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: S3W-29354

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with NHS boards regarding the management of the additional workload of district nurses administering the influenza A (H1N1) vaccine to housebound patients.

The Scottish Government Health Directorate (SGHD) and Health Protection Scotland (HPS) have worked closely with NHS boards on planning for the influenza A (H1N1) vaccination programme. This has included approval of local service delivery models at a national level, and the SGHD and HPS continue to have weekly engagement with NHS boards on the progress of the vaccination programme.

However, NHS boards remain responsible for managing the workload of their staff involved in the delivery of the vaccination programme.

Question reference: S3W-29353

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how NHS boards will manage the additional workload of district nurses administering the influenza A (H1N1) vaccine to housebound patients.

Question reference: S3W-29048

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the 28-day hospital readmission rate following discharge from a mental health specialty was for patients aged (a) under 18, (b) 19 to 44, (c) 45 to 64 and (d) 65 and over in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

The number of discharges from mental health units with subsequent readmission within 28 days, and rates of readmission as a percentage of all discharges, for patients under 18, aged 18-44, aged 45-64 and aged 65 and over, by NHS board in each of the last five years are detailed in the following table.

The relevant mental health HEAT target for 2009-10 (T4) is to reduce the number of readmissions (within one year) for those that have had a hospital admission of over seven days by 10%, by the end of December 2009. The NHS in Scotland is currently exceeding this target according to the latest available figures, with an overall decrease of 26%.

For individual boards, the latest available information shows that, with the exception of NHS Orkney and NHS Tayside, boards are meeting or exceeding this target. In respect of NHS Orkney, the 14% increase shown in the latest available figures reflects the small number of total readmissions within the board.

This target will be tracked through to December 2010.

Year Ending 31 March

NHS Board of Residence	Age Group	2005		2006		2007		2008		2009^P
NHS Board of Residence	Age Group	Number	% of all discharges	Number	% of all discharges	Number	% of all discharges	Number	% of all discharges	Number	% of all discharges
Ayrshire and Arran	Under 18	0	0.0	*	11.1	*	11.8	*	18.2	*	15.8
	18 to 44	82	12.1	94	14.3	74	13.2	76	13.2	75	13.4
	45 to 64	40	11.0	41	12.1	24	7.5	33	10.0	31	9.0
	65 and over	23	7.4	20	6.8	21	6.9	23	8.0	19	7.1
Borders	Under 18	*	20.0	*	20.0	*	16.7	*	16.7	0	0.0
	18 to 44	33	16.7	19	12.2	25	15.0	31	17.4	21	11.9
	45 to 64	21	17.1	17	18.7	17	15.3	13	13.3	22	21.8
	65 and over	19	12.7	19	13.7	11	8.8	14	9.8	12	8.2
Dumfries and Galloway	Under 18	*	14.3	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
	18 to 44	41	18.9	26	12.1	28	13.7	25	13.2	21	11.2
	45 to 64	10	8.0	20	14.2	12	8.8	10	8.2	11	9.0
	65 and over	10	7.5	6	4.9	*	2.3	7	5.6	5	4.2
Fife	Under 18	*	10.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	*	8.3	0	0.0
	18 to 44	81	14.8	74	13.2	63	12.1	61	12.2	55	11.4
	45 to 64	21	8.1	28	9.7	23	8.1	41	13.1	35	12.7
	65 and over	26	8.4	22	6.3	16	6.5	25	9.7	15	6.7
Forth Valley	Under 18	*	9.1	0	0.0	0	0.0	*	9.1	0	0.0
	18 to 44	56	13.0	52	13.7	46	12.9	60	17.4	52	13.9
	45 to 64	22	11.2	18	8.8	8	4.3	29	15.8	18	9.8
	65 and over	14	5.7	9	4.1	11	4.8	7	3.8	6	2.8
Grampian	Under 18	*	10.5	*	11.8	*	12.5	*	8.3	0	0.0
	18 to 44	83	14.5	66	12.0	62	12.2	70	15.0	53	10.7
	45 to 64	48	12.4	35	10.0	31	8.7	33	9.8	39	11.2
	65 and over	30	6.5	33	7.0	24	5.1	32	7.2	21	4.9
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	Under 18	7	14.9	8	16.0	7	13.2	*	4.1	8	12.9
	18 to 44	292	12.6	266	12.1	240	11.8	249	12.4	231	11.2
	45 to 64	117	10.3	126	10.8	135	11.9	118	10.4	126	10.2
	65 and over	82	7.8	71	6.8	52	5.3	55	6.1	50	5.0
Highland	Under 18	0	0.0	5	35.7	*	10.5	*	7.1	*	10.0
	18 to 44	70	12.5	62	12.4	54	12.3	49	11.1	44	10.4
	45 to 64	30	9.3	24	7.6	26	9.3	23	7.4	24	7.5
	65 and over	17	5.9	21	8.2	10	3.7	22	7.4	17	6.0
Lanarkshire	Under 18	*	5.0	*	4.0	*	14.3	*	3.2	*	9.1
	18 to 44	136	14.3	145	16.9	119	15.2	112	14.4	95	11.4
	45 to 64	62	12.7	54	12.1	56	12.1	52	12.7	41	8.8
	65 and over	44	8.9	40	8.8	37	7.8	34	8.1	26	5.8
Lothian	Under 18	*	2.2	5	11.9	5	13.9	5	12.8	*	5.4
	18 to 44	172	13.6	147	11.9	139	12.7	148	13.2	112	10.4
	45 to 64	78	11.5	70	10.5	67	9.9	74	11.4	52	7.8
	65 and over	114	13.1	87	10.3	89	12.0	53	7.7	43	6.5
Orkney	Under 18	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
	18 to 44	*	25.0	0	0.0	*	10.0	*	12.5	*	28.6
	45 to 64	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	*	20.0
	65 and over	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
Shetland	Under 18	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
	18 to 44	*	8.3	0	0.0	*	16.7	*	5.6	0	0.0
	45 to 64	0	0.0	0	0.0	*	11.1	0	0.0	*	25.0
	65 and over	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
Tayside	Under 18	*	8.3	*	9.1	*	5.6	*	7.7	*	7.1
	18 to 44	101	15.2	118	18.6	94	15.7	87	14.3	76	11.6
	45 to 64	42	12.0	51	12.9	38	10.2	49	13.8	41	10.4
	65 and over	16	3.9	20	5.1	21	5.1	24	5.9	24	5.2
Western Isles	Under 18	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
	18 to 44	7	25.0	*	8.6	0	0.0	*	3.8	*	3.7
	45 to 64	*	11.8	6	20.0	*	10.5	*	6.7	0	0.0
	65 and over	7	13.0	10	18.5	*	9.8	5	12.5	*	10.3

