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: S2W-19215

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 26 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what specific targets were set by the Adding Life To Years Implementation Group and how they are being monitored.

Question reference: S2W-19216

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 26 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the performance has been to date against the specific targets set by the Adding Life To Years Implementation Group.

Question reference: S2W-19214

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 26 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how much the Adding Life To Years Implementation Group cost to set up and run.

Question reference: S2W-19220

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 26 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether patients waiting to see a GP at an out-of-hours clinic are triaged on arrival at the clinic.

Patients in Scotland who require medical attention or advice during the out of hours period first contact NHS 24. The out of hours period are those hours between 18:30 to 08:00 Monday to Thursday, and at the weekend 18:30 on Friday to 08:00 Monday and all day on those public holidays as agreed by each board.

Depending on the clinical symptoms or condition described, NHS 24 will direct patients to the most appropriate out of hours service. In most cases where medical attention or advice is required out of hours, NHS 24 will advise attendance at a NHS Board Out-of-Hours (OoH) Centre within travelling distance to where the patient lives for further assessment and treatment.

Where attendance at a NHS board OoH centre is appropriate, NHS 24 send details of the patient to the centre. The precise arrangements for how and when the patient will attend differ from board area to board area. In some centres, the patient can attend at any time; in others, the patient might be given an appointment, within a time period appropriate to their clinical priority, need and/or condition.

Upon arrival at the NHS board OoH Centre, patients will be seen in turn or by appointment unless their clinical condition suggests a more urgent need when they will be seen as soon as is necessary.

Therefore, patients attending NHS board OoH centres will have already been triaged through NHS 24. However, if the patient’s clinical condition has changed by the time they arrive at the OoH Centre, staff will ensure they are seen as quickly as clinically necessary.

Question reference: S2W-19213

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 26 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how much the report, Adding Life To Years, cost to research and produce.

The total budget for the Adding Life To Years report was £115,000. Preparation for the Report and its printing cost £44,500, and the associated research cost £70,500. This research was a specially commissioned poll of the views of 500 older people on their experiences of the NHS, published along with Adding Life To Years as Public Attitudes to the Healthcare of Older People in Scotland: Research commissioned for the Expert Group on Healthcare of Older People (Bib. number 18922).

Question reference: S2W-18874

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 26 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have been seen at each Glasgow Emergency Medical Service centre in each of the last five years.

The following table represents the number of patients seen at each Glasgow Emergency Medical Service centre in each of the last five years. These figures are supplied by the Greater Glasgow NHS Board.

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	Total
Cardonald	13,805	13,730	14,083	12,436	9,490	63,544
Drumchapel	15,800	14,969	15,530	14,218	12,514	73,031
Lightburn	19,405	18,680	19,360	17,784	14,303	89,532
Stobhill	24,790	24,076	25,235	22,732	19,666	116,499
Victoria	32,218	30,809	31,814	29,518	24,886	149,245
Western	10,161	9,593	10,202	9,379	8,516	47,851
Total	116,179	111,857	116,224	106,067	89,375	539,702

Question reference: S2W-18875

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 26 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many doctors are on duty in each Glasgow Emergency Medical Service centre each night.

The information is as follows:

Primary Care Emergency Centre	Doctors on Duty
	Until Midnight	After Midnight
Cardonald	1	-
Drumchapel	1	-
Lightburn	1	-
Stobhill	1	1
Victoria	2	1
Western	1	-

Until midnight the centres are supported by five additional doctors who work across them between home visits. After midnight three doctors undertake this role.

Question reference: S2W-19219

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 23 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what facilities are available to direct patients with chronic conditions who contact NHS 24 out of hours to the appropriate service to treat their condition.

When people with chronic conditions experience an acute episode during the out of hours period and they contact NHS 24, they will be assessed and triaged to receive the appropriate care for their condition at the time.

NHS 24 and NHS boards are working together to continuously improve the directory of information that is used by call handlers and nurse advisers to inform decisions about where to refer patients who require access to out of hours services.

Question reference: S2W-19221

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 23 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether a full range of pain relief treatment is available to GPs at out-of-hours clinics.

Patients in Scotland who require medical attention or advice for painful conditions and/or symptoms during the out-of-hours period first contact NHS 24. The out-of-hours period are those hours between 18:30 to 08:00 Monday to Thursday, and at weekends 18:30 on Friday to 08:00 Monday, and all day on those public holidays as agreed by each NHS board.

Depending on the clinical symptoms or condition described, NHS 24 will direct patients to the most appropriate out-of-hours service for pain relief treatment. In most cases where urgent medical attention or advice is required for painful conditions or symptoms, NHS 24 will advise attendance at a NHS board out-of-hours (OoH) centre within travelling distance to where the patient lives for further assessment and treatment.

Where attendance at a NHS board OoH centre is appropriate, patients will be fully assessed and provided with the clinically appropriate pain relieving medication for their condition. An immediate supply is given to the patient along with a prescription for further supplies if it is anticipated the patient may need this.

Some patients may need pain relief delivered by injection or other means, rather than orally, and these would be available at NHS board OoH centres. Patients with terminal illness who may be on stronger pain relieving medication such as morphine derivatives would often already have supplies but, where this is not the case and there are clinical reasons for doing so, NHS board OoH services would be able to prescribe these drugs.

It is important to emphasise that patient safety is paramount in all clinical situations including OoH services. If the patient needs pain relief which cannot be safely administered in a NHS board OoH centre, arrangements would be made to move the patient to another setting where their needs could be safely met.

Question reference: S2W-18760

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 August 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 23 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many annual reports have been published by the Adding Life To Years Implementation Group; on what dates they were published, and when the next annual report is due to be published.