- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 August 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 28 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been transferred from the Vale of Leven, Dumbarton and Helensburgh to receive emergency treatment at a hospital outwith NHS Argyll and Clyde boundaries in the last year.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 28 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to reduce the waiting list for audiology treatment in the Lomond Division of NHS Argyll and Clyde.
Answer
Whilst local action is a matter for NHS Argyll and Clyde, the Executive is committed to modernising and improving audiology services across NHSScotland. We are investing almost £20 million over the five-year period 2002-03 to 2006-07 to ensure NHS boards are equipped with the necessary facilities, equipment, staff and hearing aids to provide a modernised service.
Each NHS board has its own action plan for modernisation and has therefore reached different stages in the modernisation process.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 28 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive in which clinical areas there are consultant shortages and what the scale of such shortages is.
Answer
Vacancies in any staff group are a normal part of staff turnover. One indication of shortage areas can be derived from hard to fill posts which have been vacant for six months or more.
Table B11 on the ISD Scotland website (www.isdscotland.org/workforce)contains such information by each specialty. It is currently correct to 30 September 2003.
The Scottish Executive has a Partnership Agreement commitment to increase the number of NHS consultants by 600 by 2006.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 28 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9983 by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 September 2004, what (a) national and (b) local cost pressures have been identified by NHS Argyll and Clyde that are not covered by its allocations from the Executive for 2003-04 and 2004-05.
Answer
The Executive issues an overall allocation to NHS boards which aims to give each board its fair share of the resources available nationally. Allocations are not made in relation to specific local or national cost pressures. Instead NHS boards are expected to manage within the overall allocations available supplemented by any other sources of funding.
Given this position, it is not possible to identify specific national or local cost pressures which are not covered by allocations from the Executive. However, as stated in the answer given to question S2W-9983 the basic uplift provided to NHS boards in 2003-04 and 2004-05 is expected to cover all national cost pressures.
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_wa.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 23 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is in discussion with the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority on the use of jet skis on the loch.
Answer
This is a matter for the National Park Authority in the first instance. However, we are aware that the authority is reviewing the adequacy of the current byelaws with a view to a public consultation exercise next year.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the membership of NHS boards is made up of employees of those boards.
Answer
The proportion of NHS board members who are NHS employees and who are referred to as executive directors is approximately 41%.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 10 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to involve the public as fully as possible in the consultation on smoking in public places.
Answer
Everything possible is being done to ensure a wide-spread response to the consultation. People can pick up copies of the consultation questionnaire, which take only a few minutes to complete, from doctor’s surgeries, libraries, local authority premises and other public outlets, including pubs. A free-phone number to receive copies of the consultation response form is being widely publicised in the press.Similarly, people can make their views known on the internet at
www.smokingconsultation.com. Inaddition there are a number of regional seminars organised in conjunction withScottish Civic Forum, and focus group work with targeted groups to allow peopleto air their views. Young Scot is also undertaking a number of activities toinvolve young people in the consultation.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 August 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive which cost pressures facing NHS Argyll and Clyde, not fully funded by the Executive, have originated from Executive policies.
Answer
All NHS boards in Scotland receive an annual uplift in their unified budget allocations which are designed to cover both local and national inflationary pressures, as well as service developments. The unified budget for each board is based on the allocation formula which aims to give each board its fair share of the resources available nationally. It is for each NHS board to manage within their resources, allocating their uplift as determined locally.
There are a range of cost pressures which arise from national policies, primarily relating to pay, e.g. basic pay increase, Agenda for Change, the Consultant’s Contract and the new General Medical Services Contract. The Executive’s estimate of the increased cost of these policies is more than covered from the record uplift in allocations for 2003-04 and 2004-05, supplemented by additional allocations from the Executive.
NHS Argyll and Clyde have identified that the annual uplift to the unified budget allocation for 2004-05 does not cover all national and local cost pressures as identified by the board. As a result, the board are planning to take a number of measures to reduce expenditure and identify savings over the course of the year.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 August 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 7 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the overall budget of NHS Argyll and Clyde is spent in each of its three local operating divisions.
Answer
The Scottish Executive monitors the financial performance of NHS boards on a board wide basis. It is for each NHS board to allocate resources to operating divisions. This information is not held centrally in the format requested.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 August 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 7 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the actual budget deficit for NHS Argyll and Clyde was for 2003-04; what the estimated budget deficit is for 2004-05 and how this figure has been derived, and what the effect will be of any savings to reduce this deficit.
Answer
NHS Argyll and Clyde reported a financial deficit of £35.4 million in 2003-04. This position includes a brought forward deficit of £9.6 million from the previous financial year, 2002-03.
NHS Argyll and Clyde are currently forecasting in-year financial deficit of £25.4 million for 2004-05 which will result in a cumulative deficit of £60.8 million. This assumes that the board will make savings of £14 million during the course of the year.
The above figures have been derived by NHS Argyll and Clyde. The overall financial position is determined by the interrelationship between a number of factors, principally achievement of income assumptions, expenditure against budgets, and the impact of savings plans.
