- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many GPs have undergone continual professional development to update their knowledge and skills with regard to contraception in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer
This information is not heldcentrally.
General practitioners, likeother professionals, are expected to look at their own personal learning needsand the health needs of their patients and to seek training accordingly.Guidance and assistance is available to GPs from NHS Education for Scotland viathe Postgraduate Directors of General Practice Education.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the median waiting time for an initial consultation with a sexual health specialist (a) is currently and (b) has been in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer
The information requested isnot available centrally.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4247 by Malcolm Chisholm on 3 December 2003, whether there were any technical difficulties with regard to links to the National Waiting Times Database that prevented such links being found on its website, its press release SEDH556/2003 or Scottish Health on the Web on the day the National Waiting Times Database was launched and, if so, what these difficulties were.
Answer
The Information andStatistics Division of the Common Services Agency, who are responsible for theNational Waiting Times Database, have advised that there were no technicaldifficulties experienced with the database on 30 October 2003 when it waslaunched on the world-wide web.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many statistical bulletins it has published in each year since 1999 and, of these, how many indicated that the information within them was not fully comparable with previous years, broken down by subject.
Answer
The information presented givesthe number of statistical publications released by the Scottish Executivestatistical group via its website.
| Year | Number of Publications |
| 1999 | 78 |
| 2000 | 83 |
| 2001 | 119 |
| 2002 | 143 |
| 2003 (part year to 25 November 03) | 119 |
Changes in statisticalseries can occur for a variety of reasons including revisions to datacollection methods, improvements to analytical methodologies, adjustments tothe dissemination process and updating of policy priorities. The statisticalgroup works to ensure that if past series are revised, that the changes arefully and clearly identified to users. The statistical group does not holdinformation on the number of series that are not comparable over time.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many publications have been issued by the Information and Statistics Division (ISD) regarding the NHS in each year since 1999, and, of these, how many indicated that the information within them was not fully comparable with previous years.
Answer
Information and Statistics Divisionissues over 30 quarterly or annual national statistics releases and a largenumber of other publications containing health statistics each year, providinginformation on a wide range of topics about the NHS and the health of people inScotland. Most of these releases are published electronically on ISD’s websiteat
www.isdscotland.org.
In accordance with good statistical practice ISDseeks to highlight in each release any changes in the underlying data,organisational changes affecting how the statistics are presented, or changesin the selection of statistics published. Key factors which have changed thestatistics published by ISD since 1999 and in doing so affected comparabilitywith previous years include:
Legislative changes in ophthalmic services in 1999.
Changing service provision in hospitals whereby somesurgical operations/procedures are now carried out in out-patients, wherepreviously they would have involved day case treatment.
Changes in the way waiting lists/times are classifiedand improved coverage in response to the Audit Scotland report on waiting(2002) and my decision to abolish the Deferred Waiting List from April 2003.
Improvements made to the national statistical returnthat collects information on people attending services for drug problems.
There will have been otherminor improvements to definitions since 1999 that might make some figures notstrictly comparable. However, searching through the thousands of pages ofmaterial to quantify this would incur disproportionate cost.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average reporting time in days has been for laboratories to process breast screening results in each of the last four years, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer
Information about thereporting times for breast screening results is not collected centrally. Thisis a matter for the six breast screening centres. Contact details for the breastscreening centres can be obtained from the National Services Division, CommonServices Agency on 0131 625 6247.
The NHS Quality ImprovementScotland report on breast screening, which was released on 24 November, notedthat there were delays at some centres in women receiving their screeningresult. The national services division will be considering with the service thedevelopment of appropriate IT system enhancements to allow this data to be moreeasily accessible in the future which will assist the centres to monitor theirperformance.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
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Current Status:
Awaiting answer
To ask the Scottish Executive what the legislative differences between Scotland and England would have to be borne in mind if adoption of the guidelines referred to in support paper 5b to its sexual health strategy were to be considered.
Answer
Awaiting answer
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 5 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3034 by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 November 2003, whether it will list the political activities over the last five years of each member of each NHS board as supplied in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments' Code of Practice.
Answer
The composition of NHS boardsby gender, profession and declared political activity is published in the Scottish Executive publication Annual Report on Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland andcan be found on the Executive’s website at:
www.scotland.gov.uk/government/public bodies. The information provided inthe annual report and on the website includes any political activity undertakenduring the past five years.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 4 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance can be provided to Dundee Football Club to help minimise job losses during the period of administration and restructuring.
Answer
Any joblosses are regrettable but Dundee Football Club is now in administration anddecisions on the future of the Club are a matter for the administrators. the Executive has no direct locus and Dundee Football Club have not soughtExecutive assistance.
Strongpartnerships already exist between local enterprise companies, localauthorities, Jobcentre Plus and Careers Scotland. These partners haveconsiderable experience in responding to redundancy situations and can offeradvice, support and guidance on the range of retraining, upskilling andemployment opportunities.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many GPs (a) ceased to practice as principals and (b) took up posts as principals in each of the last three years, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer
The information for the mostrecent years available is as follows:
| Health Board
| 1 October 1999 to 30 September 2000 | 1 October 2000 to 30 September 2001 | 1 October 2001 to 30 September 2002 |
| (a) | (b) | (a) | (b) | (a) | (b) |
| Argyll and Clyde | 13 | 17 | 15 | 20 | 16 | 15 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 14 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 14 | 14 |
| Borders | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 2 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 10 |
| Fife | 6 | 9 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 13 |
| Forth Valley | 10 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 9 |
| Grampian | 22 | 25 | 10 | 23 | 20 | 22 |
| Greater Glasgow | 16 | 15 | 23 | 26 | 28 | 25 |
| Highland | 12 | 11 | 6 | 15 | 19 | 19 |
| Lanarkshire | 15 | 14 | 9 | 12 | 7 | 9 |
| Lothian | 26 | 27 | 20 | 36 | 26 | 31 |
| Orkney | 5 | 4 | - | 1 | - | - |
| Shetland | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Tayside | 9 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 16 |
| Western Isles | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Scotland | 155 | 165 | 133 | 182 | 181 | 190 |
