- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to ensure that the bandings of psychologists under Agenda for Change are consistently applied across different NHS boards.
Answer
Agenda for Change is designed to be consistent across all staff covered by the new system using the same job evaluation process and the same job profiles. Outcomes are checked both at local and national level before bandings are confirmed. Any staff member who feels that the system has not been applied correctly to them has the right to request a review of their banding.
In addition, partnership discussions are currently going on about what high-level monitoring can be put in place to assure staff and the service that the Agenda for Change system has been applied consistently throughout NHSScotland.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that there is capacity in the NHS to complete reviews under Agenda for Change in a timely manner and whether there is a target date for completion of the process.
Answer
Every board in Scotland has recently been contacted and asked to submit a revised implementation plan to inform the Scottish Government when they expect to conclude the process. Once received, these plans will be analysed and a national implementation plan developed and supported. It is the responsibility of each health board to ensure that they have sufficient capacity to complete the whole process, including reviews, as quickly as possible.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how much additional money will be made available to GPs to ensure that surgeries open for extended hours have appropriate numbers of staff.
Answer
The total additional value of the offer is £19 million. We estimate that this is worth £19,000 per annum to the average practice.
The extended hours enhanced service will be supported by £16 million of funding (£2.95 per registered patient), of which £9.5 million is new money.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of psychologists working in the NHS are on protected pay following banding under Agenda for Change and, if this percentage is significant, what steps it is taking to ensure there is no loss of expertise at a senior clinical and managerial level to the delivery of health care should these individuals choose to apply for positions elsewhere.
Answer
Information on the number of psychologists on protection is not held centrally since the information collected on protection is only broken down as far as staff group. However, the level of protection within Allied Health Professions (which includes psychologists) is currently 7.1%. The overall level of protection in NHSScotland is currently 3.5%. You should be aware that the original target for protection levels agreed in partnership was less than 8%.
NHS boards are responsible for ensuring the provision of safe, sustainable and high quality health care services that meet the needs of their local population. Clearly, going forward, there will be issues about how such a profound restructuring of terms and conditions will affect things on the ground and in specific situations. Some of these will be for NHS systems to manage locally whilst others will require work at a national level.
Any national issue which arose around a particular staff group would be discussed through the national NHS management and partnership structures which are now well established in Scotland.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when negotiations will be completed with the Scottish General Practitioners Committee in respect of extended hours for GPs.
Answer
We expect the result of the GP poll early in March. Depending on the outcome of the poll we will be seeking thereafter to finalise the detailed arrangements for extended hours in Scotland with the Scottish General Practitioners Committee.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what GP services will be reduced as a result of the policy to extend GPs’ opening hours.
Answer
None.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been done in Scotland to provide the evidence base for extending GPs’ opening hours.
Answer
Better access to GP practices is a significant issue for people.
In producing the Better Health, Better Care Action Plan, we saw over 2,000 people face-to-face and received nearly 600 submissions. This exercise revealed that improving access to GP practices ranked highly amongst peoples'' priorities for the future pattern and provision of health care services.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people found guilty of defrauding the NHS have been given a custodial sentence in each of the last 10 years.
Answer
Since July 2000, no custodial sentences have been given to people found guilty of NHS fraud. Sentencing is a matter for the courts.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 26 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the conditions for which botox would be prescribed.
Answer
The licensing of medicines is reserved and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Botox is indicated for the symptomatic relief of blepharospasm, hemifacial spasm and idiopathic cervical dystonia (spasmodic torticollis). It is indicated for the management of severe hyperhidrosis of the axillae, which does not respond to topical treatment with antiperspirants or antihidrotics.
Botox is also indicated for focal spasticity, including the treatment of dynamic equinus foot deformity due to spasticity in ambulant paediatric cerebral palsy patients, two years of age or older and wrist and hand disability due to upper limb spasticity associated with stroke in adults.
Medicines legislation allows for the use of medicines outwith their licensed indication if it is considered to be an appropriate treatment for an individual patient. In these circumstances the prescriber bears a greater degree of responsibility for the use of the medicine.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 26 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, under what circumstances botox injections would be prescribed for cosmetic purposes.
Answer
Botox is not licensed for cosmetic purposes. However, Vistabel (botulinum toxin type A) is licensed for the temporary improvement in the appearance of moderate to severe vertical lines between the eyebrows seen at frown in adults aged less than 65 years, when the severity of these lines has an important psychological impact for the patient.
Medicines legislation allows for the use of medicines outwith their licensed indication if it is considered to be an appropriate treatment for an individual patient. In these circumstances the prescriber bears a greater degree of responsibility for the use of the medicine.
