Chamber and committees

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-33183

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 January 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 January 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how Partnership Information Network guidelines are monitored and enforced and what penalties are faced by NHS trusts that fail to implement such guidelines.

Partnership Information Network guidelines underpin the Staff Governance Standard and are an integral part of the Performance Assessment Framework which is the overarching process under which NHSScotland employers are held accountable. NHSScotland employers progress towards implementing the guidelines are monitored through completion of the Self Assessment Audit Tool (SAAT) which has been developed by and approved by the Scottish Partnership forum (SPF), Clinical Standards Board for Scotland (now Quality Improvement Scotland), Clinical Negligence Other Risks Indemnity Scheme (CNORIS) and Audit Scotland and which all employers are required to complete. The SAAT will be the subject of independent assessment by appointed external auditors, in partnership with the SPF. In addition to the SAAT, all employers are required to conduct an annual staff survey and to produce actions plans for improvement towards meeting the aims of the Staff Governance Standard. External auditors together with an SPF member will be expected to validate employers action plans and provide independent assurance that:the self-assessment process is robust;the action plan is agreed and is credible, andthe action plan is being delivered (year on year).The aims and objectives of the Performance Assessment Framework will be woven into managers job tasks and activities and their performance in meeting these and the action plans will be influenced by the SAAT independent audit which in turn will impact on pay for performance.

Question reference: S1W-33185

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 January 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 January 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many requests by nursing staff for increased flexible working were (a) made and (b) granted in the last 12 months, broken down by NHS trust area.

Question reference: S1W-32987

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 January 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many consultant vacancies there are in each NHS acute hospital, broken down by speciality.

Question reference: S1W-32988

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 January 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many nurse vacancies there are in each NHS acute hospital, broken down by speciality.

Question reference: S1W-32989

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 January 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what NHS trusts have a policy of removing patients from waiting lists after a certain period of time if the patient does not write to confirm that they wish to remain on the list.

To ensure that waiting lists are kept up to date and reflect the personal wishes and circumstances of patients, and to enable the most efficient use of specialised services, NHS trusts may contact patients to check that they continue to wish treatment. If a patient did not respond to attempts to contact them to enquire about their desire to remain on a waiting list, it would be good clinical practice for the patient to be referred back to their primary care team to determine if treatment is still clinically appropriate.

Question reference: S1W-33006

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2003
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 20 January 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been ready for discharge from an NHS hospital but have had their discharge delayed for reasons defined in the census date snapshots provided by the Information and Statistics Division of the Common Services Agency on patients ready for discharge in each year since September 2000.

Question reference: S1W-32985

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 January 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of out-patients at each NHS acute hospital waited for over 21 weeks before seeing a consultant, broken down by speciality, in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S1W-32986

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 January 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the total expenditure spent on the treatment of patients within NHS acute hospitals was spent on treating (a) in-patients, (b) day-cases and (c) out-patients in each of the last five years.

The information requested is given in Report 310 (Provision of Health Care: Acute), Section 2 (Provision of Health Care) of the Scottish Health Service Costs as detailed in the table. Scottish Health Service Costs are published by the Common Services Agency on www.show.scot.nhs.uk and copies are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre.Scottish Health Service Costs

Year Ended	Bib. Number
31 March 2002	25905
31 March 2001	25165
31 March 2000	25220
31 March 1999	25219
31 March 1998	25218

Question reference: S1W-32794

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2002
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 13 January 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been set aside for the purchase by the NHS of plasma from foreign countries in (a) each of the last three years, (b) the current year and (c) future years and whether it has any plans to modify the allocation of such current and future resources following the purchase of Life Resources Incorporated by the Department of Health.

Expenditure set aside for the purchase of plasma for fractionation is as follows:(a) 1999-2000: £5.3 million, 2000-01: £5.7 million and 2001-02: £4.6 million.(b) 2002-03: £5.3 million.(c) 2003-04: £5.8 and 2004-05: £5.8 million.The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service has plasma contracts with German and US suppliers until 2004-05 and there are no plans to modify the allocation of current resources.I also refer the member to the answers given to S1W-32793 and S1W-32795 today. 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.

Question reference: S1W-32796

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2002
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 13 January 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what consultations between it and the Department of Health regarding future access to plasma stored by Life Resources Incorporated have already taken place or are planned for the future.