Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S1W-10244

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 2 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost, in real terms, was to the NHSiS of prescription medicines in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

The information is set out in the table below. The figures reflect the total gross ingredient cost in real terms of all prescription items dispensed in the community in Scotland.Gross Ingredient Cost of Prescriptions Dispensed in Scotland 1995-96 to 1999-2000

Financial Year	Gross Ingredient Cost (£) in Real Terms¹
1995-96	454,488,477
1996-97	482,614,848
1997-98	513,116,641
1998-99	527,874,654
1999-2000	587,394,186

Notes:

1. The general index of retail prices has been used to deflate the average costs into real terms using 1995-96 as a baseline.

Question reference: S1W-10247

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 30 October 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps the Information and Statistics Division of the NHSiS is taking to improve data collection on individuals suffering from mental health problems based in the community.

Question reference: S1W-10240

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 30 October 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients are currently receiving Beta Interferon on the NHSiS.

Question reference: S1W-09493

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 30 October 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any Ministers have met organisations representing older people since the establishment of the Parliament to discuss cases of alleged age discrimination in the NHS and, if so, which Ministers.

Question reference: S1W-09245

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 30 October 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many home help clients there were in each local authority area in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

The following table shows numbers at 31 March 1997, 1998 and 1999. Prior to local government reorganisation in April 1996, figures are only available on the basis of the old local authorities. Figures for 1998 and 1999 cover clients who receive home care purchased or provided by local authorities, whereas figures for 1997 only include home care provided directly by local authorities.

Local Authority	1997	1998	1999
Aberdeen City	4,053	4,391	4,766
Aberdeenshire	2,306	2,384	2,041
Angus	1,885	1,878	1,867
Argyll & Bute	1,033	1,032	950
Clackmannanshire	710	586	601
Dumfries & Galloway	1,869	2,075	1,880
Dundee City	3,762	3,240	2,978
East Ayrshire	1,936	1,512	1,398
East Dunbartonshire	1,275	1,207	1,010
East Lothian	1,456	1,408	1,196
East Renfrewshire	826	881	820
Edinburgh, City of	7,839	7,719	7,261
Eilean Siar	1,126	1,000	870
Falkirk ⁽¹⁾	2,717	2,693	2,420
Fife	9,272	8,167	7,491
Glasgow City	12,425	11,258	10,048
Highland	3,104	2,946	2,999
Inverclyde	1,598	1,314	1,311
Midlothian	1,307	1,253	1,253
Moray	1,045	1,161	1,163
North Ayrshire	2,327	2,167	1,696
North Lanarkshire	2,140	3,133	2,999
Orkney Islands	385	376	492
Perth & Kinross	1,490	1,425	1,479
Renfrewshire	2,672	2,762	2,505
Scottish Borders	1,986	1,563	1,576
Shetland Islands	538	527	514
South Ayrshire	1,734	1,485	1,199
South Lanarkshire	4,047	2,924	2,773
Stirling	1,240	1,427	930
West Dunbartonshire	1,641	1,699	1,760
West Lothian	1,872	1,926	1,812
SCOTLAND	83,616	79,519	74,058

Source: SEHD Community Care Statistics, H1 Return.

Notes:

1. 1997 figure for Falkirk is estimated.

Question reference: S1W-10183

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 25 October 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive when an electronic health record of every patient will become available and who will be able to access it.

The Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a longitudinal record of care and relevant health issues about an individual containing summarised information on important health events throughout a patient's life. It will be accessible, appropriately and with the patient's consent, to a range of healthcare professionals caring for an individual patient. It is expected that such records will, in the first instance, be made available to support out of hours and accident and emergency services. The creation of Electronic Health Records is a key part of the NHS in Scotland Information Management & Technology Strategy, now being refreshed, and targets for the establishment of such records will be announced soon.

Question reference: S1W-10224

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 25 October 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the morbidity and mortality rates in respect of (a) meningitis A, (b) meningitis B, (c) meningitis C and (d) unidentified meningitis strains were in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Meningitis A is very rare in the UK and there have been no cases for at least five years and no significant outbreaks since the early 1970s.The Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health (SCIEH) has confirmed the cases of meningitis B and C and the rarer serogroups W135, X and Y as set out in the table below for years 1998,1999 and 2000 to date. The tables also provide details of deaths by serogroups where these were known:

2000
Meningitis Strain	Confirmed cases	% of Tested Cases	No.of Deaths
Not Grouped	123	-	10
B confirmed	84	56%	1
C confirmed	53	35%	8
Non groupable	5	3%	0
W135	5	3%	0
X	0	0%	0
Y	4	3%	0
Total Cases:	274
Total Deaths			19

1999
Meningitis Strain	Confirmed cases	% of Tested Cases	No.of Deaths
Not Grouped	141	-	9
B confirmed	105	50%	5
C confirmed	95	45%	8
Non groupable	1	0%	0
W135	3	1%	1
X	3	1%	0
Y	3	1%	0
Total Cases:	351
Total Deaths			23

1998
Meningitis Strain	Confirmed cases	% of Tested Cases	No. of Deaths
Not Grouped	139	-	5
B confirmed	70	40%	3
C confirmed	75	43%	6
Non groupable	6	3%	0
W135	2	1%	0
X	2	1%	1
Y	3	2%	0
Other	16	9%	0
Total Cases:	313
Total Deaths			15

Notes: % Cases - refers to the percentage of cases for which a serogroup has been confirmed.Deaths - refers to the numbers of total deaths, which have been confirmed as having been infected with this serogroup.

Question reference: S1W-10222

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 25 October 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the benefits will be of full implementation of the Scottish Care Information Programme for (a) the NHSiS and (b) patients.

The Scottish Care Information (SCI) Programme will produce computer software products which NHS Trusts can use in conjunction with their own or commercial software to support priority activities, to enable information about a patient to be shared by clinical staff within the Trust or with the patient's GP and to serve as the basis for the Electronic Patient Record and Electronic Health Record.

In conjunction with other related initiatives, SCI will provide healthcare professionals with the right information where it is needed. Faster outpatient booking process is expected and improved exchange of information between primary and secondary care resulting in more appropriate referrals and more effective transfer of information on discharge from secondary care. Patients will benefit from not having to repeatedly give the same information to different parts of the same organisation and will have the reassurance that the clinicians have appropriate access to their clinical history. The benefits to NHS include better value for money for IM&T investment and the provision of IT systems and standards which have a high degree of compatibility.

Question reference: S1W-10219

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 25 October 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to review photobiology, hyperbaric medicine and hydatidiform mole services.

Question reference: S1W-10111

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 25 October 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what its clinical priorities are in relation to reducing NHS waiting lists.

Reducing waiting for patients at all stages in their use of health services is one of the Executive's key objectives for the NHS in Scotland. We are currently working with the service on the development of all-Scotland maximum waiting times in the national clinical priorities of cancer, heart disease and mental health.

Action to reduce hospital waiting lists is primarily for health boards and NHS Trusts. The Executive has put substantial extra investment into the NHS in Scotland, including targeted investment to help reduce waiting. Coupled with new ways of working and delivering services, this will help the service to achieve sustained improvements.