Parliamentary questions

Mary Scanlon

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

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many council-owned houses in each local authority area are not expected to achieve the Scottish Housing Quality Standard by 2015.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows.All of the localauthorities that have submitted Standard Delivery Plans (SDPs) outlining how theywill reach the Scottish Housing Quality Stand…

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to merge any NHS boards.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: No.

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether allied health professionals who are paid different rates for doing the same job are entitled to equal pay for equal work under existing legislation.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The ScottishGovernment is committed to the principle of equal pay for work of equal value,and this underpins the new Agenda for Change pay system.All parties to the agreement in Scotland have taken the view that consistency and accuracyare central to t…

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how NHS boards will meet the additional financial requirements for equal pay settlements.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I am aware that anumber of equal pay claims have been lodged against health boards in Scotland as well as other health organisations across the UK.These claims raisea number of legal issues which are currently under consideration at employment tribunal…

4 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will develop a programme to make the cervical cancer vaccine available to girls up to 16 years old.

Answer · Shona Robison: The ScottishGovernment announced on 26 October 2007 that, inaddition to our commitment to routinely offer HPV vaccination to girls agedaround 12 to 13, we would offer vaccination to girls who are under the age of18 at the start of the immunisation campaign in…

4 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to screen for heart disorders in families known to be at risk from heart disease.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Close relatives ofthose with inherited heart disease are already offered access to screening services.We are currently discussing with cardiologists and clinical geneticists the developmentof a more integrated approach to the management of inherited cardiac c…

3 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting times were for a (i) brain scan, (ii) health check, (iii) endoscopy, (iv) audiology check, (v) MRI scan and (vi) CT scan in each NHS board in 2006-07.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The specific informationrequested is not available centrally.

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to introduce more patient group directions for community pharmacists.

Answer · Shona Robison: A number ofnational patient group directions (PGDs) have been developed for both theurgent provision of repeat medicine by community pharmacists and the MinorAilment Service. The Scottish Government will consider the introduction offurther national PGDs where…

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it proposes to utilise the community pharmacy network for health promotion.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Public HealthService is one of the four core services introduced through the new community pharmacycontract. It supports community pharmacists and their staff in health promotionactivities through the provision of health promotion advice and materials as …

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it proposes to utilise community pharmacies to promote public health.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Public HealthService is one of the four core services introduced through the new community pharmacycontract. The service specification requires the pro-active involvement of communitypharmacists and their staff in supporting self care and offering suitabl…

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider granting access by community pharmacists to emergency care summaries with the consent of patients.

Answer · Shona Robison: As part of thenational eHealth Strategy, the Emergency Care Summary Programme is currentlydeveloping a business case to consider extending the clinical user groups thatcould have access to the patient emergency care summary (ECS) record. Communitypharmacists …

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how an integrated approach to healthcare is being developed between GPs and pharmacists.

Answer · Shona Robison: Officials areworking to ensure that the new community pharmacy contract in Scotland supports an integrated approach to health care bypromoting and facilitating joint working between GPs and community pharmacists.

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to develop a more comprehensive minor ailments scheme for community pharmacies.

Answer · Shona Robison: The ScottishGovernment values the important contribution that community pharmacists aremaking to improving access to the consultation and treatment of common clinicalconditions through the Minor Ailment Service.The Minor AilmentService has been operati…

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it proposes to increase prescribing by pharmacists.

Answer · Shona Robison: The commissioningof national health services such as pharmacist prescribing services in primaryand secondary care is a matter for NHS boards taking into account theirassessment of local priorities and needs. In the primary care sector, the newcontractual arra…

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to review the requirement for patients to register annually with a pharmacy in order to use the Minor Ailments Scheme.

Answer · Shona Robison: Patients do nothave to register annually for the Minor Ailment Service. Registration onlyneeds to occur once, unless a patient chooses to move their registration toanother pharmacy or has previously withdrawn from the service.

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to ensure that people are aware of the Minor Ailments Scheme available at community pharmacies.

