- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 July 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 16 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Medical Research Council regarding the prescribing of antipsychotic medication to people with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has had no discussions with the Medical Research Council regarding the prescribing of antipsychotic medication to people with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 July 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 16 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what monitoring it undertakes of the prescribing of antipsychotic medication in care homes.
Answer
Monitoring of prescribing by GPs, including for patients in care homes who are registered with their practices, is undertaken by prescribing advisers in NHS boards.
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions wards have been closed as a result of hospital-acquired infections in the last 12 months, also broken down by NHS board.
Answer
NHS boards would notify Health Protection Scotland (HPS) of ward closures in accordance with the guidance set out in Annex 4 of the 2003 guidance document Managing Incidents Presenting Actual and Potential Risks to Public Health: Guidance on Roles and Responsibilities of Incident Control Teams. The guidance sets out the circumstances under which HPS should be informed of incidents and outbreaks but not all ward closures require to be notified to HPS, this would depend on the scale of the outbreak and the necessary actions that followed. The information requested is therefore not available.
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions wards have been closed as a result of clostridium difficile infections in the last 12 months, also broken down by NHS board.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-14490 on 9 July 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths have occurred as a result of clostridium difficile in NHS Ayrshire and Arran in the last 12 months, also broken down by month.
Answer
Data for the periods April, May and June 2008 are not yet available. However, NHS Ayrshire and Arran have advised that during the period April 2007 to March 2008 there were 24 deaths in NHS Ayrshire and Arran where clostridium difficile was recorded as either a primary or a contributory cause of death. This is broken down as follows:
| Month/Year | No. of Cases |
| April 2007 | 1 |
| May 2007 | 1 |
| June 2007 | 3 |
| July 2007 | NIL |
| August 2007 | 2 |
| September 2007 | 4 |
| October 2007 | 2 |
| November 2007 | 2 |
| December 2007 | 2 |
| January 2008 | 2 |
| February 2008 | 1 |
| March 2008 | 4 |
| Total | 24 |
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has issued regarding the procedure of notification to GPs of patients discharged following a clostridium difficile infection to ensure that any relapse is dealt with urgently and appropriately.
Answer
Discharge documents completed by clinicians should follow the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) Guideline 65, and be timely and provide appropriate information of the condition of the patient, and the management undertaken whilst the patient was in hospital. An overarching new Scottish guidance document on clostridium difficile is currently under preparation by Health Protection Scotland. The procedures in the SIGN Guideline 65 will be referred to in the new guidance.
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has issued to NHS boards across Scotland regarding the in-house laundering of patients clothes where the patient is suffering from clostridium difficile.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-11402 on 14 April 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has issued regarding informing patients and relatives where a patient is discharged following a clostridium difficile infection.
Answer
A national leaflet on clostridium difficle has been produced by Health Protection Scotland (HPS) and is available to NHS boards for downloading from the HPS website. Printed versions will be issued to NHS boards shortly.
HPS consulted widely on the content of the draft version of the leaflet and the final version was agreed with the Chair of the Public Involvement and Communications Team (PICT), a participatory member of the Scottish Government’s healthcare-associated infection multi-agency task force representing members of the public.
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of clostridium difficile have been reported by NHS Ayrshire and Arran in the last year.
Answer
Data for the month of June 2008 is not yet available. However, NHS Ayrshire and Arran have advised that during the period June 2007 to May 2008 there were 658 cases of clostridium difficile recorded in NHS Ayrshire and Arran covering all ages and settings. This is broken down as follows:
| Month/Year | No. of Cases |
| June 2007 | 52 |
| July 2007 | 68 |
| August 2007 | 63 |
| September 2007 | 59 |
| October 2007 | 57 |
| November 2007 | 41 |
| December 2007 | 41 |
| January 2008 | 74 |
| February 2008 | 38 |
| March 2008 | 53 |
| April 2008 | 53 |
| May 2008 | 59 |
| Total | 658 |
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Linda Fabiani on 19 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had regarding the implications for Scotland of the European Commission’s Animal Health Strategy for the European Union 2007-2013.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s Chief Veterinary Officer and other officials have had a number of discussions with European Commission officials during the development of the Animal Health Strategy. We look forward to seeing its publication shortly.
