex Johnstone: Requests for car park spaces are only declined if all available spaces have been booked. Spaces which appear to be vacant have been pre-booked and should be occupied in due course. The exceptions to this occur when a car park user fails to inform the FM help…

2 Jun 2010 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what action is being taken to protect MSPs and staff in their constituency offices and at surgeries in local communities.

Answer · Alex Fergusson: Members are issued with a booklet immediately following each Scottish Parliament Election. The booklet is currently being updated in preparation for the election in 2011. It gives advice on personal security and other information relating to members'' constit…

2 Jun 2010 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many of its employees earn more than the First Minister’s combined salary.

1 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many operations and treatments have been carried out in the independent health care sector on behalf of NHS patients in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: As described in the answer to question S3W-21983 on 27 March 2009 the information relating to the activity undertaken for NHS patients through independent hospitals is known to have been under-reported in the past. Since 2007 steps have been taken to improve …

19 May 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what training is provided to home care providers to identify malnutrition, particularly in vulnerable groups such as older people, and on the benefits of oral nutritional supplements in the treatment of malnutrition.

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-33778 on 1 June 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Busine…

19 May 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what training and support is given to home care providers in assessing the nutritional needs of patients.

Answer · Shona Robison: The care needs assessment provided by local authorities should identify the nutritional requirements of those cared for at home. The National Care Standards require care at home providers to develop a personal care plan with each person who is using the servi…

29 Apr 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether all NHS boards offer the full screening programme to pregnant women as outlined in the letter from the Director of Public Health and Wellbeing, CEL 31 (2008), dated July 2008.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: All NHS boards are offering a second trimester fetal anomaly scan as detailed in the CEL 31. It is anticipated that additional changes to the pregnancy screening programme set out in CEL 31 will be achieved in all NHS boards ahead of the 31 March 2011 deadlin…

19 Apr 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what stage it has reached in its consideration of the draft report of the working group on applied psychologists and psychology in the NHS and what plans it has to take forward the recommendations.

Answer · Shona Robison: The draft report was previously circulated to NHS chief executives for their comments and discussed with NHS chief executives on 21 April 2010. The working group will now reconvene to produce a final version of the report.

15 Apr 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to ensure that older people receiving care in their own homes are assessed for risk of malnutrition.

Answer · Shona Robison: Local authorities undertake care needs assessments for older people receiving care in their own homes. A care needs assessment should identify any issues relating to malnutrition. It is likely to involve more than one agency in contributing to a holistic asse…

15 Apr 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to ensure that older people receiving care in their own homes receive meals of high nutritional value.

Answer · Shona Robison: The care needs assessment provided by local authorities should identify the nutritional requirements of those cared for at home. The National Care Standards require care at home providers to develop a personal plan with each person who is using the service wh…

14 Apr 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to ensure access to lip-reading courses for people with learning difficulties and their carers.

Answer · Alex Neil: Provision of services for people with learning difficulties and learning disability is increasingly based on the principle of improving access to mainstream services. Lip-reading courses are provided by a range of different community agencies, such as health,…

6 Apr 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which NHS maternity units do not provide epidurals to assist with childbirth.

Answer · Shona Robison: NHS Dumfries and Galloway, NHS Shetland and NHS Orkney do not provide an epidural service, although arrangements can be made for intrapartum care at another health board. All other NHS boards do provide a 24 hour epidural service at their principal hospital a…

29 Mar 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the cost to the economy from lost working days as a result of rheumatoid arthritis.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: A National Audit Office Report on services for people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), published on 15 July 2009, suggests that RA costs the UK economy an estimated £1.8 billion a year as a result of sick leave and work-related disability. Funding ha…

29 Mar 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make a ministerial statement on the consistency of access to NHS rheumatology services across Scotland.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-32906 on 23 April 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at: <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2…

29 Mar 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that patients with long-term conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, are receiving adequate levels of care and whether a ministerial statement will be made on this issue.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answers to questions S3W-32206 on 16 March 2010 and S3W-32784 on 20 April 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at: <a hr…

26 Mar 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much GPs are paid for a patient with a long-term condition such as asthma when the patient does not participate in the annual review.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) within the General Medical Services contract rewards GPs for delivering Primary Care services to patients. Asthma is one in the series of clinical areas covered in the QOF and remuneration to GPs is dependent on levels…

26 Mar 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much GPs are paid to monitor patients with long-term conditions such as asthma.

26 Mar 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to introduce an NHS Quality Improvement Scotland standard for adult patients with asthma.

Answer · Shona Robison: I understand that NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) has no plans at present to develop clinical standards for services for adults with asthma, to complement those for children and young people with asthma which it published in March 2007. …

25 Mar 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the Food Standards Agency’s recommended milk consumption is for children under five.

Answer · Shona Robison: FSA recommendations for milk consumption for children under five formed the basis of the Nutritional Guidance for Early Years for children aged one to five years in early education and childcare settings published in 2006. The Nutritional Guidance f…

25 Mar 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to meet the demand for weight loss surgery to ensure that people who have been clinically assessed for this procedure can receive it.

Answer · Shona Robison: The SIGN guideline Management of Obesity, which was published on 24 February 2010 provides evidence based recommendations for clinical practice in the management of adults and children with obesity, including the use of bariatric surgery. It …

25 Mar 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to ensure early diagnosis and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-32206 on 16 March 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at: <a href="http://www.scottish.parliamen…

15 Mar 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which aspects of the framework set out in the Remote and Rural Steering Group’s report, Delivering for Remote and Rural Healthcare, published in November 2007, have yet to be implemented.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Remote and Rural Implementation Group is responsible for monitoring implementation of the actions set out in Delivering for Remote and Rural Healthcare. Six monthly reports are published by the North of Scotland Regional Planning Group, via <a hre…

12 Mar 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many acute occupied bed days in NHS Scotland were directly connected with alcohol-related conditions in each of the last three years, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) age of patient.

Answer · Shona Robison: Information on the number of acute occupied bed days which are directly attributable to alcohol-related conditions is not held centrally. Information on acute occupied bed days is recorded on the SMR01 dataset. SMR01 has space for up to six diagnosi…

5 Mar 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated financial value was of wasted medication in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: This information is not collected centrally.

2 Mar 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it would give to retailers regarding the sale of energy drinks to (a) people under 16 and (b) pregnant women.

Answer · Shona Robison: As most energy drink manufacturers advise through voluntary warning labelling that such products are not suitable for consumption by children, retailers, in acting responsibly, would wish to take account of such warnings and not sell such drinks to children. …

2 Mar 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are potential health implications for people under 16 from the consumption of energy drinks.

Answer · Shona Robison: The European Commission was advised by the Scientific Committee on Foods (SCF) in 2003 on the use of energy drinks. The SCF considered the effects of caffeine intake and noted that caffeine stimulated irritability, nervousness or anxiety in some subjects, par…

2 Mar 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines there are for the sale of energy drinks to (a) people under 16 and (b) pregnant women.

Answer · Shona Robison: Currently, there are no specific guidelines on the sale of energy drinks to these groups of people. One of the main ingredients of energy drinks is caffeine, and the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 (as amended) require caffeine to be indicated in the…