- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 21 April 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what specific financial support it will be giving to the joint initiative by Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councils to set up a forum involving business and community leaders to protect around 200 miles of fragile coastline from erosion.
Answer
Funding of a new forum as proposedby the two councils is a matter for the parties involved. However, if as a resultof setting up the planned forum, the councils decide to take schemes forward underthe Coast Protection Act 1949 to address coastal erosion, coast protection grantmay be available to support the forum’s output, subject to satisfying the requiredcriteria. For example, grant support may extend to relevant preliminary studiesundertaken in advance of any such schemes.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 April 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many podiatrists are practicing in the NHS, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
Information on staff in postin NHS Scotland is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website underWorkforce Statistics, at
www.isdscotland.org/workforce.Information on podiatrists is published in Section F (Scientific, Therapeuticand Technical Staff (including Allied Health Professionals) employed inNHSScotland) in each year since 1993, broken down by NHS board area. Figuresare presented as headcount or whole time equivalent. Whole time equivalent adjusts headcount staff figures to take account of part-time staff.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 April 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what podiatry services, treatments and devices are available in the NHS and what the patient charges are for them.
Answer
The planning and provisionof NHS podiatry services are matters for NHS boards. Information concerning therange of podiatry services, treatments and devices in an NHS board’s area is availablefrom the NHS board directly. As part of NHS service provision there is nocharge to patients for NHS podiatry services.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 31 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to permit pharmacists to claim a fee for not dispensing prescriptions after exercising professional judgement, as is the case in the Republic of Ireland.
Answer
Remuneration arrangements forcommunity pharmacists, including the question of “non-dispensing” fees, arebeing considered as part of the on-going discussions with the ScottishPharmaceutical General Council on the new community pharmacy contract. To dateno decisions have been made.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 18 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce its incentive package to attract allied health professionals to the NHS, as referred to in A Partnership for a Better Scotland; whether the package will include contributions towards student loan repayments of such professionals, and what the cost of the package will be.
Answer
A Partnership for aBetter Scotland set out a range of initiatives to improve thedelivery of public services, including the NHS. A number of the initiativeshave the aim of developing and supporting staff in NHSScotland and include theintroduction of further measures to attract and retain GPs and other healthstaff with a wider range of incentive packages. This partnership agreementcommitment is under consideration, alongside a number of other commitments, andthe details of the proposals will be announced as soon as possible.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are affected by asbestos-related illness and what the annual cost is to the NHS of treating such illnesses, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer
There are number of illnesses which are specific to asbestos such as mesothelioma, pleural plaque with presence of asbestos and pneumoconiosis due to asbestosis. Asbestos exposure will contribute to a number of other conditions including lung cancer but may not be explicitly identified as an underlying cause because it is not always possible to determine the influence of asbestos exposure to an individual’s condition.
An estimate of the prevalence of these illnesses can be derived from hospital in-patient and day case discharges using “probability matching” to link the individual hospital records for each patient, as shown in the table below. However, these figures are likely to be an undercount of total prevalence of asbestos-related illnesses. The annual cost of treating these illnesses is not available centrally.
Prevalence1 of Asbestos Specific Related Illnesses2, 2002 by NHS Board of Residence
| NHS Board Area of Residence | Prevalence |
| Scotland | 593 |
| Argyll and Clyde | 92 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 23 |
| Borders | 8 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 10 |
| Fife | 82 |
| Forth Valley | 28 |
| Grampian | 47 |
| Greater Glasgow | 151 |
| Highland | 17 |
| Lanarkshire | 38 |
| Lothian | 65 |
| Tayside | 29 |
| Island Boards | 3 |
Source: SMR01 Linked Database.
Notes:
1. Prevalence is based on individuals who are alive in 2002 and have been admitted to hospital during the period 1997-02 with an asbestos related condition.
2. Asbestos specific-related illnesses included in the table are: mesothelioma, pleural plaque with presence of asbestos and pneumoconiosis due to asbestosis. However, the International classification of disease code used to identify pneumoconiosis due to asbestosis includes pneumoconiosis due to other mineral fibres.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 11 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will introduce diagnostic and treatment centres similar to those being introduced in England.
Answer
Partnership for Care madeclear that the way NHS services are provided must continually adapt to reducewaiting times and improve the quality of patient care. It is for NHS boards todetermine how these improvements are best brought about. But, NHS boardsalready have or plan to introduce a number of walk-in treatment centres. Thisincludes Stracathro, Tayside (operational); Stobhill and Victoria in Glasgow(planned); Grampian DTC network (planned) and 411 one-stop clinics(operational).
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 11 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will propose that the roles and responsibilities of local authorities be debated in the Scottish Parliament.
