Dr Richard Simpson

29 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-14717 by Nicola Sturgeon on 14 July 2008, when it expects a definitive outcome to consideration and implementation planning by groups other than the West of Scotland Regional Planning Group on ambulance services to meet the growing demand for transfe…

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: A business case for the introduction of optimal reperfusion therapy is being considered by the South East and Tayside Regional Planning Group.</p> <p >The North of Scotland Planning Group is developing a model of optimal reperfusion which takes account of ge…

29 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-14717 by Nicola Sturgeon on 14 July 2008, when it expects a definitive outcome to the West of Scotland Regional Planning Group’s consideration and implementation planning on ambulance services to meet the growing demand for transfer to Hairmyres Hosp…

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The West of Scotland Regional Planning Group has agreed to support the introduction of an optimal reperfusion therapy service. The service modelling undertaken by the group, in conjunction with the Scottish Ambulance Service, is intended to ensure that the re…

25 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-12022 by Nicola Sturgeon on 24 April 2008, when it will respond to the reports on hospital car parking provided by NHS boards by 30 June 2008.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: NHS board reports on their car parking schemes have been received and are currently being considered. A full policy statement will be made shortly together with proposals for updating the existing guidance.</p>

25 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cleaning contracts with private sector organisations are operational in hospitals and when these contracts are due to be renewed.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The hospitals and NHS board with outsourced or PFI cleaning contracts are as follows:</p> <p >NHS Ayrshire and Arran “ East Ayrshire Community Hospital. PFI contract over 25 years benchmarked on a five-yearly basis.</p> <p >NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde “ D…

25 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospitals still have externally-provided cleaning services.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-15208 on 22 August 2008. There are six hospitals and one NHS board with outsourced or PFI contract cleaning services.</p> <p >All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s w…

25 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance has been issued to NHS boards, control of infection teams and tissue-viability staff on contaminants of acute faecal incontinence associated with Clostridium difficile infection.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Each NHS board has an infection control manual which contains guidance on the prevention and control of Clostridium difficile. In addition model infection control policies (which cover the management of soiled linen) are available on Health Protection Scotlan…

25 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken beyond the mandatory surveillance programme for Clostridium difficile to ensure that the outcomes for all affected patients are recorded.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The <i >Scottish Government Health Directorates Healthcare Associated Infection - Recommendations and Actions</i> <i >report,</i> published on 7 August 2008, outlines a number of recommendations and actions which will be implemented to ensure that Clostridium…

25 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospitals (a) have and (b) do not have specialist pharmacists advising on the use of antibiotics in both the prevention and treatment of Clostridium difficile.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The<i > Antimicrobial Prescribing Policy and Practice 2005, </i>and <i >Scottish Management of Antimicrobial Resistance Action Plan 2008 </i>guidance documents called for all NHS boards to establish an Antimicrobial Management Team (AMT), which would include …

25 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance has been issued on the use of antibiotics in the prevention and treatment of Clostridium difficile and when this guidance was first issued and last updated.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The first guidance document issued to NHS boards on the use of antibiotics in the prevention of Clostridium difficile was the <i >Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy and Scottish Action Plan,</i> <i >2002</i>.</p> <p >The Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI)…

22 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made towards implementing new extended services for (a) osteoporosis, (b) heart failure and (c) peripheral vascular disease.

Answer · Shona Robison: We are in regular dialogue with stakeholders about clinical priorities and the development of new enhanced services through the GMS contract. Further work on proposed enhanced services will proceed following the conclusion of our current consultation with the…

22 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what research it is undertaking on the appropriateness of usage of GP appointments within the extended hours.

Answer · Shona Robison: The intention of extended hours is to increase the availability of routine GP appointments outside of normal office hours, regardless of the patient''s background or circumstance. There is in principle no restriction on who may book an extended hours appointm…

22 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what research it is undertaking on the health needs of patients making GP appointments within the extended hours.

Answer · Shona Robison: The intention of extended hours is to increase the availability of routine GP appointments outside of normal office hours, regardless of the patient''s background or circumstance. We are, therefore, not undertaking research on the health needs of patients acc…

22 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is monitoring the impact of extended hours in GP surgeries on the use of NHS24 between (a) 7.30 am and 9.00 am and 5.30 pm and 7.30 pm on Monday to Friday and (b) 8.00 am and 12.30 pm on Saturday.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: NHS 24 is not required to specifically monitor call volumes in relation to changes to GP surgery hours. They do, however, constantly monitor volumes of calls both during and out with peak demand times. </p> <p >The purpose of extended hours is to increase t…

22 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is monitoring the extent of the use of extended hours in GP surgeries.

Answer · Shona Robison: We are monitoring the take up of extended hours in GP surgeries through NHS boards. As of 1 August, over half of GP practices in Scotland have indicated that they intend to provide extended opening.</p>

22 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many GP surgeries have (a) agreed to undertake and (b) opted out of extended hours broken down by (i) NHS board and (ii) community health partnership.

