Parliamentary questions

Colin Fox

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

11 Nov 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there has been an increase in levels of chest infections in (a) Firrhill, (b) Oxgangs and (c) south Edinburgh in the last five years and, if so, what the increase has been.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Information to this level of detail is not held centrally.

21 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the report of the analysis of the responses to the consultation document on children’s oral health will be published.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The analysis of the responses will be published when we announce the outcome of the consultation.

19 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what involvement it will have in selecting and appointing the new Health and Safety Committee for Scotland and what information it has on how this will be done.

Answer · Allan Wilson: I refer the member to the question S2W-11547 answered on 15 November 2004. 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/webap…

19 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on what powers the new Health and Safety Committee for Scotland will have and how often it will meet.

19 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on who was consulted prior to the decision to establish a new Health and Safety Committee for Scotland in partnership with the Health and Safety Executive.

Answer · Allan Wilson: Health and safety policy is reserved and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Scotland has the lead responsibility in creating the proposed new Health and Safety Committee for Scotland. Informal discussions have taken place between HSE officials, their minis…

6 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and which, hospitals have closed in each year since 1997.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The details are shown in the following table. Many of these hospitals were long-stay mental health and learning disability institutions, which closed because of the emphasis on provision of care in the community. Others were old buildings which were no longer…

1 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to exempt mental health patients subject to medical treatment under compulsory treatment orders provided for by the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 from prescription charges.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Compulsory treatment orders may be made following commencement of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act in April 2005. The majority of patients who become subject to a Compulsory Treatment Order (CTO) will be detained in hospital and will rece…

1 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the administrative costs were of providing notification of revised prescription charges to relevant health organisations in each year since 2001.

Answer · Andy Kerr: This information is not available. Notification of changes to prescription charges and other health costs is one element within the overall process of amending the relevant NHS regulations. The administrative cost of preparing circulars for distribution canno…

1 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of prescription items not dispensed that would have attracted a prescription charge.

Answer · Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-11146, answered on 25 October 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:<ahref="http://www.scottish.par…

1 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of patients unable to afford prescription charges.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The NHS Low Income Scheme offers help to people who have difficulty in paying for their prescriptions. In 2003-04, 52,668 claimants received full help under the scheme, including free NHS prescriptions. Twenty-seven thousand and fourteen claimants did not qua…

1 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prescribed items were not dispensed in each of the last five years.

Answer · Andy Kerr: This information is not available. The number of items dispensed is known, but information about NHS prescriptions issued to patients is recorded by prescribers in patients’ notes and the number is not held centrally.

1 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the costs were of publicising exemption and remission arrangements for NHS prescription charges in each year since 1999.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Until April 2004 the Department of Health in London (DH) was responsible for the preparation, printing and distribution across Great Britain of publicity material about help with health charges and about NHS prescription charge exemption and remission arrange…

30 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many community midwives serve the Lothians area, expressed in full-time-equivalent terms; what ratio of community midwives to women of childbearing age this figure represents, and what the staffing complement of community midwives is and how many of these posts are currently unfilled.

Answer · Andy Kerr: At 31 March 2004, there were 41.1 whole-time equivalent (WTE) community midwives and 2.0 WTE vacancies in NHS Lothian. Using 2003 mid-year population estimates there are 23.1 community midwives per 100,000 women aged 15 to 44.

30 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many community midwives served in the Lothians area in the six months prior to maternity services being moved to the new Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, expressed in full-time-equivalent terms; what ratio of community midwives to women of childbearing age this figure represented, and what…

Answer · Andy Kerr: At 30 September 2001, there were 40.9 whole-time equivalent community midwives in NHS Lothian. Using 2001 mid-year population estimates there were 22.8 community midwives per 100,000 women aged 15 to 44.Information on community midwifery vacancies is n…

20 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which pharmaceutical companies are the largest suppliers to the NHS in respect of (a) volume and (b) annual expenditure.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Information in the form requested is not available centrally. Data on drugs dispensed in the community are collected by NHS National Services Scotland and include the drug name, formulation and cost. Many generic drugs are available from different manufacture…

13 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many students have been admitted to university medical schools this year and what proportion of such students at each university come from (a) private and (b) state schools.