Answer · Shona Robison: We have provideda range of materials to advertise the availability of the Minor Ailment Serviceincluding patient information leaflets and posters sent to every communitypharmacy and GP practice in Scotland and, more recently, a national windowcampaign in ever…

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what treatments available in other EU countries can be accessed by patients from Scotland and reimbursed under the E112 scheme.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: A patient may beeligible to have the cost of treatment in another member state of the European economicarea reimbursed if that treatment is normally available from their own healthboard. In addition, a patient could be granted permission to receive specialist…

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether dental patients in Scotland who face undue delay in accessing an NHS dentist would be entitled to free dental treatment elsewhere in the European Union under the E112 scheme.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Every resident ofa member state of the European economic area has the right to seek treatment inanother member state if it cannot be provided at home without undue delay. In Scotland this means the treatment must therefore be oneavailable through the NHS.…

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what would constitute undue delay in order for a patient to be referred for treatment, paid for by the NHS, elsewhere in the European Union.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Every resident ofa member state of the European Economic Area has the right to seek treatment inanother member state if it cannot be provided at home without undue delay. In Scotland this means the treatment must therefore be oneavailable through the NHS.…

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients from Scotland have been treated elsewhere in the European Union under the E112 scheme in each of the last five years.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Patients mayreceive treatment in other member states of the European Economic Area and in Switzerland through the E112 referral scheme, in accordance withRegulation (EEC) 1408/71. This regulation coordinates the social security andhealthcare schemes of the me…

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how treatment and outcomes for mental health patients are measured.

Answer · Shona Robison: There is a range of approaches including through clinical assessment and diagnosis, evaluation of some interventions, service users and carer satisfaction questionnaires, and research through randomised controlled trails. Application of recognised as…

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will measure waiting times for mental health patients from GP referral to start of treatment.

Answer · Shona Robison: The outcomes fromthe NHS Scotland National Benchmarking Project will provide us with betterinsights and inform comparisons between services. The outcomes will bepublished before the end of the year.We are also examining a range of optionsincluding thro…

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to merge (a) police forces and (b) fire services.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The Government currently hasno plans to merge police forces or fire and rescue services.

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children are estimated to live with a parent with (a) alcohol and (b) drug addiction.

Answer · Adam Ingram: I refer the memberto answer to question S3W-4416 on 1 October 2007. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.sear…

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have waiting lists for free personal care and how many people are on each list.

Answer · Shona Robison: Research has confirmedthat local authorities do not currently hold information on waiting lists for freepersonal care on a consistent basis. The Scottish Government and COSLA are discussing a range of issues relevantto the implementation of the free personal …

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people use direct payments, broken down by qualifying category and local authority area.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: This information isavailable from the latest statistics release, Direct Payments Scotland 2007,which was published on the internet on 25 September 2007. The document can be found using the link below <ahref="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics…

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that all staff caring for older people are trained in dementia care.

Answer · Shona Robison: NHS Quality ImprovementScotland have in development a set of standards forintegrated care pathways for dementia. These will be published in December and accreditedthereafter. These standards will help identify what training needs there are forstaff in impleme…

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that all people with dementia are given an accurate diagnosis followed by the appropriate care and treatment package.

Answer · Shona Robison: Under the GMScontract GPs are paid for maintaining a register of those with dementia and forundertaking an assessment of their medical and care needs every 15 months. Thedevelopment of an integrated care pathway for people with dementia which willbe published…

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to reduce people’s risk of developing dementia later in life.

Answer · Shona Robison: I haveestablished a Dementia Forum to provide input and advice on all aspects of thedementia agenda including approaches to further raising awareness of thebenefits of healthy lifestyles for all aspects of physical and mental health.Funding supportis a…

2 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how people with dementia are assessed on a regular basis in order to ensure that their care and support is adjusted to meet their needs.

Answer · Shona Robison: Under the GMScontract GPs are paid for maintaining a register of those with dementia and forundertaking an assessment of their medical and care needs every 15 months. Thisongoing assessment of needs and response will be further enhanced and informedthrough ap…