- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will roll out the proactive care programme approach of the community mental health team in Nairn and Ardersier Local Health Care Co-operative, which successfully reduced mental health occupied bed days in its locality by 50% between 1996 and 2000.
Answer
The benefits of planned careand early pre-discharge planning are well known. The care programme approach(CPA) which has a long history is designed to provide structured continuingcare for those with more complex needs. Properly approached and applied the CPAis likely to show the benefits evidenced in Nairn and Ardersier.
The CPA has been promotedand encouraged at every opportunity in recent years, given its joint working,joint delivery of services components. We continue to encourage its applicationat every opportunity most recently in our work with the agencies on thepreparation of Local Joint Implementation Plans to deliver on the Mental Health(Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to provide a “place of safety” for acutely disturbed psychiatric patients in remote and rural areas.
Answer
Publication of the interimand locality reports from the National Mental Health Services Assessment (Bib numbers30239, 30221-30234, 30236) co-incided with the publication by the Remote andRural Areas Resource Initiative (RARARI) of
Recommendations for the SafeManagement of Acutely Disturbed Psychiatric Patients (Bib number 31082).
These reports draw attentionto the importance of places of safety and alternatives to police stations whenpeople are in crisis. The Mental Health(Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 doesrecognise that there will be circumstances where there is no immediatealternative other than to use a police station. However, the emphasis is onalternatives. I have invited the partner agencies to prepare Joint LocalImplementation Plans to deliver on the new provisions and in doing so havedrawn attention to relevant recommendations from the RARARI report.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to address any shortage of mental health officers.
Answer
Estimates on the impact of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 on the mental health officer (MHO)workforce were reached in consultation with the Association of Directors ofSocial Work and COSLA. £2.5 million per annum additional funding has been madeavailable for 2004-05 and 2005-06. This should allow for the employment of anadditional 50-60 (whole-time-equivalent) MHOs across Scotland.
The Scottish Executive commissioned research from the Scottish Development Centre for MentalHealth on the capacity of MHO services to meet existing and future statutory demand.This research, launched at a conference in October 2003, examined service modelsand supports in place throughout Scotland. The findings will assist local authorities inexamining and redesigning existing MHO services to maximise the availability ofMHOs.
The Scottish Executive is facilitating the development of national standards for Mental HealthOfficer services, as intimated in the policy document: Renewing MentalHealth Law. Agreed standards will assist in the provision of a moreefficient and responsive MHO service.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to reduce delays in transferring psychiatric patients in crisis to hospital.
Answer
Dr Grant’s published interimreport of the National Mental Health Services Assessment (Bib number: 30239) highlightsproblems that can occur in patient transfers. That report calls for flexibleand responsive 24-hour support services to be developed which are sensitive tolocal geography. This fits broadly with the findings of the Remote and RuralAreas Resource Initiative (RARARI) Bid 79 report (Bib number 31082).
I have invited the partneragencies to prepare Joint Local Implementation Plans to deliver on the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland)Act 2003 and in doing so have drawnattention to relevant recommendations of the RARARI report.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many psychiatric patients were held in police cells while awaiting support from health services in the last year.
Answer
The information requested isnot held centrally.
Dr Grant, in her publishedinterim and locality reports of the National Mental Health Services Assessment (Bib.numbers 30239, 30221-30234, 30236), has drawn attention to the importance ofplaces of safety and has referred to alternatives to police stations whenpeople are in crisis. The Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland)Act 2003 does recognise that there will be circumstances where there is noimmediate alternative other than to use a police station. However, the emphasisis on alternatives.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to ensure that all NHS boards implement the recommendations in the report BID79 of the Remote and Rural Affairs Resource Initiative.
Answer
The
Bid 79 report (Bibnumber 31082) covers a range of issues from Human Rights Act compliance totraining and staff governance issues. There are key recommendations forimprovement to the services provided to remote and rural areas and the Executivehas already drawn these recommendations to the attention of the statutory agencies.
Some £1 million has beenprovided to NHS boards and their partners to support planning for delivery of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003. They will be providing Joint LocalImplementation Plans by 31 March and I would expect these to deal appropriatelywith the recommendations in the Bid 79 report.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in relation to the proposed rural healthcare faculty, recommended in the report Solutions for the provision of health care in the remote and rural areas of Scotland in the 21st century in January 2002.
Answer
This is a matter for educationalbodies, NHS boards and other organisations in rural areas to consider. The Scottish Executive has encouraged the development of education, training and research inrural areas through bodies such as the University of the Highlands andIslands and the Highlands and Islands Research Institute. It has also ensuredthat the additional costs of providing health care in rural areas are reflectedin NHS boards’ funding allocations.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the national standard is for social worker contact with a child on supervision.
Answer
There are no national standardsfor the frequency of contact between a social worker and a child onsupervision.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to include the maintenance of Scotland's cultural and historic heritage in Historic Scotland's performance targets.
Answer
Responsibility for the maintenance of individual historic buildings and monuments rests with their owners. Historic Scotland is directly responsible for the maintenance of over 300 properties in the care of Scottish ministers and one of the agency’s keytargets in recent years has been the completion of condition surveys on all these properties in order to prioritise more effectively its programme ofmaintenance.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the protection and conservation of Castle Tioram will be part of Historic Scotland's commitment to safeguard the nation's built heritage.
Answer
Castle Tioram is a scheduledmonument and as such responsibility for its maintenance rests with its owners.At the public local inquiry held in 2001 into an application for scheduledmonument consent for the restoration of the Castle, Historic Scotland argued thecase for consolidation. Scottish ministers subsequently refused scheduledmonument consent for the application.
Any future application forscheduled monument consent in respect of the Castle would be considered on itsmerits and in line with Scottish Executive policy.
