- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 30 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that the European drinking water directive, as enacted in the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2001 and the Natural Mineral Water, Spring Water and Bottled Drinking Water (Scotland) No.2 Regulations 2007, is extended to cover both bottle-fed dispensers and mains-fed point-of-use water dispensers to ensure freedom from coliformis, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus aureus.
Answer
Water used in both bottle-fed and mains-fed water coolers must comply with the quality standards in the Drinking Water Directive, or, in the case of natural mineral water, the standards in Council Directive 80/777/EEC, and must be free from microbiological contamination.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 30 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-19175 by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 January 2009, what discussions it has had with the UK Department of Health about the potential role for NHS Quality Improvement Scotland in the revised independent process.
Answer
The discussions between the Scottish Government Health Directorates and the Department of Health in England have focused on establishing a collaborative process whereby the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS) will ensure that Scottish interests are fully reflected in the continuous review process for Quality and Outcomes Framework indicators.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 30 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-19481 by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 January 2009, whether there will by any provision for female mentally disordered offenders at the State Hospital after 2011.
Answer
The Scottish Government has worked with the State Hospital and other NHS boards to develop medium secure services for women patients and has transferred, or will shortly transfer, all women patients at the State Hospital to more appropriate accommodation thus meeting the principles and requirements of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.
The intention is therefore that there will be no provision for female mentally disordered offenders at the State Hospital after 2011. Rather, in the future, should high secure services be required for women, the NHS will commission them as appropriate.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 30 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is or will be issued to ensure regular testing for bacterial infection of bottled water dispensers and mains-fed point-of-use water dispensers.
Answer
There is no specific guidance on testing of water dispensers for possible bacterial contamination. However, Section 76F(1) of the Water (Scotland) Act 1980 places a duty on local authorities to keep themselves informed about the wholesomeness and sufficiency of water supplies provided to premises in their area.
All organisations that install water dispensers, and everyone who uses them, have responsibilities in terms of their maintenance and cleanliness.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 30 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken by way of advertising in magazines and newspapers and provision of leaflets to patients to reduce the level of inappropriate requests for antibiotics when visiting GPs for the treatment of colds.
Answer
There is a range of publicly available measures in place to provide information to patients and the public to reduce the level of inappropriate requests for antibiotics when visiting GPs for the treatment of colds. Many NHS boards run campaigns and produce leaflets and also provide information which can be accessed on their websites.
The NHS 24 website also provides information on treatments for colds which explains why antibiotics should not be prescribed. This can be accessed at http://www.nhs24.com/content/.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 30 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is or will be issued to ensure regular testing for bacterial infection of bottled water dispensers and mains-fed point-of-use water dispensers where such dispensers are in an NHS setting as part of measures to prevent healthcare associated infections.
Answer
There is no specific guidance on testing of water dispensers for possible bacterial contamination in a healthcare setting. However, Section 76F(1) of the Water (Scotland) Act 1980 places a duty on local authorities to keep themselves informed about the wholesomeness and sufficiency of water supplies provided to premises in their area.
All organisations that install water dispensers, and everyone who uses them, have responsibilities in terms of their maintenance and cleanliness.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 24 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of published guidance by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on borderline and antisocial personality disorders, what action the Scottish Prison Service and community justice authorities are taking to implement programmes with offenders to deal with such disorders both in prison and in the community.
Answer
I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:
From a clinical perspective, there are very few prisoners in custody with a formal diagnosis of either antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) or borderline personality disorder (BPD). SPS helps prisoners address their presenting behaviours rather than rely on or work through a medical diagnosis, however, there are occasions when a confirming diagnosis would be of benefit. In this respect, a number of individuals who may meet a formal diagnosis of ASPD or BPD will be supported by prison based multi-disciplinary mental health teams (MDMHT).
Offending behaviour associated with these personality disorders is most likely to be addressed through the suite of offending behaviour programmes provided by the SPS. These programmes are designed using a risk, needs and responsivity approach which can meet the needs of prisoners with such disorders.
Having consulted with criminal justice authorities (CJAs), they advise that the National Strategy for the Management of Offenders designs services around offender groups, including offenders with mental health problems. There is also an expectation that agencies work together to enhance services for offenders in order to achieve stated offender outcomes including sustained or improved physical and mental well-being.
Accredited programmes that follow the same principles as those delivered by SPS are available in the community.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive for what reasons the guidance on Clostridium difficile on the Health Protection Scotland website has not been amended to include the testing of all symptomatic patients, with diarrhoea, aged 15 and older.
Answer
Surveillance will be extended from 1 April 2009 to include patients aged 15 and over. Guidance is currently being amended to take account of this change.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive for what reasons the criteria for submission of Clostridium difficile isolates to the Scottish Clostridium difficile Reference Service have not been revised since October 2007.
Answer
Since November 2008, following introduction of the Protocol for Clostridium difficile snapshot programme, the criteria for submission of Clostridium difficile isolates has been expanded to include a representative collection of isolates originating from patients with mild, moderate and severe diseases and from all NHS boards. In addition, isolates continue to be submitted as set out in the protocol dated October 2007.
The snapshot programme will generate information on the distribution of Clostridium difficile PCR (polymerase chain reaction) ribotypes currently present in Scotland. These data will help to inform how the monitoring of strains should take place in future.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the observations of hand hygiene undertaken by trained observers and collected by Health Protection Scotland for the quarterly hand hygiene reports include a positive return for staff if they hand wash with (a) the agent provided and water only, (b) the agent provided and water or alcohol gel and (c) alcohol gel alone.
Answer
The observations, carried out by trained Hand Hygiene Local Health Board Co-ordinator''s, (LHBCs) are to assess whether the correct opportunity for hand hygiene was taken by NHS staff and whether the opportunity was performed with either the correct use of soap and water or the correct use of alcohol based hand rub. If staff are observed following these procedures correctly then they would be marked a pass. If they are not following these procedures correctly, then they would be marked a fail.
