Parliamentary questions
Dr Richard Simpson
2,702 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
8 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the patients who contracted Clostridium difficile at the Vale or Leven Hospital and were assessed for discharge and placed on the delayed discharge database before they were diagnosed with the infection died.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-43070 on 16 March 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at:</p> <p >http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2…
8 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the patients who contracted Clostridium difficile at the Vale of Leven Hospital were assessed for discharge and recorded on the delayed discharge database before they were diagnosed with the infection.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: This is a matter for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. The information requested is not held centrally.</p>
8 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the number needed to treat (NNT) value for treatment with eculizumab is one.
Answer · Shona Robison: That information is not held centrally.</p>
8 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether eculizumab is part of the national medication reinsurance scheme in Scotland.
Answer · Shona Robison: No national medication reinsurance scheme operates in Scotland. However, NHS boards do participate in the national orphan drugs risk share scheme. Eculizumab is not included in that scheme.</p>
8 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients are attending the National Services Division-sponsored clinic in Glasgow.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The National Services Division-sponsored clinic in Scotland managing patients with a diagnosis of paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH) is at Monklands Hospital in Airdrie. Over the last 12 months the Monklands clinic has seen 21 different PNH patients i…
8 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the prevalence is of paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria.
Answer · Shona Robison: The prevalence of paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria is estimated to be 13 cases per million.</p>
8 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the revised targets are for (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12 for starting hepatitis C treatment.
Answer · Shona Robison: Under the Hepatitis C Phase 2 Action Plan, the revised target for 2010-11 is to have 1,000 new initiations of people onto antiviral treatment. We expect NHS boards to exceed this number of treatment initiations this year.</p> <p >No target has yet been set f…
4 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-38040, S3W-38041, S3W-38607 and S3W-39444 by Keith Brown on 15 and 16 December 2010, 3 February and 3 March 2011 respectively, at what point the part of the iterative process for defining the timeline of the transport plan for the 2014 Ryder Cup th…
Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answers to questions S3W-38041 and S3W-39444 answered on 16 December 2010 and 3 March 2011 respectively. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be …
4 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much (a) it saved between 1 December 2008 and 31 December 2009 and (b) extra it will spend between 5 January and 31 December 2011 due to changes to the rate of VAT, broken down by (i) directorate and (ii) public body.
Answer · John Swinney: VAT is the responsibility of individual public bodies and as such information on their VAT costs is not held centrally.</b></p> <p >Figures are available in relation to savings in VAT paid in respect of the Scottish Government''s own VAT registration, coveri…
3 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of equity of access to orphan and ultra-orphan medicines between (a) NHS boards and (b) Scotland and other UK nations.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Decisions regarding the introduction of new medicines are taken by each of the UK countries through their own appraisal arrangements in line with established national priorities.</b></p> <p >Scotland''s independent, robust and transparent arrangements for th…
3 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the difference is between the criteria used by the Scottish Medicines Consortium in making judgements on ultra-orphan as opposed to orphan medicines.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) operates independently from the Scottish Government. Details about the nature of the SMC processes are available from their website at http://www.scottishmedicines.org.uk.</b></p>
3 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its assessment is of NHS board decisions on the funding of orphan and ultra-orphan medicines not recommended by the Scottish Medicines Consortium.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) operates independently from the Scottish Government and NHS boards are expected to follow SMC advice.</b></p> <p >Decisions regarding the provision of NHS services are a matter for NHS boards. Where a medicine has not …
3 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is provided to NHS boards regarding exceptional prescribing arrangements in relation to funding orphan and ultra-orphan medicines not recommended by the Scottish Medicines Consortium.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government is developing national good practice guidance in relation to NHS boards management of individual patient treatment requests, previously known as exceptional prescribing requests, for all newly licensed medicines, including orphan medic…
2 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it takes to ensure that all prisoners with a communication difficulty are assessed by a speech and language therapist.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:</p> <p >If it is identified that an adult prisoner may need speech and language therapy as part of their case management or clinical care a refer…
2 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has undertaken research on the reason for the increase in the number of prisoners on remand.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The population of remand prisoners has increased over the past decade, but the latest figures for 2009-10 show an average daily remand population 9% lower than the previous year.</p> <p >There has been internal analysis of the reasons for the increase in the…
2 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the timetable is for negotiations on NHSScotland Management Steering Group’s mixed economy for doctors.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: A number of meetings have been held between the Management Steering Group and the British Medical Association, the most recent on 8 March 2011. There is a commitment to discussions on both sides but no timetable as such has been agreed. Discussions will be on…
