- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what concerns it has that at “trust level, over three quarters of trust boards continue to view medical equipment only as an operational issue", as referred to in Audit Scotland's report, Better Equipped to Care? - Follow-up report on managing medical equipment, and what action it is taking to change this view.
Answer
We recognise the problems atlocal level which are identified and highlighted in the report. To addressthese issues we will consider therecommendations on management information carefully and discuss with NHS boardshow improvements can be made. Thestrategic planning of medical equipment requirements is one of a number ofcomponents integral to the planning of sustainable clinical services. Arequirement for NHS boards to identify capital investment on medical equipmentas part of the financial information to support local health plans is beingintroduced from 1 April 2004 and as a follow up to the Audit Scotland reportall NHS boards will be asked to respond to the recommendations made and detailwhat action they propose to take to comply with the recommendations.
- 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 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: 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 are being taken to ensure that care is planned for, and provided to, older people to cover situations where it is not possible or safe to provide an out-of-hours service, as referred to in Older People in Acute Care National Overview - February 2004.
Answer
The National Overview identified the availability of such services, which are a key element in allowing people to return home when they are ready for discharge, as an issue for NHS boards to consider. NHS boards should aim to achieve thestandards of care set by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. Any significantshortfall should be identified through local clinical audit and governancearrangements. Where necessary NHS Quality Improvement Scotland will carry outfollow up visits. Any major issues can be addressed 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 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 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 additional funding has been put in place to meet the increasing number of persons with HIV in care, in light of figures recording the highest annual number of new cases of HIV since the mid-1980s, as referred to in issue 172 of the Scottish Drugs Forum Bulletin.
Answer
Following the publication of the report of the HIV Health Promotion Strategy Review Group in January 2001,the Executive increased the resources available to NHS boards by £2 million annually,to assist their work to prevent the spread of HIV and other bloodborne viruses.The allocation in 2003-04 is £8.12 million. Boards use these resources to fundmeasures to address a range of issues relating to HIV in their areas.
Expenditure on treatment andcare services for those suffering from HIV is a matter for individual boards todetermine within their general funding allocations, which increased by aminimum of 7.4% across boards in 2003-04.
Local authorities also havea key role in supporting those suffering from HIV. Substantial additionalresources for community care have been allocated in the local governmentfinance settlement to 2005-06.
The Executive also providessome £500,000 to a range of voluntary organisations responding to thechallenges posed by bloodborne viruses, particularly HIV and hepatitis C.
- 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.
- 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 ensure parity of access to health care, screening, preventative services and immunisation courses for looked after children with children not in care.
Answer
Volume 2 of the guidance onthe Children (Scotland) Act 1995, Children Looked After by LocalAuthorities states that children being looked after should have the same accessto NHS provision and school health services as other children. When drawing upthe care plan local authorities should ensure that the child is provided withadequate health care, including any necessary medical, psychiatric,psychological, dental or ophthalmic attention and any necessary immunisations.
- 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 in respect of the recommendation that child and adolescent mental health services should develop dedicated practitioners or teams with an expertise in managing the mental health needs of looked after children.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question SW2-6664 on 16 March 2004.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search
