- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 28 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive which NHS board has made the most progress in reducing the number of patients who did not attend for hospital appointments.
Answer
Around half of NHS boards have made improvements in reducing the rate of did not attends in the last few years, in particular NHS Forth Valley and Lanarkshire.
In the current economic climate it is more vital that NHS boards reduce waste in their budgets. It is every patient''s responsibility to keep their appointment, but we recognise that the NHS has to be flexible in helping make appointments convenient for patients.
That is why the Scottish Government has given the NHS in Scotland a three per cent target for efficiency savings and all NHS boards are working on implementing policies to reduce missed appointments. This includes text and phone reminders, more choice over the time of an appointment and a poster campaign reminding patients of their responsibility in using NHS services. The Health Delivery Directorate Improvement and Support Team will continue to work with boards and ensure that good practice is identified and shared across Scotland.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 28 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital admissions were attributed to adverse weather conditions in December 2010.
Answer
Information on the number of acute care hospital admissions is published quarterly by ISD on the Acute Hospital Care section of the ISD website at:
http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4150.html.
The next publication is scheduled for 29 March 2011 and will include high level statistics up to the quarter ending 31 December 2010 based on ISD(S)1 aggregate data returns. Complete data at a more detailed level, e.g. diagnosis level, for December 2010 should be available in June 2011.
Whilst details of diagnoses on the Standard Morbidity Record (SMR01) can be used to identify medical conditions likely to be related to cold weather, the data collection cannot attribute admissions due to adverse weather per se.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 28 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what its plans are for prioritising rheumatology and musculoskeletal services in the NHS.
Answer
The Scottish Government is currently developing a national musculoskeletal programme which aims to bring about significant service redesign to improve the delivery and outcome of musculoskeletal services across Scotland. The redesign focuses on improving access to services, including rheumatology services, by establishing a centralised self referral triage system utilising the technology within NHS 24, which is the national telephone and web based advice service for NHS Scotland.
Our intention is to enhance supported self management and timeous access to expert advice and interventions when required.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 28 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason it transferred the budget line for cervical cancer screening to miscellaneous other services.
Answer
The budget was not considered large enough to warrant a separate line in the level 3 budget analysis (see table 8.03, page 118 in the 2011-12 Draft Budget).
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 28 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason there are targets to measure performance against budget for only three of its key spending priorities for health and sport outlined in the draft budget for 2011-12.
Answer
The Draft Budget 2011-12, sets out the health priorities for 2011-12. The Local Delivery Plan Guidance 2011-12 sets out the HEAT targets and standards for NHSScotland at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/NHS-Scotland/17273/LDPGuidancePDF201112.
Where HEAT targets and standards can help support delivery of the priorities set out in the draft budget, then they are underpinned directly by HEAT targets and standards. For example there are HEAT targets on reducing waiting times; healthcare associated infections; and financial breakeven.
The following table lists the Scottish Government''s priorities for 2011-12 and the HEAT targets and standards that support these priorities.
| Priorities Set Out in Draft Budget 2011-12 | Supporting HEAT Targets and Standards |
| Protect frontline healthcare services; | Supported by all HEAT targets and standards. |
| Implement Scotland''s first National Dementia Strategy in full and take forward the work to improve post-diagnostic information and support and to improve the care in general hospital settings; | Directly supported by HEAT Standard: Maintain the number of people with a diagnosis of dementia on the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) dementia register and other equivalent sources. |
| Support older people and those with long term conditions to remain independent in their own homes or in the community, by a focus across NHS boards and local authorities on supported self management, reducing unnecessary hospital admissions and speeding discharge after a crisis; | Directly supported by HEAT target: Reducing the need for emergency hospital care, NHS boards will achieve agreed reductions in emergency inpatient bed days rates for people aged 75 and over between 2009-10 and 2011-12 through improved partnership working between the acute, primary and community care sectors. |
| Support NHSScotland to eliminate waste and drive modernisation programmes; | Directly supported by HEAT target: NHS boards to deliver a 3% efficiency saving to reinvest in frontline services |
| Support NHSScotland to achieve productivity and efficiency gains without compromising quality through the implementation of the new Efficiency and Productivity plan; |
| Priorities Set Out in Draft Budget 2011-12 | Supporting HEAT Targets and Standards |
| Implement the Healthcare Quality Strategy; | Directly supported by a range of H, A and T targets and standards including: Deliver 18 weeks referral to treatment from 31 December 2011. Further reduce healthcare associated infections so that by March 2013 NHS boards'' staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (including MRSA) cases are 0.26 or less per 1000 acute occupied bed days; and the rate of Clostridium difficile infections in patients aged 65 and over is 0.39 cases or less per 1000 total occupied bed days. |
| Identify and eradicate harmful and wasteful variation; | Directly supported by HEAT target: Further reduce healthcare associated infections so that by March 2013 NHS boards'' staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (including MRSA) cases are 0.26 or less per 1000 acute occupied bed days; and the rate of Clostridium difficile infections in patients aged 65 and over is 0.39 cases or less per 1000 total occupied bed days. |
| Continue to reduce Healthcare Associated Infection; | Directly supported by HEAT target: Further reduce healthcare associated infections so that by March 2013 NHS boards'' staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (including MRSA) cases are 0.26 or less per 1000 acute occupied bed days; and the rate of Clostridium difficile infections in patients aged 65 and over is 0.39 cases or less per 1000 total occupied bed days. |
