- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 November 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 19 November 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the principle of patient choice in accessing IVF treatment.
Answer
Whilst it is a matter for individual NHS boards whether patients can be referred to other NHS boards for infertility treatment, Infertility Network Scotland are working directly with NHS boards to ensure that that the voices of patients are heard at a local level in the planning of infertility services in Scotland.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 November 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 November 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many doses of the influenza A (H1N1) vaccine have been provided to (a) NHS and social care staff and (b) identified at-risk categories in each week since the start of the vaccination programme.
Answer
This information is not yet available.
As of 18 November 2009, NHS Scotland have received just under 720,000 doses of Pandemrix vaccine “ around 55% of the total required for the 1.3 million priority groups as announced on 13 August. The majority of this vaccine has been distributed to GP practices.
Vaccine deliveries to GP practices began from 26 October 2009, and all GP practices now have a supply of vaccine to enable vaccination of patients who are in the priority groups. GP practices have been prioritising initial supplies with those in the clinical at-risk groups, who are pre-school and school age children, pregnant women and those deemed to be at highest risk on the basis of their professional and clinical judgement.
Uptake data will begin to be published soon.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 November 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 19 November 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will realise the SNP manifesto commitment to “give carers in greatest need a guaranteed annual entitlement to breaks from caring” and what that entitlement will be, expressed in weeks.
Answer
A Short Breaks Working Group with representation from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA), local authorities and carers'' organisations is considering this issue.
The Carers Strategy for Scotland, to be published in the first half of 2010, will include a chapter on short breaks.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 November 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 19 November 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware that local authorities, such as West Dunbartonshire Council, are planning to increase care charges before 2010-11 and what its position is on this matter.
Answer
The issue of charging for non-personal care services is addressed in legislation. Under Section 87 (1A) of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, a local authority may charge for certain adult non-residential and domiciliary services it provides. Therefore, this was also the case under the previous administration. It is for local authorities to decide their charging policies for these non-personal care services, in keeping with local accountability. However, the legislation requires that any charges levied must be reasonable and should not be more than appears to be reasonably practicable for the recipient to pay, taking account of his or her other financial commitments. Guidance issued by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) in April 2009 recommends a consistent framework for charging and encourages councils to demonstrate that they are following best practice.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 November 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 19 November 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will cap the level at which care charges can be set by local authorities.
Answer
The Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 gave ministers powers to regulate charges for social care. However, the Scottish Government made clear at the time that it would support self-regulation by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) if that achieved consistency. It also made a commitment to hold these powers in reserve until implementation of COSLA''s guidance on charging was evaluated. In its Stage 1 Report on the Bill, the Health and Community Care Committee of the Scottish Parliament endorsed the approach of COSLA in preparing the guidance, and the reserve powers being taken by ministers.
The evaluation of the guidance began in 2004, and revised guidance was issued in 2006. Key stakeholders, including the Scottish Government, were involved in the consultation process. COSLA issued further updated guidance in April 2009 recommending a consistent framework for charging and encouraging councils to demonstrate that they are following best practice.
We continue to support the aim of the COSLA guidance to achieve consistency, whilst allowing for local authority discretion in ensuring that charges are reasonable for each individual client.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 November 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 19 November 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many unpaid carers there are in each local authority area.
Answer
The information is provided in the following table:
Local Authority | Number of Unpaid Carers |
Aberdeen City | 25,111 |
Aberdeenshire | 29,036 |
Angus | 12,133 |
Argyll and Bute | 10,790 |
Clackmannanshire | 8,690 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 22,216 |
Dundee City | 14,027 |
East Ayrshire | 21,844 |
East Dunbartonshire | 12,862 |
East Lothian | 13,095 |
East Renfrewshire | 9,772 |
Edinburgh City | 47,404 |
Eilean Siar | 2,933 |
Falkirk | 21,929 |
Fife | 49,522 |
Glasgow City | 66,371 |
Highland | 29,523 |
Inverclyde | 9,892 |
Midlothian | 14,192 |
Moray | 11,628 |
North Ayrshire | 18,921 |
North Lanarkshire | 48,957 |
Orkney Islands | 1,989 |
Perth and Kinross | 19,082 |
Renfrewshire | 24,087 |
Scottish Borders | 12,502 |
Shetland Islands | 2,246 |
South Ayrshire | 15,283 |
South Lanarkshire | 38,023 |
Stirling | 12,050 |
West Dunbartonshire | 13,132 |
West Lothian | 18,086 |
All Scotland | 657,328 |
Source: Scottish Household Survey, 2007-08.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 November 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 19 November 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many single outcome agreements include a specific outcome for carers.
Answer
It is not the purpose of single outcome agreements (SOAs) to provide a comprehensive list of outcomes across all services. The SOAs reflect the priorities and agreed outcomes for each Community Planning Partnership, and include relevant supporting indicators and targets. Copies of all 32 SOAs, which were agreed with Community Planning Partnerships on 1 June 2009, can be obtained via the Improvement Service website by following this link:
http://www.improvementservice.org.uk/single-outcome-agreements/.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 November 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 19 November 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what mechanisms it will use to ensure the implementation of its forthcoming carers strategy.
Answer
The Carers Strategy for Scotland (including a lift-out section on young carers) is being developed in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA). As such, and in line with the principles of our concordat with local government, it needs to be approved by COSLA. This should help ensure implementation at local level, as COSLA needs to be satisfied that it will be implementable. There is also representation from some health boards on the steering groups, helping to inform development of the strategy. The strategy will include high-level messages about the benefits of carer support, supported by evidence and set within the context of outcomes.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 November 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 16 November 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many doses of the influenza A (H1N1) vaccine were provided by GPs to priority categories of patients before the start of the predicted peak period of the virus, from end October to mid-November 2009.
Answer
Vaccine deliveries to GP practices began from 26 October 2009, and all GP practices now have an initial supply of vaccine to enable vaccination of patients who are in the priority groups.
As announced on 21 October 2009, there will be a phased roll out of the influenza A (H1N1) vaccination programme as vaccine supplies become available from manufactures.
NHS Scotland have now received just under 550,000 doses of Pandemrix vaccine “ around 40% of the total required for the 1.3 million priority groups as announced on 13 August 2009. The majority of this vaccine has been distributed to GP practices.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 November 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 16 November 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken since the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing’s statement in the chamber on 29 October 2009 to accelerate the delivery of the influenza A (H1N1) vaccination programme.
Answer
As announced on 21 October and 29 October 2009, there will be a phased roll out of the influenza A (H1N1) vaccination programme as more vaccine supplies become available from the manufacturers. NHS Scotland is distributing vaccine supplies as soon as they are received into Scotland. All GP practices now have an initial supply of vaccine to enable them to carry out vaccination of patients who are in the priority groups.