Answer · Shona Robison: The following table shows a breakdown by NHS board of extended hours participation in general practice.</p> <p >As at 18 July 2008, 458 GPs in Scotland have contractually signed up to provide extended hours. Three hundred and fifty-seven have declined to off…

16 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Category A calls to the Scottish Ambulance Service in Glasgow, or the smallest area including the city for which calls are recorded, were made in (a) 2006 and (b) 2007 in respect of drug overdoses due to heroin or other opiates (i) alone or (ii) in combination with other substanc…

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) has provided the following table, which sets out all overdose/poisoning related calls for Glasgow (postcode sectors G1 to G5). </p> <p >The information is recorded by dispatch code so the SAS are unable to provide definit…

4 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are some very rare diseases where risk sharing in the provision of drug treatment could benefit from a UK-wide scheme and whether it has considered or will consider initiating discussions to this end.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Arrangements are in place in Scotland to allow financial risk sharing for the provision of drug treatment for very rare diseases. There are no plans to introduce a UK-wide scheme.</p>

4 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance exists to help NHS boards identify ultra-orphan disease and provide adequate and effective care for patients who have been diagnosed with such disease.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-13896 on 16 June 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…

4 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what provision it has made to support access to treatment for patients with ultra-orphan disease.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-13894 on 16 June 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…

4 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what processes exist to support NHS boards in funding treatments for ultra-orphan disease and whether this includes a risk-sharing scheme for funding.

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-13894 on 16 June 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:</p> <p ><a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.u…

4 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13709 by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 June 2008, whether the (a) 5,692 Code 50 outpatients, (b) 680 Code 59 outpatients, (c) 129 Code 50 in-patients and (d) 1,622 Code 59 in-patients had their “clock” stopped or reset to zero on transfer and whether each pa…

Answer · Shona Robison: Patients on a waiting list who are transferred within the same NHS board to another specialty (removal reason code 50) or transferred to another NHS Board area (removal reason code 59) do not have their &quot;waiting time clock&quot; stopped or reset to zero.…

3 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been made available to NHS for (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11.

Answer · Shona Robison: The initial allocations for each health board for 2008-09 were:</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <td nowrap valign=bottom > <p align=left >NHS Boards</p> </td> <td nowrap valign=bottom > <p align=left >200…

3 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been made available to each local authority for (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11.

Answer · John Swinney: The information requested is set out in the Scottish Government’s Finance Circular 1-2008, which details the Local Government Finance Settlements covering the period 2008-11. A copy of this circular is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Referenc…

3 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, following the publication of Getting it Right for Every Child in Kinship and Foster Care, whether it will issue guidance to the Care Commission and the Social Work Inspection Agency on the appropriate limits on placement of children with foster parents.

Answer · Adam Ingram: As stated in <i >Getting it Right for Every Child in Kinship and Foster Care</i>, the appropriate placement limit depends on the circumstances of the individual carer. The Looked After Children (Scotland) regulations will require a fostering panel to approve …

3 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, following the publication of Getting it Right for Every Child in Kinship and Foster Care, whether it has agreed with COSLA that fostering allowances should be paid to kinship carers in any period between now and the completion of the assessment and approval process.

Answer · Adam Ingram: Where a “looked after” child is already living with a kinship carer and the local authority is satisfied that its approval process and the current arrangements for the child are satisfactory, the authority may already be in a position to pay allowances equiva…

3 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, following the publication of Getting it Right for Every Child in Kinship and Foster Care, by what date it expects (a) the British Association for Adoption and Fostering and The Fostering Network to have presented their recommendations for the assessment of kinship carers and (b) to have …

Answer · Adam Ingram: The reference group, led by the British Association for Adoption and Fostering and the Fostering Network will present their initial recommendations for the assessment and approval of kinship carers to Scottish ministers in the late summer.</p> <p >Revised re…

3 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, following the publication of Getting it Right for Every Child in Kinship and Foster Care, by what date it expect all local authorities to be paying at least the minimum fostering allowances based on The Fostering Network’s recommended role and what actions it is taking to monitor impleme…

Answer · Adam Ingram: We continue to support the payment of allowances based on The Fostering Network’s recommended rate of allowance. It is however up to individual local authorities to decide on an appropriate rate of allowance based on their local need and priorities.</p> <p …

3 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, following the publication of Getting it Right for Every Child in Kinship and Foster Care, by what date it expects all local authorities to extend fostering placements to age 18.

Answer · Adam Ingram: At present, local authorities can extend fostering placements to age 18 and beyond if it is in the best interests of the young person in foster care and with the agreement of the foster carer.</p> <p >We will support local authorities to do this through issu…

3 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in light of the discovery of personal records at Strathmartine Hospital, it is now confident that all sites of NHS buildings that have been decommissioned will be totally cleansed of all personal records, both paper and digital versions.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The NHSScotland Chief Executive wrote to all NHS boards on 22 May seeking confirmation that obligations were met with regard to the management, retention and disposal of records. A reference to decommissioned hospitals premises was also included. All replies …

2 Jul 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many school nurses there were in Scotland in (a) 2005, (b) 2006 and (c) 2007.

Answer · Shona Robison: The following table provides the number of whole-time equivalent (WTE) school nurses in Scotland in 2005 and 2007 at September of each year. Whole-time equivalent adjusts head count figures to take account of part-time staff.</p> <p >These figures are collec…