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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: S1W-12933

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 14 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it would cost the NHSiS to introduce the use of retractable needles where appropriate.

The NHS Scotland uses around 10 million needles a year at a cost of £1.2 million. The individual cost of needles can vary widely from 2p for a replacement needle to over £50 for specialised needles. On average a normal needle costs about 12p and retractable needles 27 to 30p. I recently launched the Needlestick Injuries: Sharpen Your Awareness report at the UNISON Scotland Conference and announced that the Scottish Executive would issue guidelines to NHS Scotland on the implementation of the report and would provide £270,000 to support the report's recommendations for the introduction of safer needles based on risk assessment.

Question reference: S1W-12932

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 14 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the working group on needlestick injuries to report.

Question reference: S1W-14050

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 14 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown by health board area of current waiting times for (a) orthopaedic outpatient appointments and (b) orthopaedic surgery.

The median waiting times for a first outpatient orthopaedic appointment with a Consultant following a General Medical Practitioner referral, and for orthopaedic surgery, by health board of residence, for the year ending 31 December 2000, are provided in the table.NHSScotland: Median Waiting Times for a First Outpatient Orthopaedic Appointment¹ with a Consultant Following Referral by a General Medical Practitioner, and for OrthopaedicSurgery². Year Ending 31 December 2000^p

Health Board	Median Wait For First Outpatient Appointment¹ (Days)	Median Wait For Surgery² (Days)
Argyll and Clyde	76	85
Ayrshire and Arran	75	90
Borders	71	71
Dumfries and Galloway	79	56
Fife	75	112
Forth Valley	139	114
Grampian	69	52
Greater Glasgow	100	91
Highland	96	68
Lanarkshire	117	58
Lothian	87	99
Orkney	45	61
Shetland	57	65
Tayside	60	74
Western Isles	55	23
Scotland	83	76

^p ProvisionalNotes:1. Excludes patients with a Patient's Charter guarantee exception code.2. Patients routinely admitted from the inpatient/day case waiting list.

Question reference: S1W-14061

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 14 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current waiting time is for patients awaiting (a) coronary artery bypass grafts and (b) other cardiac surgery in each health board area.

The median waiting times for admission to hospital from the inpatient/day case waiting list for coronary artery bypass grafts and other cardiac surgery, in the year ending 31 December 2000, by health board of residence, are given in the table.

Across Scotland, the median waiting time for coronary artery bypass grafts has reduced by 45 days (36%) and the median waiting time for other cardiac surgery has reduced by nine days (10%) compared with the position in the previous year.

NHSScotland: Median Waiting Times for Hospital Admission from the Inpatient/Day Case Waiting List for Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts¹ and Other Cardiac Surgery¹: Year Ending 31 December 2000^p

Health Board of Residence	Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts Median Wait (Days)	Other Cardiac Surgery Median Wait (Days)
Argyll and Clyde	70	61
Ayrshire and Arran	46	39
Borders	80	79
Dumfries and Galloway	98	84
Fife	104	127
Forth Valley	56	75
Grampian	39	52
Greater Glasgow	71	60
Highland	85	85
Lanarkshire	96	77
Lothian	98	95
Orkney	60	47
Shetland	43	34
Tayside	117	144
Western Isles	82	96
Scotland	79	79

^{P Provisional.
Source ISD Scotland.}

Surgical Operations and Notes:1. Patients are defined using operation codes taken from the Office of Population and Censuses and Surveys Classification of Procedures 4th Revision (OPCS4). Coronary Artery Bypass Graft has been defined using principal procedure codes K40-K46; Other Cardiac Surgery has been defined using principal procedure codes K25-K35.

Question reference: S1W-14052

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2001
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 March 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown by health board area of current waiting times for knee replacement operations.

Question reference: S1W-14051

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 14 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown by health board area of current waiting times for hip replacement operations.

Information on the median waiting times for a total hip replacement, by health board area of residence, for the year ending 31 December 2000, is provided in the table.NHSScotland is performing more total hip replacement operations than ever before. Provisional figures show that in the year to 30 September 2000, 4,929 total hip replacement operations were undertaken, an increase of 287(6.2%) on the figure for the year ending 31 March 1997.

