- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how discharge planning is monitored for older people leaving acute services, as referred to in Older People in Acute Care National Overview - February 2004.
Answer
Discharge arrangements aremonitored by NHS boards in conjunction with their local authority partners.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps will be taken to ensure that effective communications are in place for older people with any cognitive impairment and what monitoring is in place to ensure equity of services for such patients, as referred to in Older People in Acute Care National Overview - February 2004.
Answer
NHS boards should aim toachieve the standards of care set by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. Anysignificant shortfall should be identified through local clinical audit andgovernance arrangements. Where necessary NHS Quality Improvement Scotland willcarry out follow up visits. Any major issues can be address through the annualaccountability review process.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any NHS boards do not participate in the Scottish Hip Fracture Audit and, if so, which boards and what steps it is taking to ensure Scotland-wide participation.
Answer
Participation in the ScottishHip Fracture Audit is on a hospital basis and full coverage in all board areasis expected from 1 April 2004.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to ensure that there is thorough and rigorous documentation by NHS boards of patient assessment and progress.
Answer
NHS Quality ImprovementScotland has monitored the systems for ensuringthat this documentation is in place through the Generic Clinical GovernanceStandards and will continue to monitor this through the Healthcare GovernanceStandards which are currently being consulted on.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what concerns it has that at “trust level, over three quarters of trust boards continue to view medical equipment only as an operational issue", as referred to in Audit Scotland's report, Better Equipped to Care? - Follow-up report on managing medical equipment, and what action it is taking to change this view.
Answer
We recognise the problems atlocal level which are identified and highlighted in the report. To addressthese issues we will consider therecommendations on management information carefully and discuss with NHS boardshow improvements can be made. Thestrategic planning of medical equipment requirements is one of a number ofcomponents integral to the planning of sustainable clinical services. Arequirement for NHS boards to identify capital investment on medical equipmentas part of the financial information to support local health plans is beingintroduced from 1 April 2004 and as a follow up to the Audit Scotland reportall NHS boards will be asked to respond to the recommendations made and detailwhat action they propose to take to comply with the recommendations.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 16 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Forgotten Children, Addressing the Health Issues of Looked After Children and Young People, whether the specific needs of looked after children and young people in care will be considered in the preparation of the sexual health strategy.
Answer
The draft Sexual Health andRelationships Strategy which has been the subject of an extensive consultationprocess specifically draws attention to the needs of children who are lookedafter, including the importance of sexual relationships education, access toservices, and adequate training for those who care for them. The views receivedfrom the consultation in this respect will be reflected in the final strategy.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 16 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Forgotten Children, Addressing the Health Issues of Looked After Children and Young People, what steps will be taken in respect of the recommendation that child and adolescent mental health services should develop dedicated practitioners or teams with an expertise in managing the mental health needs of looked after children.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question SW2-6664 on 16 March 2004.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
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 16 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Forgotten Children, Addressing the Health Issues of Looked After Children and Young People, what steps it will take to ensure that (a) comprehensive assessments are made of the physical, mental and developmental well-being of all young people and children at the earliest opportunity after entry into the care system, (b) background information and previous medical records on children are easily accessible, (c) written health records move with young people throughout their period in care together with a proactive healthcare plan and (d) a dedicated post is created for a health professional to access different health systems.
Answer
The report, ForgottenChildren, is an NHS Lothian report based on studies of looked after children inEdinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian. Those authorities will find it a useful source ofinformation on what is happening on the ground in their areas.
In relation to action on theissues covered in this question, guidance issued by the Executive on TheChildren (Scotland) Act 1995 – volume 2, Children Looked After by LocalAuthorities states that care plans for looked after children should fullyreflect health care needs. Local authorities are required to arrange for amedical examination to provide a comprehensive health profile of the child andto give a basis for monitoring the child’s development for the period they are lookedafter.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 16 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-5973 and S2W-5975 by Ms Margaret Curran on 1 March 2004, what steps will be taken in the short term to ensure that homeless people in East Lothian receive adequate services whilst East Lothian Council produces its improvement plan and during implementation of the plan once approved by Communities Scotland.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is asfollows:
Scottish Ministers actingthrough Communities Scotland now require East Lothian Council to take action toensure that homeless people in its area receive adequate services. The council’simprovement plan, setting out how it will respond to the findings of thePathfinder Inspection Report is due to be submitted on 17 March 2004.
Communities Scotlandexpects this to contain immediate, short term and longer term actions toprogress improvements. The agency will then agree arrangements with the localauthority for monitoring the implementation of the plan to ensure that thenecessary improvements in the services for homeless people and those threatenedwith homelessness are achieved. Performance in this area will be reassessedwithin two years and a full re-inspection of the local authority will becarried out within five years.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 16 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Forgotten Children, Addressing the Health Issues of Looked After Children and Young People, what steps will be taken to ensure parity of access to health care, screening, preventative services and immunisation courses for looked after children with children not in care.
Answer
Volume 2 of the guidance onthe Children (Scotland) Act 1995, Children Looked After by LocalAuthorities states that children being looked after should have the same accessto NHS provision and school health services as other children. When drawing upthe care plan local authorities should ensure that the child is provided withadequate health care, including any necessary medical, psychiatric,psychological, dental or ophthalmic attention and any necessary immunisations.
