- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what information is held on the extent of diagnosed or suspected diseases arising in children as a direct result of malnutrition.
Answer
Acute illnesses, chronic or severe, can cause malnutrition. Information collected by the Information and Statistics Division of the Common Services Agency through the Scottish Morbidity Record, the Continuous Morbidity Record and child health surveillance identifies a condition, although not the cause of a condition.The following table shows the number of discharges over the four years to December 2001 for conditions where malnutrition is either specifically mentioned or where it is highly likely, excluding codes where the deficiency is more likely to be secondary to another condition.General Acute Hospital Discharges Involving a Diagnosis of Malnutrition, Under 15 Year-Olds, Scotland
| Year End December |
| Diagnosis (ICD10 code(s)) | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001P |
| Malnutrition Total* | 49 | 55 | 45 | 31 |
| Malnutrition (ICD10 E40-E46) | 11 | 23 | 13 | 4 |
| Effects of Hunger (ICD10 T73.0) | 2 | - | 1 | - |
| Other Nutritional Deficiencies (ICD10 E50- E63) | 21 | 20 | 20 | 18 |
| Sequelae of Vitamin/Mineral/Other Deficiencies(ICD10 E64.1-E64.9) | - | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Other Iron Deficiency Anaemia (ICD10 D50.8) | 15 | 11 | 8 | 8 |
Source: ISD Scotland, SMR01.
PProvisional.Notes:*The same patient may be counted in more than one disease category. The sum of the groups may exceed the total displayed.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether all GPs and consultants in the NHS have access to the National Waiting Times database and whether all patients waiting for surgery are given the option to choose a hospital with the shortest waiting times.
Answer
The National Waiting Times database currently being developed is to provide general practitioners, consultants, patients and the public with readily accessible, accurate and up-to-date information on hospital waiting times throughout Scotland. We intend that patients will be able to choose to be treated at a hospital where they will have a shorter wait.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to form a research and development partnership with the pharmaceutical industry in order to fund jointly clinical research for the faster development of new drugs for patients.
Answer
Following on from the answer given to question S1W-23850 on 20 March 2002, the Pharmaceutical Liaison Group continues to explore areas of shared interest and concern to the Health Department, NHSScotland and the pharmaceutical industry. The specific issue of a research and development partnership with the pharmaceutical industry is under consideration.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Mike Watson on 17 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to promote the use of home produced food and drink to visitors and tourists to Scotland and to increase the economic value of such produce.
Answer
The recently published Tourism Framework for Action 2002-2005 contains actions to promote the VisitScotland Food Quality Assurance scheme and encourage greater uptake of home produced food and drink within the service sector. We have also commissioned research to look at further opportunities to develop the links between the food and tourism industries.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Simpson on 17 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many sudden unexpected deaths in epilepsy there were in each of the last five years.
Answer
The following table presents the information available on deaths involving epilepsy. It is not possible to say how many of these deaths were sudden and unexpected.Epilepsy deaths
1 in Scotland
| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 20012 |
| Epilepsy recorded as underlying cause of death | 99 | 99 | 115 | 99 | 113 |
| Epilepsy mentioned on death certificate, but not recorded as underlying cause of death | 190 | 180 | 183 | 198 | 179 |
Notes:1. For years up to and including 1999, ICD9 codes 345.0 - 345.9; for years from 2000, ICD10 codes G40.0 - G41.92. Data for 2001 are provisional.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Elaine Murray on 16 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to develop walking in the Highlands within the tourism market.
Answer
Local partners - Highland Council, the local enterprise companies and the area tourist boards - are working with Scottish Natural Heritage, VisitScotland and Paths for All to actively develop opportunities for increasing the tourism potential of walking in the Highlands.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-22591 by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 February 2002, what plans it has for a managed clinical network for epilepsy in order to ensure that people throughout Scotland receive the diagnosis and treatment appropriate to their needs.
Answer
It is the Executive's policy to encourage the development of managed clinical networks where patients and health professionals believe they would lead to improved services for patients. Proposals for pilot managed clinical networks for epilepsy are currently being developed in different parts of Scotland. The Executive has made it clear to Epilepsy Action Scotland, and the neurologists with whom they are working, that we would be willing to consider bids for pump-priming funds to help with the development of such managed clinical networks.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 13 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-15517 by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 May 2001, how many local authorities have found illegal imports of meat as part of their routine inspections of food premises.
Answer
I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that there have been no reports by local authorities in Scotland of illegal imports of meat found in food premises following routine inspection.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 13 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-15517 by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 May 2001, what the Food Standards Agency has achieved or concluded as a result of its programme of audits of ports and seaports to examine the effectiveness of UK border inspection arrangements covering personal and commercial imports.
Answer
I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that the programme of audits of ports in April 2001 was undertaken to help inform policy development on the issue of illegal importation of food products of animal origin. The board of the Food Standards Agency subsequently agreed, at its meeting in October 2001, that agency officials should explore a number of proposals to improve controls on imported food at ports. The agency has also been involved in the development of the Government Action Plan on illegal imports, published by Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at the end of March, as were devolved administrations. The information from the agency's audit programme will inform on-going work in this area.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated annual quantity and cost is of unused drugs and medicines, given that 47,000 kg of medicines are returned to community pharmacies each year at a cost of #15 million, and what is being done to reduce wastage and expenditure in this area.
Answer
It is not possible to estimate the quantity and cost of unused medicines which are not handed in to community pharmacies for safe disposal.We set out in The Right Medicine - A Strategy for Pharmaceutical Care in Scotland (Bib. number 18835) the actions we will be taking to help patients understand how to use their medicines to best effect. This will help reduce wastage through non-compliance.
