- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 22 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to reduce and eliminate waiting lists and waiting times for patients requiring orthopaedic surgery.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is committed to reducing waiting at every stage of the patient's journey through the NHS and to ensuring that journey is as swift and responsive as possible. The current national maximum waiting time for in-patient and day case treatment, including orthopaedic surgery, will be reduced from 12 months to nine months in 2003. The National Waiting Times Unit expects NHS boards to be targeting lengthy waits for diagnosis and treatment. The unit is currently assessing NHS boards' Local Health Plans to determine how best to distribute additional funding to tackle waiting in 2002-03. It may fund specific initiatives to reduce delays for orthopaedic surgery, depending on the capacity in each NHS board area.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 22 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients are currently waiting for orthopaedic surgery in Greater Glasgow.
Answer
On 31 December 2001, 3,243 patients in NHS Greater Glasgow were awaiting hospital admission for orthopaedic surgery.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 22 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for a hip replacement operation in Greater Glasgow.
Answer
In the year ending 30 September 2001, the median waiting time for a hip replacement operation in NHS Greater Glasgow was 218 days.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 22 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how the average waiting time for a hip replacement operation in Greater Glasgow compares with all other NHS boards.
Answer
The median waiting times for hip replacement surgery, in the year ended 30 September 2001, by NHS board of residence, are given in the following table:NHSScotland: Median Waiting Times For Hip Replacement Surgery, By NHS Board of Residence: Year Ending 30 September 2001.
NHS Board | 30 September 2001Median Wait (Days) |
Argyll and Clyde | 182 |
Ayrshire and Arran | 138 |
Borders | 173 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 202 |
Fife | 184 |
Forth Valley | 218 |
Grampian | 109 |
Greater Glasgow | 218 |
Highland | 112 |
Lanarkshire | 133 |
Lothian | 207 |
Orkney | 45 |
Shetland | 147 |
Tayside | 127 |
Western Isles | 56 |
Scotland | 158 |
Source: ISD, Scotland.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 22 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 22 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to recruit more orthopaedic surgeons in (a) Greater Glasgow and (b) across Scotland as a whole.
Answer
It is a matter for individual NHS boards and trusts to assess and provide for local needs and to determine the staffing levels required for effective delivery of service outcomes. Trusts must be able to adapt staffing arrangements to suit the changing pattern of local circumstances, and be judged by outcomes rather than inputs.The number of higher specialist training posts available in Scotland is regularly adjusted, to meet the projected number of new consultants needed to meet known and anticipated turnover and local service developments. Sixteen doctors training in Scotland are expected to achieve a Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training in Orthopaedic Surgery in 2002, allowing them to apply for consultant positions. In March 2001 the specialist registrar establishment for orthopaedic surgery was increased from 50 to 58, a rise of 16%. We will consider whether additional training posts for orthopaedic surgery should be part of the targeted increase of 375 junior doctors, which was announced on 2 April 2001, for the period to 2004. The targeting will take account of the review of medical workforce planning which is currently under way.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 21 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost would be of introducing a programme, modelled on the modernisation of audiology services in the NHS in Wales, in order to make digital hearing aids more widely available to patients in Scotland.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-22823.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 21 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to introduce a three-yearly review for all patients fitted with NHS hearing aids.
Answer
In answer to this question and also to questions S1W-22824, S1W-22826 and S1W-22827 I would advise that, in response to concerns about access to audiology services and quality of treatment, Good Practice Guidance on Adult Hearing and Fitting Services was issued to NHSScotland in March 2001. The Executive has commissioned a wide-ranging review of audiology services, which is due to report in the autumn. The review group report will provide costs and recommendations to NHSScotland on how to address any shortfalls identified in the service provided. The review will also report on progress on implementation of the Good Practice Guide.The Good Practice Guidance recommends that all patients should be reviewed at least every three years as part of a process of continuing care. It also recommended that digital aids should be supplied whenever clinical judgement indicates that they would provide benefit to the patient involved that would not be provided by other types of hearing aid.Digital hearing aids are included within the wide range of hearing aids available on the central contract for NHSScotland.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 21 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will introduce a costed programme to make digital hearing aids more widely available to patients, similar to the action being taken by the National Assembly for Wales.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-22823.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 21 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to recruit and train more audiologists for the NHS.
Answer
It is for NHS boards and trusts to assess and provide for local needs and to determine staff numbers and the design of teams required for effective delivery of service outcomes. The number of higher specialist training posts available in Scotland is regularly adjusted to meet the projected number of new consultants needed to meet known and anticipated turnover and local service developments.To help inform local decisions in this area, the Executive has initiated a wide-ranging review of audiology services, which is expected to report in autumn 2002. The review group will report initial recommendations on staffing, training and skill-mix by the end of March 2002.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 21 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to modernise NHS audiology departments.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-22823.