Answer · Jim Wallace: This information is not currently available. The first set of data on the number of admittances to medical courses at Scottish Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in 2004 will be available in January 2005 when final UCAS acceptance data for 2004 are publishe…

13 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what effect six-hour patient discharge policies in respect of maternity care are having on breastfeeding targets in the Lothians.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Data linking the time of discharge and the breastfeeding rate is not currently available. For 2003 NHS Lothian had one of the highest rates of breastfeeding in Scotland at 47.8% of mothers breastfeeding at six weeks.NHS Lothian is committed to having t…

13 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how six-hour patient discharge policies and reduction in the number of maternity beds in NHS Lothian have affected its plans for greater community midwife provision, domino care and home births.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The time of discharge after childbirth is a joint decision made by the mother and health professionals taking into account the clinical needs of mother and baby. Shorter stays after childbirth, due to developments in clinical care, and improved home support f…

7 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive in which (a) hospitals and (b) departments the last 50 consultants recruited by NHS Lothian were deployed.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: This information is not centrally held.

7 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the removal of orthopaedic trauma and emergency general surgery from St Johns Hospital in Livingston will have on intensive care and high dependency units in the hospital.

Answer · Andy Kerr: I understand from the NHS board that St John’s Hospital will continue to have intensive care and high dependency facilities. The board is considering how many beds will be required in these units in future.

7 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what services will be removed from St Johns Hospital in Livingston and located elsewhere if Improving Care, Investing in Change 2004 is implemented.

Answer · Andy Kerr: These are matters for NHS Lothian in the first instance. If, following the public consultation, which is due to end on 19 November, the board proposes to make major service changes, these will require my prior approval.

7 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what approaches it has made to NHS Lothian on the implications for surgical services of Improving Care, Investing in Change 2004.

Answer · Andy Kerr: None. The current positionis that NHS Lothian is undertaking a public consultation on the future ofhealth services in Lothian. Once the consultation period ends, in November, itwill be for NHS Lothian to take into account views and opinions expressed inshapi…

7 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it will take to end the shortage of NHS consultants.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive continues to build capacity in the medical staff group within NHSScotland. NHS consultant numbers have increased by 307 between 2000 and 2003, and continue to rise, in line with the Partnership Agreement commitment to increase th…

1 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what costs were incurred by community pharmacists in complying with requirements of the NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service last year.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: NHS community pharmacists are required by their terms of service to carry out point of dispensing checks on patients’ claims for exemption from prescription charges. This requirement is taken into account in the NHS community pharmacy remuneration package, bu…

1 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many pre-payment certificates were issued for NHS prescriptions last year.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The following table showsthe total number of prescription pre-payment certificates (PPCs) issued in 2003-04.<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <tr> <td> PPCs valid for 12 months </td> <td> PPC…

1 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many compliance checks the NHS Prescription Pricing Authority carried out in Scotland last year.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: None. The Prescription Pricing Authority is not responsible for checking Scottish patients’ compliance with NHS prescription charging arrangements.

1 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what legal fees were incurred by the NHS in pursuing prosecutions for prescription charge evasions last year.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: None. No criminal charges have been brought against patients for prescription charge evasion in Scotland. There has been one criminal case involving four charges of fraud perpetrated by altering prescription forms and one criminal case involving four charges …

19 Jul 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is in respect of the statement by Macmillan Cancer Relief that financial worries are the second biggest cause of stress for cancer patients and whether it will consider exempting cancer patients from paying NHS prescription charges as a step towards alleviating any such …

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Access to advice on benefits, debt, employment and housing is available through a number of access points including Citizens Advice Scotland, Money Advice Scotland, the National Debtline telephone advice service, the Department for Work and Pensions’ Benefit …

19 Jul 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of cancer patients are treated outside hospital in comparison with (a) 10 and (b) 20 years ago.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is not held centrally.Because of its specialist nature, treatment for cancer is normally available only in hospitals or specialist cancer centres. As a result of improvements in treatments there has been a significant shift fr…

19 Jul 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to increase the income threshold for paying NHS prescription charges.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: We have no plans to do so.