- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any NHS boards do not participate in the Scottish Hip Fracture Audit and, if so, which boards and what steps it is taking to ensure Scotland-wide participation.
Answer
Participation in the ScottishHip Fracture Audit is on a hospital basis and full coverage in all board areasis expected from 1 April 2004.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that the #6.8 million granted annually for local authority rehabilitation services will not be diverted to other services when such funds are built into the mainstream revenue grant to local authorities.
Answer
The £6.8 million annualallocation continues within individual authorities’ grant aided expenditureresources, and we expect authorities to continue to use these resources for drugrehabilitation services. There has been no change to these arrangements whichhave been in place since 2001-02.
Decisions at local level onspending priorities are a matter for individual authorities in liaison withtheir partners on drug action teams (DAT). This is to ensure an integratedapproach to the provision of all drugs services in the DAT area, and to providebest value.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to ensure that there is thorough and rigorous documentation by NHS boards of patient assessment and progress.
Answer
NHS Quality ImprovementScotland has monitored the systems for ensuringthat this documentation is in place through the Generic Clinical GovernanceStandards and will continue to monitor this through the Healthcare GovernanceStandards which are currently being consulted on.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps will be taken to ensure that effective communications are in place for older people with any cognitive impairment and what monitoring is in place to ensure equity of services for such patients, as referred to in Older People in Acute Care National Overview - February 2004.
Answer
NHS boards should aim toachieve the standards of care set by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. Anysignificant shortfall should be identified through local clinical audit andgovernance arrangements. Where necessary NHS Quality Improvement Scotland willcarry out follow up visits. Any major issues can be address through the annualaccountability review process.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how discharge planning is monitored for older people leaving acute services, as referred to in Older People in Acute Care National Overview - February 2004.
Answer
Discharge arrangements aremonitored by NHS boards in conjunction with their local authority partners.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 16 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2941 by Tavish Scott on 9 October 2003 and to section 4, page 46 of A Partnership for a Better Scotland regarding an independent review of local government finance, whether the discussions with COSLA have been concluded; if so, what the timing, remit and format of the review will be and when the conclusions will be published, and, if not, when such discussions will be concluded.
Answer
We are working with COSLA onthis and giving further consideration to the detailed scope and remit of thereview, including when the review should report its conclusions. I expect toannounce more details in the near future.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Health Technology Assessment Advice 5, what steps will be taken to commission ethically approved research (a) into the effectiveness of nuchal translucency measurement for detecting structural abnormalities in foetuses, (b) to evaluate whether soft markers and other markers which may be associated with aneuploidy can be used in combination with results of other screening tests to assess the risk of chromosomal abnormalities and (c) to determine the most appropriate content and format of information on risks and benefits of scans and the most effective process for giving this information to pregnant women.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is provided with advice from the National Screening Committee (NSC) onthe introduction of new population screening programmes, the modification orwithdrawal of existing programmes and the quality and management of suchprogrammes.
The Antenatal screening sub groupof the NSC has been fully informed about this Report and will be consideringthe findings to help inform discussions around the advice the committee mayoffer to the 4 UK health departments. As part of their considerationsthe NSC will look at the research aspects mentioned. If they consider furtherresearch is required NSC will take forward the commissioning of research.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Health Technology Assessment Advice 5, what percentage of pregnant women currently receive their first trimester scan within the recommended deadline of 13 weeks, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
This information is not heldcentrally.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 16 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Forgotten Children, Addressing the Health Issues of Looked After Children and Young People, what steps it will take to ensure that (a) comprehensive assessments are made of the physical, mental and developmental well-being of all young people and children at the earliest opportunity after entry into the care system, (b) background information and previous medical records on children are easily accessible, (c) written health records move with young people throughout their period in care together with a proactive healthcare plan and (d) a dedicated post is created for a health professional to access different health systems.
Answer
The report, ForgottenChildren, is an NHS Lothian report based on studies of looked after children inEdinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian. Those authorities will find it a useful source ofinformation on what is happening on the ground in their areas.
In relation to action on theissues covered in this question, guidance issued by the Executive on TheChildren (Scotland) Act 1995 – volume 2, Children Looked After by LocalAuthorities states that care plans for looked after children should fullyreflect health care needs. Local authorities are required to arrange for amedical examination to provide a comprehensive health profile of the child andto give a basis for monitoring the child’s development for the period they are lookedafter.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 16 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Forgotten Children, Addressing the Health Issues of Looked After Children and Young People, what steps will be taken to introduce guidelines for good practice between care staff and GP surgeries to (a) create closer working links between residential care staff and staff at the local GP surgery, (b) ensure full registration of young people with the allied GP surgery by 12 weeks into placement, (c) guarantee closer working links between allied GP surgeries and the Practitioner Services Division for the central collation and fast tracking of GP notes and (d) create closer working links between allied GP surgeries and community child health departments, in particular with the nurse for looked after children.
Answer
Volume 2 of the guidance onThe Children (Scotland) Act 1995 states that children must be registeredwith a GP and dental practioner once they become looked after. As part of theircare planning local authorities will want to ensure that they are closelyinvolved with the GP surgery and that the health needs of the child are beingmet.
The PARTNERS programme, which has been rolled out tovirtually all GP practices in Scotland, allows faster and more accurate registration ofpatients with GP practices. Patient records are currently transferred betweenGP practices via the Common Services Agency and fast track arrangements are inplace where records are required urgently. Work is ongoing to develop andimplement programmes to link GP practices and the Practitioner ServicesDivision electronically, in order to support the electronic exchange ofrecords.
The Scottish Executive has no current plans to introduce specific good practice guidance to createcloser working links between allied GP surgeries and community healthdepartments. However, draft statutory guidance was published on 8th March forconsultation on the establishment of Community Health Partnerships (CHPs) underthe NHS Reform (Scotland) Bill. NHS boards will be expected to discuss andagree with local authority and other stakeholders the services which each CHPwill manage and/or co-ordinate. However, the draft statutory guidance statesthat CHPs should directly manage and provide, or have a lead role inco-ordinating, influencing or directing the delivery of services to supportvulnerable groups of children and young children including those looked afterby the local authority. The statutory guidance will be finalised once the NHS Reform(Scotland) Bill is enacted.
