Dr Richard Simpson

21 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has accepted the invitation from the Department of Health to support its audit of asthma deaths so that the project can be UK wide.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Yes. The Scottish Government has contributed funding of £69,000 to enable Scotland to participate in the one year, UK-wide audit of asthma deaths, which will begin in February 2012. The aim of the project, the first of its kind to cover the whole of the UK, …

21 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on what date sections (a) 2, (b) 3 and (c) 6 of the Alcohol etc. (Scotland) Act 2010 will come into force and what steps it has taken to inform (i) alcohol retailers and (ii) the public.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Sections 2, 3 and 6 of the Alcohol etc. (Scotland) Act 2010 come into force on 1 October 2011. To support the efforts of the trade to raise awareness the Scottish Government has issued guidance, displayed information on its website and drawn media attention …

21 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on what date Part 2 of the Alcohol etc. (Scotland) Act 2010 will come into force.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: There are no current plans to bring Part 2 of the Alcohol etc. (Scotland) Act 2010 into force. The Scottish Government has been clear that the Social Responsibility Levy will not be brought into effect until the economic circumstances are right.

21 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on what date section 5 of the Alcohol etc. (Scotland) Act 2010 will come into force and what steps it has taken to inform (a) alcohol retailers and (b) the public about this.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Section 5 of the Alcohol etc. (Scotland) Act 2010 comes into force on 1 October 2010. The Scottish Government has drawn the attention of alcohol retailers to guidance on the changes required.

20 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of sickness absence has been for inspectors employed by Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland, and formerly by the Care Commission and the Social Work Inspection Agency, in each month since August 2009.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The level of sickness for the Care Commission and the Care Inspectorate since August 2009 can be found respectively in Table 1 and Table 2: Care Commission – Table 1 2009-10 Absence rate for Care Commission Officers* Q2 – July to September 7.1% Q3 – Oc…

14 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many students graduated from Scottish universities with degrees in engineering in (a) 2007, (b) 2008, (c) 2009, (d) 2010 and (e) 2011.

Answer · Michael Russell: The following table details the number of students obtaining a first degree in engineering or technology at Scottish higher education institutions (HEIs). Information is not yet available for those who qualified in the academic year 2010-11. Table 1: Student…

14 Sep 2011 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether negotiations have been concluded and a date has been set for the transfer of medical nursing and pharmacy services from the Scottish Prison Service to the NHS.

14 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-02252 by Michael Matheson on 13 September 2011, what assessment it has made of the population distribution of the 1% dietary intake of transfats.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The latest UK data on trans fat intakes is from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) years 1&2 (combined) report (2008-09 to 2009-10), published earlier this year. I have supplied a link to the full document: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsand…

9 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the cost of each NHS board having a separate area drugs and therapeutics committee consider each new medicine approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Information on the cost of each NHS board having a separate area drugs and therapeutics committee consider each new medicine approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium is not held centrally.

8 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, when deciding to allow prescribing of a new medicine, what steps it takes to minimise inconsistent prescribing practices across NHS boards.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) appraises all newly licensed medicines and issues advice to NHS boards on their clinical and cost-effectiveness. The SMC operates independently from the Scottish Government. NHS boards and Clinicians are expected to ta…

8 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has issued guidelines to NHS boards on the principles and timelines that should govern recommendations by area drugs and therapeutics committees (ADTCs) when reviewing new medicines approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium and, if so, whether such guidelines deal with the …

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Guidance was issued to NHS boards on 17 May 2010 under cover of CEL 17 (2010) regarding the introduction and availability of newly licensed medicines in the NHS in Scotland. The guidance is available at: http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/CEL2010_17.pdf.

6 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to ensure that Scottish small and medium-sized software firms will be able to provide add-on software for the two primary care systems that will replace the GPASS system.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Both the market leading companies have third party suppliers providing additional functionality. The accreditation arrangements for third party suppliers to EMIS (Egton Medical Information Systems) and INPS (In Practice Systems) are similar to those previousl…

18 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of hip fractures are operated on within 24 hours.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The information requested is not available centrally. NHS Scotland delivered the hip fracture standard in December 2007 and maintained it throughout 2008. Due to the excellent performance by NHS Scotland it was decided to stop the Scottish Hip fracture Audit…

18 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to evaluate the (a) risks, (b) benefits and (c) consumer acceptability of different types of meal provision by local authorities.

Answer · Alasdair Allan: Local authorities have responsibility for the standard and type of meals they provide. In the provision of meals, they must meet their duties as set out in any relevant standards and legislation including National Care Standards and the Schools (Health Promot…

18 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making toward meeting the World Health Organization's recommendation for reducing the burden of non communicable diseases by replacing all transfats with polyunsaturated fats.

