- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 August 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 16 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what studies have been done and used as baseline evidence to underpin the decision to implement the Retox Programme for prisoners prior to release.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:Retoxification of opiate addicts prior to release occurs only in a very small number of prisoners who have lost their tolerance to opiates while in custody and who, despite our best efforts, are intent on reverting to their old pattern of drug misuse upon liberation. This group are at risk of overdose and possibly drug-related death, and in many cases, have overdosed previously.No formal studies of retoxification have been undertaken.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 August 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 16 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are currently affected by rheumatoid arthritis, broken down by NHS trust area.
Answer
The information sought is not held in the form requested. Information derived from the Continuous Morbidity Recording (CMR) system operated by the Information and Statistics Division of the Common Services Agency estimates that approximately 16,500 individuals were seen by general practitioners in respect of rheumatoid arthritis in Scotland in the year ending December 2001. This figure is based on the activity of 60 Scottish General Practices for the year ending December 2001, with a combined population of 370,605. It is not possible to break it down by NHS trust area or to determine the degree to which individuals are affected by the condition.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 August 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people with mental health problems are currently in receipt of direct payments, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
Provisional information, collected at end March 2002, shows that, in 2001-02, there were five people with mental health problems in receipt of direct payments - one in Fife, two in Highland, one in South Ayrshire and one in West Lothian.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 August 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 16 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether an adequate number of Care Commission Inspectors are now trained and in place to ensure full inspection and monitoring of standards in accordance with the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001.
Answer
The employment and training of adequate inspection staff are operational matters for the Care Commission itself.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 August 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 16 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether appropriate audit tools are now being applied to assess and monitor care standards across Scotland.
Answer
This is an operational matter for the Care Commission.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 August 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether thiomersal is still used for child vaccinations; which current vaccinations contain thiomersal, and whether thiomersal is considered safe to use.
Answer
The regulation and control of medicines is reserved.The Medicines Control Agency has advised that the only vaccines in the routine UK childhood immunisation programme which contain thiomersal as an excipient in the final product are diphtheria, tetanus, wholecell pertussis (DTwP) and diphtheria and tetanus vaccines.In September 2001, the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) reviewed the available data relating to possible neurotoxicity of thiomersal in vaccines and advised that there is no evidence of harm caused by doses of thiomersal in vaccines, except for hypersensitivity reactions. The CSM concluded that the risk:benefit balance of thiomersal-containing vaccines remains overwhelmingly positive.Information about thiomersal in vaccines was provided in a letter issued to NHSScotland in November 2001 from the Chief Medical Officer, the Chief Nursing Officer and the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer. A copy of the letter has been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 23701).
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 August 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what services are currently available for those involved with all aspects of deliberate self-harm, including professional and frontline carers.
Answer
It is for NHS boards and local authorities to arrange appropriate support and services, having assessed the needs of their areas. The Framework for the Reduction of Suicide, which will be issued later this year, will provide advice to local agencies in developing responsive services.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 August 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how Levonelle is being monitored to ensure that it is used in line with prescription recommendations.
Answer
It is not possible to monitor the use of Levonelle from data collected centrally. These data relate to numbers and costs of prescribed items dispensed in the community and are not patient-specific. Guidance on the use of Levonelle is available to prescribers from a number of sources including the British National Formulary and the manufacturer's product literature. The prescribing of Levonelle is a matter for the clinical judgement of the health practitioner concerned, in consultation with the patient and informed by advice and evidence about its use.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 August 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what action will be taken against any NHS trust which refuses to prescribe the anti-TNF drugs Etanercept and Infliximab to aid people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Answer
Prescription of drugs to individual patients is a matter for the professional judgement of the clinicians involved. The Health Technology Board for Scotland (HTBS) has recently recommended Etanercept and Infliximab for use in certain circumstances in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. I have made it clear that I expect NHSScotland to take account of advice and evidence from the HTBS and to ensure that recommended drugs or treatments are made available to meet clinical need. I have also said that any evidence which suggested that this was not happening would be followed up proactively.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 July 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 16 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether all police forces have in place sufficient police surgeons to attend to victims of crime timeously.
Answer
The provision of police surgeons to attend to victims of crime is an operational matter for chief constables.
