Dr Richard Simpson

17 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-33653 by Nicola Sturgeon on 1 June 2010, what information has been or will be made available from NHS boards to the National Review Group on posts that may or will become surplus to requirements in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13 as a result of forward p…

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Detailed proposals for the remit and operation of the scrutiny group are being developed and will be discussed collaboratively with the staff side and employers before they are finalised. The group is likely to focus on 2010-11 in the first instance.</p> <…

17 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether NHS Health Scotland has appointed a research team to evaluate implementation and compliance with the objectives and relevant requirements of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005; when it expects the research to be completed, and whether the team and NHS Health Scotland will report on…

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Part of the Scottish Government''s ongoing and encompassing 41 point package of measures to tackle alcohol misuse, detailed in <i>Changing Scotland''s Relationship with Alcohol: A Framework for Action, </i>is a portfolio of studies developed by NHS Health Sco…

17 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 Review Group report, whether it proposes to re-establish the National Licensing Forum.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-19087 on 5 January 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <u><a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Ap…

17 Jun 2010 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is content that the New Ways waiting times system is working satisfactorily.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The recent Audit Scotland report on <i >Managing NHS waiting lists “ A review of new arrangements</i> published on 4 March stated that New Ways has introduced significant changes to the way patients waits are managed, and NHSScotland has done well to implemen…

16 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on establishing a national parks strategy group chaired by the Minister for Environment.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: I have decided to defer any decision on setting up the group until after the next spending review.</b></p>

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Morbidity Record 24 is being used by all those who are monitoring drug misusers, including (a) voluntary organisations, (b) statutory NHS teams, (c) primary care providers and (d) the Scottish Prison Service.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: From 2001, Scottish Morbidity Record 24 (SMR24) forms were completed by voluntary organisations, statutory NHS teams and a limited number of primary care providers. SMR24 submissions were not received from the Scottish Prison Service. In April 2006, SMR24 was…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in developing an electronic single shared assessment for patients and clients with drug and alcohol problems.

Answer · John Swinney: There are no plans for the Scottish Government to develop an electronic single shared assessment specifically for patients and clients with drug and alcohol problems.</p> <p >The Scottish Government has developed single shared assessment for all users of com…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of Dr Brian Robson’s comments at the Institute of Healthcare Management Scotland Conference in October 2007 that in England 15% of hospitalisations are complicated by medication errors, one in seven hospital admissions occurs because care providers do not have access to previous…

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Information on the volume of incidents relating to the accessibility of hospital records or laboratory test results is not collected centrally.</p> <p >Hospital discharge records, which are collected centrally, are coded with diagnostic information relating …

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-23568 by Nicola Sturgeon on 14 May 2009, what it defines as the minimum data set for electronic health records in a clinical portal system.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Clinical Change Leadership Group conducted a wide survey of clinicians in 2009, receiving well over 3,000 responses from all parts of the service. There was a high degree of consensus around the information clinical staff considered to be of most importan…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-23301 and S3W-23568 by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 and 14 May 2009 respectively, what the timetable is for roll out of clinical portals to all NHS boards.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: A working prototype of clinical portal is currently under development within a consortium of South and East NHS boards led by NHS Lothian. North and West NHS board consortia are currently defining and assessing their delivery options. The incremental approach…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-23303 by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 May 2009, whether it will provide an answer that addresses data formats as opposed to network protocols.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish eHealth Programme recommends a standards-based approach when choosing or developing ICT systems, with a preference for open standards to ensure the maximum level of interoperability. The eHealth N3 network allows for standard data formats to be c…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3O-8345 by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 November 2010 (Official Report c. 20942), whether it is now in a position to report how many simultaneous users of the clinical portal are required by the individual NHS board systems and what the maximum delay will be to…

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Clinical portal is not a single system but a range of joined up products and services that will provide clinicians with a single route to access priority information. NHS boards are currently working in regional consortia to determine how best to deliver clin…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive by what (a) date and (b) mechanism each of the systems in Scotland will comply with the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of I v Finland by ensuring that patients can, if they wish, prevent their personal health information being accessible by anyone other than t…

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Currently, patients can restrict their personal health information being accessible by anyone other than the clinicians directly involved in their care, irrespective of the means by which this is done. Health professionals must respect these wishes, unless th…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it has put in place to ensure that NHS staff who could access patient data (a) do not do so without appropriate authorisation and (b) will be in a current clinical relationship with the patient and access data for a time-limited period.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Access to all patient identifiable information including health records is on a strict need to know basis in accordance with the Caldicott principles, Data Protection Act 1998, NHS Scotland Information Governance Standards and various codes of professional co…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that access to electronic patient records is not interrupted for any reason.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The NHS Scotland Security Policy states that boards will undertake a survey of their information systems and data and make an assessment of the likely security risks, including an evaluation of the likely impact and occurrence of any threats that may disrupt …

