- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 22 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what successful outcomes have been achieved in treating the estimated 70% of prisoners identified as having a mental health problem.
Answer
I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:
The SPS does not record specific outcome measures on the individual treatment of prisoners with mental health problems. The SPS seeks to deliver against the National Offender Outcomes, of which Offender Outcome 1 relates to the mental health and wellbeing of prisoners.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 22 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been achieved to reduce the rate of increase in the proportion of children with a body mass index outwith a healthy range.
Answer
The National Performance Indicator for child healthy weight and progress so far can be found on the Scotland Performs web pages:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/scotPerforms/indicators/childrensBMI (the national indicator relates to children aged 2-15).
Progress is being made to reduce the rate of increase in the proportion of children with a body mass index outwith a healthy range with figures showing a drop from 1.7% per annum between 1998 and 2003 to 0.8% per annum between 2003 and 2008.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 22 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether NHS boards provide psychology services for older people, including a crisis service.
Answer
NHS Boards are responsible for providing psychology and crisis services for all age groups, and for having the right number and mix of qualified staff and configuration of services to meet local need in these areas.
A draft report on Applied Psychology and Psychology in the NHS in Scotland was circulated to Boards in December and discussed with NHS Chief Executives in April. The report identified key challenges and opportunities in the provision of psychology services for older people. The report''s working group will reconvene shortly to produce a final version of the report.
National Standards and the Crisis Toolkit have been published in recent years, and implementation of the Standards is monitored as part of the Scottish Government''s performance management of Boards. In addition, the Mental Health Benchmarking Project includes action on developing the collection of data on the availability of crisis services, which will enable Boards and others to compare and measure service provision.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 22 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether all recommendations in the publication, Remember I’m Still Me, published jointly by the Mental Welfare Commission and the Care Commission have now been implemented.
Answer
Remember I''m Still Me''s findings and recommendations “ the latter aimed at the Scottish Government and other key partners - helped inform development of Scotland''s first National Dementia Strategy, published in June.
As part of implementing the Strategy over the next 3 years, we are working with partners to address the recommendations in Remember I''m Still Me.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 22 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to control exposure to, demand for and consumption of excessive quantities of high calorie foods and drinks as outlined in Preventing Overweight and Obesity in Scotland: A Route Map Towards Healthy Weight.
Answer
The Route Map is a long term strategy spanning 20 years. Our current priority is to develop an action plan and identify key milestones to support delivery of the Route Map. A report of progress will be published in 2013.
In the meantime, we are committed to improving the nation''s diet through work with a range of stakeholders. For example, with retailers through the Scottish Grocers'' Federation Healthy Living Programme, caterers through the Healthyliving Award, consumers through our ˜Take Life On'' campaign, third sector groups through Community Food and Health (Scotland) and with the education sector through our implementation of the Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act 2007.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 22 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how each NHS board performed in managing mental health services by using benchmarking to understand and compare services and their outcomes in order to promote best practice, as recommended in Mental Health Project Final Report: National Benchmarking Project.
Answer
As a result of the work of the Mental Health Benchmarking Project, in August National Services Scotland will publish a toolkit to enable NHS Boards and others to interpret benchmarking data in informing the design, planning and management of local services; and to enable the comparison of service designs and outcomes.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 22 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in providing counselling support for children and young people as set out in its 2005 report, The Mental Health of Children and Young People: A Framework for Promotion, Prevention and Care.
Answer
Significant progress in implementing this part of the Framework by 2015 is being supported by the Scottish Government''s investment of £6.5 million over the next 3 years to increase the number of psychologists working in specialist CAMHS; and is complemented by an additional £2 million per year “ matched by NHS Boards “ to enhance intensive community mental health services for this age group.
In addition, statutory and voluntary partners are working to provide resources, support and advice to enable all of those working with children and young people - in all settings - to promote good mental health and wellbeing and provide counselling support. Examples of partnership activity which is helping to build the capacity of the whole childrens'' workforce include the Playfield Institute, set up by NHS Fife; and the HandsOnScotland toolkit, developed by Barnardo''s, HeadsUpScotland and others.
Monitoring progress in this area is a key part of the Scottish Government''s performance management of NHS Boards.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 22 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the results of its monitoring of whether national standards for crisis services have been implemented to ensure that the services provided meet local demand, as recommended in the Audit Scotland report, Overview of Mental Health Services.
Answer
Although the Audit Scotland report does not specifically recommend that the Scottish Government publish these results, we will be undertaking additional work in 2011 in assessing and disseminating information on Boards'' implementation of the National Standards.
Implementation of the National Standards is currently monitored and evaluated as part of the Scottish Government''s performance management of NHS Boards; and is complemented by the work of the Mental Health Collaborative in continuing to track the activity of Boards in reducing readmissions in line with the former readmissions HEAT target.
Ongoing work of the Mental Health Benchmarking Project includes action on developing the collection of data on the availability of crisis and out of hours services. This data will enable Boards and others to compare and measure service provision in this area.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 21 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether patients with obstructive sleep apnoea are given access to a weight management programme when their weight is assessed to be a contributory factor for the condition.
Answer
In line with Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) Guideline 73 on the management of sleep apnoea in adults, sleep medicine services routinely provide weight reduction management advice as one of the lifestyle management factors that can have a positive effect on reducing the symptomatic effects of the condition.
In doing so, they will be assisted by our Counterweight programme, a Primary Care initiative under which a Weight Management Adviser provides adults referred to the programme with advice on how to achieve and maintain a healthy weight through diet and physical activity.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 21 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to ensure that people are given early diagnosis and treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea.
Answer
Clinicians in NHSScotland are expected to follow the recommendations in Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) Guideline 73 in relation to the diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnoea in adults.
NHS Boards are working to reduce waiting times for services such as sleep apnoea, which were previously excluded from waiting time standards, to ensure that they meet the 18 weeks referral to treatment target by the end of 2011.
