- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether hospital pharmacists have access to patients’ emergency care summaries as part of efforts to improve patient safety.
Answer
The emergency care summary system can be accessed by all clinicians working in unscheduled care environments where patient consent can be obtained. This includes pharmacists in unscheduled or emergency care in accident and emergency and acute receiving units.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it or NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has undertaken a review of the costs of (a) construction or (b) staffing following the announcement that future, new or significantly refurbished hospitals will have only single rooms.
Answer
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde had already considered the application of 100% single rooms in the New Southern Hospital prior to submission of the outline business case in March 2008.
Following the issue of CEL (48) 2008 all NHS boards will have to take into account construction and staff issues within their proposals. These issues will be assessed as part of the review of business cases undertaken by both NHS boards and the Scottish Government Health Directorates.
The Single Room Steering Group considered a number of factors including construction and staffing. Details are contained within the steering group''s report which will be available from the HAI Task Force website www.scotland.gov.uk/haitaskforce.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all the efficiency savings made or being made by NHS boards in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09 and (c) 2009-10, broken down into recurrent and non-recurrent savings.
Answer
Details of recurrent and non-recurrent savings by NHS boards are as follows:
| NHS Board | 2007-08 Recurrent Savings Achieved (£000) | 2007-08 Non-Recurrent Savings Achieved (£000) | 2008-09 Forecast Recurrent Savings (£000) | 2008-09 Forecast Non-Recurrent Savings (£000) | 2009-10 Forecast Recurrent Savings (£000) | 2009-10 Forecast Non-Recurrent Savings (£000) |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 5,516 | 0 | 10,934 | 0 | 11,284 | 0 |
| Borders | 1,704 | 0 | 3,343 | 2,318 | 3,400 | 1,300 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 2,176 | 0 | 4,641 | 450 | 4,707 | 0 |
| Fife | 4,746 | 0 | 10,201 | 0 | 9,902 | 0 |
| Forth Valley | 4,323 | 0 | 7,511 | 4,230 | 7,751 | 4,434 |
| Grampian | 5,398 | 0 | 10,377 | 2,549 | 7,797 | 24,692 |
| Greater Glasgow and Clyde | 16,385 | 0 | 42,200 | 4,000 | 35,000 | 0 |
| Highland | 5,971 | 0 | 7,674 | 8,311 | 8,715 | 8,715 |
| Lanarkshire | 5,823 | 0 | 11,002 | 3,802 | 4,500 | 16,405 |
| Lothian | 10,016 | 0 | 13,682 | 6,055 | 20,000 | 0 |
| Orkney | 93 | 0 | 812 | 115 | 1,023 | 0 |
| Shetland | 408 | 0 | 520 | 190 | 1,165 | 0 |
| Tayside | 8671 | 0 | 9,630 | 9,409 | 12,625 | 6,887 |
| Western Isles | 601 | 0 | 1,527 | 650 | 1,000 | 898 |
| National Waiting Times Centre | 1,382 | 0 | 800 | 0 | 824 | 0 |
| NHS 24 | 2,579 | 0 | 4,696 | 0 | 1,868 | 0 |
| NHS Education for Scotland | 1,468 | 0 | 724 | 0 | 747 | 0 |
| NHS Health Scotland | 0 | 0 | 319 | 17 | 358 | 0 |
| NHS National Services Scotland | 2,554 | 0 | 5,617 | 0 | 5,102 | 0 |
| NHS Quality Improvement Scotland | 79 | 0 | 332 | 0 | 171 | 167 |
| Scottish Ambulance Service | 1,792 | 0 | 4,783 | 555 | 3,918 | 0 |
| The State Hospitals Board for Scotland | 917 | 0 | 974 | 0 | 1,122 | 225 |
| Total | 82,602 | 0 | 152,299 | 42,651 | 142,979 | 63,723 |
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements are in place for ensuring that medical information on prisoners is transferred to their GPs on release, including (a) primary care information, (b) screening information and test results, (c) information on programmes addressing issues such as drugs and alcohol use or anger management and other behavioural programmes and (d) information about the nature of their offences where that may relate to future health issues, such as alcohol, drugs, domestic violence, anger control or other forms of abuse.
Answer
I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:
Clinical practice in SPS conforms to current General Medical Council guidance regarding confidentiality and the protection and provision of information.
Any prisoner in receipt of prescribed medication at point of planned release, or who has served a prison sentence of six months or more, should have a discharge summary completed by the prison medical officer and issued to the prisoner''s GP where this is known. Arrangements are also in place to ensure that any substitute prescribing to address drug misuse issues are continued in the community upon release.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that clinically important information obtained by members of the primary care team or the primary care network is recorded on a single accessible record.
Answer
The emergency care summary is the most obvious example of clinically important information from primary care being recorded on a single accessible record. This is particularly useful for those patients who are confused or on multiple medications, and for people who are admitted to hospital at weekends with no access to surgeries for up to date prescribing information.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is appropriate for NHS boards to avoid providing cover for staff on maternity leave as part of efficiency savings.
Answer
Only schemes that comply with the definition of an efficiency saving would be accepted. The definition of a cash‘releasing efficiency saving is where the organisation delivers the same service at a reduced cost, demonstrated by delivering the same outcome(s) or output(s) for a reduced input or delivering a reduced unit cost allowing an increased volume of service for the same cost.
Potential efficiencies are considered on a case-by-case basis.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is ensuring that pay protection is being extended beyond the originally planned three-year period, pending the conclusion of appeals under Agenda for Change.
Answer
The number of NHSScotland staff requiring pay protection under the new system is actually very low. It is currently running at just over 1.5% overall and this figure will continue to come down as Agenda for Change pay catches up with these protected salaries through incremental progression and yearly uplifts. Whilst Agenda for Change pay protection arrangements in England end five years after the date of implementation, Scotland has had a longstanding commitment to extend protection for as long as it is needed for the small number who will still require protection beyond that point. There are no plans to change this.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken, or is taking, to ensure that all GP software systems to be used in Scotland are compatible with (a) all other clinical systems and (b) data collection systems being used by ISD Scotland.
Answer
There are accredited GP systems in Scotland. All of these systems are compatible with the Scottish Care Information (SCI) gateway store, SCI gateway, SCI-DC, the emergency care summary and ePharmacy. At present there is no requirement for GP systems to be compatible with all other clinical systems in use in Scotland. ISD''s National Clinical Dataset Development Programme has developed a range of clinical data standards. ISD will work with the eHealth Programme and NISG to ensure that new accredited GP systems meet ISD Scotland''s requirements.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 5 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to promote public and patient awareness of the new roles of community pharmacists.
Answer
The Scottish Government has produced promotional and patient awareness materials for the Minor Ailments Service and Acute Medication Service. These materials were made available in pharmacies and GP surgeries. In addition, the Minor Ailments Service has been promoted through the use of posters in pharmacies'' windows. Further patient awareness campaigns are planned for other services to be introduced in the new pharmacy contract.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 5 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that delaying filling vacancies is an appropriate way of achieving efficiency savings.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not have a policy of delaying filling vacancies as a way of achieving efficiency savings.
