- Asked by: Susan Deacon, MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average number is of schoolchildren covered by each nurse working in school nursing service teams.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21457, answered on 20 December 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Susan Deacon, MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in standardising the education modules for the school nursing service across Scotland.
Answer
The competencies developed by NHS Education for Scotland provide the mechanism for ensuring that education programmes for the school nursing service have a core of standardisation across Scotland while still allowing local flexibility.
The public health nursing programme leads to the award of a specialist practitioner qualification which is a Nursing and Midwifery Council approved programme, and thus has standards and outcomes set on a UK-wide basis.
The specialist practitioner qualification in public health nursing, which includes a section on school nursing, is not a modular programme but a course of study at degree level.
- Asked by: Susan Deacon, MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20232 by Lewis Macdonald on 14 November 2005, how the ratio of schoolchildren to school nurses for 2004 compares with the equivalent figures for the previous five years.
Answer
The ratio of school children to school nurses for 1999 to 2004 is shown in the following table:
Ratio of School Children to School Nurses1
| NHS Board | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Scotland | 2,304:1 | 2,206:1 | 2,057:1 | 2,072:1 | 2,113:1 | 1,900:1 |
| Argyll and Clyde | 2,170:1 | 2,209:1 | 2,266:1 | 2,065:1 | 2,226:1 | 2,240:1 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 2,476:1 | 2,451:1 | 2,189:1 | 2,043:1 | 1,809:1 | 1,708:1 |
| Borders | 2,956:1 | 3,560:1 | 2,270:1 | 2,276:1 | 2,618:1 | 2,472:1 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 2,134:1 | 2,308:1 | 1,963:1 | 1,692:1 | 1,938:1 | 1,460:1 |
| Fife | 1,655:1 | 1,647:1 | 1,644:1 | 1,559:1 | 1,671:1 | 1,682:1 |
| Forth Valley | 2,909:1 | 2,927:1 | 2,150:1 | 2,487:1 | 2,625:1 | 2,098:1 |
| Grampian | 1,895:1 | 1,701:1 | 1,624:1 | 1,733:1 | 1,731:1 | 1,456:1 |
| Greater Glasgow | 2,322:1 | 2,197:1 | 2,154:1 | 2,407:1 | 2,152:1 | 1,825:1 |
| Highland | 1,982:1 | 1,690:1 | 1,546:1 | 1,536:1 | 1,745:1 | 1,275:1 |
| Lanarkshire | 2,455:1 | 2,002:1 | 1,990:1 | 1,873:1 | 1,825:1 | 1,744:1 |
| Lothian | 3,752:1 | 4,125:1 | 3,039:1 | 3,644:1 | 4,723:1 | 4,528:1 |
| Orkney | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 3,361:1 |
| Shetland | 4,447:1 | 4,370:1 | 4,274:1 | 4,285:1 | 4,247:1 | 3,951:1 |
| Tayside | 1,709:1 | 1,632:1 | 1,694:1 | 1,534:1 | 1,645:1 | 1,625:1 |
| Western Isles | 2,431:1 | 4,687:1 | 4,586:1 | 2,284:1 | 1,132:1 | 1,057:1 |
| NHS National Services Scotland | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Note:1. N/A not available.
- Asked by: Susan Deacon, MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making in ensuring that NHS boards increase resources allocated to school nursing in order to meet the commitments outlined in A Scottish framework for nursing in schools.
Answer
Health boards have received record uplifts in resources in recent years with an average 7.6% increase in funding in 2005-06, well above the rate of inflation. It is for each health board to plan and deliver services, including school nursing, within these resources to meet the needs of its resident population.
- Asked by: Susan Deacon, MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time-equivalent nurses have been working in schools in (a) 2003, (b) 2004 and (c) 2005, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
This information is not held centrally by local authority area. However, it is available by health board area and is shown in the following table.
