- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take to address the reductions in 1999-2000 of the numbers of clients receiving home care of (a) up to two hours per week, (b) two to four hours per week and (c) more than 10 hours a week, as set out in Table 2A of the Audit Scotland Performance Indicators 1999-2000, Social work: Comparing the performance of Scottish councils.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has committed substantial additional resources to extending and improving on the provision of care to people in their own homes. In each of the next three years respectively, the allocation of resources for Community Care is set to increase by over £90 million, £135 million and £195 million. This will include a major additional investment for home care services.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how much the NHSiS spent on the use of bank and agency nurses in each of the last three years.
Answer
This information is not available.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12337 by Susan Deacon on 8 February 2001, how many patients are being given medication for the treatment of attention deficiency disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and what type of medication is being administered.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are proposals to design, pilot and evaluate the use of electronic patient-owned health records created and maintained on the Internet.
Answer
Work is under way to establish by 2003 Electronic Patient Records (EPRs) which will contain the detailed record of care of an individual patient in primary and secondary care organisations. Separately work is in hand to pilot by 2002 Electronic Health Records (EHRs) which will contain summarised information on important health events throughout a patient's life. An important part of the work currently under way is to establish protocols for access to these records by healthcare professionals and patients. However, in planning for such developments, security and confidentiality of patients' information, safeguarding patients' rights, is paramount. Such records will be established on secure private networks to ensure patient confidentiality where access can be strictly controlled.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to encourage the expansion of the private health care sector as recommended in the British Medical Association Report Healthcare funding review, and, if so, how this will be done.
Answer
We have no plans to do so.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how the Food Standards Agency plans to monitor imports of meat to ensure that it meets the standards required of home grown meat.
Answer
The Food Standards Agency advises that all imported meat must conform to the same European hygiene standards as UK production. In accordance with European Single Market rules imports from other member states are not checked on import but the EU Food and Veterinary Office make inspection visits in all member states to ensure compliance with single market rules.Third country imports all come from plants approved by the European Commission. Officials in Border Inspection Posts check all consignments from non-EU countries. These checks ensure that all imported meat has been produced to at least the same standards as domestic produce.The agency has requested that food authorities step up checks on imports following recent breaches of EU BSE controls detected in consignments of meat from some member states and imports are currently being checked by either Meat Hygiene Service or local authority officers in the UK.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 20 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest average waiting times are to see a podiatrist, broken down by each NHS Trust.
Answer
The treatment of patients by a podiatrist is generally undertaken in a primary care setting by the Community Chiropody Service or sessions at NHS hospitals, clinics or other NHS facilities staffed by Professions Allied to Medicine. Information on waiting times for services provided by the Community Chiropody Service or by Professions Allied to Medicine is not collected centrally.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 March 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 20 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any computer virus problems in the Common Services Agency and, if so, how it will ensure accurate payments to health professionals.
Answer
The Common Services Agency (CSA) has no current computer virus problems. The CSA's networks are fully protected by high quality firewalls and individual systems have additional virus checking software installed. All virus checking software is regularly updated.These procedures are designed to ensure that all systems including those calculating payments to health professionals are secure.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 March 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 20 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take in response to the study by the National Radiological Protection Board linking high-voltage electricity pylons with childhood leukaemia.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer I gave to question S1O-03093 on 15 March 2001.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 March 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, following the publication by the Health Education Board for Scotland and Glasgow Healthy City Partnership of Understanding the Policy Ma'e - A guide to Social and Health Policy in Scotland, it will set out comprehensively its own strategies and guidelines in these areas.
Answer
Understanding the Policy Maze itself gives a useful overview of the field. More recent Executive policy documents are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre.
