Parliamentary questions
Jackson Carlaw
1,088 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
18 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the number of cases in which the NHS has been guilty of clinical negligence in each year since 1997, providing details of compensation paid out in each year both nationally and by NHS board.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The following tables detail the numbers of clinical negligence cases that settled in the financial years 1996-97 to 2006-07.</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <td width=188 valign=top > <p align=center >Health Board<…
18 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to measure satisfaction rates of NHS users.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Work is routinely undertaken in NHS boards across Scotland to survey patients' experience of local care and to implement learning from the NHS Complaints Procedure and other local feedback arrangements.</p> <p >However, <i >Better Together,</i> our new natio…
18 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints have been registered against the NHS each year since 1997, also broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Statistical information on complaints made under the NHS Complaints Procedure, broken down by NHS board and by financial year, is published annually and can be found at <a href="http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4362.html">http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4362.htm…
18 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the number of cases in which NHS 24 has been found guilty of clinical negligence in each year since 1999, providing details of compensation paid out in each year, and also breaking the figures down by NHS board area.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: There have been no cases involving NHS 24 in the period referred to.</p>
18 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to measure satisfaction rates of NHS 24 users.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Since 2004 NHS 24 has undertaken regular six-monthly patient surveys involving 1,200 randomly selected patients. Respondents are asked a short series of questions about their experience of the service and the return rate is between 25% and 30%. The overall sa…
18 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints have been registered in relation to NHS 24 in each year since its inception, also broken down by NHS board area.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The following table gives details of the numbers of complaints made to NHS 24 since 2004-05, the first year that NHS 24 was fully operational across Scotland. These may relate solely to NHS 24 or may concern NHS 24 and the services provided by NHS partners. T…
13 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will judge the success or failure of guidelines it issued to NHS boards on hospital parking charges and how such judgement will be made.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: For those boards where car parking charges are currently in place, we shall be reviewing their current car parking schemes against the principles and criteria set out in the revised guidance. Accordingly, we have asked for reports from these boards by 30 June…
13 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to improve public transport to and from hospitals where car parking charges have been introduced.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: NHSScotland boards have for some time been required by the NHSScotland Environmental Management policy to co-operate with local authorities, regional transport partnerships and other stakeholders in the planning and implementation of local and regional transp…
13 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of NHS staff at hospitals where car parking charges have been introduced have been granted parking permits and on what basis applications for such passes are judged.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The following table shows the proportion of staff with car parking permits at those NHSScotland hospital sites where car parking charges have been introduced.</p> <p >The criteria used in the allocation of staff car parking permits has always been a matter t…
13 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to deal with any problems of NHS staff leaving posts at hospitals at which car parking charges have been introduced in order to work at hospitals where the charge has not been introduced.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Neither we within the Scottish Government, nor officials within NHS boards where car parking charging schemes are in place, have any evidence that staff are leaving posts at such hospitals to work at other NHSScotland locations where car parking charges have …
12 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what barriers exist to increasing chlamydia screening among men to at least the levels of screening among women and what action could be taken to overcome such barriers.
Answer · Shona Robison: Generally, men do not access health services as often as women. The reasons for this may be embarrassment, a lack of awareness of the services which are available or not recognising when they may be at risk.</p> <p >It is our aim to increase chlamydia testin…
12 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it believes that the chlamydia screening targets set out in NHS Quality Improvement Scotland’s draft standards are sufficient to meet the aims of its sexual health and relationships strategy on preventing sexually transmitted infections.
Answer · Shona Robison: The targets for chlamydia testing set out in the draft NHS Quality Improvement Standards have been informed by sexual health key clinical indicators and represent best practice in Scotland.</p> <p >The standards represent the minimum level of chlamydia testi…
12 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the success of the Ayrshire and Arran pilot of chlamydia screening through pharmacies.
Answer · Shona Robison: There has as yet been no formal assessment of the chlamydia testing feasibility study in Ayrshire and Arran. This is due to the small number of community pharmacies and patients which took part.</p> <p >NHS Ayrshire and Arran are now planning to increase the…
12 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to collect data by NHS board for chlamydia screening in 2008 and how regularly such data is expected to be collected in future years.
Answer · Shona Robison: Data on chlamydia testing in NHS board areas is collected by Health Protection Scotland to answer the first population key clinical indicators. These were developed as part of the implementation of the sexual health strategy, <i >Respect and Responsibility</i…
12 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to NHS boards regarding improved recording of repeat testing of individuals for chlamydia in order to improve the accuracy of statistics.
Answer · Shona Robison: Health Protection Scotland, on behalf of the Scottish Government and in association with chlamydia testing laboratories, is exploring ways to develop existing monitoring systems so that a greater understanding of repeat testing among individuals can be achiev…
12 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to NHS Quality Improvement Scotland regarding improved recording of repeat testing of individuals for chlamydia in order to improve the accuracy of statistics.