Answer
We currently have no plansto propose that the roles and responsibilities of local authorities be debatedin the Scottish Parliament.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to ensure that there is no disruption to the pricing of prescriptions when new desktop scanners are introduced in order to avoid any delays in payment as experienced by pharmacists when the scanner system was introduced in 2000.
Answer
To ensure that the payment scheduleis not compromised, existing scanners will not be moved from their location inTrinity Park House, but will remain fully operational and maintained untiltheir replacements have been installed and tested at the new Scanner Centre in Livingston. Inaddition, the Common Services Agency have confirmed that they have contingencyand disaster recovery arrangements in place and are keeping the ScottishPharmaceutical General Council apprised of all matters.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total volume was of drugs dispensed in each of the last 10 years, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer
The information requested is given in the following tables.
| NHS Board | Number of dispensed items – Year ending 31 March |
| | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 3,986,781 | 4,113,638 | 4,198,550 | 4,292,836 | 4,447,222 |
| Argyll and Clyde | 4,598,118 | 4,741,083 | 4,853,372 | 5,002,070 | 5,222,131 |
| Borders | 1,032,568 | 1,066,076 | 1,089,189 | 1,124,774 | 1,155,422 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 1,482,513 | 1,565,225 | 1,627,926 | 1,710,925 | 1,801,779 |
| Fife | 3,132,726 | 3,254,003 | 3,365,676 | 3,507,607 | 3,684,741 |
| Forth Valley | 2,717,224 | 2,805,061 | 2,879,930 | 3,022,273 | 3,131,603 |
| Grampian | 4,209,231 | 4,337,124 | 4,421,109 | 4,606,572 | 4,797,859 |
| Greater Glasgow | 9,962,664 | 10,189,145 | 10,421,136 | 10,685,905 | 11,064,542 |
| Highland | 1,728,581 | 1,816,406 | 1,888,466 | 1,963,034 | 2,048,590 |
| Lanarkshire | 6,015,455 | 6,167,405 | 6,392,421 | 6,605,033 | 6,927,913 |
| Lothian | 6,135,648 | 6,315,371 | 6,460,409 | 6,589,865 | 6,856,256 |
| Orkney | 163,834 | 165,964 | 170,298 | 171,939 | 177,136 |
| Shetland | 193,908 | 194,221 | 201,565 | 208,418 | 220,637 |
| Tayside | 3,710,683 | 3,827,725 | 3,943,124 | 4,122,682 | 4,236,853 |
| Western Isles | 266,224 | 282,833 | 292,191 | 302,717 | 315,102 |
| Scotland | 49,336,158 | 50,841,280 | 52,205,362 | 53,916,650 | 56,087,786 |
| NHS Board | Number of dispensed items – Year ending 31 March |
| | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 4,551,199 | 4,709,367 | 4,794,133 | 4,998,882 | 5,158,627 |
| Argyll and Clyde | 5,388,845 | 5,608,448 | 5,870,156 | 6,200,968 | 6,527,302 |
| Borders | 1,176,697 | 1,223,210 | 1,263,861 | 1,344,428 | 1,434,289 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 1,857,331 | 1,969,172 | 2,090,199 | 2,235,938 | 2,346,720 |
| Fife | 3,836,191 | 4,024,217 | 4,202,676 | 4,436,151 | 4,669,562 |
| Forth Valley | 3,289,456 | 3,502,791 | 3,639,723 | 3,790,658 | 3,999,389 |
| Grampian | 4,941,908 | 5,104,971 | 5,254,512 | 5,525,309 | 5,763,167 |
| Greater Glasgow | 11,278,411 | 11,493,663 | 11,816,490 | 12,487,269 | 13,170,097 |
| Highland | 2,114,015 | 2,200,798 | 2,292,990 | 2,413,896 | 2,563,823 |
| Lanarkshire | 7,104,284 | 7,361,758 | 7,612,600 | 8,008,790 | 8,552,818 |
| Lothian | 7,006,392 | 7,208,168 | 7,428,669 | 7,718,514 | 8,023,155 |
| Orkney | 182,626 | 194,836 | 194,379 | 201,483 | 213,977 |
| Shetland | 229,828 | 245,372 | 255,998 | 274,087 | 284,973 |
| Tayside | 4,348,178 | 4,517,662 | 4,665,271 | 4,850,077 | 5,050,275 |
| Western Isles | 328,475 | 344,163 | 359,481 | 386,827 | 418,025 |
| Scotland | 57,633,836 | 59,708,596 | 61,741,138 | 64,873,277 | 68,176,199 |
Source: Data in the tables have been provided by ISD and refer to prescription items dispensed by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors, but do not take into account medicines dispensed by hospitals or hospital-based clinics.
