Dr Richard Simpson

17 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-15363 by Alex Neil on 13 June 2013, for what reason no national audit systems on (a) the provision of stoma care appliances and (b) patient service standards were  set up following the audit of patient opinion in 2010.

Answer · Alex Neil: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-17896 on 12 November 2013. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA…

17 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-15363 by Alex Neil on 13 June 2013, who is responsible for setting up a national audit system; when it will be set up, and which groups will be involved.

Answer · Alex Neil: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-17896 on 12 November 2013. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA…

17 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-15378 by Alex Neil on 10 June 2013, whether it is aware of incidences of carers refusing to undertake stoma care duties.

Answer · Alex Neil: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-17892 on 13 November 2013. All answers written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/…

17 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-15378 by Alex Neil on 10 June 2013, who is responsible for setting standards and monitoring stoma care training for carers of older people in (a) their homes and (b) a care home.

Answer · Alex Neil: The Scottish Government expects older people’s health or personal care needs to be clearly detailed within their care plans and, for them to be supported by appropriately trained staff, irrespective of whether they are at home, or in a care home. Local autho…

17 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-15373 by Alex Neil on 25 June 2013, how stoma care clinical nurse specialists are involved in the assessment of stoma care supplies to the NHS.

Answer · Alex Neil: Stoma care clinical nurse specialists review developments in the stoma care supplies market through information published by suppliers and through the national tender process undertaken by NHS National Services Scotland’s National Procurement division.

17 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-15373 by Alex Neil on 25 June 2013, what impact discontinuing the provision of free samples has had on the cost of stoma care supplies to the NHS.

Answer · Alex Neil: The information requested is not held centrally.

17 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that GP practices that are not training practices are inspected.

Answer · Alex Neil: Our success in safety is well documented and does not necessarily require the inspection of individual practices. Scotland is the first country in the world to implement a national patient safety programme across the whole healthcare system and The Scottish P…

17 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it gave to providing alternative routes prior to commencing work on the electrification affecting the Winchburgh tunnel.

Answer · Keith Brown: All rail connections will be maintained during the closure of the Winchburgh Tunnel. Alternative routes are available for Glasgow to Edinburgh end to end passengers via the Airdrie-Bathgate route with the alternative route for remaining passengers being exist…

17 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what effect the proposed closure of the Winchburgh rail tunnel will have on passengers travelling to and from (a) stations north of Linlithgow, (b) Dunblane and (c) Alloa.

Answer · Keith Brown: As with any investment of this scale in an operational environment, there will inevitably be some disruption. All rail connections will be maintained during the closure of the Winchburgh Tunnel. Whilst detailed timetable development work is on-going for the p…

17 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to ending the provision of security support for earlier versions of the Windows operating system and moving to an open source operating system.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government commenced a rolling upgrade programme two years ago in anticipation of Windows XP becoming unsupported from April 2014. As of November 2012, 86% of devices have been upgraded and the exercise will be completed in February 2014. An ope…

17 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will cost to transfer 10,000 of its computers to the Windows 8 operating system and train staff to use it.

Answer · John Swinney: The software upgrade is entirely cost-neutral as new versions of operating system software are covered as part of our Microsoft Enterprise Agreement. As with the previous upgrade to Windows 7, no formal training programme will be required but online help and…

3 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the ban on health workers who are HIV positive but have negligible plasma viral load carrying out clinical work will be lifted and, if so, when and under what conditions.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government announced in August 2013 that it would be adopting the recommendation that HIV positive health care workers should be permitted to undertake certain, previously restricted, clinical procedures. This policy change will come into effect …

3 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, following the abolition of NHS Connecting for Health, how it ensures that Caldicott Guardians are (a) coordinated, (b) supported, (c) provided with training and (d) afforded the opportunity of collective representation to the Scottish Government and special NHS boards.

Answer · Alex Neil: NHSScotland has always had separate arrangements in place for the support of Caldicott Guardians. These arrangements include a National Caldicott Forum, which meets regularly, a Caldicott scrutiny panel that deals with requests to use patient data for a range…

3 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation it had with the Department of Health prior to the abolition of NHS Connecting for Health.

Answer · Alex Neil: The Scottish Government was not formally consulted in regard to the creation of the Health and Social Care Information Centre (which replaces many of the functions of Connecting for Health). The Scottish Government does however have regular and routine discus…

3 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it publishes the list of Caldicott Guardians.

Answer · Alex Neil: The names of lead Caldicott Guardians in NHSScotland health boards are published on a public web-site. http://www.knowledge.scot.nhs.uk/caldicottguardians/nhssscotland-caldicott-guardians.aspx.

3 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the planned integration of health and social care, whether it will ensure that GPs and primary and intermediate care community teams have electronic access to hospital clinical data to ensure patient safety.