2 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the minutes of the project board of the Health Workforce Programme Board will be made public.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The next meeting of the Reshaping the Medical Workforce Project board will be on 17 March 2011. I will arrange for the minutes of that meeting and all future meetings to be placed on the SPICe website.</p>
2 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many accident and emergency units it expects will have consultant doctors available for 24 hours per day by 2015.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: NHS Scotland boards take the decisions on how to staff their accident and emergency units. Consultant support is directly available 24 hours per day, although not necessarily on site. We are aware that several boards are considering the cost-effectiveness of …
2 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many trainee doctor posts it plans to disestablish in (a) 2011, (b) 2012, (c) 2013, (d) 2014, and (e) 2015 at (i) first year level 1, (ii) first year level 2 and (iii) Certificate of Completion of Training level.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: There are no plans to disestablish posts at first or second year level. For 2011 the planned reduction in Specialty Training posts is 49. Reductions in future years will depend upon the rate at which current trainees complete training and will be in line with…
2 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the regional medical workforce group in the NHS Fife area made decisions that resulted in the loss of trainee doctor input on maintaining the accident and emergency rota and, if so, whether it has issued guidance and consulted as a result.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: NHS Fife made the decision to provide a minor injuries service at Victoria Hospital during out of hours periods in the interests of ensuring patient safety, avoiding the uncertainty involved in the previous contingency arrangements about when and from where f…
2 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether compensation is provided to NHS boards that lose trainee input as a result of decisions by regional medical workforce groups.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: In any cases where boards have had trainee reductions due to disestablishment, the base salary for the post has been returned to the board. There are, of course, other trainee movements that are dictated by training requirements and there have always been mov…
2 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of decisions that have made by regional medical workforce groups that have resulted in NHS boards losing trainee input and, if so, which (a) NHS boards and (b) posts were affected.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The National Reshaping the Medical Workforce Project Board, after extensive consultations, made recommendations to me about reductions in specialty trainee intake numbers for 2010 and 2011. A reshaping Working Group has been set up to help boards plan to reac…
2 Mar 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what resources NHS Education for Scotland has transferred to each NHS board to fund trainee doctors’ salaries.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The following table shows the payments that have been made by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to NHS boards to fund trainee doctors'' salaries in the period April 2010 to February 2011. These figures vary from month to month depending on rotations and exclud…
28 Feb 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what modelling it has done as to (a) whether and (b) when a full MRSA screening programme for hospital admissions could result in low endemic proportions of MRSA so that a search and destroy strategy could be employed and what cost savings could be made by such a change in approach.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Health Protection Scotland has advised the health technology assessment model projected a reduction within five years of implementing screening to a level of very low endemic prevalence (<1%).</b></p> <p >Continued monitoring of MRSA prevalence will be re…
28 Feb 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) risks and (b) benefits are of rolling out a Scotland-wide MRSA screening programme for hospital admissions.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Health Protection Scotland has advised that the principal anticipated benefit of the screening programme is a reduction in MRSA infections in acute hospitals. MRSA infection has a negative impact on quality of life and length of stay in hospital, therefore lo…
28 Feb 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the likely (a) costs and (b) savings are in rolling out a Scotland-wide MRSA screening programme for hospital admissions.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Health Protection Scotland advises that the report indicates that the revised Scotland-wide MRSA screening programme will be cost effective, with the cost per quality adjusted life year saved being modest in comparison with many other accepted healthcare inte…
28 Feb 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the confidence intervals are for the predicted reductions in MRSA colonisation prevalence and infection incidence associated with MRSA laboratory test-based screening.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Confidence intervals around the infection estimates are detailed for tertiary referral hospitals in the economic analyses report on page 14 in table 8-1; and for large general hospitals in the economic analyses report on page 15 in table 8-2 at:</p> <p ><a h…
28 Feb 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what independent evaluation of the findings in the report on the MRSA Screening Pathfinder Programme will be undertaken before proceeding to any roll-out of the programme.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The MRSA programme board evaluated and debated the findings and made a recommendation to the HAI Task Force on future direction for MRSA screening in NHSScotland.</b></p> <p >The HAI Task Force then further evaluated the findings of the Pathfinder Programme …
28 Feb 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the estimates of the NHS Quality Improvement Scotland health technology assessment economic model assumptions in the report on the MRSA Screening Pathfinder Programme have been or will be subject to peer review.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Health Protection Scotland has advised that the estimates for assumptions made within the NHS QIS Health Technology Assessment (HTA) model were peer reviewed and underwent public consultation according to NHS QIS process for the production of HTAs.</b></p> <…
28 Feb 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the report on the MRSA Screening Pathfinder Programme has been or will be subject to peer review.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Yes, the reports on the Pathfinder Programme were<b> </b>subject to peer review by the appropriate working group; the MRSA Programme Board; and external experts.</b></p> <p >Each report was reviewed according to HPS Quality Assurance protocol. </p>