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-15357

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 1 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the percentage acute bed occupancy has been in (a) NHS Tayside and (b) Scotland, in each year since 2003.

Question reference: S3W-15358

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 1 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the percentage acute bed occupancy has been in each hospital in NHS Tayside in each year since 2003.

The percentage acute bed occupancy for hospitals in NHS Tayside is shown in the following table.

Table 1: Percentage Occupancy in Acute Specialites in NHS Tayside by Hospital¹

	Financial Year Ending
	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008^P
NHS Tayside	81.4	81.4	81.5	82.3	82.4	81.9
Ninewells	82.9	81.5	83.4	82.7	84.9	82.8
Fernbrae Hospital²	x	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	..
Ashludie Hospital³	91.9	90.8	76.2	x	x	x
Royal Victoria Hospital	77.6	84.9	83.3	84.6	81.0	87.1
Perth Royal Infirmary	87.4	84.1	86.0	85.5	87.8	81.3
St Margaret''s Hospital	66.5	66.9	66.5	63.7	65.0	69.2
Aberfeldy Community Hospital	68.9	66.0	68.0	54.3	70.6	64.0
Irvine Memorial Hospital	54.1	51.4	48.0	53.2	54.9	59.6
Blairgowrie Community Hospital	83.0	82.1	85.7	80.6	81.5	79.0
Beechgrove House⁴	83.9	49.7	x	x	x	x
Arbroath Infirmary	73.2	68.4	65.7	68.2	79.1	86.9
Brechin Infirmary	78.7	61.9	68.7	58.5	61.2	58.5
Forfar Infirmary⁵	70.1	62.0	67.0	21.7	x	x
Montrose Royal Infirmary	82.6	100.0	82.5	73.4	60.2	59.8
Stracathro²	68.7	65.6	61.7	57.1	64.9	..
Crieff Community Hospital	74.0	75.8	72.8	72.5	84.9	74.2
Whitehills Health and Community Centre⁶	x	x	x	71.5	82.1	77.6

Source: ISD(S)1.

^PData for year ending March 2008 are provisional.

.. not available.

x not applicable.

Notes:

1. The figures include NHS beds/patients in joint-user and contractual hospitals.

2. Data for 2007-08 has not yet been submitted.

3. From June 2006 onwards, data is for non-acute specialties.

4. From June 2005 onwards, Beechgrove House no longer treats in-patients.

5. No data received since April 2006 as hospital closed.

6. Opened in June 2006.

Question reference: S3W-15359

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the target set for NHS boards, in Better Health, Better Care: Action Plan, that 80% of all three to five-year-olds should be registered with a NHS dentist by 2010-11 also means that a target of 80% registration has been set for the same age group in each Community Health Partnership in each NHS board.

Question reference: S3W-15356

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 22 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many recorded cases of Clostridium difficile there have been in (a) NHS Tayside and (b) Scotland in the latest available 12 month period, broken down into people aged (a) two to 44, (b) 45 to 64, (c) 65 to 74 and (d) 75 and over.

Mandatory surveillance on the total number of cases of Clostridium difficile reported by NHS board was introduced in September 2006. This information is collected by Health Protection Scotland (HPS) and is published in quarterly reports on their website. HPS does not hold processed (i.e. de-duplicated) and reviewed data for patients below 65 years old. Data are not held by the requested age groups.

Information for NHS boards since September 2006, for patients over 65, is in the following table:

	October 2006 - December 2006	January 2007 - March 2007	April 2007 - June 2007	July 2007 -September 2007	October 2007 - December 2007	January 2008 - March 2008
Total number of cases in Scotland	1,213	1,775	1,588	1,459	1,608	1,861

Since the beginning of the mandatory surveillance programme for Clostridium Difficile Associated Disease (CDAD) in Scotland started in October 2006, a total of 999 cases of CDAD have been reported in NHS Tayside in those aged 65 years and over.

During the past 12 months (from July 2007-June 2008), a total of 550 cases of CDAD have been reported.

All cases, except for those in the most recent quarter (from Apr 2008-June 2008) have been reviewed and confirmed by the local laboratories in NHS Tayside.

	July 2007 “ September 2007	October 2007 “ December 2007	January 08 “ March 2008	April 2008 “ June 2008
Cases of CDAD aged 65 and over	131	135	139	145*

Note: *Data not reviewed yet.

Question reference: S3W-15079

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 July 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 11 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many recorded cases of clostridium difficile there have been in NHS Tayside in each month since January 2008, broken down by (a) PCR ribotype and (b) recording hospital.

