Parliamentary questions

Dr Richard Simpson

2,702 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to assist patients designated as code 9 in the Delayed Discharges Definitions and Data Recording Manual in discharging from hospital.

Answer · Shona Robison: The vast majority of code 9 patients are delayed because they lack capacity to make their own decisions, and are awaiting completion of applications for guardianship. Good progress has been made reducing the number of adults with incapacity delays. To help s…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors patients discharged from intensive care units whose treatment included a period of sedation.

Answer · Shona Robison: A period of sedation is a common and integrated part of the package of care for people requiring treatment in intensive care units. Patients are intensively monitored whilst in the intensive care unit 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Monitoring continues follo…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of sepsis patients in intensive care units receive antibiotics within one hour of diagnosis.

Answer · Shona Robison: This data is not collected nationally as part of the Scottish Intensive Care Audit. Available data focuses on episodes of critical care, from interventions to outcome; please see our annual report which was published in August 2014 for more details http://ww…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it (a) monitors and (b) inspects the (i) protection of confidentiality of and (ii) incidents of inappropriate access to patient electronic data; which NHS boards have been inspected, and when the reports will be published.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government’s eHealth Division monitors information security via its annual and mid-year eHealth business reviews of boards and via ongoing relationships with board information governance and security leads. There is no formal Scottish Government …

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-16466 by Michael Matheson on 12 August 2013, what the current status is of each NHS board's clinical portals and whether it will set out the availability of access by each board's clinicians to the portals of other boards, specifying whether that ac…

Answer · Maureen Watt: The following NHS boards are using clinical portals: NHS Borders, NHS Dumfries and Galloway, NHS Fife, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Lothian, NHS Tayside, NHS Ayrshire and Arran and NHS Golden Jubilee. NHS Grampian use the TrakCare patie…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-16465 by Michael Matheson on 12 August 2013, whether NHS Forth Valley has implemented a clinical portal that was due to commence in September 2013 and what linkage options have been implemented.

Answer · Maureen Watt: NHS Forth Valley commenced their clinical programme from January 2012 based on the clinical portal approach in NHS Tayside. The programme is ongoing with approximately 1,100 clinicians now having access to patient demographics, GP details, clinical correspond…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-16465 by Michael Matheson on 12 August 2013, what progress it has made in discussions with the system supplier to agree the most cost-effective, efficient and secure means by which cross-NHS board access can be granted.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Boards have responsibility for ensuring that the clinical portal is implemented in a cost-effective, efficient and secure manner. For example the West of Scotland eHealth leads (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Forth…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-16454 by Michael Matheson on 12 August 2013, what assessment it has made of the savings to the NHS of not having to repeat laboratory tests through ensuring full electronic access to data by any clinician in any location who requires access, irrespe…

Answer · Maureen Watt: Savings information has not been specifically gathered on this. Connections between Scottish Care Information stores and access for clinicians have been established as a matter of course as each clinical pathway need has been identified. The Scottish Governme…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-16454 by Michael Matheson on 12 August 2013, what plans it has to ensure that laboratory results will be available to any NHS clinician in any location who requires access, irrespective of where the original tests took place.

Answer · Maureen Watt: There is no current programme of work with the sole aim of making laboratory results available to any NHS clinician in any location who requires access. Laboratory results are just one of the elements of the electronic patient health record that NHS boards ar…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to increase the number of outpatients with atrial fibrillation who take anticoagulation medication, in light of a reduction in such numbers since 2011 according to the Information Services Division (ISD) report, Scottish Stroke Care Audit 2014.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The Scottish Government recognises the importance of anticoagulation in patients with atrial fibrillation and has included it as one of the eight priorities in the Stroke Improvement Plan (published August 2014). The Scottish Quality and Outcomes Framework c…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the savings in time for (a) patients, (b) general practitioners and (c) hospital clinics by using the novel oral anticoagulants, rivaroxaban, dabigatran and apixaban for the management of atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism instead of warfarin.

