- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 May 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 11 June 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Grampian Health Board has the lowest level of cancelled operations of all health boards and, if so, why, and whether it will identify any best practice procedures the Board employs which other health boards could adopt.
Answer
I strongly support the efforts of the NHS to reduce the number of cancelled admissions to hospital and to spread good operational practice. The development of new performance assessment and accountability arrangements for NHSScotland, as described in Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change will help encourage continuous improvement in NHS performance through benchmarking, sharing of good practice and publication of performance information.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 May 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 24 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether all NHS Trusts have a procedure to contact by telephone all patients awaiting surgical operations in order to reconfirm appointments.
Answer
This is a matter for individual NHS Trusts.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 May 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 24 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that the operating procedures of all NHS Trusts are reviewed to ensure that best practice is employed to reduce the number of cancelled surgical operations across Scotland.
Answer
I strongly support the efforts of the NHS to reduce the number of cancelled admissions to hospital and to spread good operational practice. The development of new performance assessment and accountability arrangements for NHSScotland, as described in Our National Health, a plan for action, a plan for change will help encourage continuous improvement in NHS performance through benchmarking, sharing of good practice and publication of performance information.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 24 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, when an answer to a question refers to a previous answer, it will in future also provide the text of that previous answer.
Answer
No, previous questions can now be accessed easily on the Scottish Parliament website.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 24 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how much money will be dedicated in the current financial year to reducing the incidence of hospital-acquired infections.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is making more money available for health in Scotland this year than ever before - a total of £5.9 billion, up 7.5% on last year. I have already announced substantial further growth in this budget over the next three years: by 2003-04, the annual health budget will be £6.7 billion.It is for Health Boards and NHS Trusts to decide how to apply these increased resources to ensure the provision of modern, safe and effective health services for the population of their areas. This will include spending on infection control in line with guidelines provided by the Scottish Executive and to meet standards which are being developed by the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to privatise any aspect of Scotland's frontline police operations.
Answer
No. Trained civilians are already employed within the police service in Scotland in certain well-defined roles to support the work of the police. Deployments along these lines will continue where they are appropriate.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 May 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Morrison on 17 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will implement a system of direct funding for area tourist boards.
Answer
This matter is kept under constant review, although we have no plans at present to implement a direct system of funding. However, I endorsed the recommendation in last years management review of the STB that we should move toward a "de facto network" involving the Area Tourist Boards and visitscotland. As part of the recently announced eight point plan for Scottish tourism, visitscotland will engage with all Area Tourist Boards to begin implementation of the action plan to establish the integrated visitscotland local area network. I anticipate that these reforms will bring the benefits of a more integrated network, while maintaining the benefits of local authority involvement and funding.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to introduce universal neonatal hearing screening to detect hearing loss in newly born babies.
Answer
The Scottish Executive welcomes the advice of the UK National Screening Committee on Neonatal Hearing Screening. The Executive has commissioned a comprehensive review of the implications associated with implementing a phased screening programme from the National Co-ordinator of the Scottish Screening Programmes and the Medical Director of the National Services Division, and the Scottish Executive will respond to its recommendations in due course.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 14 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what the recommended level of staffing is of the infection control team at Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Answer
The Scottish Office Department of Health provided guidance to the NHS on infection control arrangements, policy and procedures in the Scottish Infection Manual (1998). The guidance does not make recommendations about the level of staffing required to undertake the tasks and responsibilities it sets out. It is for NHS Trusts to decide, working within the overall guidance, what level of staffing is appropriate for infection control work within their working area.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 14 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive which electronics businesses it has given financial support to in each of the last three years and how much support each such business received.
Answer
The main form of financial assistance provided by the Executive to businesses investing in the Assisted Areas of Scotland is through Regional Selective Assistance (RSA). In addition, the SMART and SPUR schemes support small- and medium-sized businesses across Scotland to undertake research and development.Through these programmes, grants amounting to £20.8 million in the financial year 1998-99, £17.3 million in 1999-2000 and £30.7 million in 2000-01 were paid to companies in the electronics sector in Scotland. Of this total of £68.8 million, some 96% was paid out under the RSA scheme.It is not the department's practice to list individual grant payments made to firms. However details of all offers of RSA involving grant over £75,000 are listed in the Office of National Statistics' quarterly Labour Market Trends after the first payment of grant has been made. This publication is held in the Parliament's Reference Centre.
