- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing is aware that the high dependency unit at the Vale of Leven Hospital had closed in the last 12 months.
Answer
The High Dependency Unit (HDU) at the Vale of Leven Hospital closed for four hours on 27 October 2007, and for 24 hours between 13 and 14 November 2007 due to no patients being in the unit. This is normal practice where no patient admissions are anticipated.
The board announced in November 2007 that the hospital''s two HDU beds would be integrated into the Coronary Care Unit to support both service delivery and clinical safety. The joint Critical Care Unit, as it is now known, has not been closed at any time since the merger in December 2007.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review and update all the information on Scottish Government websites to ensure accuracy and consistency about the information available on Clostridium difficile.
Answer
The Scottish Government regularly reviews and updates the information that is made available on their website. Information about Clostridium difficile was last reviewed and updated following the publication of the independent review on 7 August 2008.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether all deaths from Clostridium difficile should be reported to the Procurator Fiscal as a matter of routine.
Answer
This is a matter for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). COPFS has issued guidance to doctors on the categories of death that must be reported to the Procurator Fiscal. This guidance is available on the Crown Office website,
www.copfs.gov.uk. Clostridium difficile is not a cause of death which doctors are currently obliged to report in terms of this guidance.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what new resources will be set aside for NHS boards to deal with Clostridium difficile.
Answer
The Scottish Government has already announced a record level of investment of £54 million over three years to tackle all healthcare associated infection, including Clostridium difficile.
In addition, all NHS boards have been instructed to ensure that they have an antimicrobial management team in place, and £520,000 has now been released to enable NHS boards to establish antimicrobial pharmacist posts which will support high quality prescribing.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive why the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing referred the independent review report on Clostridium difficile at the Vale of Leven Hospital to the Lord Advocate, given that she has the power as a minister to order a public inquiry.
Answer
The review report was referred to the Lord Advocate because she is responsible for the investigation of deaths in Scotland. The Procurator Fiscal has a duty, on behalf of the Lord Advocate, to investigate all sudden, suspicious, accidental, unexplained and unexpected deaths, as well as deaths which give rise to serious public concern.
The majority of these deaths were not reported to the Procurator Fiscal at the time but when the full extent of the situation at the Vale of Leven Hospital became known, I ordered a review. In the circumstances, it was appropriate for the Procurator Fiscal to await the outcome of the independent review before considering what further action was necessary. However, the number of deaths at the Vale of Leven hospital has clearly given cause for concern within the community and it is therefore appropriate for the area Procurator Fiscal to conduct an independent inquiry into the circumstances of those deaths in the first instance.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether infection control managers report directly to the Chief Executive of NHS Scotland.
Answer
All infection control managers report directly to the relevant NHS board Chief Executive.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether NHS Quality Improvement Scotland carried out a follow-up inspection after its report in May 2005 showing that NHS Argyll and Clyde had not met approximately 40 of the 69 criteria for hospital-acquired infections.
Answer
The responsibility for following up on NHS QIS inspections lies within the remit of the relevant NHS board.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) new capital funding is available and (b) what capital funding has already been planned for (i) 2008-09, (ii) 2009-10 and (iii) 2010-11 for the Vale of Leven Hospital.
Answer
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has almost £1.5 million of capital funds committed in 2008-09 for the Vale of Leven Hospital. This includes a general provision of £1 million which will be used specifically to fund capital schemes aimed at strengthening the hospital''s capacity to control the spread of hospital acquired infection. The remaining £500,000 is earmarked for minor capital schemes of a more routine nature, which are carried out on a year to year basis.
Beyond 2008-09, the capital plan includes provision for ongoing investment in minor schemes on a year to year basis. There are proposals for Alexandra Health Centre to be re-provided on the Vale of Leven campus in the next five years, and there is an expectation that a firm timescale for the project would emerge subject to forthcoming public consultation on the wider future of the Vale of Leven Hospital.
The provisional estimate of capital expenditure required in relation to Alexandra Health Centre re-provision is £17 million but the NHS board have still to complete a detailed business case following public consultation which will consider the costs and delivery arrangements for the project.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how much capital funding has been committed to projects by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde for (a) 2008-09 and (b) the next three financial years.
Answer
Capital funding has been set for the current spending review period being 2008-09 and the following two years only. The capital resources available to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in that period are detailed in the following table:
| | Firm 2008-09 (£ million) | Indicative 2009-10 (£ million) | Indicative 2010-11 (£ million) |
| Capital Formula | 97.417 | 98.920 | 100.423 |
| Medical Equipment | 7.874 | 7.874 | 7.874 |
| Primary Care Modernisation | 8.100 | 10.030 | 11.47 |
| Ophthalmic Practices | 1.631 | - | - |
| Renfrew/ Barrhead Scottish Government Capital Support | 5.000 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| Scottish Government Support “ Southern General | - | 18.000 | 101.000 |
| Total | 120.022 | 139.824 | 225.767 |
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-14362 by Nicola Sturgeon on 14 July 2008, whether the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing will now comment on whether she considers (a) the employment of one infection control nurse covering all infection monitoring at the Vale of Leven Hospital to be sufficient and (b) that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde should increase the number of people in the infection control team based at the Vale of Leven Hospital.
Answer
The number of staff employed for the provision of services is a matter for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
Guidance was issued to NHS boards under cover of HDL(2005)8 asking them to ensure that an appropriate and adequate level of resource for prevention and control of infection control and communicable disease was in place.
A letter reinforcing the accountability of chief executives, for ensuring that all the appropriate policy and procedures in relation to healthcare associated infection were in place, was issued on 28 June 2008.
