Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-19758

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 24 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for patients who wish to enter into a methadone maintenance treatment programme, broken down by (a) NHS board area, (b) local authority area and (c) parliamentary constituency.

Average waiting times arenot regarded as a particularly effective measure of the availability andefficiency of drug services. Rather, theinformation compiled by Drug Action Teams and submitted to ISD specifies thenumber of people who wait for less than a week, less than two weeks and soforth, for different types of intervention, including prescribed drug treatment.Table 1 presents information on the length of time waited, by Drug Action Teamarea, for (a) clients who have received prescribed drug intervention and (b)clients who are still waiting for prescribed drug intervention, for the periodJanuary – March 2005, the most recent period for which comprehensive data isavailable.

Table 1a: Prescribed DrugTreatment – Number of Clients Seen, January to March 2005

Time Waited Drug Action Team	<7 d	8-14 d	15-21 d	22-28 d	5-8 wks	9-12 wks	13-26 wks	27-52 wks	52+ wks	Total
Aberdeen City	19	5	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	26
Aberdeenshire	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Angus	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Argyll and Clyde	32	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	32
Ayrshire/Arran	20	6	6	0	2	0	0	0	0	34
Borders	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	26	6	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	34
Dundee City	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7
East Lothian	28	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	28
Edinburgh City	25	1	4	0	4	0	3	0	0	37
Fife	86	7	4	2	4	0	3	0	0	106
Forth Valley	4	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	8
Glasgow	83	6	1	4	3	0	0	0	0	97
Highland	7	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	10
Lanarkshire	22	4	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	30
Midlothian
Moray	8	6	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	17
Orkney	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Perth/Kinross	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
Shetland	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7
West Lothian	51	6	3	2	0	0	0	1	0	63
Western Isles	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Scotland	429	51	23	14	16	0	6	1	0	540

Table 1b: Prescribed DrugTreatment – Number of Clients Waiting at end of Quarter, January to March 2005

Time Waited Drug Action Team	<7 d	8-14 d	15-21 d	22-28 d	5-8 wks	9-12 wks	13-26 wks	27-52 wks	52+ wks	Total
Aberdeen City	1	0	0	0	0	0	10	5		16
Aberdeenshire	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0		1
Angus	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
Argyll and Clyde	1	1	0	0	1	3	2	18		26
Ayrshire/Arran	0	1	0	0	3	6	6	9		25
Borders	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
Dumfries and Galloway	1	0	2	1	1	1	12	0		18
Dundee City	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1		1
East Lothian	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1		1
Edinburgh City	2	1	1	3	10	1	5	10		33
Fife	1	0	1	0	0	0	3	11		16
Forth Valley	1	4	2	3	4	3	29	43		89
Glasgow	1	1	0	0	4	4	17	13		40
Highland	1	1	0	2	1	8	14	32		59
Lanarkshire	0	0	0	0	1	2	5	2		10
Midlothian
Moray	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
Orkney	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
Perth/Kinross	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
Shetland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
West Lothian	1	0	2	0	4	1	6	4		18
Western Isles	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
Scotland	10	9	8	9	30	29	109	149		353

Notes:

d: days.

wks: weeks.

1. Prescribed drug treatmentincludes detoxification, maintenance or reduction programmes, and is defined asthe prescribing of a substitute drug, (e.g. methadone, lofexidine, subutex) forfacilitating the complete cessation of the use of illicit drugs, controllingwithdrawal symptoms or reducing illicit drug use. GP prescriptions are notincluded in this data.

2. The waiting time ismeasured from the date a decision is made regarding what is the appropriatetreatment for the client to the first date offered for beginning the treatment.

3. There is a wide range ofdemand for substance misuse services across Scotland, and to meet thisdemand, an equally variable set of practices across the country. In some ADATareas, the impact of a single specialized service - for example, a crisismanagement centre - may dramatically alter the distribution of waiting times.Consequently, to compare data across ADATs is risky and potentiallyinappropriate. These tables are intended to help ADATs monitor and manageperformance in their own areas over a period of time.

Question reference: S2W-19622

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 24 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients from outside the NHS Greater Glasgow area were treated within the board area in each year since 1999.

Information on non-resident patients treated in NHS Greater Glasgow is shown in the following table.

Hospital In-Patient and Day Cases and New Out-Patient Attendances in NHS Greater Glasgow for Patients Resident Outside the Board Area¹

	Year
	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004^P
Hospital In-Patient and Day Cases
Acute Specialties
Patients	38,362	37,921	37,994	36,790	35,607	33,822
Discharges²	67,209	67,939	67,890	65,823	68,339	66,817
Mental Health Specialties
Patients	312	269	299	n/a	n/a	n/a
Discharges²	350	309	352	n/a	n/a	n/a
Maternity Specialties
Deliveries³	1,774	1,785	1,667	1,976	2,595	2,468
Out-Patients
New Attendances	57,739	58,571	55,752	56,429	55,260	54,657

^PProvisional.

