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-11657

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 5 March 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it collates centrally from health boards information on the number of cases reported of (a) hospital acquired infection and (b) methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus; if so, how many cases of each were reported in each of the last five years and this year to date, broken down by health board and, if not, what the reasons are for its position and whether it has any plans to collate such information centrally in the future or whether anyone else collates the information requested centrally.

Plans to collect and collate information centrally on the number of cases of hospital-acquired infection are currently being finalised. For methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health monitors the number of laboratory isolates - which gives an indication of the scale of the problem and overall trends. This information for the last five years is set out in the following table, broken down by health board. The upward trend most probably reflects both an increase in the actual rate of infection, and in the proportion of infections reported, and is in line with those trends seen elsewhere in the UK and in Europe. In a few cases more than one isolate can be obtained from one patient.

Report Year	AC	AA	BR	DG	FF	FV	GG	GR	HG	LN	LO	OR	SH	TY	WI	Sc
1996	6	5	0	2	23	0	27	1	0	4	4	0	0	3	0	75
1997	6	5	4	2	26	17	52	15	1	36	34	0	0	8	0	206
1998	8	17	4	9	44	28	104	28	4	54	76	0	0	27	0	403
1999	14	19	10	7	62	28	171	51	7	65	91	0	0	51	0	576
2000*	21	45	13	17	62	39	149	64	25	54	148	2	0	54	1	694

*Figures for 2000 are provisional.

Source: SCIEH.

Date: 29.01.2001Key:

AC	Argyll & Clyde	FV	Forth Valley	LO		Lothian
AA	Ayrshire & Arran	GG	Greater Glasgow	OR		Orkney
BR	Borders	GR	Grampian	SH		Shetland
DG	Dumfries & Galloway	HG	Highland	TY	Tayside
FF	Fife	LN	Lanarkshire	WI	Western Isles

Question reference: S1W-11689

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 5 March 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it received from each NHSiS Trust in the last three financial years under the 6% return on capital assets rule.

The Scottish Executive provides funding to NHSScotland to allow NHS Trusts to meet the 6% return on capital. The whole health budget, whatever its source, is invested in NHSScotland or other health related activity.Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change signalled that the NHS financial regime is being reviewed to simplify processes, reduce bureaucracy and to give greater flexibility to NHS Boards to maximise the benefits to patients from the Scottish Executive's investment in the NHS.

Question reference: S1W-11654

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 22 February 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been conducted to determine the causes of hospital acquired infection, including methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and whether it will make copies of that research available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre

The Chief Scientist Office (CSO) of the Scottish Executive Health Department has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research to improve both the health of the people in Scotland and the services provided by the NHS. CSO is aware of 160 on-going or recently completed research projects into the causes of hospital acquired infection in the UK, 17 of which are in Scotland. CSO itself is currently funding one research project on methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), in addition to a number of research projects on drug resistant organisms. Details of all these projects are available from the National Research Register, a copy of which is in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

Question reference: S1W-11740

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 December 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 22 February 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is on the purchase of private hospital beds to deal with pressure on the NHS.

Question reference: S1W-11655

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 21 February 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to reduce the incidence of hospital acquired infection.

Question reference: S1W-11656

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 19 February 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what resources it has made available to tackle the causes of hospital acquired infection in the current financial year, broken down by health board.

Financial allocations are made to health boards on the basis of the overall health need of their populations. It is for health boards to distribute and NHS Trusts to apply their allocations in line with their assessment of local needs and national priorities. The Scottish Executive has made record resources available to the NHS in Scotland this year and will provide a further £1.2 billion extra in the 3 years to 2003-04. Preventing and controlling hospital acquired infection is an important issue for the NHS in Scotland and is a key part of the responsibilities of every NHS Trust. The Scottish Health Plan "Our National Health - a plan for action, a plan for change" published on 14 December, makes clear that every local healthcare system will be expected to deliver the service standards to be established by the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland on infection control, cleanliness, and other matters. A joint Health Department/NHS working group is currently reviewing existing guidance and preparing relevant standards. These standards will be applied to NHS Trusts once the work is complete.

Question reference: S1W-13032

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 February 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 16 February 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the incidence of cancer among residents of Cowdenbeath and Lochore is any greater than the average incidence in equivalent population groups in other parts of Scotland.

Available data do not suggest that the overall incidence of cancer amongst residents of the Cowdenbeath and Lochore area of Fife is unusual when compared with that for Fife Health Board or Scotland as a whole. The table below sets out the observed and expected number of cases in postcode sectors best representing Cowdenbeath and Lochore areas based on rates for (a) Scotland and (b) Fife Health Board area; all ages, by sex: 1988-97.

In all comparisons the ratios of the observed to expected numbers of cases are close to one, and the associated 95% confidence intervals all include the value of one, indicating that any departure from the expectation is not statistically significant.Incidence of all malignant neoplasms excluding non melanoma skin (ICD-9 173 / ICD-10 C44)

(a) Compared with Scotland
	Observedregistrations	Expectedregistrations	O / E
Males	510	513	1.00
Females	518	505	1.03
(b) Compared with Fife HB
	Observedregistrations	Expectedregistrations	O / E
Males	510	494	1.03
Females	518	493	1.05

Source: SOCRATES (Scottish cancer registration database); these figures prepared on 6 February 2001.Population data supplied to ISD Scotland by GRO(S)

Question reference: S1W-13033

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 February 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 16 February 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will undertake an investigation into a possible link between the chemical plant sited near Cowdenbeath and the incidence of cancer amongst local residents.

Available data show that cancer incidence in areas around the Mossmorran petro-chemical plant is no higher than might normally be expected when compared with other health board areas and with Scotland as a whole.Fife Council and Fife Health Board are working together with the companies involved and with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to address any concerns raised by local residents living in the surrounding areas.

Question reference: S1W-12734

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 January 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 6 February 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional (i) undergraduate and diploma nurse student, (ii) undergraduate physiotherapy student, (iii) undergraduate podiatry student, (iv) undergraduate occupational therapy student and (v) undergraduate speech language therapy student places are expected to be created in 2001-02 as a result of the 8% increase in funding for higher education set out by the Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning on 23 November 2000.

The allocation of places to particular courses or institutions is a matter for the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council taking into account advice on workforce needs identified. The detailed allocation for 2001-02 academic year will be announced by SHEFC in March.In respect of nursing, this only applies to undergraduate courses funded by SHEFC. Most pre-registration nursing courses are funded by the Scottish Executive Health Department, with student places planned separately.

Question reference: S1W-12598

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 January 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 1 February 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will answer questions S1W-11654, S1W-11655, S1W-11656 and S1W-11657, lodged on 4 December 2000.