Health Protection Scotland (HPS) collects information, by NHS board, on cases of c-diff and on PCR ribotyping. C-diff is identified in laboratories by testing for the presence of a toxin, and does not routinely require ribotyping. Ribotyping is currently only carried out in c-diff cases which meet certain national protocol criteria. Information on PCR ribotypes is therefore collected at a national level and is not broken down by NHS board.

The information requested on c.diff cases is published quarterly by HPS at http://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/haiic/newsdetail.aspx?id=160. Latest information on the number of cases of c-diff reported in NHS Tayside, since January 2008 year is provided in the following table. Information is not broken down by hospital.

	Jan 2008 - March 2008
Total number of cases in Scotland	1,861
NHS Tayside	139

Source: Health Protection Scotland.

The reports of the independent review on the Clostridium difficile Outbreaks at Vale of Leven Hospital and the Health Protection Scotland Six Month Look Back Exercise on clostridium difficile by NHS boards were published on 7 August. Action plans based on the findings of these reports include a range of actions around surveillance, including:

a standard template will be provided to NHS boards for local surveillance of Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI); surveillance will include control limits and trajectories for reduction of rates/incidence of HAI.

Web based test reporting for Clostridium difficile will be in place across Scotland by the end of October 2008

HAI incidents and issues recorded on NHS boards risk management reporting systems will be reported to two monthly public board meetings.

Question reference: S3W-15022

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 8 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been on the waiting list for a free central heating system in the DD postcode area in each of the last 12 months for which information is available.

The number of applicants on the waiting list in the DD postcode area for each of the last 12 months, as notified by the managing agent, is shown in the following table.

Period	Number of Applicants on Waiting List
July 2007	577
August 2007	631
September 2007	675
October 2007	710
November 2007	652
December 2007	635
January 2008	604
February 2008	529
March 2008	446
April 2008	416
May 2008	434
June 2008	375

Question reference: S3W-15025

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 8 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many new applications have been received for a free central heating system in the DD postcode area in each of the last 12 months for which information is available and how many were considered to be eligible.

The number of applications received in the DD postcode area during each of the last twelve months, as notified by the Managing Agent, is shown in the following table.

Period	Applications Received	Applications Taken Forward (Subject to Survey)
July 2007	136	108
August 2007	119	104
September 2007	93	82
October 2007	139	127
November 2007	130	108
December 2007	67	55
January 2008	115	94
February 2008	112	83
March 2008	121	88
April 2008	124	97
May 2008	126	95
June 2008	73	19
Total	1,355	1,060

Note: An initial assessment on the application is made, normally by telephone, and those applications are recorded for a home survey visit. The information collected during the initial assessment is then confirmed during the survey stage in the applicant’s home.

Question reference: S3W-15023

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 8 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many free central heating installations have taken place in the DD postcode area since 1 April 2008.

Question reference: S3W-15024

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 8 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many free central heating systems were installed in the DD postcode area in the period from 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008.

Question reference: S3W-15031

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 July 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) employment, (b) unemployment and (c) further study or training rates were six months after graduation for graduates in (i) English, (ii) mathematics, (iii) science and (iv) psychology from Scottish institutions in the latest year for which information is available.

The statistics the member requested are shown in the following table.

Destination of Full-Time Higher Education Graduates from Scottish Institutions Six Months after Graduating by Subject Area: 2005-06

	Total	Study/Training	Permanent Home Employment	Temporary Home Employment	Overseas Employment	Believed Unemployed	Other
Total	5,835	1,865	2,260	670	175	350	510
English	825	280	270	110	40	40	80
Mathematics	420	125	180	55	5	25	35
Science (Excluding Psychology and Mathematics)	3,625	1,250	1,390	375	100	220	295
Psychology	965	215	425	135	25	70	100

Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

Notes:

The overall response rate, including both HESA and SFC data, for the subject groups in the above table was 78%.

Figure have been rounded to the nearest five. 0, 1, 2 have been rounded to 0. Figures may not sum exactly to totals due to rounding.

Figures in this table have been weighted according to response rates by subject of study

Believed unemployed includes graduates from higher education institutions that are looking for employment, further study or training or are due to start a job in the next month plus graduates from further education colleges who have no arrangement for further study or employment.

Other destinations include those who are unable to work, looking after the home or family, taking time out in order to travel, or are not otherwise included under an alternative heading.