Source: ISD Scotland,Scottish Morbidity Records (SMRs) 00, 01, 02 and 04, ISD Linked Database.

Notes:

n/a: Not available due toproblems extracting data from a new computer system. These issues are nowbeing resolved and data has begun being returned to ISD Scotland.

1. Includes residents from England, Wales, Northern Ireland and outside the U.K.

2. Discharges are a count ofepisodes of care rather than individual patients and include transfer episodes.A patient may have several discharges in any year or across years.

3. For maternity specialties,patients with more than one delivery in a calendar year are counted only once.

Question reference: S2W-19621

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 24 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many wards have been closed at weekends in each hospital due to staff shortages in each year since 1999.

The information on thenumber of ward closures at weekends due to staff shortages is not heldcentrally.

NHS boards are responsiblefor the provision of services in their local area to meet identified need. Thisincludes the configuration of hospital services.

There has been a continuedincrease in NHS staffing since 1999 are there are now an extra 456 consultants,3,781 qualified nurses and midwives and an extra 1,366 qualified associated healthcare professional staff working in NHS Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-19821

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 20 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive when the A90 Hatton Bends realignment project will now commence, in light of the passing of the start date of September 2005 indicated in the letter from the previous Minister for Transport to Alex Salmond MP on 24 June 2005, and whether this delay has occurred due to a further repeat of the tendering process.

Question reference: S2W-19656

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 20 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) nurses and midwives and (b) doctors were internationally recruited in each year since 1999, broken down by country.

1. Figures of nurses and midwives internationally recruited to the NHSScotland are not held centrally. The most recent figures known are those issued by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to September 2004 who identified almost 1,000 whole-time equivalent internationally qualified nurses (IQN’s) were employed in Scotland’s healthcare system. This represents 2% of the national nursing workforce, 80% of whom are employed in the independent sector. Targeted international recruitment of nurses by NHSScotland has been ethical and has been kept to a minimum with less that 200 nurses actively recruited from abroad since 2002.

2. There are many other IQN’s in Scotland, registered and non-registered, many of whom are domiciled here and have worked within the independent sector or elderly care homes for years. Similarly many IQN’s are self-funded and come to Scotland to do further education, improve their English or seek a career opportunity in NHSScotland. Such nurses cannot be construed as having been internationally recruited and are at liberty to improve their position in society.

3. Figures of doctors internationally recruited to NHSScotland are also not held centrally, although “country of qualification” i.e. where they obtained their qualification is held. This data would not reflect where they were internationally recruited from, if indeed they were. Many internationally qualified doctors, might have come to Scotland of their own volition or are here to further their training and development and would be perfectly within their rights to do so.

Question reference: S2W-19613

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive which members of the boards of Social Inclusion Partnerships are members of the Labour Party.

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to reply.

Her response is as follows:

The former Social Inclusion Partnerships have now been integratedwith Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs) and details of the political affiliationsof CPP members are not held centrally. This information may be obtainable from individualCPPs via the relevant local authority in their capacity as lead body for communityplanning.

Question reference: S2W-19657

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 18 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what mechanisms are in place to ensure that the number of new graduates in (a) medicine, (b) nursing, (c) midwifery and (d) physiotherapy is matched by the number of junior posts for each category.

The National Workforce Planning Framework, published in August 2005, sets out the action required at national, regional, and board levels to effectively plan for future staffing developments. The planning framework operates within the context of Building a Health Service for the Future and will provide bottom up evidence about demand that has not yet been captured. This will allow us to make decisions on training numbers which effectively align supply with future demand, and to join up and build on existing stand alone workforce planning systems such as the
Student Nurse Intake Planning Exercise.

Question reference: S2W-19659

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average (a) value and (b) cost to the purchaser of a right-to-buy local authority property was after discount in (i) 1999 and (ii) the latest year for which figures are available.

The following table contains the mean market value and mean selling price of right to buy dwellings purchased in 1999 and 2004.

Year of Sale	Mean Market Value (£)	Mean Selling Price (£)
1999	35,661	15,752
2004	49,304	22,227

Question reference: S2W-19660

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many dwellings have been built (a) by local authorities, (b) by housing associations and (c) in total in each year since 1990, broken down by number of bedrooms.

The following table shows the number of new dwellings completed in each year from 1990 to 2004, built by the private sector, local authorities and housing associations. Information on the number of bedrooms is not collected centrally.

