- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 28 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is planning to increase the number of university places for physiotherapists.
Answer
The Scottish Executive Health Department has advised the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council on the number of additional funded places for students undertaking pre-registration courses in the Professions Allied to Medicine. Physiotherapy was identified as an area of particular need. The council is currently considering this advice, and will make its funding announcements for 2001-02 in March.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 28 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place to increase the number of clinical placements available for physiotherapists.
Answer
The provision of clinical placements is a matter for the relevant higher education institution in conjunction with NHS Trusts, and supported by the Scottish Executive.Any clinical area which provides a suitable learning experience for physiotherapists and is approved by their regulatory body as such, is available for clinical placement.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the recommendations contained in the report of the HIV Health Promotion Strategy Review Group, what new guidance it plans to issue regarding the provision of needles and syringes to injecting drug users.
Answer
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which advises the UK health and justice departments, will be considering the significance of injecting paraphernalia for the transmission of bloodborne viruses at its next meeting on 31 May. The Executive will consider what further guidance to health boards might be appropriate in the light of the Advisory Council's conclusions.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 26 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that the eligibility criteria for access to infertility services will apply equally to all those requiring the service.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-13246 on 23 February 2001.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 26 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in implementing the report of the Expert Advisory Group on Infertility Services in Scotland.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-13246 on 23 February 2001.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 26 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have taken place with the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists regarding making assistance available towards course fees for continuing professional development.
Answer
Continuing Professional Development for all staff in the NHS in Scotland is the responsibility of the employer.A Project Development Group has been established in partnership and under the banner of Learning Together, focusing on Continuing Development for all staff and is looking at ways in which training budgets in the NHSScotland can be used more effectively to meet the training and professional development needs of all staff.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 26 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is still the case that the Health Technology Board for Scotland will appraise and evaluate new drugs, as envisaged in the Scottish Office document Designed to Care.
Answer
The statutory remit of the Health Technology Board for Scotland (HTBS) is to provide advice to NHSScotland on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of new and existing health technologies, including medicines, devices, clinical procedures and healthcare settings. The HTBS will therefore appraise and evaluate a number of new drugs each year as part of its wider remit.When a new drug is marketed, the local Area Drug and Therapeutics Committees (ADTCs) have the role of providing advice to prescribers and health boards about whether or not the new medicine (or new therapeutic indication) should be adopted into practice. HTBS will support the ADTCs assessment work by sharing expertise in assessment methodologies and seeking ways to promote consistency among the committees.Additionally, in recognition of the needs and expectations of decision-makers in Scotland, from spring 2001 HTBS will provide a Scottish interpretation of all NICE guidance on appraisals, which includes many new drugs.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 22 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-10726 by Susan Deacon on 1 December 2000, whether it will issue clear guidance on "additive free organic food"; how it will encourage consumers to check labels to ensure that a product is organic and complies with all relevant food labelling legislation, and how it will ensure that only organic produce which complies with the legislation is labelled "organic".
Answer
I have been advised by the Food Standards Agency Scotland that labelling requirements for 'organic' food are detailed in European legislation, which also provides a list of approved additives. There are nine UK certification bodies for organic products. Any misrepresentation on food labelling is an offence under the 1990 Food Safety Act, Sections 14 and 15.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 22 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how community pharmacists can be more fully utilised in relation to smoking cessation.
Answer
Pharmacists are committed to reducing the burden of illness imposed on Scotland by tobacco use. Pharmacists already supply nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), provide smoking cessation reminder messages and evidence-based information about matters related to smoking, and offer psychological support for smokers attempting to quit.
The Scottish Executive is at present consulting on a proposal to make all NRT available on NHS prescription. The community pharmacist is ideally placed to take on a supporting and counselling role each time a prescription for NRT is dispensed or each time a product is sold over the counter.In the future, if pharmacists are granted NHS prescribing rights as envisaged in the Review of Prescribing, Supply and Administration of Medicines, they will be in a position to extend their role to the provision of NRT on NHS prescription. This would allow patients to access smoking cessation services according to their individual needs.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 December 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 21 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether a national strategy will be developed and implemented to alleviate any cross-contamination of hospital acquired infections.
Answer
Preventing and controlling hospital acquired infection is an important issue for the NHS in Scotland. The Scottish Executive issued comprehensive guidance on infection control in hospitals - the Scottish Infection Manual - in 1998. This guidance recommends that Infection Control Teams should be in place in every NHS Trust. Infection control teams investigate and recommend action on incidences of hospital acquired infection, within an overall Trust policy on infection control.The Scottish Health Plan "Our National Health - a plan for action, a plan for change" published on 14 December, makes it clear that every local healthcare system will be expected to deliver service standards to be established by the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland on infection control, cleanliness, and other matters.
