- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 18 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is appropriate for healthcare workers to travel to and from work wearing their uniforms.
Answer
Policies relating to NHSScotland uniforms and dress code are in need of review, and the Scottish Government''s Health and Wellbeing Directorates are in the process of finalising a national dress code for NHSScotland. Issues that may act as a barrier to good practice, such as the availability of changing and laundry facilities, are also under consideration.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether all hospitals use biocidal rinses to clean clothing and bedding associated with healthcare-acquired infections.
Answer
All hospital laundry should be laundered in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Department of Health Circular HSG (95)18: Hospital Laundry Arrangements for Used and Infected Linen. This circular, which is currently under review, includes instructions for the thermal disinfection of linen. During infection outbreaks, each NHS board would also follow the NHSScotland Code of Practice for the Local Management of Hygiene and Healthcare Associated Infection. The code is available at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/05/19315/36624.
Paragraph 5.3, Chapter 5 of the code (Prevention and Control of Infection Guidance) describes how laundry should be handled during outbreaks and how incidents should be documented by staff.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered the use of vinyl gloves by healthcare staff and hospital visitors to reduce healthcare-acquired infections.
Answer
Information on the appropriate usage of gloves by health care staff, including their use to prevent and control the spread of infection, is set out in each NHS board''s personal protective equipment guidance. Vinyl and nitrile gloves are examples of gloves available worn by staff.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what tests were used to diagnose the cases of Clostridium difficile at the Vale of Leven Hospital and how this compares with other hospitals.
Answer
I am advised by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde that the technique used to diagnose Clostridium difficile cases at the Vale of Leven Hospital is the Teklab Toxin A/B Quikchek Kit. All NHS boards use testing kits that are approved nationally for use in detecting Clostridium difficile so most products will be similar.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what process is used in the diagnosis of Clostridium difficile by each NHS board.
Answer
The processes used by each laboratory will vary depending on the size of the NHS board and the frequency of testing required. All NHS boards'' testing kits are approved nationally.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 17 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made since May 2007 in providing accessible housing, broken down by the number of units built in each local authority area.
Answer
There is no central source of data on the number of accessible houses built in Scotland.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are baseline statistics against which progress on the outcomes set out in single outcome agreements can be measured.
Answer
Each local authority is individually responsible for measuring progress on the outcomes set out in their single outcome agreements (SOAs). The SOAs for 2008-09 provided baseline statistics for the majority of the indicators being used to monitor progress towards outcomes. The full set of 2008-09 SOAs are available on the Improvement Service website at:
http://www.improvementservice.org.uk/core-programmes/single-outcome-agreements-/
Central and local government are committed to working together further to improve the availability and timeliness of statistics for use in SOAs.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how and when it will report to the Parliament on progress on outcomes set out in single outcome agreements.
Answer
Local authorities will publish their annual reports on single outcome agreements (SOAs) in the autumn of each year, with reports relating to 2008-09 SOAs to be published in autumn 2009. A supplementary interim progress report will be produced for 2008-09 SOAs only, at the end of the current financial year. We shall ensure that these reports are made available for scrutiny by the Parliament.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that the status of the new scrutiny bodies announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth on 6 November 2008 (Official Report c. 12077) reflects the need for the bodies to be independent of ministers and free from political interference.
Answer
The government accepted the need for scrutiny to be independent in the response to the Crerar Review that we published in January 2008. The Accountability and Governance Action Group has recently provided recommendations from key stakeholders outwith government on issues such as guaranteeing operational independence from government for scrutiny bodies. The Scottish Government will publish a response to the action groups around the turn of the year.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will develop a monitoring framework for the delivery of the outcomes set out in single outcome agreements.
Answer
The Scottish Government will monitor the progress that councils and their community planning partners make in delivery of outcomes set out in single outcome agreements.
As the bodies which plan, manage and deliver local services, it is for local authorities and their community planning partners to monitor the effectiveness of these services and how well placed they are to support outcomes highlighted in the single outcome agreement on an ongoing basis.