Dwellings Completed During Period

Period	Total	Private Sector¹	Housing Associations^2,3	Public authorities
Period	Total	Private Sector¹	Housing Associations^2,3	Total	Local Authority⁴	New Towns	Scottish Homes
1990	20,362	16,461	1,963	1,938	1,115	666	157
1991	19,529	15,533	2,264	1,732	1,016	550	166
1992	17,620	14,389	2,221	1,010	697	276	37
1993	21,221	17,711	2,552	958	502	456	-
1994	21,203	17,753	2,789	661	548	113	-
1995	24,325	18,310	4,854	1,161	487	674	-
1996	20,950	18,092	2,566	292	292	-	-
1997	22,523	17,839	4,507	177	177	-	-
1998	20,376	18,326	1,911	139	139	-	-
1999	24,390	19,398	4,911	81	81	-	-
2000	23,022	18,033	4,894	95	95	-	-
2001	23,303	17,729	5,502	72	72	-	-
2002	23,933	18,762	5,120	51	51	-	-
2003	23,773	19,781	3,939	53	53	-	-
2004	25,100	21,617	3,483	-	-

Source: New Build returns by local authorities to the Scottish Executive Development Department: Analytical Services Division (Housing Statistics), housing association data provided by Communities Scotland.

Notes:

1. Includes estimates for outstanding returns for Highland from 2004 Quarter 1 onwards.

2. Figures prior to 1999 will exclude those notified to Scottish Homes after the end of the relevant quarter - figures may differ from those in Scottish Homes' publications.

3. Excludes completions built for private use originally, but acquired by housing associations: these are included in the private sector figures.

4. 1991 Figure for local authorities contains dwellings built by Government Departments.

Question reference: S2W-19617

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 14 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of patients in each (a) Glasgow, (b) Edinburgh, (c) Dundee, and (d) Aberdeen parliamentary constituency area were diagnosed with coronary heart disease compared with the national average in each of the last five years.

The number of patients discharged from acute hospitals with a main diagnosis of coronary heart disease in the years 2000-04 in each Parliamentary Constituency within Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen City areas are shown in the following tables. The crude rates per 100,000 population and the age sex standardised rates per 100,000 population are also shown.

These figures show that the standardised rate for Scotland has fallen by 9.7% from 485.3 to 438.0 between 2000 and 2004.

The highest rates in 2000 were in Glasgow Springburn (760.6), Glasgow Baillieston (722.5) and Glasgow Shettleston (709.3). The lowest rates were in Edinburgh West (362.6), Edinburgh Pentlands (391.4) and Aberdeen South (404.0).

The highest rates in 2004 were in Glasgow Shettleston (623.3), Glasgow Springburn (616.6), and Glasgow Baillieston (614.9). The lowest rates were in Edinburgh West (316.1), Edinburgh Pentlands (335.8) and Edinburgh South (348.3).

2000
	Patients¹	Crude rate per 100,000 population²	Age standardised rate per 100,000 population³
Scotland	29,128	575.5	485.3
Aberdeen Central	335	505.1	478.7
Aberdeen North	383	550.9	481.2
Aberdeen South	387	507.3	404.0
Dundee East	479	649.1	520.1
Dundee West	476	669.0	573.9
Edinburgh Central	314	409.5	437.5
Edinburgh East & Musselburgh	491	656.3	530.9
Edinburgh North & Leith	389	522.4	514.9
Edinburgh Pentlands	347	445.3	391.4
Edinburgh South	355	446.9	410.8
Edinburgh West	378	473.5	362.6
Glasgow Anniesland	417	648.1	547.3
Glasgow Baillieston	490	773.1	722.5
Glasgow Cathcart	352	556.7	499.8
Glasgow Govan	343	568.6	577.6
Glasgow Kelvin	298	456.2	502.2
Glasgow Maryhill	442	706.5	680.0
Glasgow Pollock	498	782.8	667.4
Glasgow Rutherglen	389	599.0	518.7
Glasgow Shettleston	453	792.1	709.3
Glasgow Springburn	558	819.9	760.6

2001
	Patients¹	Crude rate per 100,000 population²	Age standardised rate per 100,000 population³
Scotland	28,529	563.7	474.5
Aberdeen Central	346	521.7	469.9
Aberdeen North	405	582.6	518.0
Aberdeen South	375	491.6	398.4
Dundee East	464	628.8	505.5
Dundee West	424	595.9	513.3
Edinburgh Central	318	414.7	440.1
Edinburgh East & Musselburgh	476	636.2	515.6
Edinburgh North & Leith	333	447.2	445.3
Edinburgh Pentlands	323	414.5	372.4
Edinburgh South	358	450.6	401.9
Edinburgh West	412	516.1	395.1
Glasgow Anniesland	430	668.3	552.8
Glasgow Baillieston	485	765.2	715.7
Glasgow Cathcart	342	540.9	477.3
Glasgow Govan	350	580.2	580.1
Glasgow Kelvin	287	439.4	481.9
Glasgow Maryhill	387	618.6	605.8
Glasgow Pollock	464	729.4	643.5
Glasgow Rutherglen	375	577.5	487.7
Glasgow Shettleston	440	769.4	688.5
Glasgow Springburn	497	730.3	680.9

