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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

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Question reference: S2W-31583

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive after how many 999 calls for an ambulance it took more than an hour for a crew to attend in each year since 2000, broken down by Scottish Ambulance Service division and also expressed as a proportion of 999 calls for an ambulance over the same period.

The figures requested are listedin the following table. The Scottish Ambulance Service rolled out a priority baseddispatch system during 2002-04, so the figures from 2000-03 relate to all 999 emergencycalls and the figures from 2003-06 relate to Category A (life-threatening) and CategoryB (serious but not life-threatening) calls. In 2005-06, the ambulance service respondedto all Category A calls in an average of 8.4 minutes.

Number of Responses Over OneHour and Proportion of 999 Calls

Division	2000-01		2001-02		2002-03
Division	Number	Proportion	Number	Proportion	Number	Proportion
North East	6	0.03%	5	0.02%	8	0.03%
North West	9	0.10%	11	0.12%	11	0.11%
East Central	14	0.02%	9	0.02%	27	0.05%
West Central	10	0.01%	62	0.06%	56	0.06%
South East	9	0.02%	3	0.01%	31	0.06%
South West	23	0.04%	9	0.02%	15	0.03%

Number of Responses Over OneHour and Proportion of 999 Calls

Division	2003-04		2004-05		2005-06
Division	Number	Proportion	Number	Proportion	Number	Proportion
North East	5	0.02%	3	0.01%	1	0.04%
North West	13	0.13%	15	0.15%	14	0.12%
East Central	11	0.02%	13	0.02%	17	0.02%
West Central	51	0.05%	41	0.04%	96	0.09%
South East	18	0.04%	9	0.02%	27	0.04%
South West	33	0.06%	30	0.06%	34	0.06%

Note: Information supplied bythe Scottish Ambulance Service.

Question reference: S2W-31584

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of 999 calls for an ambulance where it took more than an hour for a crew to attend subsequently resulted in the patient dying (a) on the way to hospital and (b) within five hours of arrival at hospital in each year since 2000, broken down by Scottish Ambulance Service division.

Question reference: S2W-31585

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many qualified ambulance personnel there were in each year since 2000, broken down by Scottish Ambulance Service division.

The whole-time equivalent numberof paramedics and technicians employed in each Scottish Ambulance Service divisionfrom 2000 is listed in this table:

Division	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
North East	184.0	185.0	185.0	216.3	215.3	216.3
North West	203.4	205.8	205.8	217.8	199.1	199.1
East Central	311.5	321.5	321.5	348.7	350.7	372.0
West Central	384.5	408.5	406.5	464.0	458.0	468.0
South East	284.5	288.5	288.5	310.0	310.0	317.0
South West	399.0	398.0	393.0	434.0	445.0	481.0

Note: Information supplied bythe Scottish Ambulance Service.

Question reference: S2O-11925

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 8 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to promote full religious equality and an end to institutionalised discrimination.

Discrimination on the groundsof religion or belief is now unlawful in employment and training and in the provisionof goods, facilities and services. The Executive’s Equality Strategy published in2000 made clear our commitment to promoting equality for all and tackling prejudiceand discrimination. Among other things, we have mechanisms in place to allow forregular dialogue with all Scotland’s faith communities, and as part of the Executive’smainstreaming equality programme, departments must assess the impact of their policiesor proposed policies on faith/religious groups and the results must be published.

Question reference: S2W-31330

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 6 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints to NHS boards related to inadequate levels of patient care resulted in patients or their families taking legal action against the NHS in each year since 2000, broken down by NHS board.

Full information to thelevel of detail sought is not held centrally. The following table givesinformation on the numbers of new cases where legal action alleging clinicalnegligence has been taken over the whole of Scotland. A breakdown by NHS boardwould not be appropriate, since in the case of smaller boards it might enableindividual cases to be identified.

Year	Number of Complaints
2000	477
2001	465
2002	507
2003	460
2004	454
2005	400
2006	465

Question reference: S2W-31331

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 6 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much compensation was paid to patients or their families as a result of inadequate levels of NHS patient care in each year since 2000, broken down by NHS board.

The following table givesdetails of claims paid by NHSScotland, by financial year. It is not howeverpossible to distinguish between payments for clinical and non-clinical claims.Non-clinical claims against the NHS include claims under, for example,employer’s liability, industrial injury, employment law and third partyliability.

NHS Board	2001-02 (£)	2002-03 (£)	2003-04 (£)	2004-05 (£)	2005-06 (£)
Argyll and Clyde	265,519	2,558,831	270,041	1,219,640	1,019,142
Ayrshire and Arran	828,865	671,398	230,560	234,702	152,750
Borders	5,000	20,111	13,650	157,580	85,500
Dumfries and Galloway	701,116	362,018	219,096	65,927	198,171
Fife	51,693	125,346	492,449	320,806	106,000
Forth Valley	292,525	112,954	2,518,400	553,359	288,023
Grampian	175,375	77,250	199,313	912,877	413,810
Greater Glasgow	2,894,856	2,078,799	1,419,508	1,441,834	2,737,011
Highland	220,276	197,581	1,324,739	159,490	1,798,121
Lanarkshire	51,480	406,282	569,846	275,250	197,500
Lothian	815,557	1,933,644	879,506	437,323	182,931
Orkney	5,500	0	0	29,120	6,332
Shetland	7,700	78,345	10,200	2,000	0
Tayside	138,353	98,150	105,163	2,460,004	603,380
Western Isles	5,500	0	0	1,500	0
State Hospitals	0	0	0	0	0
Common Services Agency	0	0	55,000	49,000	40,000
Scottish Ambulance Service	3,000	0	0	0	0
Totals	6,462,315	8,720,709	8,307,471	8,320,412	7,810,671

Question reference: S2W-31332

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 6 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients over the age of 75 and admitted to an acute hospital were subsequently diagnosed with MRSA in each year since 2000, broken down by hospital.

