- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any research has been carried out regarding the harmful effects of selenium deficiency in humans and animals.
Answer
A large amount of research has been carried out in the UK and in many other countries on the effects of selenium deficiency on humans and animals. SERAD currently funds a small amount of work on the effects of selenium on thyroid function.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether asylum seekers who have settled in Scotland are being given advice, support and access to all vaccination and screening programmes available to other NHS patients.
Answer
Asylum seekers have access to health care services in the same way as any other resident of a health board area. In addition special arrangements are in place to screen asylum seekers for active infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any strategy to link research into brain development, brain functions and learning.
Answer
The Scottish Executive does not have a formal strategy on research into brain development, brain functions and learning. However, it is generally recognised that developments in research related to the human brain have an important contribution to raising awareness among teachers, educational researchers and teacher educators of the factors which affect successful learning and teaching in the classroom.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the NHS drugs budget was spent on (a) baldness, (b) obesity and (c) impotence, in each of the last three years.
Answer
Information about drugs used in the treatment of obesity and impotence is given in the table. Drugs used in the treatment of male-pattern baldness are not prescribable on the NHS by GPs.The amounts shown in the table relate to the cost of drugs dispensed by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors before the deduction of any discount or the addition of dispensing fees. The cost of drugs dispensed in hospitals is not held centrally.
| | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 |
| | Cost (£) | % of total *FHS drugs budget | Cost (£) | % of total *FHS drugs budget | Cost (£) | % of total *FHS drugs budget |
| Drugs used in the treatment of obesity | 34,088 | 0.006% | 177,180 | 0.031% | 646,936 | 0.099% |
| Drugs used in the treatment of impotence | 587,684 | 0.108% | 989,148 | 0.171% | 1,759,147 | 0.269% |
*Family Health Services (FHS).
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it holds on the number of people who have lost their jobs as a result of waiting for diagnosis, assessment and treatment from the NHS.
Answer
This information is not available.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to fund and develop a neuropsychiatric disease prevention programme in order to assist and support people with, or prone to, mental illness.
Answer
A wide range of conditions are captured by the term neuropsychiatric disease, including Huntington's Disease, head injury, dementia of cardiovascular origin and senile dementia among many others. The responses and contributions to care and prevention are equally wide-ranging and condition specific.We will continue to work with health boards and local authorities to devise and implement approaches to care and prevention that not only respond to the needs of different conditions but that also relate to individually assessed needs and inform our prevention measures.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to gather information on levels of any unmet need for community care for the elderly, people with mental illness and disabled people.
Answer
Information on levels of unmet need are not currently collected by the Scottish Executive. However, the Social Work Information Review Group indentified this as a requirement in their publication, Local and National Information Requirements for Social Work in Scotland, which was published last year.Definition work has now started and recommendations are expected to be put out to a variety of care organisations and local authorities for consultation during 2001-02.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure greater integration between mathematics, biology, medicine, engineering and the physical sciences in order to facilitate more joined-up research programmes.
Answer
Individual research programmes in Scottish higher education institutions are primarily funded by the UK Research Councils. They have mechanisms in place to ensure co-ordination across and between disciplines.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to design a mechanism to facilitate cross-disciplinary research and development in order to advance integration and innovation in health care and treatment.
Answer
At a strategic level, the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) within the Scottish Executive Health Department already encourages research projects to have a multidisciplinary involvement. The CSO publication Research Strategy for the National Health Service in Scotland, published in July 1998, identifies the promotion of a multidisciplinary approach to health services research as one of the prime objectives in its overall aim of improving the quality and cost-effectiveness of health services and healthcare. A copy of the Research Strategy is in the Parliament's Reference Centre.This multidisciplinary approach is reflected in CSO funding streams. Having an appropriate multidisciplinary mix is one of the 10 dimensions of assessment by which R&D Support Fund awards are allocated and annually reviewed. Similarly, the majority of research projects funded directly by CSO also have multidisciplinary research teams.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to tackle any excess prescribing of drugs and treatments in the NHS.
Answer
Health boards and NHS Trusts work closely with prescribers to ensure that patients are only prescribed drugs where clinically appropriate. There is a range of measures being taken nationally and locally to support this. These include:
- feedback and analysis of prescribing information;
- review of patients receiving repeat prescriptions;
- local formularies;
- advice on new drugs/similar drugs;
- prescribing protocols;
- local review and audit;
- national advice from the Health Technology Board for Scotland;
- advice from local area drugs and therapeutic committees, and
clinical pharmacy systems in hospitals to monitor, advise and review prescribing.
