Parliamentary questions

Nicola Sturgeon

676 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

22 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to meet parents from the organisation Fastrax to discuss improvements in the provision of paediatric wheelchairs.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Officials from the Health Department have previously met with the founders of the Fastrax Mobility Trust. They also arranged their attendance at a meeting of the Rehabilitation Technology Services Advisory Group in 1998 to allow them to address the heads of N…

22 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children in Scotland use a wheelchair.

Answer · Susan Deacon: There are around 8000 children (under 18 years of age) in Scotland currently using wheelchairs.

22 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-6954 by Susan Deacon on 2 June 2000, when the Rehabilitation Technology Information Service will report its findings.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The Rehabilitation Technology Information Service (ReTIS) is due to provide an initial progress report in the near future.

14 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients as at 31 December 2000 had been waiting longer than 12 months for treatment on the NHS and had been excluded from the Patients' Charter guarantees because they had declined treatment in private facilities, broken down by NHS Trust.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The information requested is not available centrally.

14 Mar 2001 · Written Question

Answer · Susan Deacon: On 31 December 2000, only 13 patients (0.01% of the waiting list) with a waiting times guarantee had waited more than 12 months for treatment.On that date, 601 patients (0.7% of the waiting list) had declined treatment of…

8 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current waiting time is for patients awaiting (a) coronary artery bypass grafts and (b) other cardiac surgery in each health board area.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The median waiting times for admission to hospital from the inpatient/day case waiting list for coronary artery bypass grafts and other cardiac surgery, in the year ending 31 December 2000, by health board of residence, are given in the table.<FONT FACE="Aria…

8 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many high dependency beds there were in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) health board and (b) acute trust.

8 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many intensive care beds there were in each of the last five years broken down by (a) health board and (b) acute trust.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Data for general adult intensive care beds are published each year in the Audit Report of the Scottish Intensive Care Society. For the period 1996 to 2000, the average numbers of funded general adult intensive care beds in each 12-month period by Health Bo…

8 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown by health board area of current waiting times for knee replacement operations.

8 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown by health board area of current waiting times for hip replacement operations.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Information on the median waiting times for a total hip replacement, by health board area of residence, for the year ending 31 December 2000, is provided in the table.NHSScotland is performing more total hip replacement operations than ever before. Provisi…

8 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown by health board area of current waiting times for (a) orthopaedic outpatient appointments and (b) orthopaedic surgery.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The median waiting times for a first outpatient orthopaedic appointment with a Consultant following a General Medical Practitioner referral, and for orthopaedic surgery, by health board of residence, for the year ending 31 December 2000, are provided in the t…

7 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of women smoke during pregnancy according to latest available figures.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Of the 55,695 maternities which resulted in a live or still birth during the year ending 31 March 1999, 26.5% of all mothers reported that they smoked during pregnancy. Of the remaining mothers, 68.2% reported that they did not smoke during pregnancy and resp…

7 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many 12- to 15-year-olds smoke according to latest available figures and what percentage of 12- to 15-year-olds this represents.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Data from the ONS publication 'Smoking, drinking and drug use among young teenagers in 1998' show that in 1998 in Scotland around 12% of children aged between 12 and 15 years old were regular smokers. This percentage is taken from a sample survey and represen…

7 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the role and remit of a national dietary co-ordinator will be.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-14002.

7 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to appoint a national dietary co-ordinator.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-14002.

7 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when interviews for the posts of chair and non-executive board members of NHS 24 are expected to be completed.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Arrangements are currently being made to interview applicants for the post of chair. Once this is complete, interviews for non-executive board members will take place. It is hope that the process can be completed during May.

7 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications were received for the posts of non-executive board members of NHS 24.

Answer · Susan Deacon: 208 applications were received for the posts of non-executive board members of NHS 24.

7 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications were received for the post of chair of NHS 24.

Answer · Susan Deacon: 18 applications were received for the post of chair of NHS 24.

7 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how the role and remit of a national dietary co-ordinator will differ from and complement the role and remit of the Scottish Community Diet National Project Officer appointed in 1996.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The National Diet Action Co-ordinator post is due to be advertised within the next two to three weeks. The Co-ordinator will champion the need for improvement in Scotland's diet; supporting the key players with an influence over diet, such as primary producer…

1 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, where a patient has been admitted to a psychiatric ward on more than one occasion in the last five years, what the average length of time was between admissions.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The average length of time between admissions, for patients admitted to a psychiatric ward on more than one occasion in the five year period 1995-1999, was 174 days.

1 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average length of occupation for psychiatric ward beds in the NHSiS was in each of the last three years.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The median length of stay for all psychiatric specialties was 16 days in 1997-98, 17 days in 1998-99 and 17 days in 1999-2000. Lengths of stay for psychiatric inpatients vary considerably across and within specialties.

1 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current occupancy rate is for beds in psychiatric wards in the NHSiS.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The bed occupancy rate for psychiatric specialties in Scotland was 84.2% for the year ending 31 December 2000.

1 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what grant funding, and from which funding bodies, the Nursing Research Initiative for Scotland received in 2000 and what funding it will receive in 2001.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The Chief Scientist Office (CSO, core funding for Nursing Research Initiative for Scotland (NRIS) in year to 31 March 2001 will be approximately £398,000. The budget for year to 31 March 2002 is £407,000. In addition to funding the NRIS, CSO funds specific re…

1 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Nursing Research Initiative for Scotland has, as part of its remit, a duty to assess the impact of its research, or of the application of its research findings, on patient care in Scotland.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The remit of Nursing Research Initiative for Scotland is to carry out high quality research into direct patient care. As with all the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) research units, the impact of its activity is evaluated by the Unit Advisory Group and at the fo…

1 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the publications of the Nursing Research Initiative for Scotland from its establishment to date.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Details of five publications by NRIS are listed below.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=604><TR><TD WIDTH="22%" VALIGN="TOP">Author</TD><TD WIDTH="51%" VALIGN="TOP">Title</TD><TD WIDTH="27%" VALIGN="TOP">Pu…

1 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current objectives are of the Nursing Research Initiative for Scotland.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The aim of the Nursing Research Initiative for Scotland (NRIS) is to become the national centre for excellence for Scotland-wide research into direct patient care. Current objectives will focus on research into stroke (a health priority area where nurses and …

27 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what contracts it has with Eglinton Management Centre at present.

Answer · Angus MacKay: The Scottish Executive has two contracts with Eglinton Management Centre at present. The first is to undertake a development needs analysis of the senior executives in NHSScotland. The other is for a management and organisational review of the support structu…

13 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what reimbursement of travel costs NHS patients receive when they are required to travel outwith their local authority health board area to take up an appointment at a private facility.

Answer · Susan Deacon: This is a matter for the relevant health board which has discretion to reimburse the travelling expenses incurred by patients referred to NHS or private hospitals outwith their health board area of residence.

13 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS patients are offered appointments at private facilities outwith their local health board area each month.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The information requested is not collected centrally.

13 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS patients are offered appointments at facilities outwith their local health board area each month.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The information requested is not centrally available.Many patients will routinely be treated outwith their local health board area if, for example, they require specialist services which are not provided locally.