^PProvisional.

Note: *Indicates values that have been suppressed due to the potential risk of disclosure.

Question reference: S3W-29356

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 2 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the NHS Scotland partnership process with staff was followed when agreement with the General Practitioners Committee was reached regarding delivery of the influenza A (H1N1) vaccine.

Question reference: S3W-29055

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 1 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-23482 by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 May 2009, what progress has been made in increasing levels of registered organ donors in black and minority ethnic communities.

Our work on implementation in Scotland of the UK Organ Donation Taskforce recommendations includes a range of work specifically directed at the promotion of organ donation to the black and minority ethnic (BME) population.

On 16 November 2009, the Scottish Government Health Directorates organised the first of a series of focus groups attended by key members of the BME population, who have been asked to advise on the most effective way of taking forward the promotion of organ donation within these communities.

The outcomes of all of these discussions will then be reported to the Scottish Transplant Group for consideration.

Question reference: S3W-29044

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 1 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how it measures levels of Clostridium difficile and MRSA in community health settings and what body is responsible for doing so.

The government''s objective is to reduce all avoidable infections across all settings and our work to reduce infections in community healthcare settings is continually evolving.

Patients, particularly the elderly, move frequently between the community and the acute healthcare setting. Consequently, no accurate measurement can currently be made as to whether a Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) or MRSA infection occurred specifically in the community setting. The present national reporting arrangements do not therefore differentiate between community acquired or healthcare acquired infections.

The body responsible for collecting and publishing the national quarterly data on cases and rates of CDI and MRSA in each NHS board area is Health Protection Scotland.

Question reference: S3W-29054

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 1 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people volunteered for organ donation in each month since January 2009.

Question reference: S3W-29053

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 1 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to increase the level of registered organ donors in the Asian community.

Question reference: S3W-29052

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 27 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether schools included in the school building programme will facilitate out-of-hours community use of sports facilities.

Question reference: S3W-29050

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 27 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to the potential link between the school building programme and the development of community sports hubs as part of the 2014 Commonwealth Games legacy.