- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 14 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the development and implementation throughout the NHS of standards of care for people affected by neurological conditions, including multiple sclerosis, which were approved on 2 February 2006, to be completed.
Answer
In February 2006, the board ofNHS Quality Improvement Scotland approved the recommendations in the report of theNeurological Services Pre-scoping Steering Group. The report itself was publishedin April 2006.
NHS Quality Improvement Scotlandexpects to begin work on the development of its standards for neurological servicesearly in 2007, with draft standards being available for consultation in the autumnof next year.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 14 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what resources it intends to allocate to increase the amount spent on NHS patients’ food and beverages from an average of £2.34 per patient per day.
Answer
The allocation of resources forNHS patients’ food and beverages is a matter for individual health boards to consider.The Scottish Executive is currently considering its response to the recent AuditScotland report
Catering for Patients and the recommendations made. For furtherinformation on the steps we are taking to improve catering quality and standards,I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30247 on 14 December 2006. Allanswers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s websitethe search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 14 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive when the catering and nutrition specifications for the NHS will be published.
Answer
We aim to publish standards in2007 for food served in hospitals in Scotland. They will address matters such as minimum meal provision,between meal snacks, composition of manufactured products and portion sizes.
Clinical Standards for food,fluid and nutritional care are already in place in all hospitals in Scotland. Thestandards cover a wide range of areas, including the planning and delivery of foodand fluid. They also state that there should be a protocol on the ward to ensurethat meals are delivered to the correct patients, at the correct temperature andthat there should be an adequate number of staff available at mealtimes to provideassistance to patients who have difficulty eating or drinking.
Health boards’ performance againstthese standards is being monitored by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland who publisheda report in August 2006 which noted that while some boards had made progress inimplementing these standards, none had implemented them fully.
The standards to be publishedin 2007 will support the clinical standards. They will cover all aspects of menus,food provision and procurement for hospital meals and staff and visitor cateringservices. We have appointed a Food and Nutrition Advisor from within the NHS towork with the Food Standards Agency Scotland and many other partners on these standardsto develop guidelines on their implementation.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 14 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the daily costs were of providing food and beverages to patients in each hospital in each year since 1999.
Answer
The daily costs for cateringservices by hospital in the years ended 31 March 1999 to 2006 is given in NHSScotland Catering Costs 1999-2006 which is available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 41229). For years 1999 to 2003, data refers to cateringexpenditure specifically for patients. However, in 2003-04 the information collectedwas expanded to include the provision of meals for staff, net of any income generatedfrom charging for those meals
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 14 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what its timetable will be for implementing the recommendations in the Audit Scotland report, Catering for Patients.
Answer
The Audit Scotland report indicatedthat over the past three years NHS boards have improved the level of choice in thefood given to patients. NHS boards have reduced the amount of food wasted and havebetter information to help them control their costs. However, the report also acknowledgedthat more needed to be done to ensure the meals provided in hospitals are nutritionallybalanced. The Scottish Executive will support boards in making further progress.
Under the Partnership AgreementScottish ministers are committed to ensuring adequate nutritional standards forfood served in hospitals in Scotland. Work is currentlyunderway with the Food Standards Agency Scotland (FSAS) to develop catering standardscovering all aspects of menus, food provision and procurement for hospital mealsas well as staff and visitor catering services. This will support the NHS QualityImprovement Scotland standards for food, fluid and nutrition. The Scottish Executivehave appointed a Food and Nutrition Advisor from within the NHS to work with theFSAS and other partners on these standards and specifications, and to develop guidelineson their implementation. We aim to publish these standards during 2007.
NHS Quality Improvement Scotlandpublished a national overview of performance against its food, fluid and nutritionalcare standards in August 2006. This recommends that to achieve the next level ofperformance against the standards for food, fluid and nutritional care, NHS boardsmust develop an action plan that introduces procedures for nutritional assessment,screening and care planning by 2007, with a view to completing implementation by2009.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 12 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to provide additional funds to employ multiple sclerosis nurses, given that NHS Lanarkshire provides 1 nurse for 1,100 patients and the unequal access to such nurses across Scotland.
Answer
The Executive doesnot directly manage the care of multiple sclerosis or any other chronic illnesses.Services for long-term conditions are for NHS boards to plan and to fund from theunified budgets which are made available to them from the Executive. NHS boardsare responsible for planning services in their area based on clinical need and forsecuring the staff needed to deliver them. The Scottish Executive has no power to intervene in their decisions.
However, the Executive remainscommitted to building the capacity of NHSScotland’s workforce, and under the Facingthe Future banner has committed over £10 million to a number of nursing and midwiferyinitiatives in the last three financial years. This includes specific funding forcontinuous professional development along with more targeted funding initiativeswhich include specialist nurse training.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 12 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29917 by Mr Andy Kerr on 28 November 2006, what communications it has had, or intends to have, with either United Healthcare or its president, Simon Stevens.
Answer
Further to the answers to questionsS2W-29916 and S2W-29917, both on 27 November 2006, I understand that previous Scottish Executive Health Ministers and officialsmet with Simon Stevens in his capacity as an adviser to the Prime Minister. In early2005, Simon Stevens was present at a meeting I attended with officials and ProfessorDavid Kerr as part of the extensive consultation process which culminated in thepublication of Professor Kerr’s report
Building A Health Service Fit for theFuture in May 2005.
I have no plans for future communicationswith either United Healthcare or Simon Stevens.
All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 12 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive when all NHS board maternity services will offer women a routine anomaly second ultrasound scan, in line with NHS Quality Improvement Scotland standards.
Answer
NHS Quality Improvement Scotland willpublish the result of their review of clinical standards in maternity services nextmonth. We expect to receive the most up to date expert advice from the UK NationalScreening Committee in March 2007. On-going work with boards to achieve consistentpractice across Scotland will be informed by these reports.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 12 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it envisages the future of primary medical services in Scotland as involving contracts with companies such as United Health Care.
Answer
As stated in the answer to questionS2W-29918 on 27 November 2006, the Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act2004 provides the statutory framework forNHS boards to discharge their duty to secure or provide primary medical. The ScottishExecutive has no role in the selection of primary medical services providers.
NHS boards are statutorily responsiblefor providing or securing primary medical services for their local populations.How that is achieved is a matter for each NHS board taking into account the needsof the local population and local circumstances.
All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 12 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the Minister for Health and Community Care’s letter to me dated 28 November 2006, if NHS Lanarkshire has acted “in the normal way” since 1948, why the provisions of the Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2004 were necessary.
Answer
The Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act2004, passed by the Scottish Parliament, was introduced as part of the legislativeframework to support the new national (UK) GP contract arrangements, which came into effect from1 April 2004.
The 2004 act updated the NationalHealth Service (Scotland) Act 1978 making more explicit the range of contractingflexibilities already available for NHS boards to discharge their duty to secureor provide primary medical services for their local populations.