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive under what circumstances the police will have access to patient electronic data and files.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Data Protection Act 1998, permits uses or disclosures of personal data for the purpose of the prevention or detection of crime or the prosecution or apprehension of offenders. NHS boards have mechanisms in place to respond to appropriate information reque…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what access control mechanisms will be used to ensure that patients can restrict access to sensitive data to the clinicians involved directly in their care.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Patients can object to their sensitive information being shared within the healthcare team, irrespective of the means by which this happens. Health professionals must respect these wishes, unless the disclosure would be justified in the public interest or by …

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the NHS boards signed up to TrakCare patient management system have the records aggregated at one site.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: At the current time only one board has this situation prior to implementing TrakCare.</p>

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the new TrakCare patient management system announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing on 29 March 2010 will have servers in GP practices or local hospitals or hubs distant from the point of required access to the record.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: TrakCare is a client/server system and therefore, in general, the servers will be located in a secure server room at some distance from the required access to the record. In boards the servers will normally be at a hospital site, but a third-party data centre…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what threat model it has used in establishing security policy in the emergency care record system and the new computer records systems, in particular the TrakCare patient management system.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: NHS Scotland uses information security risk analysis and management methods to identify and mitigate risks. The NHS Scotland Security Policy states that boards will undertake a survey of their information systems and data, and make an assessment of the likely…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what improvements in security are being delivered in the patient management system referred to in the announcement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing on 29 March 2010.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Patient Management System will deliver improvements in the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the information held by integrating previously disjointed processes and reducing the reliance on paper-based records and manual activities. The syste…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual cost is for TrakCare for each of the six NHS boards involved and what the predicted annual costs will be if all NHS boards sign up.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The 10 year cost to each board is outlined in the following table. The annual cost has not been presented as there are annual fluctuations depending on local implementation and choice of specific modules. The annual cost if all Scottish NHS boards sign up can…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether NHS 24 will have access to TrakCare.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The national licence for a Patient Management System allows any NHS Scotland organisation to acquire a licence and deploy appropriate parts of the product on payment of agreed support charges. NHS24 currently does not have plans to use TrakCare.</p>

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the £44 million TrakCare contract will cover in NHS (a) Ayrshire and Arran, (b) Borders, (c) Grampian, (d) Greater Glasgow and Clyde and (e) Lanarkshire and whether the cost of TrakCare in Lothian will also be covered.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: This covers individual licence costs, and deployment and support charges for the five participant boards for a 10 year period. The costs for TrakCare in Lothian Health Board are not included.</p>

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the purchase of TrakCare has replaced the attempts to introduce a separately designed Scottish solution in the remaining eight NHS boards.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: There are no plans to introduce a separately designed Scottish solution. The consortium procurement to deliver a PMS solution that is available to all boards was set out in the eHealth Strategy in 2008. Boards beyond those in the consortium will consider whet…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what it regards as an appropriate level of anonymization of patient electronic records for the purpose of audit and research.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: <i >The Confidentiality and Security Advisory Group</i> (CSAGS) report published in 2003, defined Acceptably anonymised data as data from which in practice the patient cannot be identified by the recipient of the information, and where the theoretical probabi…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a computerised administrative register in the NHS in which sensitive information such as (a) contraceptive data, (b) compulsory mental health measures, (c) GUM clinic information and (d) termination of pregnancies exists, which is not anonymized or anonymized by full post…

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: (a) Contraceptive data is recorded and collected at individual health board level on the various clinical systems and may contain personal identifiable information.</p> <p >(b) Compulsory detention under Mental Health Scotland Act: All compulsory detentions…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what policy changes it has made following the clarification of human rights law regarding medical privacy by the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of I v Finland.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government expect NHS Scotland systems and processes to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998, the Human Rights Act 1998 and any other relevant law. The European Court of Human Rights case predated the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and th…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what reporting systems it has or will put in place for recording and central reporting to itself and the Information Commissioner of cases of inappropriate access to electronic patient data.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government does not centrally hold information on the number of unauthorised access to electronic patient data. It is the responsibility of individual NHS boards to record, report and investigate in line with their own local policies and procedur…

15 Jun 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what security has been put in place to ensure that aggregated waiting list data has a functionality to ensure (a) patient consent and (b) proactive rather than retrospective security on access to data by NHS administrators not involved in the clinical care of the patients.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Aggregated waiting list data do not contain patient identifiable data and may be processed lawfully without patient consent.</p>