Answer · Michael Matheson: We are committed to working jointly with industry and retailers to make healthy choices easier for everyone. The food industry has successfully taken voluntary steps to reformulate many products and as a result the average intake of trans fats has been signif…

18 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many midwives are there per (a)100 and (b) 1000 births broken down by (i) NHS board and (ii) community health partnership.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The number of midwives as at 30 June 2011 per 100 and 1000 births by NHS board are shown in the following table. Information by community health partnership is not available. Number of Whole-time Equivalent Midwives1 per 100 and 1,000 Births2 by NHS Board of…

18 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of verotoxin producing (VTEC) bacterial infection have been identified in Scotland in 2011 and were indentified in (a) 2009 and (b) 2010.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Health Protection Scotland receives laboratory notifications of culture positive cases of VTEC (verotoxigenic Escherichia coli) bacterial infection. These are defined as: All culture positive cases of Escherichia coli O157, and: All culture positive cases o…

18 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the full risk assessment which led NHS Scotland to decide not to run a catch-up campaign to immunise teenagers who are unprotected from the risk of measles, in light of the Health Protection Agency in England deciding to run such a campaign.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The English MMR catch-up campaign, which was launched in 2008, was targeted at all young people aged three years and seven months to under 18, and those over 18 going to higher/further education. The campaign was phased, with the youngest age groups being the…

18 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the relationship is between levels of deprivation and uptake of the MMR vaccination.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Information on MMR vaccine uptake and deprivation rates is contained in the published information on the ISD website, which looks each year (by NHS board) at vaccine uptake by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). This is available at the following l…

18 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will routinely test for Phenazepam as part of its monitoring of deaths where drug or drug and alcohol abuse is suspected.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: A full toxicology screening is required by the Procurator Fiscal in the case of a drug-related death. This screening will test for drugs of abuse or prescription drugs and would detect Phenazepam.

18 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what is the mortality rate at (a) 1 month and (b) 12 months, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The numbers of (a) neonatal and (b) infant deaths for each NHS Board area, and the rates that these represent per 1,000 live births, are published annually by the National Records of Scotland in Vital Events Reference Table 1.3. The most recent figures are a…

18 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive in which years since 2000 was the mean uptake of MMR vaccine less than 90% on the (a) first and (b) second injection.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Information regarding MMR vaccine uptake rates is available on the ISD website, where trends in uptake over time are published and maintained. The most recent uptake information is available at: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Child-Health/publicat…

17 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the case of Helen McGlone against Greater Glasgow Health Board, in which the board admitted negligence on its part on two occasions in failing to identify pre-cancerous cells from smear tests in December 2005 and March 2006 leading to the subsequent progression to cervical ca…

Answer · Michael Matheson: Following Ms McGlone’s legal case in 2008, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde reviewed the performance of individual laboratory staff and of laboratory systems and processes. This review found that the sensitivity rates of screeners were within the national perfor…

17 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of an audit carried out in 2010 suggesting that four out of its 128 cytoscreeners were not performing to the required standard, what steps has NHS Scotland taken to rectify errors that might have arisen as a result.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The information referred to within the question relates to the 2009-10 External Quality Assurance (EQA) scheme. The EQA scheme uses interpretive assessment utilising anonymised slides which have already been reported and are no longer required for clinical ma…

10 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-01444 by Michael Matheson on 25 July 2011, whether it will provide a breakdown by NHS board area of the (a) 30,422 children who had not been vaccinated and (b) estimated 5,254 children susceptible to measles despite vaccination, also expressed as per…

Answer · Michael Matheson: The information requested is shown in the following table. Data from the Scottish Immunisation and Recall System (SIRS) has been used to estimate the figures. SIRS data are primarily used to facilitate the correct call and recall of children up to the age of …

10 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-01444 by Michael Matheson on 25 July 2011, what percentage of the (a) 30,422 children who had not been vaccinated and (b) estimated 5,254 children susceptible to measles despite vaccination it estimates to fall into each socioeconomic group.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The information requested is shown in the following table. Data from the Scottish Immunisation and Recall System (SIRS) has been used to estimate the figures. SIRS data are primarily used to facilitate the correct call and recall of children up to the age of …

2 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation it has carried out with the (a) State Hospital, Carstairs and (b) Scottish Human Rights Commission regarding the draft regulations on the complaints sections of the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Informal consultation on the policies behind the proposed secondary legislation in relation to the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 was undertaken with a number of groups and organisations during the development stage of the act. Officials met with the Scot…

27 Jul 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make mandatory the use of the POS1 form for documenting the use of the powers under section 297 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Section 298 of the 2003 act makes provision for notification of various persons where a police officer uses the section 297 power to remove a relevant person to a place of safety. There are, therefore, already statutory duties on the constable to notify bodie…

27 Jul 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the audit by Macaskill, Brodie and Keil of referrals made to New Craigs Hospital by the police, whether it will carry out research on the operation of section 297 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003, to the reason that some areas have a lower inciden…

Answer · Michael Matheson: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-01906 on 15 August 2011. All answers to 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/MAQASearc…

27 Jul 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to eliminate any variations in the notification to the Mental Welfare Commission of place of safety orders under section 297 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 .

Answer · Michael Matheson: In its annual report for 2009-10, the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland notes that compliance with the duty on police officers to notify the commission of any place of safety orders is variable. The commission has indicated that it will look in greater d…