Question reference: S2W-31329

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 6 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints were made to NHS boards about the level of patient care in each year since 2000, also broken down by hospital and category of ward.

The following table providesinformation on complaints made to NHS boards, including the State HospitalCarstairs, where “treatment” was raised as an issue, broken down by financialyear. It is not possible to provide a breakdown by hospital and category ofward or by calendar year. All available statistical information on complaints madeagainst Hospital and Community Services is published annually and can be foundat:http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4362.html.

NHS Board	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Argyll and Clyde	156	137	121	172	120	100
Ayrshire and Arran	149	179	115	177	161	143
Borders	39	33	36	57	32	39
Dumfries and Galloway	117	92	93	73	56	103
Fife	97	101	108	145	188	210
Forth Valley	57	69	66	93	104	108
Grampian	186	177	151	170	192	273
Greater Glasgow	431	365	332	408	380	384
Highland	120	77	106	108	135	135
Lanarkshire	230	298	273	276	253	237
Lothian	376	418	373	386	452	409
Orkney	7	2	5	8	5	6
Shetland	6	13	8	13	19	15
Tayside	171	171	97	147	162	165
Western Isles	12	13	23	12	16	21
State Hospital Carstairs	11	9	55	51	28	25

Question reference: S2W-31337

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 6 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many agency nurses were employed in hospitals in each year since 2000, broken down by hospital.

This information is not heldcentrally. Workforce statistics are available on the use of agency nurses and midwivesby NHS board.

The following table 1 shows thefigures for registered agency nurses. The following table 2 shows the figures fornon-registered agency nurses.

Table 1	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Table 1	Average Whole-Time Equivalent
Total	562.1	725.1	818.3	732.2	739.4	648.1	678.1
Registered	412.6	328.6	438.7	440.4	472.7	432.9	445.8
NHS Argyll and Clyde	16.8	12.0	38.3	40.8	45.8	53.6	90.5
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	8.9	7.1	5.6	14.4	11.9	9.8	11.1
NHS Borders	0.3	0.3	2.4	4.9	6.8	6.8	5.9
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	0.0	-	0.0	-	0.2	1.3	1.5
NHS Fife	23.1	28.9	28.9	24.0	25.7	29.4	48.3
NHS Forth Valley	6.7	8.3	8.7	10.6	8.4	19.3	25.4
NHS Grampian	14.5	14.0	30.1	40.0	39.8	29.5	27.2
NHS Greater Glasgow	148.9	47.5	162.7	146.2	129.4	127.8	114.9
NHS Highland	23.2	2.7	1.2	1.1	0.5	3.5	5.9
NHS Lanarkshire	3.2	25.4	39.1	29.7	30.7	5.1	6.4
NHS Lothian	157.4	169.1	90.7	102.9	167.7	136.5	97.1
NHS Orkney	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
NHS Shetland	0.5	0.2	1.2	0.1	-	0.8	1.0
NHS Tayside	9.0	13.1	29.0	20.3	2.4	4.4	7.1
NHS Western Isles	-	-	-	-	-	1.1	-
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	x	x	-	5.3	3.3	2.2	2.9

Table 2	1999-2000	2000-01		2001-02		2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Table 2	Average Whole-Time Equivalent
Non registered	149.5	254.7	379.6		291.8		266.7	215.1	232.3
NHS Argyll and Clyde	16.4	58.3	63.2		54.9		35.9	35.0	50.3
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	2.1	1.2	0.1		0.3		-	0.1	0.3
NHS Borders	-	0.3	0.5		0.9		0.4	9.0	4.2
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	-	0.0	-		-		-	-	-
NHS Fife	4.1	17.0	20.6		22.8		13.7	17.4	14.5
NHS Forth Valley	13.4	9.9	17.5		10.1		9.3	9.2	10.4
NHS Grampian	6.4	14.2	42.7		39.4		18.5	3.0	10.8
NHS Greater Glasgow	33.2	43.5	98.1		59.3		74.0	56.9	65.0
NHS Highland	4.5	7.1	8.1		11.4		10.6	5.0	19.1
NHS Lanarkshire	1.6	12.6	25.0		7.1		13.5	2.1	1.5
NHS Lothian	67.8	84.9	90.0		84.5		89.6	77.0	55.0
NHS Orkney	-	-	-		-		-	-	-
NHS Shetland	-	-	-		-		-	-	-
NHS Tayside	-	5.8	13.9		-		0.7	0.1	1.1
NHS Western Isles	-	-	-		-		-	-	-
National Services Scotland (formerly Common Services Agency)	x	x	-		-		-	-	0.1
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	x	x	-		1.0		0.4	0.3	0.0

Source: ISD Scotland NHSWorkforce Statistics.

Latest statistics at March2006.

Note: To calculate the averagewhole-time equivalent (WTE), WTE is taken as a contribution of 37.5 hours per weekX 52 = 1,950 hours per year.

Further information on the statistics,including information on how the data is collected and notes to aid interpretation,is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under workforce statistics,at www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

Question reference: S2W-31338

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 6 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients were recorded as having fallen from hospital beds in each year since 2000, also broken down by NHS board.