- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many approved salaried dentist posts there are.
Answer
Approval has been grantedfor 113 salaried dentist posts. Not all of these posts are full-time. Theyrange from 0.1 whole time equivalent to 1 whole time equivalent.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance is available for dentists wishing to purchase an existing practice.
Answer
There is currently noassistance available for dentists wishing to purchase an existing practice.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been carried out by the Food Standards Agency into any links between trans fats or hydrogenated vegetable oils and coronary heart disease.
Answer
The Food Standards Agencyhas not carried out, and is not currently funding, any research investigatingthe links between trans fats or hydrogenated vegetable oils and coronary heartdisease.
Hydrogenation is a processof turning liquid oil into solid fat. During this process, a type of trans fatmay be formed that raises cholesterol levels in the blood. This increases therisk of coronary heart disease. The Food Standards Agency does therefore advisethat as part of a healthy diet, we should try to reduce the amount of saturatedfats and trans fats we eat and replace them with unsaturated fats.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the labelling of food to include trans fat content in light of scientific information highlighted by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States of America.
Answer
The Food Standards Agencyhas informed me that the European Commission is reviewing the nutritionlabelling rules and preliminary papers suggest that the issue of labelling oftrans fatty acid content may be discussed.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentists finished their vocational training last year.
Answer
The number ofdentists who finished their vocational training in July 2003 was 92.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures there are to track those dentists who qualify in Scotland but do not apply for an NHS list number.
Answer
Since 1994-95,data has been collected by the Education, Transport and Lifelong LearningDepartment on the number of dentistry graduates in Scotland in each year. This is brokendown to identify the domicile of the graduates and the first destination of dentistrygraduates from Scottish higher education institutes (categorised into Scotland,rest of the UK, rest of the world, and unknown first destination).
Themost recent information within this “first destination study” is correct as at 2001-02when 80% of these graduates had a first destination in Scotland.
Further tracking is donethrough employment in the NHS. Through this system, first year vocational traineescan be tracked to subsequent jobs in NHSScotland.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how much methadone was prescribed in each year since 1999 and what percentage was sugar-free.
Answer
Methadone hydrochloride can be used as a cough suppressant in terminal disease, an opioid analgesic and as a drug used in substance dependence. It is available in the following formulations: linctus; tablets; powder; injections; and oral solutions.
Only oral solutions used in the treatment of substance dependence are available as sugar free.
The table shows the number of prescribed items for all formulations of methadone hydrochloride for the years ending 31 March 2000 to 2003 inclusive. Data in the tables refer to prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors, but do not take into account medicines dispensed by hospitals or hospital-based clinics.
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
Total Prescribed Items | 243,120 | 274,164 | 319,138 | 360,326 |
Total Sugar Free | 31,753 | 39,050 | 47,469 | 72,482 |
Percentage Sugar Free | 13.06% | 14.24% | 14.87% | 20.12% |
Source: The information in the table has been provided by ISD.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4807 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, whether it holds the same information on median and mean waiting times for (a) in-patients and day cases and (b) out-patients, stating availability status codes.
Answer
Availability Status Codes (ASCs) are not mandatory data items on the in-patient and day case discharge record. For this reason the in-patient/day case table in the answer to S2W-4807 includes all cases, and does not exclude cases with an ASC.
On the out-patient record, Availability Status Codes (ASCs) can be identified. The table provides information on the median and mean waiting times for new out-patients without an ASC and new outpatients with an ASC. The mean and median wait data for new outpatients without an ASC was previously included in the answer to S2W-4807.
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.
| Difference in Median Wait and Mean Wait (days) for New Outpatient Appointments |
Quarter Ended | Excludes ASCs | | Only ASCs |
| Median | Mean | Difference | | Median | Mean | Difference |
30-Jun-1997 | 41 | 54.9 | -13.9 | | 81 | 105.3 | -24.3 |
30-Sep-1997 | 45 | 60.5 | -15.5 | | 83 | 101.1 | -18.1 |
31-Dec-1997 | 44 | 61.7 | -17.7 | | 87 | 108.6 | -21.6 |
31-Mar-1998 | 43 | 60.7 | -17.7 | | 84 | 106.6 | -22.6 |
30-Jun-1998 | 43 | 59.3 | -16.3 | | 73 | 97.5 | -24.5 |
30-Sep-1998 | 48 | 64.0 | -16.0 | | 79 | 98.2 | -19.2 |
31-Dec-1998 | 48 | 64.8 | -16.8 | | 83 | 102.7 | -19.7 |
31-Mar-1999 | 47 | 66.2 | -19.2 | | 84 | 104.4 | -20.4 |
30-Jun-1999 | 46 | 64.3 | -18.3 | | 75 | 98.0 | -23.0 |
30-Sep-1999 | 51 | 69.2 | -18.2 | | 78 | 99.0 | -21.0 |
31-Dec-1999 | 50 | 69.6 | -19.6 | | 82 | 104.3 | -22.3 |
31-Mar-2000 | 48 | 68.7 | -20.7 | | 87 | 109.2 | -22.2 |
30-Jun-2000 | 47 | 65.0 | -18.0 | | 80 | 107.7 | -27.7 |
30-Sep-2000 | 50 | 68.3 | -18.3 | | 84 | 108.0 | -24.0 |
31-Dec-2000 | 50 | 71.9 | -21.9 | | 87 | 113.1 | -26.1 |
31-Mar-2001 | 51 | 78.0 | -27.0 | | 91 | 116.7 | -25.7 |
30-Jun-2001 | 50 | 73.4 | -23.4 | | 90 | 119.5 | -29.5 |
30-Sep-2001 | 56 | 77.2 | -21.2 | | 91 | 117.5 | -26.5 |
31-Dec-2001 | 55 | 79.9 | -24.9 | | 98 | 125.2 | -27.2 |
31-Mar-2002 | 56 | 83.3 | -27.3 | | 102 | 130.0 | -28.0 |
30-Jun-2002 | 54 | 84.1 | -30.1 | | 91 | 125.6 | -34.6 |
30-Sep-2002 | 57 | 87.5 | -30.5 | | 93 | 124.0 | -31.0 |
31-Dec-2002 | 57 | 90.8 | -33.8 | | 91 | 123.4 | -32.4 |
31-Mar-2003 | 56 | 91.8 | -35.8 | | 95 | 129.9 | -34.9 |
30-Jun-2003 | 51 | 84.9 | -33.9 | | 88 | 129.9 | -41.9 |
30-Sep-2003 | 55 | 86.9 | -31.9 | | 92 | 131.0 | -39.0 |
Source: Out-patient data issourced from the SMR00 dataset, and covers referrals from a GMP/GDP to a consultantled out-patient clinic.
Note: Data for the mostrecent quarters should be considered provisional
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4807 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, what the difference was in median wait and mean wait, broken down by NHS board and speciality in each quarter.
Answer
The information requestedhas been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 31311).
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have received a community care service from their local authority in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
There is no universallyaccepted definition of a “community care service”; however, statisticalinformation on day care, home care, care homes and other services provided bylocal authorities can be found in the publication “Scottish Community CareStatistics 2002”. This publication can be found on the web, at the followingaddress:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00309-00.asp