2002
	Patients¹	Crude rate per 100,000 population²	Age standardised rate per 100,000 population³
Scotland	28,701	567.1	474.1
Aberdeen Central	346	521.7	489.9
Aberdeen North	365	525.0	466.1
Aberdeen South	429	562.4	436.5
Dundee East	504	683.0	538.6
Dundee West	410	576.2	483.7
Edinburgh Central	302	393.8	413.1
Edinburgh East & Musselburgh	437	584.1	457.5
Edinburgh North & Leith	347	466.0	465.1
Edinburgh Pentlands	353	453.0	399.8
Edinburgh South	353	444.3	392.4
Edinburgh West	413	517.3	398.5
Glasgow Anniesland	467	725.8	608.2
Glasgow Baillieston	489	771.5	716.4
Glasgow Cathcart	316	499.8	433.5
Glasgow Govan	320	530.4	521.8
Glasgow Kelvin	281	430.2	494.0
Glasgow Maryhill	401	641.0	616.9
Glasgow Pollock	423	664.9	582.4
Glasgow Rutherglen	345	531.3	435.4
Glasgow Shettleston	427	746.7	643.8
Glasgow Springburn	507	745.0	673.7

2003
	Patients¹	Crude rate per 100,000 population²	Age standardised rate per 100,000 population³
Scotland	27,993	553.1	462.9
Aberdeen Central	321	484.0	450.4
Aberdeen North	372	535.1	472.9
Aberdeen South	381	499.5	393.9
Dundee East	505	684.4	538.9
Dundee West	412	579.0	475.7
Edinburgh Central	262	341.7	360.0
Edinburgh East & Musselburgh	450	601.5	482.1
Edinburgh North & Leith	304	408.3	416.5
Edinburgh Pentlands	317	406.8	358.7
Edinburgh South	335	421.7	372.7
Edinburgh West	382	478.5	353.1
Glasgow Anniesland	396	615.5	514.3
Glasgow Baillieston	484	763.6	703.4
Glasgow Cathcart	308	487.1	426.7
Glasgow Govan	318	527.1	527.9
Glasgow Kelvin	240	367.4	398.2
Glasgow Maryhill	384	613.8	580.6
Glasgow Pollock	438	688.5	603.8
Glasgow Rutherglen	349	537.4	467.4
Glasgow Shettleston	425	743.2	648.3
Glasgow Springburn	478	702.4	658.8

2004
	Patients¹	Crude rate per 100,000 population²	Age standardised rate per 100,000 population³
Scotland	26,611	525.8	438.0
Aberdeen Central	290	437.2	403.4
Aberdeen North	339	487.6	435.9
Aberdeen South	364	477.2	366.2
Dundee East	475	643.7	494.7
Dundee West	420	590.3	489.0
Edinburgh Central	256	333.8	352.5
Edinburgh East & Musselburgh	398	532.0	431.6
Edinburgh North & Leith	295	396.2	390.1
Edinburgh Pentlands	299	383.7	335.8
Edinburgh South	298	375.1	348.3
Edinburgh West	330	413.4	316.1
Glasgow Anniesland	353	548.6	426.8
Glasgow Baillieston	416	656.3	614.9
Glasgow Cathcart	330	521.9	460.5
Glasgow Govan	272	450.9	446.7
Glasgow Kelvin	245	375.1	403.7
Glasgow Maryhill	317	506.7	491.2
Glasgow Pollock	366	575.3	499.3
Glasgow Rutherglen	393	605.2	517.7
Glasgow Shettleston	406	710.0	623.3
Glasgow Springburn	451	662.7	616.6

Source: Ref : ISD IR2005-03080.

Notes:

1. Figures for patients with a main diagnosis of Coronary Heart Disease are derived from linked records on discharges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals in Scotland (SMR01). The following codes were used from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) tenth revisions: (ICD10): I20-I25

2. Crude rates have been calculated as the number of discharges divided by the population in each parliamentary constituency multiplied by 100,000. For this analysis populations have been estimated from small area 2001 census populations built up into the constituencies.

3. Age standardised rates have been calculated under the direct method and rates have been standardised to the European standard population.

Chamber and committees