- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the cost of the healthy living campaign to date.
Answer
The figures on the cost of the healthy living campaign are laid out in the following table.
Cost of the Healthy Living Campaignfrom 7 January to 4 November 2003
| | 2002-03 (Jan to end March) | 2003-04 (April to 4 Nov) |
| Advertising | £1,404,864 | £1,029,271 |
| Evaluation and Monitoring | £17, 955 | £75,000 |
| Resource Development/ Promotional Items | £98,368 | £62,000 |
| Advice line | £171,826 | £175,697 |
| Website | £35,395 | £4,484 |
| Total | £1.73m | £1.35m |
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance has been issued to hospitals regarding patients' nutrition.
Answer
The Executive recognisesthat high quality, nutritious food is essential to improving the health andfunctional ability of hospital patients. In February 2002, the NationalNursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting Advisory Committee published a report;
PromotingNutrition for Older Adult In-Patients in NHS Hospitals in Scotland. The aimof the report is to provide professionals with practical guidance on how toimplement the nutritional standards as set down in the Nursing Homes ScotlandCore Standards for Nutritional Care.
NHS Quality ImprovementScotland issued new clinical standards for food, fluid and nutritional care in hospitalson 19 September 2003. The new standards will help improve the quality ofmeals and drinks provided in Scotland’s hospitals and make sure that thedietary need of all patients are identified as soon as they go into hospital.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the use of vitamin and mineral supplements for elderly people has been considered as a preventative action in relation to the long-term health of elderly people.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is currently considering the risks andbenefits associated with vitamin and mineral supplements for the elderly. Thiswork is being taken forward as part of the implementation of Adding Life toYears, the report of the expert group on the health care of older people.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 12 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the current recommended intake levels of selenium are for (a) males and (b) females.
Answer
I have been advised by theFood Standards Agency that the Reference Nutrient Intake for selenium is 75mcg/d for an adult male and 60 mcg/d for an adult female. An increase of 15mcg/d is recommended for lactating women.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether research has been carried out into any links between nutritional deficiencies and mental health illness.
Answer
The Chief Scientist Office,(CSO), within the Scottish Executive health department, has responsibility forencouraging and supporting research into health and health care needs in Scotland.CSO is largely a response mode funder of research and this role is well knownand advertised throughout the health care and academic community.
CSO has directly funded one recentlycompleted research project into links between nutritional deficiencies andmental health illness entitled, “Can schizophrenic patients improve their diet?”.A copy of the executive summary of the findings can be found on the ChiefScientist Office (CSO)’s website, http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/cso,under Publications/Executive Summaries/May 2003 - Health Services Research,project reference number K/OPR/2/2/D396.
CSO would be pleased toconsider further research proposals for innovative studies on this subject of asufficiently high standard. These would be subject to the usual peer andcommittee review.
In addition, the NationalResearch Register (NRR), a UK-wide research database, records two on-going projectsand a small number of completed projects on links between nutritionaldeficiencies and mental health illness. Details of these projects are availablefrom the NRR, a copy of which is in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib.number 17404).
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are mechanisms in place to monitor the quality of food served in NHS hospitals and, if so, what such mechanisms are.
Answer
Hospitals are expected tomeet the new clinical standards for Food, Fluid and Nutritional Care issued byNHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHSQIS) on 19 September 2003. NHSScotland’s performance against these standards will be monitored bya process of self assessment and peer review overseen by NHSQIS. The resultswill be published in due course.
The bulk of food andingredients used in NHS kitchens is purchased through Scottish HealthcareSupplies (SHS) which is part of the Common Services Agency. SHS has stringentcontract and auditing procedures in place to ensure quality. All food supplierspremises and practices are audited.
In addition hospitals havetheir own procedures in place to monitor quality. These include patientsatisfaction surveys and monitoring food waste.
Audit Scotland hasrecently completed a review of hospital catering. The results are expected tobe published later this month.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to introduce full annual health checks for those aged 75 and over.
Answer
The terms of service forgeneral practitioners already require them each year to invite each of theirpatients aged 75 or over to participate in a consultation to assess whether thepatient has any need for general medical services.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether guidelines have been issued on the recommended number of dieticians employed in hospitals.
Answer
The British DieteticAssociation is currently working on guidelines on the number of dieticiansrequired across a number of general specialty areas. However the associationhas made no recommendations about numbers of dieticians in hospitals. Noguidelines have been issued by the Scottish Executive on the recommended number ofdieticians in hospitals in Scotland.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on psychological intervention, or other non-drug therapies, in respect of (a) severe and enduring mental illness, (b) attention deficit hyperkinetic disorder, (c) depression and (d) dementia, in each of the last three years.
Answer
This information is not heldcentrally.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive which drugs have been withdrawn from use for the treatment of people under 18 in each of the last three years.
Answer
The safety of medicines is areserved matter and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare ProductsRegulatory Agency.
The agency has advised that theCommittee on Safety of Medicines recently issued advice that the antidepressantdrugs paroxetine (Seroxat) and venlafaxine (Efexor) should not be used inchildren and adolescents aged less than 18 years of age with depressiveillness. No drugs have been withdrawn for use specifically within this agegroup in the last three years.
