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-06414

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 November 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what improvements in mental health services will be forthcoming, other than in relation to the State Hospital and the services of Royal Edinburgh Hospital and in Dumfries and Galloway.

Question reference: S3W-06413

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 November 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to its 2008-11 spending plans for health and wellbeing, how the increase in funding for distinction awards from £23.9 million to £30 million in 2011 will be allocated and what the eligibility criteria are for these payments.

Distinction awardsare determined by the Scottish Advisory Committee on Distinction Awards (SACDA)and the number of new awards that are payable are determined by retirals, resignations,deaths and the recommendations of the Doctors’ and Dentists Remuneration Body (DDRB). The criteria for Distinction Awards paid to Consultantsin the NHS is set out in the guide to the NHS Consultants’ DistinctionAwards Scheme in Scotland which is published annually by SACDA. The latest versionof the guide for 2008 is available on the internet at the following website http://www.sacda.scot.nhs.uk.

Question reference: S3W-06346

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 20 November 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what its definition is of a “routine condition” in terms of the 18-week GP referral to treatment referred to in Scottish Budget: Spending Review 2007.

I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-4584 on 18 October 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The term “routinecondition” is used to describe planned acute hospital admissions, in contrast tourgent or emergency admissions. Patients assessed by clinicians as requiringurgent or emergency admission will continue to be dealt with immediately, andconsequently maximum waiting times targets are not relevant to them. Currentlymore than 55% of hospital patients are treated immediately and never go on to awaiting list.

As alreadyannounced, the abolition of Availability Status Codes from 31 December 2007 will mean that thousands of patients previouslyexcluded from waiting time targets will be included. I have already indicatedthat patients using audiology services will also be included in the 18 week GPreferral to treatment target.

Question reference: S3W-06344

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 November 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what provision is being made to address mental health issues at the earliest opportunity and to ensure appropriate services for all people with mental health problems.

We are workingwith all partners on early diagnosis. Through this we would expect to see amore positive impact on the person and their diagnosis as the earliest possibleintervention and support of the right services at the right time will have amuch greater effect.

The soon to be published NHS Quality ImprovementScotland standards for Integrated Care Pathways for mental health willunderline that carefully considered assessment and early intervention providethe basis for successful care planning and delivery.

Attention on the mental health needs of children andyoung people underlines another linked aspect, that of early age identificationof needs. The work we are taking forward with NHS Education for Scotland focuses on training and developing childpsychotherapists and at opportunities for wider education and reach includingfamily therapy training. We are investing £500,000 over the coming years towardsthis agenda.

Our national andlocal public health and anti stigma campaigns also play a part in encouragingmore to come forward sooner for help and advice.

Question reference: S3W-06109

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 November 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive why NHS boards work to set budgets while local authorities have total debts of over £9 billion.

Question reference: S3W-06198

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 November 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 November 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to expand the roles and responsibilities of school nurses.

Question reference: S3W-06199

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 November 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 November 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional school nurses will be employed by 2011.

The exact numberof school nurses employed in 2011 will depend on a number of factors yet to bedetermined. Our intention is that those school aged children and young peoplein areas of greatest need will in the future have easier access to a widerrange of nursing and other health care support. A health care model targeted at deprived and otherareas with high numbers of disadvantaged children will be developed in 2008.

Question reference: S3W-06197

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 November 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 November 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to introduce a lung cancer screening pilot programme.

There are at presentno plans to introduce a lung cancer screening pilot programme. The UK National ScreeningCommittee (NSC) provides advice to government on matters relating to national screeningservices. The NSC does not currently recommend the introduction of a national screeningprogramme for lung cancer on the grounds that there is insufficient evidence atpresent to suggest that routine screening would be effective.

Question reference: S3W-05850

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 November 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of providing locum support for out-of-hours and other GP services has been since the new GMS contract came into effect.

Out-of-Hours

The information onthe cost of providing locum support for out-of-hours care is not held centrallyby the Scottish Government.

Other GP Services

The following tablesummarises the cost to NHS boards for all Scotland of providing locum support to GP contractors to maintain GP services. Theinformation is broken down into those categories under which a GP contractor isentitled to claim reimbursement from their NHS board for engaging a locum.

	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Adoption, Maternity, Paternity Leave	1.71	1.74	2.01
Sickness	0.47	0.36	0.65
Suspended Doctors	0.00	0.00	0.00
Other*	-	0.88	0.86
Total	2.18	2.98	3.52

Notes:

*Information is notavailable for 2004-05.

All figures are in£ million

Question reference: S3W-06084

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 November 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS hospital admissions had a primary diagnosis of a mental or behavioural disorder related to the use of cannabis in each of the last five years.

Information isprovided on the number of discharges from Scottish general/acute hospitals andScottish mental and psychiatric hospitals for the last five years.

Table1 shows the number of discharges from NHS general acute hospitals with aprimary diagnosis of a mental or behavioural disorder due to use ofcannabinoids between 2001-02 and 2005-06, in Scotland. Table 2 shows thenumber of discharges from NHS psychiatric units and mental illness hospitalswith a primary diagnosis of a mental or behavioural disorder due to use ofcannabinoids between 2000-01 and 2004-05, in Scotland.

Table1: Scottish General Acute Hospitals¹: Number of Discharges²witha Primary Diagnosis of a Mental or Behavioural Disorder Due to Use ofCannabinoids^3,4 for Financial Years 2001-02 To 2005-06.

Year	Number of Discharges
2001-02	17
2002-03	6
2003-04	10
2004-05	10
2005-06	14

Source: ISD Scotland SDMD (SMR01).

Note:

1. Figures in the table only relate to thoseindividuals who are treated as in-patients. They do not include individualsmanaged as out-patients.

2. Excludes transfers.

3. Discharges where mental or behavioural disordersdue to use of cannabinoids is recorded as the primary reason for admission tohospital. Diagnostic information is defined by using the World Health Organization'sInternational Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD10): F12.

4. Caution is necessary when interpreting thesefigures. The recording of mental and behavioural disorders due to use ofcannabinoids may vary from hospital to hospital. Where drug misuse is suspectedbut unconfirmed it may not be recorded by the hospital.

Table2: Scottish Psychiatric Units and Mental Illness Hospitals¹: Numberof Discharges with a Primary Diagnosis of a Mental or Behavioural Disorder Dueto Use Of Cannabinoids^{2, 3} for Financial Years 2000-01 To 2004-05⁴.

Year	Number of Discharges
2000-01	68
2001-02	57
2002-03	78
2003-04	65
2004-05	87

Source: ISD Scotland SDMD (SMR04).

Notes:

1. Figures in the table only relate to thoseindividuals who are treated as in-patients. They do not include individualsmanaged as out-patients.

2. Discharges where mental or behavioural disordersdue to use of cannabinoids is recorded as the primary reason for admission tohospital. Diagnostic information is defined by using the World Health Organization'sInternational Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD10): F12.

3. Caution is necessary when interpreting thesefigures. The recording of mental and behavioural disorders due to use ofcannabinoids may vary from hospital to hospital. Where drug misuse is suspectedbut unconfirmed it may not be recorded by the hospital.

4. Most recent yearfor which data is available.

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

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