Answer · Maureen Watt: These drugs have been subject to rigorous assessment by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) prior to approval for use. SMC assessment for every new medicine includes a health economic analysis. For the novel oral anticoagulants this analysis included cal…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance and recommendations it has issued regarding the novel oral anticoagulants (a) rivaroxaban, (b) dabigatran and (c) apixaban for the management of atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism.

Answer · Maureen Watt: All three drugs have been approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) for use in the management of patients with atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism. NHS board Area Drug and Therapeutics Committees consider this SMC advice in the context o…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is offering to the NHS boards that recorded below median results in the Scottish Stroke Care Audit 2014 and, in light of the audit's recommendation that "innovative service redesign is required", what action it has taken.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Boards are able to access their own real time data, and the Scottish Stroke Care Audit team provides them with monthly and quarterly reports. The Scottish Stroke Improvement Team supports Managed Clinical Networks to evaluate board performance, identify areas…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what intermediate target it has set each NHS board toward meeting the national standard for stroke patients requiring a carotid endarterectomy operation.

Answer · Maureen Watt: There is no intermediate target set for boards to meet the national standard for stroke patients requiring carotid endarterectomy. Boards are expected to work towards the Scottish stroke care standard where 80% of patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy ha…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what intermediate target it has set each NHS board toward meeting the national standard for stroke patients requiring thrombolysis within one hour of arrival at hospital.

Answer · Maureen Watt: There is no intermediate target set for boards to meet the national standard for stroke patients requiring thrombolysis within one hour of arrival at hospital. Boards are expected to achieve the Scottish stroke care standard for thrombolysis where 80% of pati…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions NHS National Services Scotland has had with NHS (a) Highland and (b) Lothian on the reported difficulties it is experiencing in meeting the national standard for the proportion of patients accessing a stroke unit on the day of admission.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Data on the number of patients accessing a stroke unit on the day of admission is published annually in the Scottish Stroke Care Audit (SSCA). Boards are also able to access their own real time data, and the SSCA team provides them with monthly and quarterly …

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions NHS National Services Scotland has had with NHS Forth Valley regarding the reported drop in the number of its patients accessing a stroke unit on the day of admission.

Answer · Shona Robison: Data on the number of patients accessing a stroke unit on the day of admission is published annually in the Scottish Stroke Care Audit (SSCA). Boards are also able to access their own real time data, and the SSCA team provides them with monthly and quarterly …

10 Dec 2014 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what detail the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy can provide regarding the allocation of the Barnett consequentials arising from the recent increase in UK Government health spending.

27 Nov 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action (a) it, (b) community councils and (c) NHS boards can take if a pharmacy does not meet the terms and conditions of its licence.

Answer · Shona Robison: The terms of service for contractors providing NHS pharmaceutical services are set out in the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009, as amended. The principal Regulations can be found at: www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2009/183/contents/made …

27 Nov 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what factors NHS boards must consider before issuing a notice for a dispensing practice to cease all or most of its prescribing, and what guidance it issues on this.

Answer · Shona Robison: Before issuing a notice to cease all or most of its dispensing, NHS boards must consider whether or not their decision would lead to patients having difficulty in obtaining drugs from a pharmacist or another dispensing practice in the local area because of di…

27 Nov 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it considers to be the minimum (a) number of patients and (b) size of population needed for a pharmacy to be viable and sustainable.

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-23443 on 10 December 2014. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusin…

27 Nov 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on a licence being granted to a community pharmacy that did not produce a business plan in its application, and how the viability or sustainability of such a pharmacy can be determined.

Answer · Shona Robison: Applications relating to community pharmacies are considered by NHS boards’ Pharmacy Practices Committees (PPCs) under provisions set out in the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009, as amended. PPCs will consider each application on an i…

26 Nov 2014 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address teachers' workload issues.