Answer · Shona Robison: <i >Respect and Responsibility</i>, Scotland's national Sexual Health Strategy, allocates actions to NHS Quality Improvement Scotland and to NHS National Services Scotland's Information Services Division to set sexual health standards and to improve data coll…
12 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many diagnoses of chlamydia were reported to Health Protection Scotland in the third quarter of 2007-08.
Answer · Shona Robison: Health Protection Scotland received 4,381 laboratory reports of genital chlamydia for the 3rd quarter of 2007-08, i.e. for the period October to December 2007.</p>
12 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to introduce a national screening programme for chlamydia.
Answer · Shona Robison: No. Chlamydia testing in Scotland takes place on an opportunistic basis by GPs and other health care professionals, which is in line with the SIGN guidelines.</p>
27 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-9255 by Shona Robison on 19 February 2008, what steps NHS boards are taking to ensure that diabetic patients on rosiglitazone who suffer from ischaemic heart disease or peripheral arterial disease are no longer prescribed this medicine, as it is no l…
Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-9255 on 19 February 2008. Health care professionals were informed about the advice from the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use in the February 2008 edition of the Medicines and Healthcare p…
27 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive on what basis it was decided to phase out the Cultural Co-ordinators in Schools programme and what guidance has been given to schools in light of this programme coming to an end.
Answer · Linda Fabiani: Whilst the Scottish Government commends positive impacts achieved by cultural co-ordinators, it considers that these activities should be integrated into the mainstream of schools' and local authorities' cultural and educational practice. To assist this progr…
27 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to attract and retain volunteer drivers to take patients to and from health-related appointments.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Community transport organisations play a vital role in proving access to NHS facilities. Recent guidance to the NHS in Scotland sets out a three-year action plan aimed at increasing the focus on volunteering in Scotland''s NHS. The guidance is available at:</…
27 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many volunteer drivers there have been to take patients to health-related appointments in each year since 1997, also broken down by NHS board area.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The following table details the number of volunteer ambulance car drivers since 2004, broken down by NHS board area. Information is not held for the years previous to 2003-04.</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <tr > <td valign=top > <p…
27 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive who is prevented from donating blood; what the scientific justification is for each category of person prevented from donating blood, and what plans it has to reconsider who can and who cannot donate blood.
Answer · Shona Robison: People prevented from donating blood can be placed broadly in two categories:</p> <p >(1.) Those whose medical history, travel history, or behaviours put them at risk of passing on transfusion transmissible infections and</p> <p >(2.) Those whose medical …
27 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total number of vehicles was in the Scottish Ambulance Service’s fleet in each year since 1997, also broken down by NHS board area.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The total number of Scottish Ambulance Service fleet vehicles for the years 2001-02 to 2007-08 is outlined in the table. The information is provided in terms of Scottish Ambulance Service division areas and is not available broken down into NHS board areas. T…
27 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints have been registered against the Scottish Ambulance Service in each year since 1997, also broken down by NHS board area.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Details of the number of complaints against the Scottish Ambulance Service from 1997-98 to 2007-08 are outlined in the following table. The information is only available broken down into complaints relating to Scottish Ambulance Service Divisional Areas and E…
27 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) total number and (b) cost were of Scottish Government publications produced in each year since 1999, showing how many recipients of these documents requested a hard copy and how many had documents sent to them as part of general mailshots.
Answer · John Swinney: A list of Scottish Government publications and their costs from 1 June 2007 to 31 December 2007 is as follows.</p> <p >A list of Scottish Executive publications and their costs since 1999 is given in <i>Scottish Executive List of Publications/Costs </i><i>1 …
27 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking, and what targets it has, to reduce the number of documents that it publishes in hard copy.
Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-8934 on 28 January 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…
11 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why NHS Quality Improvement Scotland’s draft consultation document on sexual health services has a target for male screening for chlamydia of 10% compared with 30% for women.
Answer · Shona Robison: The targets for chlamydia screening set out in the draft <i >NHS Quality Improvement Standards</i> have been informed by sexual health Key Clinical Indicators and represent existing best practice in Scotland.</p>
11 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans are in place to increase chlamydia screening through local pharmacies, similar to the Ayrshire and Arran pilot.
Answer · Shona Robison: There is no national screening programme for chlamydia in Scotland. Chlamydia testing takes place on an opportunistic basis by GPs and other health care professionals, which is in line with SIGN Guidelines.</p> <p >It is therefore for local NHS boards to det…
11 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of (a) men and (b) women are being screened for chlamydia by each NHS board and how these figures compare with screening targets.
Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-9748 on 27 February 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/weba…