- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 12 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to secure tougher enforcement of the law against sales of tobacco to children since the publication of Towards a Healthier Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is working closely with CoSLA, and the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland to improvement enforcement of the Children and Young Person (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991. An enforcement protocol, for use by local authorities in carrying out their statutory responsibilities, will be finalised in light of the Lord Advocate's review of prosecution policy in relation to test purchasing of age restricted goods. That review is now complete and an announcement is expected shortly.
In addition we are supporting pilot youth card schemes, in which proof of age is an integral part, in conjunction with COSLA, the Society of Chief Trading Standards Officers in Scotland and Young Scot.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 12 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what encouragement has been given for employers to apply for Scotland's Health at Work Award initiative accreditation since the publication of Towards a Healthier Scotland.
Answer
Our National Health: a plan for action a plan for change included a commitment to increase funding for Scotland's Health at Work scheme to enable more employers to develop health promoting workplaces. Details will be announced shortly.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to develop a dental disease prevention from birth programme since the publication of Towards a Healthier Scotland.
Answer
The Dental Action Plan, a copy of which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 16538), was published in August 2000 and has a significant focus on dental disease prevention. The provision of free toothpaste and toothbrushes, underpinned by the allocation of £1 million from the Health Improvement Fund, forms a core element of the programme and is complemented in all NHS Board areas by educational materials.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 9 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the conditions applied by each health board for accepting ophthalmic opticians as providers of general ophthalmic services include any duty to provide, where appropriate, domiciliary practice.
Answer
No. Ophthalmic opticians are independent contractors and it is for them to decide in the circumstances of each case whether or not to undertake domiciliary visits to eligible people.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 8 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the domiciliary eye test is available to all those who would benefit from the service.
Answer
NHS domiciliary visits are available to those who are eligible for NHS sight tests and who are unable to leave unaccompanied the place where they normally reside because of physical or mental illness or disability.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 8 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken, or intends to take, in light of the findings of the publication The Effectiveness of Public Health Nursing: A Review of Systematic Reviews.
Answer
The report
The Effectiveness of Public Health Nursing: A Review of Systematic Reviews was commissioned by the Chief Scientist Office to inform the Review of the Contribution of Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors to Improving the Public's Health. Its recommendations take account of the findings of the review of systematic reviews and were published in
Nursing for Health in March 2001.
In view of the wealth of evidence identified by The Effectiveness of Public Health Nursing: A review of Systematic Reviews, copies have been widely disseminated to practitioners and public health leaders and academics across NHS Scotland in order to inform clinical practice.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 8 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any statistics are available which provide evidence that a ban on tobacco advertising reduces the amount of tobacco smoked and consequently the death rate from smoking-related diseases.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-16601 answered on 22 August 2001.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 5 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there has ever been any risk of haemophiliacs contracting illnesses as a result of being treated with the blood plasma product Liberate.
Answer
Liberate has been subject to a programme of safety surveillance since it was licensed in 1996. During this period there have been no reports of transmission of pathogenic virus infections (hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV) and only two reports of mild allergy type reactions.
The following statement is included in the product literature:
Despite a good clinical record the nature of products prepared from human blood or plasma are such that the transmission of infectious agents, including pathogens of a hitherto unknown origin, cannot be excluded entirely.
The development of antibodies to Factor VIII in recipients of Factor VIII concentrates can prevent the treatment from being effective. This is a serious complication of therapy in the treatment of haemophilia A. The frequency of such antibodies occurring in patients treated with Liberate (1.8% of patients treated) is substantially lower than with other plasma derived or recombinant products.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of support it is giving to the Depression Alliance and the Depression Alliance Scotland and what structures it will put in place to ensure the continuation of helplines and on-going support for people suffering from depression-related illnesses.
Answer
Under section 16B of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978, the Scottish Executive Health Department currently provides core grant funding to a wide range of voluntary bodies in the mental health field. This support helps Depression Alliance Scotland, and others such as the National Schizophrenia Fellowship (Scotland), the Samaritans and Stresswatch Scotland in a range of activities, including provision of telephone helplines to sufferers of a range of depression-related illnesses and to their carers.
Work is also in hand to develop a national helpline for people with low mood and possible risk of suicide or self-harm.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 4 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the level of funding devoted to infertility services by each health board.
Answer
The latest available figures on amounts spent by Health Boards on infertility services are given in the report of the Expert Advisory Group on Infertility Services in Scotland, which was published in February 2000.