NHSScotland: Median Waiting Times for Patients Admitted from the Inpatient/Day Case Waiting List for Total Hip Replacement¹ Operations, by Health Board Area of Residence: Year Ending 31 December 2000^p

Health Board	Median Wait (Days)
Argyll and Clyde	140
Ayrshire and Arran	142
Borders	159
Dumfries and Galloway	208
Fife	189
Forth Valley	235
Grampian	93
Greater Glasgow	230
Highland	133
Lanarkshire	102
Lothian	208
Orkney	56
Shetland	107
Tayside	118
Western Isles	43
Scotland	147

^p Provisional.Source: ISD, Scotland.Notes:1. Patients are defined using operation code taken from the Office of Population and Censuses and Surveys Classification of Surgical Operations and procedures 4^th Revision (OPCS4). Hip Replacement (Total) has been defined using principal procedure code W37-W 39.

Question reference: S1W-15187

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 10 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what the median waiting time is from the inpatient and day case waiting lists for cancer surgery and what the equivalent figures were for each of the last ten years broken down by health board.

Question reference: S1W-14059

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 2 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many intensive care beds there were in each of the last five years broken down by (a) health board and (b) acute trust.

Data for general adult intensive care beds are published each year in the Audit Report of the Scottish Intensive Care Society. For the period 1996 to 2000, the average numbers of funded general adult intensive care beds in each 12-month period by Health Board were:

	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Argyll and Clyde	8	8	8	9	9
Ayrshire and Arran	5	5	9	9	9
Borders	2	2	3	3	3
Dumfries and Galloway	4	4	4	4	4
Fife	9.5	9.5	9.5	10	10
Forth Valley	8	8	8	8	8
Grampian	7.5	7.5	8	9	9
Greater Glasgow	24	25	25	25	29
Highland	4	4	4.5	4.5	6
Lanarkshire	12	12	12	12	13
Lothian	19.5	20.5	20.5	21.5	22.5
Tayside	8.5	10	10	10	10
TOTAL	112	115.5	121.5	125	132.5

Intensive Care bed numbers by Acute Hospital:

Health Board / Hospital	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Argyll and Clyde
Inverclyde Royal	3	3	3	3	3
Vale of Leven	2	2	2	2	2
Royal Alexandria	3	3	3	4	4
Ayrshire and Arran
Ayr	-	-	4	4	4
Crosshouse	5	5	5	5	5
Borders
Borders General	2	2	3	3	3
Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries	4	4	4	4	4
Fife
Victoria	3.5	3.5	3.5	4	4
Queen Margaret	6	6	6	6	6
Forth Valley
Stirling	4	4	4	4	3
Falkirk	4	4	4	4	5
Grampian
Aberdeen Royal	7.5	7.5	8	9	9
Greater Glasgow
Western Infrimary	6	6	6	6	7
Glasgow Royal Infirmary	6	7	7	7	7
Victoria Infirmary	4	4	4	4	5
Stobhill	4	4	4	4	5
Southern General	4	4	4	4	5
Highland
Raigmore	4	4	4.5	4.5	6
Lanarkshire
Hairmyres	3	3	3	3	3
Law	4	4	4	4	5
Monklands	5	5	5	5	5
Lothian
Royal Infirmary	8.5	9.5	9.5	10.5	10.5
Western General	8	8	8	8	8
St John's	3	3	3	3	4
Tayside
Ninewells	5.5	7	7	7	7
Perth Royal	3	3	3	3	3
Total	112	115.5	121.5	125	132.5

Note: the figures in the above tables are drawn from the Audit Report of the Scottish Intensive Care Society and include general adult ITU beds only. They therefore exclude coronary and cardiac care beds, neurosurgical beds and paediatric intensive care beds.

Question reference: S1W-13824

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 March 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 2 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, where a patient has been admitted to a psychiatric ward on more than one occasion in the last five years, what the average length of time was between admissions.

Question reference: S1W-15000

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 1 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has assessed the social and economic impact which would result in the event of Migdale Hospital, Sutherland closing.