- Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 24 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to establish a system of recording the performance of NHS24.
Answer
Every NHS board, including NHS 24, is subject to a process of public review and scrutiny as part of the annual review process. The forthcoming annual review of NHS 24, covering the 2007-08 period, will take place on Tuesday 12 August 2008.
In addition, NHS 24 publishes a regular chief executive’s report on it’s website. This report reviews the performance of NHS 24 on a range of targets and indicators.
- Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 24 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to review the service and contract provided by the telephone company operating the NHS24 telephone lines.
Answer
This is an operational matter for NHS 24.
NHS 24 is almost seven years into a 10 year contract with British Telecommunications (BT) for the delivery of the organisation’s telephony infrastructure and service. As part of the delivery of this service, NHS 24 and BT are in constant discussions about the ongoing operation and improvements which can be made to both the service provided by BT and the contract.
- Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 24 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the monthly running costs are of NHS24.
Answer
The net operating costs, or running costs, of NHS 24 are set out in their annual accounts each year and laid before the Parliament.
- Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 24 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many members of staff are employed by NHS24 and, of those, how many have direct caller contact.
Answer
As at June 2008, there are 1,418 staff delivering NHS 24 services in both frontline and support roles across Scotland. Of these, 1,192 staff (84.1% of total) work across a variety of skill sets, and have direct contact with patients.
This includes 657 frontline clinical staff, such as clinical service managers, team leaders, nursing staff, pharmacy advisors, dental nurses and mental health advisors who receive and make calls directly to patients and their carers.
In addition, 513 call handlers and senior call handlers and 22 health information advisors also engage with patients and their carers by telephone.
- Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 24 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost to the user is of telephoning NHS24.
Answer
NHS 24 operates a low rate 08454 number. This means that no matter which operator the caller uses when phoning from a landline, the caller only incurs a minimal cost. As every caller would have their own operator and subsequently a call package or contract tailored for their use, no single value for a call to NHS 24 can be given, although NHS 24 does cover the more substantial part of the cost.
Similarly the cost of calls to NHS 24 from mobile phones are dependent on the call tariff levied by the caller’s specific network operator. NHS 24 have a policy of calling mobile phone users back if they have insufficient credit on their phones to cover the time period necessary for their call to NHS 24.
- Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to reduce the availability of cheap alcohol products in supermarkets.
Answer
I was pleased to learn that Ross Finnie shares my concerns about the impact cheap alcohol has on alcohol misuse in Scotland.
I have already announced the government’s intention to crack down on irresponsible promotions in supermarkets and other off-sales premises. We will shortly consult on the detail of these proposals and once we have considered the outcome of the consultation, I shall bring forward regulations which I hope all parties will be able to support.
- Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what view it takes on the removal from the Medical Act 1983 of the requirement for pre-registration doctors to be resident at the hospital where they are working.
Answer
The Scottish Government view is that the removal of the residency requirement for F1 trainees represents an improvement in their conditions of service, reflecting the improvements in their working hours. It is also our view that as salaries for doctors in training are already competitive even without free accommodation there is no case for increasing salaries to reflect this change.
- Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has held with doctors’ representatives, such as the BMA in Scotland, on the removal from the Medical Act 1983 of the requirement for pre-registration doctors to be resident at the hospital where they are working.
Answer
The Scottish Government meets with junior doctors representatives at UK level in the relevant Joint Negotiating Council (Juniors), known as JNC(J). In Scotland, the Scottish Government and NHSS employers meet the BMA Scottish Junior Doctor Committee (SJDC) on a regular basis to discuss all matters relating to Junior Doctor’s terms and conditions. The matter of Junior Doctors accommodation was discussed at the JNC(J) meeting on 27 May. It has not to date been discussed with SJDC, but will form part of the agenda at the next meeting, which will take place on 13 June.
- Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 3 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what improvements have been made to the blood testing regime in Scotland over the last 10 years and what consequent amendments have been made to blood donation guidelines.
Answer
The following changes to the blood donation testing regime have been introduced by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service over the past decade:
By April 1999 all blood for transfusion was tested negative for hepatitis C by both antibody and nucleic acid testing (NAT).
NAT testing for HIV/AIDS was introduced in November 2002
Testing for Human T-Lymphotropic Virus 1 (HTLV-1) was introduced in August 2002
Malaria antibody testing of donors with a risk of malaria was introduced in 2004.
Testing of apheresis donors for anti-hepatitis B core began in March 2005 and testing of platelets for bacteria using the BActAlert system started in 2004.
Various exclusion criteria for donors have been introduced over the past decade as a risk reduction measure against variant CJD.
Visitors to the United States must wait at least 28 days after their return to donate as a precaution against West Nile Virus transmission.
- Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 3 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers it to be important for any nucleic acid blood testing regime to specify both hepatitis C virus and HIV if it is to be used to test blood supplies in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government considers it is important for any nucleic acid blood testing (NAT) regime to specify both hepatitis C virus and HIV. This is the regime carried out by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service to test blood supplies in Scotland. They introduced NAT testing for hepatitis C in 1999 and for HIV in November 2002 following an increase in the number of donations detected as positive for anti-HIV antibody.
