Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S3W-31621

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 9 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many acute occupied bed days in hospitals in NHS Tayside were directly connected with alcohol-related conditions in the last year for which information is available.

Information on the number of acute occupied bed days which are directly attributable to alcohol-related conditions is not held centrally.

Information on acute occupied bed days is recorded on the SMR01 dataset. SMR01 has space for up to six diagnosis codes to be recorded, a main diagnosis and up to five secondary diagnoses. Alcohol-related problems will be recorded as either a main or a secondary diagnosis, so it is not possible to identify the cases where alcohol was directly attributed to the length of the admission.

Table 1 shows the total length of stay of patients treated in acute hospitals in NHS Tayside for alcohol-related conditions, recorded in any diagnosis position, 2008-09; the most recent year for which information is available. Due to the way alcohol-related conditions are recorded, it is not possible to determine whether the reason for admission is directly attributable to alcohol. Therefore this figure may be an overestimate.

Table 1: Total Length of Stay (Bed Days) of Patients Treated in General Acute Hospitals^1,2 in NHS Tayside³ for Alcohol-Related Conditions^4,5,6: 2008-09^P

	2008-09
NHS Tayside	14,075

^PProvisional.

Notes:

1. Excludes mental illness hospitals, psychiatric units and maternity hospitals.

2. Figures in this table relate only to those individuals who are treated as inpatients or day cases in an acute hospital. They do not include individuals managed as outpatients.

3. Note that these figures include residents from other health boards that were treated in Tayside hospitals but do not include Tayside residents treated in other health boards.

4. Discharges where alcohol-related diagnosis is recorded as primary or secondary reasons for admission to hospital.

5. Diseases recorded using the World Health Organization''s International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD10).

- Alcohol-related: F10, K70, X45, X65, Y15, Y90, Y91, E24.4, E51.2, G31.2, G62.1, G72.1, I42.6, K29.2, K86.0, O35.4, P04.3, Q86.0, T51.0, T51.1, T51.9, Y57.3, R78.0, Z50.2, Z71.4, Z72.1. These codes were defined in a recent in-depth review of ISD''s core alcohol related code set. Further information about the review and resulting consultation process is available at; http://www.alcoholinformation.isdscotland.org/alcohol_misuse/3986.html.

6. Caution is necessary when interpreting these figures. The recording of alcohol-related problems may vary from hospital to hospital.

Question reference: S3W-31973

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the attrition rate has been for each of the last three cohorts of (a) adult, (b) mental health and (c) children’s nursing courses at the University of Dundee.

The following table shows the latest information about student nurse attrition rates for the University of Dundee for each of the last three complete cohorts.

Cohort	Adult	Mental Health	Children
2003-04	35%	31%	20%
2004-05	37%	32%	36%
2005-06	40%	39%	24%

Question reference: S3W-31974

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has collected from universities on the (a) number and (b) percentage of student nurses who have dropped out of pre-registration courses in the current academic session and how these figures compare with the comparable period in the previous session.

Question reference: S3W-31626

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many laboratory tests directly connected with alcohol misuse were carried out in the last year for which information is available and what the estimated cost was.

Question reference: S3W-31625

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many GP consultations were directly connected with alcohol-related conditions in the last year for which information is available and what the estimated cost was.

The exact number of GP consultations that were directly connected with alcohol-related conditions in Scotland, is not available centrally. However, national estimates can be given based on the number of consultations there have been relating to alcohol abuse, from a sample of Scottish general practices participating in PTI (Practice Team Information).

Based on PTI data, the estimated number of consultations with a GP for alcohol abuse in Scotland, during the financial year 2007-08, was 102,268. This equates to a rate of 19 per 1,000 registered patients.

These figures are likely to considerably underestimate the true number of GP consultations connected with alcohol-related conditions in Scotland. The figures relate only to consultations with a GP where alcohol abuse was specifically recorded as an issue. Many other consultations may have been due to alcohol-related conditions even though alcohol abuse was not specifically recorded. Furthermore, other members of the practice team (such as nurses) will also see patients for alcohol-related problems.

Information on estimated costs of consultations for alcohol-related conditions is not available centrally. Although figures on general practice expenditure are collected and published routinely, the data are not split down to provide a measure of costs associated with individual reasons for each GP consultation.

Question reference: S3W-31622

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 February 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost was of an acute occupied bed day in the last year for which information is available.

Question reference: S3W-31620

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 February 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost was of an attendance at an accident and emergency unit in the last year for which information is available.

Question reference: S3W-31619

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 February 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many attendances at accident and emergency units there were in NHS Tayside in the last year for which information is available.

There were 109,109 accident and emergency (A&E) attendances in NHS Tayside between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2009. The following table includes core and non-core subtotals.

A&E Department Type	Number of A&E Attendances
Total for core sites	73,967
Total for non-core sites	35,142
Total for all sites	109,109

Source: A&E data mart, ISD Scotland.

A&E departments are classified as either core or non-core sites. Core sites include all A&E departments within large hospitals. Non-core sites include minor injury units, small hospitals with manual systems and health centers in rural areas that carry out A&E type activity.

Further information for A&E attendances can be found on the ISD website at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4024.html.

Question reference: S3W-31623

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 February 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many new outpatient attendances there were in NHS Tayside in the last year for which information is available.

Provisional, published statistics show that the number of new outpatient attendances in NHS Tayside for the financial year ending 31 March 2009 was 131,046.

As a result of changes to the Patient Administration System in NHS Tayside this figure includes some estimation and may be subject to revision.

Further information on outpatient attendances can be found on the ISD website at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4156.html.

Question reference: S3W-31624

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 February 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost was of a consultant outpatient appointment in the last year for which information is available.