- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 5 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the target of 120 graduates per annum, as recommended in the Action Plan for Dental Services in Scotland, is sufficient to meet the demands for increased availability of, and access to, dental services.
Answer
The number of dentists working in Scotland has increased constantly over the last 30 years and by 300 in the last eight years, and we are committed to increasing numbers further. The Scottish Advisory Committee for the Dental Workforce (SACDW) advises on the most effective way to achieve this.The size of the graduate output is only one of the various factors which influence the supply of and access to practising dentists. The current target output of 120 is considered to be the level appropriate to expected demands, on the information currently available. Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education with ISD Scotland are improving the information available by mapping the characteristics and supply dynamics of the dental workforce. Once this information is available, SACDW will consider the findings and will recommend on the most appropriate method to increase the number of dentists working in primary care in Scotland.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any patients who face a long waiting list for surgery provided by the NHS in Scotland will be given the option of being treated elsewhere in the EU.
Answer
The Executive has no immediate plans to arrange treatment in the EU for patients, other than those individuals being treated under the long-standing E112 arrangements. The English Department of Health is currently piloting projects in the South East of England to see how patients can best benefit from NHS treatment in Europe, and we will monitor the success of these pilots.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 4 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to determine whether fluoride should be added to water.
Answer
The Water (Fluoridation) Act 1985 places on health boards the onus of applying to the relevant water authority if they wish to introduce a fluoridation scheme. It is for the water authority to decide whether to implement the application.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 4 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that all those assessed as needing care in the community will receive the appropriate level of care from local authorities.
Answer
Local authorities have a statutory obligation to provide services and secure provision of facilities that are suitable and adequate for people in their areas. We are continuing to provide authorities with the resources, direction and support to meet that statutory obligation and deliver adequate levels of care to all those who require it.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to introduce Foundation Hospitals with autonomous decision-making and management similar to those announced by the Secretary of State for Health.
Answer
There are currently no plans to introduce Foundation Hospitals with autonomous decision-making and management into the NHS in Scotland.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are (a) known to be suffering from hepatitis C and officially recorded as such and (b) estimated to be suffering from hepatitis C but not officially recorded as such.
Answer
Figures published by the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health (SCIEH) confirm that to end June 2000, there were 10,929 laboratory confirmed cases of hepatitis C in Scotland. The Scottish Needs Assessment Programme Report, published in August 2000, estimated that 35,000 people in Scotland are infected with the hepatitis C virus.Figures showing confirmed cases of hepatitis C infection to June 2001 are to be published by SCIEH next month.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what targets, and timescales for achieving these targets, have been set for the Public Health Institute for Scotland.
Answer
The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), in consultation with a multi-agency group, The Public Health Function Implementation Group (PHFIG) set key aims for the Public Health Institute for Scotland (PHIS) which are: to strengthen the public health information base, especially through developing a comprehensive database for public health;to assemble the public health evidence base, andto support the development of public health skills among different agencies and occupational groups and in communities. In response to this, PHIS submitted a work programme which was approved by the CMO, CNO and PHFIG and subsequently published. This sets out the projects which they will undertake over the next two years to help achieve these aims, along with associated timescales.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to grant franchises for the management of poorly performing hospitals.
Answer
There are currently no plans to grant franchises for the management of poorly performing NHS hospitals in Scotland.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its press release SE1935/2000 on 3 July 2000, what improvements to people's health the Public Health Institute for Scotland has achieved since January 2001.
Answer
The remit of the Public Health Institute for Scotland (PHIS) is "to protect and improve the health of the people of Scotland by working with relevant agencies and organisations to increase the understanding of the determinants of ill health, help formulate public health policy and increase the effectiveness of the public health endeavour". Copies of the PHIS Work Programme were sent to all organisations involved in health improvement, both inside and outside the NHS, and to all MSPs and MPs on 4 January 2002 and is available on the PHIS website. Several significant milestones were achieved in 2001. Profiles of every parliamentary constituency were published in March 2001, highlighting the range of factors influencing health.In conjunction with the Scottish Executive, PHIS supported the development of the new LHCC Public Health Practitioner (PHP) posts, most of whom were in post by the end of 2001. PHIS had a significant input into the induction programmes for the new unified NHS boards.PHIS led a consultation exercise on the contribution of health promotion to health improvement.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Diabetes Framework will be published and what the reason is for any delay in its publication.
Answer
The Scottish Executive published the key milestones of the Scottish Diabetes Framework on World Diabetes Day - 14 November 2001 - at the same time as the clinical standards for diabetes, published by the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland, and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network Guideline on the management of diabetes. Publication of the full framework document is expected in March 2002. Meanwhile, good progress is being made to ensure that the targets set out in the framework will be met.