| Continue to protect and enable the most vulnerable in our society by addressing health inequalities and, through early interventions, to support our children; | Directly supported by HEAT target: Achieve agreed completion rates for child healthy weight intervention programme over the three years ending March 2014. At least 60% of three and four year olds in each SIMD quintile to have fluoride varnishing twice a year by March 2014. |
| Deliver the 18 week Referral to Treatment standard; | Directly supported by HEAT target: Deliver 18 weeks referral to treatment from 31 December 2011. |
| Continue to address the major public health challenges facing Scotland, including alcohol misuse, smoking, obesity, sexual health and Hepatitis C; | Directly supported by the H targets. |
| Invest a further £25 million within NHS boards to keep our commitment to abolish prescription charges; | |
| Priorities set out in Draft Budget 2011-12 | Supporting HEAT targets and standards |
| Continue to fund free personal care; | |
| Deliver the Obesity Route Map Action Plan; | Directly supported by HEAT target: Achieve agreed completion rates for child healthy weight intervention programme over the three years ending March 2014. |
| Increase levels of physical activity and participation in sport; | |
| Support people in Scotland to maintain their health through commencement of the implementation of the recently enacted tobacco control legislation and the implementation of the provisions of the Alcohol Etc (Scotland) Act; | |
| Begin the roll out of abdominal aortic aneurism screening for men aged 65; | |
| Continue to work to support measures which respond to the needs of equality communities and help to address the inequalities they experience; | Directly supported by HEAT target: Achieve agreed number of inequalities targeted cardiovascular health checks during 2011-12. |
| Commence delivery of the three-week waiting time target for alcohol misuse services; | Directly supported by HEAT target: By March 2013, 90% of clients will wait no longer than three weeks from referral received to appropriate drug or alcohol treatment that supports their recovery. |
| Reflect the importance of our person-centred approach to improving healthcare quality by gathering new information and taking related action on patient, carer and staff experience and patient reported outcomes, and through the enactment of the Patients'' Rights Bill; | Directly supported by a range of H, A and T targets and standards including: No patient will wait longer than nine weeks for inpatient and day case treatment (measured on month end Census). |
| Continue to focus on patient safety by rolling out our successful approaches across acute, mental health and primary care; | |
| Maintain our commitment to research; | |
| Begin the implementation of the 25 per cent reduction in management costs; and | |
| Continue investment in new and replacement health facilities, IT and equipment. | |
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 28 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what treatment and support services are available to people with (a) progressive supranuclear palsy, (b) corticobasal degeneration; and (c) multiple system atrophy, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
Services for rare diseases such as progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA) are provided by the clinical neuroscience units in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen. These services, which cover the whole of Scotland, are consultant-led, with nurse practitioner support and access to appropriate support such as physiotherapy.
In addition, there are long-standing commissioning arrangements to ensure people with MSA, CBD and PSP are able to benefit from highly specialised services across the UK, or further afield, when clinically indicated.
Voluntary organisations such as the Multiple System Atrophy Trust and the PSP Association also provide valuable support to people living with these conditions. The Neurological Alliance of Scotland, which receives some of its funding from the Scottish Government, acts as an umbrella organisation for all third sector bodies dealing with neurological conditions. We have also given a commitment to work with Rare Diseases UK on taking forward in Scotland the strategy Improving lives, Optimising Resources: A Vision for the UK Rare Disease Strategy, which it launched at the Parliament on 22 February 2011.
In addition, the Scottish Government strongly supports the implementation of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland''s clinical standards for neurological health services. These will drive local improvement of services for all those with a neurological condition, wherever in Scotland they live.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 28 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital admissions have been attributed to weather-related falls since 1 December 2010.
Answer
The routine collection of data on hospital admissions for falls is collected by ISD through the Standard Morbidity Record (SMR01) and complete data for December 2010 should be available in June 2011 and data for January and February 2011 should be available July and August 2011 respectively. Although this data is not routinely published by ISD, it will be available on request.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 28 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what positions held by NHS (a) nursing and (b) midwifery staff have an annual salary (i) of between £50,000 and £100,000, (ii) of between £100,000 and £150,000 and (iii) in excess of £150,000.
Answer
Nursing and midwifery staff are paid under the Agenda for Change pay system which allocated pay bands according to which job profile their job description has been matched to. Pay band 8b equates to a pay scale from £45,254 to £55,945. Band 8c is £54,454 to £67,134, band 8d is £65,270 to £80,810 and band 9 is £77,079 to £97,478. The job profiles which match to these bands would typically be senior nursing or midwifery posts such as nurse or midwife consultant.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 28 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints each (a) NHS board and (b) local authority has received in relation to the removal of or increase in charges for home-help services and how many people have had their services reinstated.
Answer
Information on complaints made in relation to charges for home help services is not held centrally.
Data collected on complaints about the NHS in Scotland is published annually by the Information Services Division and is available at:
http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4424.html.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 28 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what positions held by staff in NHS Quality Improvement Scotland have an annual salary (a) of between £50,000 and £100,000, (b) of between £100,000 and £150,000 and (c) in excess of £150,000.
Answer
The information on staff numbers collected by Scotland''s Information and Statistics Directorate does not allow the identification of salaries for specific positions.
The Scottish government does publish remuneration information for chief executives which is available on the Scottish government website at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/public-bodies/about/Bodies.
Also, NHS organisations are required to publish pay data for staff earning over £50,000 in their annual accounts which for NHS Quality Improvement Scotland can be found at:
http://www.nhshealthquality.org/nhsqis/files/BM240610_AgendaItem17_Appendix1.pdf.