Answer · Alex Neil: A specific piece of work to improve the electronic exchange of patient information between primary and secondary care, particularly around medicines information in support of patient safety, was initiated in September 2013. In addition, a new health and socia…

3 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will invite Information Services Division Scotland (ISD) to include under-15s in future statistics that it publishes on long-acting reversible contraception.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The ISD publication on Long Acting Reversible Methods of Contraception includes data on the number of contraceptives dispensed in primary care and the number distributed from central pharmacies. The ages of a high proportion of women using these contraceptiv…

3 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Information Services Division Scotland's (ISD) report on long-acting reversible methods of contraception, published in September 2013, which showed that the presence of a local enhanced primary care contract was associated with greater uptake, whether it will consider making…

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government does not have any plans to introduce a national enhanced service for long-acting reversible contraception. Statutory responsibility for the provision of healthcare services rests with NHS Health Boards and it is for each NHS Board to p…

3 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the prescribing of long-acting reversible contraception, what steps Health Improvement Scotland will take to support those NHS boards where there is (a) significant deprivation, (b) a high rate of unplanned teenage pregnancies and (c) below average prescribing, in order to imp…

Answer · Michael Matheson: In 2008, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland published standards for Sexual Health Services, which included a standard that all individuals should have access to intrauterine and implantable methods of contraception. Subsequently, practice in NHSScotland was ass…

3 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to be in a position to supply data comparable to other NHS boards in respect of long-acting reversible contraception.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Data for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde for 2012-13, as published in ISD’s report “Long Acting Reversible Methods of Contraception (LARC)”, are considered to be complete and accurate, so are therefore comparable to other NHS boards. Data for all NHS boards are…

3 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many follow-up inspection reports since 2011 by (a) Healthcare Improvement Scotland and (b) the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate on the care of older people have led to a referral to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing because the recommendations in the original report …

Answer · Alex Neil: None of the follow-up inspection reports have led to a referral.

3 Oct 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Microsoft's ending of security patching of the XP operating system, what audit it has undertaken of (a) its directorates, (b) NHS boards, (c) special NHS boards and (d) agencies to determine how many computers use XP; what transitional arrangements it has put in place, and …

Answer · Alex Neil: The Scottish Government has completed an audit of all its directorates and those Agencies and Non Ministerial Departments which share its network. Of the 11,678 computers on the network 9,901 have already been upgraded to Windows 7 and 155 upgraded to Windows…

26 Sep 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the remit of the expert group on sexual and reproductive health issues in relation to Community Pharmacy includes consideration of issues relating to preventable unplanned pregnancies.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Expert Working Group was convened to consider sexual and reproductive health issues in relation to the provision of services through community pharmacies. Therefore their remit includes, but is not exclusive to, how to support reductions in levels of unin…

26 Sep 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the expert group on sexual and reproductive health issues in relation to Community Pharmacy will report its findings.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Expert Working Group has not been established with a specific reporting deadline, but it is anticipated that recommendations will be made to the Scottish Sexual Health Lead Clinicians Group (of which the Working Group is a sub-group) in time for their mee…

26 Sep 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government from which external bodies or groups the expert group on sexual and reproductive health issues in relation to Community Pharmacy will seek advice.

Answer · Michael Matheson: To date, the Expert Working Group has sought advice from all NHS boards. This is in order to determine current practice around emergency hormonal contraception and the extent of existing sexual and reproductive health services being offered via community phar…

26 Sep 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the expert group on sexual and reproductive health issues in relation to Community Pharmacy (a) has met and (b) will meet between September and December 2013.

Answer · Michael Matheson: To date, the Sexual and Reproductive Health Pharmacy Expert Working Group has met twice. The Expert Working Group will meet on a further two occasions before December 2013 (in November and December, dates to be confirmed).

13 Sep 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what representations it has received regarding the £384 maximum charge for patients using NHS dental services.

Answer · Michael Matheson: We are unaware of any representations being made with regard to the £384 maximum patient charge for NHS dentistry.

11 Sep 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to introduce an online system for claims that exceed the prior approval limit for NHS dentistry treatment.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Dental Practice Board are considering alternatives to the existing paper-based system of prior approval and have commissioned Practitioner Services Division to investigate establishing an electronic system of prior approval.

11 Sep 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has made of the effectiveness of the process for claims exceeding the prior approval limit for NHS dentistry treatment.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Dental Practice Board (SDPB) regularly receives reports from Practitioner Services Division (PSD) on performance related to prior approval. SDPB have recently undertaken a review of the current prior approval process with a view to improving eff…

11 Sep 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on raising the prior approval limit for NHS dentistry treatment.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Strategic responsibility for this aspect of the management of general dental services lies in Scotland with the SDPB. Practitioner Services Division acts as an agent on behalf of SDPB in operating the prior approval process.