- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 December 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of the Scottish Health Plan, Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change, how it plans to establish a network of information access points to help people find the information they need about their care, treatment options and services available to them.
Answer
Patient Focus and Public Involvement, published in December of last year, reported on steps taken to develop the actions identified in the Involving People section of Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change. It also set out more detailed proposals for work over the coming three years to develop the capacity of the NHS to provide patients and the public with information about their health, their treatment, the options for care, and the availability of health services.The Patient Information Initiative will:assure the quality of patient information, based on evidence;involve and engage with other sources of expertise such as expert patients;make information accessible and available in a variety of formats, andlink to future developments, for example NHS24 online. The initiative will develop proposals for establishing a network that will ensure that relevant high quality information is available where and when needed in a suitable format.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 December 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of the Scottish Health Plan, Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change, what steps to develop the Patients Project have been taken in 2001 and what further steps are planned for 2002.
Answer
Patient Focus and Public Involvement, published in December of last year, reported on steps taken to develop the actions identified in the Involving People section of Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change. It also set out detailed proposals for work over the coming three years on building capacity and communications, patient information, involvement, and responsiveness to equip the NHS to communicate with, listen to and work in partnership with individuals and communities.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 December 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of the Scottish Health Plan, Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change, what barriers have been identified and/or removed to allow closer working between NHS Boards and local authorities to improve public health.
Answer
The Community Care and Health (Scotland) Bill, introduced on 24 September 2001, Part 2, Section 12 allows NHS bodies and local authorities to work together in different ways by removing some of the legal barriers to joint working which currently exist.A consultation paper on the Executive's proposals for a Local Government Bill issued in early December 2001 with a closing date for responses on 6 February 2002. One of the proposals in the Bill is a general power for councils to promote the well-being of their area. This power will remove any constraints on councils from developing a broader and more innovative role. The legislation will introduce a duty on other bodies such as NHS Boards to engage in the Community Planning process. The Bill will be introduced in spring this year.The Executive is providing support for two posts based in COSLA which will further enhance local authorities' public health capacity. Funding of £1.5 million over three years has also been made available to support joint funded health improvement posts in every local authority.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 December 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of the Scottish Health Plan, Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change, when it will set up a telephone and internet-based positive feedback system.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-21477.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 December 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of the Scottish Health Plan, Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change, what changes it has made in 2001 to its strategic programme for modernising information management and technology in the NHS.
Answer
During 2001 the Strategic Programme for Information & Management has been rewritten; a final draft version is on SHOW (
www.show.scot.nhs.uk/imt) to allow for any final comments from the NHS. The draft strategy sets out national and local programmes and targets and is intended to establish greater collaboration and consistency of approach to the development of information management and technology across NHSScotland. It is likely to be published in February 2002.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 December 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of the Scottish Health Plan, Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change, what the current stage of development is of the communications programme for the Health Department and the NHS in Scotland.
Answer
Since the publication of Our National Health: a plan for action, a plan for change, a number of steps have been taken to improve communications with and by NHSScotland. For example, ministers meet regularly with NHS Board Chairs, the Chief Executive of NHSScotland holds regular meetings with NHS Chief Executives and senior officials have regular dialogue with key stakeholder groups. The importance of effective two-way communication features highly in these discussions.Effective communication with patients and the public is a key theme of the plans outlined in Patient Focus and Public Involvement published in December 2001.Additionally, the Health Department has introduced a web-based Weekly Bulletin aimed at alerting the NHS, local authorities and other key stakeholders to publications, guidance and other papers issued by the department. The department has recently appointed a Corporate Communications Manager who will have a key role in working with NHSScotland to develop a structured programme to further improve communications.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 December 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of the Scottish Health Plan, Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change, when its recruitment campaign to encourage people to be part of local decision-making in the NHS was launched and what effect that campaign has had to date.
Answer
In September 2001, we established 15 new NHS boards to enhance local decision making in NHSScotland. The membership of the new boards - which now includes elected local councillors, NHS staff and clinicians - has been specifically designed to provide a better reflection of the communities they serve.Putting in place the new, unified local NHS systems has involved more than 100 new non-executive appointments to NHS boards and trusts since January 2001, each of which has been made in line with guidance issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. This process has included local and national advertising campaigns, most notably for the Chairpersons of 13 NHS boards and five trusts, which have attracted a wide range of applicants from diverse backgrounds.Additionally, Patient Focus and Public Involvement, published in December 2001, requires each new NHS Board to work closely with its community planning partners and voluntary organisations to develop a sustainable framework to support local public involvement.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 December 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of the Scottish Health Plan, Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change, when it will establish an expert group to support and advise local NHS Boards in managing changes.
Answer
Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change, set out the Executive's intention to establish an expert group to support and advise local NHS Boards in managing changes in the configuration of services and to advise the Health Department on the appropriateness of local reconfiguration. I expect to make an announcement about this in the next few weeks.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 December 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of the Scottish Health Plan, Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change, how it is encouraging the consistent development of clinical information systems across Scotland.
Answer
The consistent development of clinical information systems across Scotland is being supported by the work of the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland, ISD and Audit Scotland. During 2001 they held two national meetings to review national databases in order to identify information sources suitable for monitoring the quality of direct patient care. A further meeting is planned with wider participation in spring 2002. In addition improving the quality of clinical information was a key strand of the recent CRAG Symposium, Improving Quality of Care for Patients: Sharing Principles and Practice. This showcased examples of good practice in developing consistent information systems to support direct patient care and to bring about improvements in patient management. CRAG has also supported the development of the Strategy Programme for Information & Management which sets out national and local programmes and targets for establishing greater collaboration and consistency of approach to the development of information management and technology (IM&T) across NHS Scotland. As part of this wider work CRAG will support a conference on IM&T systems in April.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 December 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of the Scottish Health Plan, Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change, what funding Scotland's Health at Work Scheme received, or will receive, in (a) 2000-01, (b) 2001-02 and (c) 2002-03.
Answer
In 2000-01, Scotland's Health at Work scheme received resources from health boards of around £1 million. Following the commitment in the Scottish Health Plan, additional funding from the Scottish Executive of £0.450 million in 2001-02 and £0.750 million in 2002-03 was approved.