- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 March 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to reduce the number of adverse events in the NHS, analyse the impact of such events on patient care and staff, combat any “blame culture” in the NHS and learn from past mistakes.
Answer
Patient safety has alwaysbeen a priority for NHS boards and is an integral part of the clinicalgovernance arrangements which all boards are required to have in place.
NHS Quality ImprovementScotland (NHSQIS) have undertaken two national reviews to monitor progress inrelation to its clinical governance standards and have examined the systems inplace to address patient safety issues.
NHS Quality ImprovementScotland will be consulting shortly on its proposals for a patient safetystrategy for Scotland and is also working closely with the NationalPatients Safety Agency (NPSA) in England and Wales.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 March 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the patient to staff ratio is for each acute hospital, showing the percentage variation in relation to the guidelines based on the hospital's or NHS board's preferred formula that takes into account the workload and responsibilities for each hospital.
Answer
The specific informationrequested is not centrally available. In particular, information on staffnumbers is not collected nationally at individual hospital level and istherefore not possible to identify acute hospital staff as requested. Informationon guidelines issued by hospitals or NHS boards on recommended staffing levelsis not collected centrally.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 March 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average number of hours of sick leave was per staff member in each NHS board in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answer
A pilot collection of occupational health and safety statistics has been made over the period 2000-01 to 2002-03 and these are due to be published shortly. The published data is not considered robust enough to be issued by NHS employer and will be shown by Scotland;Acute Trust, Island Boards and Scottish Ambulance Service; Primary Care Trust,State Hospital, and Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service; and health boardsand special health boards not providing healthcare. The data collected onsickness absence is a percentage of the hours lost.
For 2002-03 the data is:
| Scotland | 4.63% |
| Acute Trusts | 4.29% |
| Primary care Trusts | 5.21% |
| Health Boards | 4.23% |
Preparations are underway to collect data for 2003-04 which should be available in the autumn.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 15 March 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 29 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-6249 by Mr Tom McCabe on 12 March 2004, how many general dental practitioners will reach the age of (a) 55 and (b) 60 in each of the next three years, expressed also as a percentage of all practitioners.
Answer
The information requested is shown in the following table.
Number and Percentage of Principal NHS General Dental Practitioners (GDPs) Currently Working in the General Dental Service Who Will Reach the Age Of (A) 55 And (B) 60 During the Year to 12 March
Year | Number who will reach the age of 55 | Percentage of all principal GDPs1 | Number who will reach the age of 60 | Percentage of all principal GDPs1 |
| 2005 | 42 | 2.1 | 23 | 1.2 |
| 2006 | 38 | 1.9 | 36 | 1.8 |
| 2007 | 35 | 1.8 | 34 | 1.7 |
Note:
1. Based on the number of active principal GDPs at 12 March 2004.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 15 March 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the status is of Scotland's current links with Nordic countries and what plans it has to build on them.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-5525 on 3 February 2004on contacts between the Scottish Executive and the Nordic Council ofMinisters. 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.In addition to contacts withthe Nordic Council of Ministers, the Scottish Executive enjoys bilateral links withNordic countries in a number of fields, including health, fisheries and theenvironment. The Health agreement between Scotland and Finland for the exchange of information, visits andco-operation on common health issues reached its 25th anniversary in 2003. Scottish Executive environment officials meet regularly with counterparts from a Swedishregion.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 15 March 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the Scotland the Brand initiative and whether it intends to promote any alternative logos.
Answer
Scotland the Brand is a private sector company. It receivesno grant support from the Scottish Executive. The First Ministerwill announce details of a campaign to promote Scotland later this year. Nodecision has been taken about an alternative logo.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 15 March 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 29 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what works of art and historical artefacts are currently on loan from institutions directly funded by it to departments of Her Majesty's Government, detailing the department and item in each case.
Answer
This is a matter for each of the National Institutions. The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 15 March 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 29 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many dental graduates remained in Scotland to work in (a) a practice, (b) the community and (c) a hospital following completion of their vocational training and general professional training in each of the last three years, expressed as a percentage of all who completed their training in each case.
Answer
Tables 1 and 2 provide the information requested.
Table 1: Percentage of Dentists Completing Vocational Training On 31 July and In Post in NHSScotland at 30 September of Same Year
| | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
| Headcount of dentists who completed vocational training on 31 July | 91 | 61 | 59 |
| Percentage of dentists completing vocational training on 31 July and in post in NHS Scotland within:- | | | |
| General Dental Practice at 30 September | 58.2% | 55.7% | 78.0% |
| General Dental Practice and Hospital Dental Service at 30 September | 4.4% | 1.6% | - |
| Community Dental Service at 30 September | 6.6% | 6.6% | - |
| Hospital Dental Service at 30 September | 11.0% | 9.8% | 5.1% |
Table 2: Percentage of Dentists Completing General Professional Training on 31 July and in post in NHSScotland at 30 September of Same Year
| | 2001(1) (2) | 2002 (1) | 2003 |
| Headcount of dentists who completed General Professional training on 31 July | 0 | 10 | 3 |
| Percentage of dentists completing vocational training on 31 July and in post in NHS Scotland within:- | | | |
| General Dental Practice at 30 September | - | 60.0% | 21.2% |
| General Dental Practice and Community Dental Service at 30th September | - | 20.0% | 6.1% |
| Community Dental Service at 30 September | - | - | 6.1% |
| Hospital Dental Service at 30 September | - | 10.0% | 36.4% |
Sources for Tables 1 and 2:
MIDAS (Management Information & Dental Accounting System), ISD Scotland.
NHS Education Scotland.
Hospital and Community Health Service dentists: Medical and Dental Census, ISD Scotland
Notes:
1. Information on dentists who completed their General Professional training on 31st July 2001 and 2002 is only available for South East Region.
2. No dentist completed the General Professional Training in 2001 in the South East Region as there was no intake in 1999.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 15 March 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 29 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will respond to Audit Scotland's report Better equipped to care? - Follow up report on managing medical equipment and what steps need to be taken as a result of the report.
Answer
The Scottish Executive acknowledges the concerns identified in the Audit Scotland report andwill respond once full consideration has been given to the recommendations made in the report.
All NHS boards are beingasked to respond to the recommendations made in the report and to detail whatactions they propose to take to address these recommendations. The HealthDepartment will monitor such action plans on a regular basis.
In addition, a requirementfor NHS boards to identify capital investment on medical equipment as part of the financial information to support local health plans is being introducedfrom 1 April 2004.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 01 March 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 26 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide the European and External Relations Committee with an annual report on the activities of the Executive's European Office, as agreed to by it in February 2003 in response to the European Committee's 5th report 2002, An Inquiry into Scotland's Representation in the European Union (SP Paper 676).
Answer
The first annual report willcover the financial year 2003-04 and will be available in April.
