Parliamentary questions

Carolyn Leckie

686 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

7 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any products produced in the Protein Fractionation Centre in Edinburgh have been recalled.

Answer · Andy Kerr: There has been no recall of productsfrom the Protein Fractionation Centre (PFC)following the recent Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)inspection.

7 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what will happen to the products produced in the Protein Fractionation Centre in Edinburgh in the period preceding the shutdown of the plant.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish National Blood TransfusionService are continuing to issue products from the Protein Fractionation Centre inconsultation with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

7 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what risks to the safe production of products have been identified at the Protein Fractionation Centre in Edinburgh.

Answer · Andy Kerr: An inspection by the Medicinesand Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in January 2006 identified a needto upgrade systems and procedures at the Protein Fractionation Centre (PFC), andaction is being taken forward to implement these upgrades. Risk ass…

7 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what circumstances caused the shutdown of the Protein Fractionation Centre in Edinburgh.

Answer · Andy Kerr: There is a statutory requirementfor pharmaceutical producers to be inspected by the Medicines and Healthcare ProductsRegulatory Agency (MHRA) within a two year period. In 2004 MHRA highlighted a needto upgrade systems and procedures at the ProteinFractionatio…

7 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care's speech to the conference on autism held in Aviemore in November 2005.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Deputy Minister for Healthand Community Care’s speech to the conference on Health and Autism has been publishedin the conference report. The report will be widely disseminated to health professionalsand is available on the Scottish Executive website at th…

1 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its written submission to the Health Committee as part of its consideration of the case for an inquiry into infection with hepatitis C as a result of NHS treatment, which lessons it and previous governments considered were necessary to be learned and which lessons were learned.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive, and previous governments, have consistently remained open to learning any lessons which would improve donor and patient safety. Current procedures demonstrate that lessons have been learned. Where returning blood donors from pre…

1 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reconsider its policies in respect of contracting the private sector to provide clinical care.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive will not be reconsidering its policies at present in respect of contracting with the independent sector to provide clinical care. Thousands of patients across Scotland have benefited already from our use of the independent sector, and w…

1 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans the Executive has to review all contracts with private health care providers, in light of reports of infections following cataract surgery carried out by the Advanced Centre for Eye Care under contract to NHS Glasgow in The Herald on 31 January 2006.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive has no such plans. Explicit guidance has been issued to NHS boards underlining their responsibilities to ensure services provided to NHS patients by the independent health care sector meet the quality standards that apply in the NHS in …

1 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide the details of contracts with private providers for clinical care such as cataract operations and, specifically, whether the contracts enable the Executive to recover any costs associated with the NHS having to provide care to patients who have developed complicati…

Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive does not hold this information as contracts with independent sector providers are held by individual NHS boards.

1 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have been admitted into the care of the NHS following the development of complications arising from treatment, procedures or care provided by private health care providers.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Information on the numbers of patients admitted to NHS hospitals due to complications in treatment received in the independent sector is not held centrally.

1 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many documents it has not released into the public domain in respect of the need for an independent public inquiry into the infection of patients contracting hepatitis C from contaminated blood products; why these documents have been withheld, and whether it will review its decision t…

Answer · Andy Kerr: This was the subject of a Freedom of Information Review request from the member. A copy of this response has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 38917).

1 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether ministers have read and directly reviewed all the papers and evidence from primary sources in their consideration and judgement on the need for an independent public inquiry into the infection of patients contracting hepatitis C from contaminated blood products.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Ministers have fully considered all the relevant information and issues.

1 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what explanation it has for any delays by previous governments in implementing an agreed compensation scheme for people participating in clinical trials of blood products, such as factor VIII.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The involvement of patients in clinical trials took place around the introduction of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) heat-treated Factor VIII product in 1987. Papers already released include correspondence in relation to eligibility fo…

1 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has learned any lessons from the fact that NHS Scotland has not implemented the Council of Europe Recommendation No. R (83) 8 on the prevention of possible transmission of AIDS to patients receiving blood or blood products.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Council of Europe recommendation R (83) 8 makes a number of recommendations in relation to AIDS. The recommendations dealt with the use of coagulation factor products prepared from large plasma pools; informing patients and recipients of the risks of blood pr…

1 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that everyone who received a blood transfusion before 1991, when there was a higher risk of transmitting the hepatitis C virus, will be traced and given an opportunity to receive viral screening and health checks.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Following the introduction of testing in 1991, considerable work was carried out to trace any links between blood donors infected with hepatitis C and patients who had received infected blood. A lookback exercise was undertaken by UK blood services from 1995 …

1 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make renewed contact with all women who are at risk of having contracted blood-borne viruses from Anti-D immunoglobulin.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive is not aware of any evidence which suggests that women in Scotland have contracted blood-borne viruses from anti-D immunoglobulin. It is, therefore, not necessary to make contact with women who have received this product.

1 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive over what period there was a risk of contracting blood-borne viruses from Anti-D immunoglobulin and when it became free from blood-borne viruses.

Answer · Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-22853 on 23 February 2006. 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…

1 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many women have received Anti-D immunoglobulin that has carried risk of infection with blood-borne viruses.

Answer · Andy Kerr: All blood products carry a risk of infection from blood-borne viruses, however small. It is estimated that about 200,000 women in Scotland will have been treated with anti-D immunoglobulin since its introducion in 1968. Anti-D immunoglobulin, which is adminis…

27 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any consideration has been given to the impact on the recruitment and retention of student and qualified nurses in NHS Fife and the future staffing requirements of the board of the proposal to relocate all nurse teaching currently provided in Kirkcaldy to Dundee.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Decisions about where, and how, pre-registration nursing and midwifery programmes are provided, are a matter for the higher education institutions who deliver them, in consultation with all other stakeholders including NHSScotland. I have sought assura…

24 Jan 2006 · SPCB Oral Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body by how much it has subsidised the members¿ dining room to date and what subsidy it will provide in future.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The members' restaurant is available to all passholders on a Monday and Friday and is also used to host official functions and events. The bar area is accessible to all passholders. The estimated total subsidy across all the Parliament’s catering outle…

20 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it agrees with the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s position that the 2006 pay award for healthcare staff should be in the region of 2%.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive agrees with the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s position that the pay review bodies should base their 2006 pay settlements on the achievement of the Government inflation target of 2%.

20 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what involvement ministers will have in the decision on the 2006 pay award for NHS Scotland staff.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The process for determining NHS pay awards is that independent pay review bodies covering doctors and dentists (DDRB) and nurses and other health professionals (NOHPRB) receive written and oral evidence from Health Departments, NHS employers, and trades union…

20 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether affordability issues influenced its decision to support abolition of the Rule of 85 in the Local Government Pension Scheme and, if so, whether it will publish the rationale.

Answer · Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the question S2W-22526 answered on 2 February 2006. 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…

20 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received the report commissioned by the Scottish Public Pensions Agency in respect of the affordability of the Rule of 85 in the Local Government Pension Scheme; if so, what consideration it has given to this report, what conclusions it has drawn, whether it will publish th…

Answer · Tom McCabe: refer the member to the question S2W-22526 answered on 2 February 2006. 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/…