Number of Qualified School Nurses (Whole-Time Equivalent) by NHS Board at 31 March 2005
| NHS Board | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
| Scotland | 294.0 | 330.7 | 309.4 |
| Argyll and Clyde | 22.7 | 20.5 | 21.6 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 26.1 | 24.3 | 30.1 |
| Borders | 5.1 | 4.7 | 6.7 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 7.4 | 8.8 | 9.8 |
| Fife | 27.3 | 24.9 | 29.5 |
| Forth Valley | 13.6 | 15.0 | 14.6 |
| Grampian | 33.8 | 37.2 | 35.5 |
| Greater Glasgow | 53.8 | 58.2 | 56.3 |
| Highland | 14.7 | 19.7 | 19.5 |
| Lanarkshire | 43.8 | 42.9 | 42.3 |
| Lothian | 19.0 | 18.2 | 16.8 |
| Orkney | N/A | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Shetland | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Tayside | 22.0 | 20.8 | 21.2 |
| Western Isles | 4.0 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
Source: ISD Scotland.
Note: Whole-time equivalent adjusts headcount staff figures to take account of part-time staff.
- Asked by: Susan Deacon, MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what changes have been made to training and education courses for nurses working in the school community in the last five years.
Answer
In 2001 the Scottish Executive Health Department published
Nursing for Health; it
recommended that a new discipline of public health nursing should be developed, bringing together health visiting and school nursing into a single discipline with a shared educational preparation and a common focus on addressing the health needs of identified communities.
The educational element of the new model involved bringing together the Health Visiting Specialist Practitioner Qualification and School Nursing Specialist Practitioner Qualification under the title Public Health Nursing. The public health qualification recognises the vital role of school nurses and increases their career flexibility. The Public Health Nurse brings together the best of health visiting and school nursing into a single discipline providing a greater focus on addressing the health needs of Scotland’s communities.
In addition, NHS Education for Scotland have developed a competency framework for nursing in schools which provides the baseline for the development of education and training throughout Scotland for the entire team.
- Asked by: Susan Deacon, MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what contribution the school nursing service is making to taking forward the evaluation of Hungry for Success programmes.
Answer
Hungry for Success is evaluated and monitored on a number of different levels, as set out in the report of the Expert Panel on School Meals (
www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/hfs-00.asp).
This includes inspections by HM Inspectorate of Education Nutritional Associate Assessors as well as independent research and collection of data through the annual School Meals Survey. School nurses are not directly involved in the evaluation of Hungry for Success. However, Hungry for Success emphasises the importance of taking a whole school approach to healthy eating. School nurses take an active role at both an individual level and with multi-agency groups in promoting a healthy lifestyle for all children and young people.
- Asked by: Susan Deacon, MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in raising the profile of the school nursing service.
Answer
The Framework for Nursing in Schools was launched in 2003. One of the main aims of this document was not only to set out the nursing service that should be delivered to children and young people but provide an opportunity to refocus and raise the profile of nurses working in schools.
Nurses working in schools now participate in many of the new initiatives which are being developed to improve the health of children and young people in Scotland.
In many cases nurses working in schools are very involved in all aspects of the development of New Community Schools, in some cases they are recognised as the key drivers for health issues. Nurses in schools are also at the forefront of the development of a school health profiling tool which will be a valuable and useful development allowing national comparisons, forward planning and evaluation.
The Framework for Nursing in Schools also recommends that the education preparation for nurses working in schools should be changed and brought together with that of health visiting into a single discipline – Public Health Nursing. This ensures that nurses working in schools have the necessary education preparation to effectively fulfil their role and that they are equipped with the necessary skills to meet the changing needs of communities in partnership with other professionals.
- Asked by: Susan Deacon, MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 16 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive which of the projects it is supporting in Malawi will contribute to meeting the health needs of women.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-21358, answered on 16 December 2005, which confirms that the information on all projects is available at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/News-Extras/intdevfundnov2005.
All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Susan Deacon, MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 16 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the International Development Fund has been allocated to supporting projects which improve reproductive health, giving a breakdown of such projects, including any in Malawi.
Answer
Of the 34 successful 1st round projects, 12 will contribute either directly or indirectly to the improvement in reproductive health, with seven of these based in Malawi.
Of the £9 million International Development Fund to be allocated over three years £2,043,000 has been allocated following the first bidding round to projects making a contribution to improving reproductive health, with £1,770,000 of this being allocated to Malawi projects.
Details of projects are available at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/News-Extras/intdevfundnov2005.
A further project – the Midwifery Obstetric Emergency Course training that will be delivered by Simpson’s Maternity Hospital – is not listed in this link as it was funded separately after the First Minister’s announcement of funding during his visit to Malawi in May 2005
