- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Johann Lamont on 31 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many houses in Dundee are now centrally-heated as a result of its central heating installation programme.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:
In local authority and housingassociation sectors, 2,260 households in Dundee have received a central heating system through the programme.
In the private sector the programmeis administered by Eaga Partnership, which holds information by main postcode area.From September 2001 to end of April 2006, Eaga has installed 2,825 central heatingsystems in pensioner households in the DD postcode area.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 31 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the levels of homelessness were in each parliamentary constituency in each of the last five years.
Answer
The Scottish Executive collectsdetails on each application made to local authorities under the homelessness legislation.However, these data are not collected in a way which allows a meaningful breakdownby parliamentary constituency. Annual figures on the numbers assessed as homelesscan be found online in the publications section of the housing statistics website
www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/housing/hsbref.The most recent figures are for 2004-05 (published in Statistical Bulletin: Housing Series: HSG/2005/6: Operationof the Homeless Persons legislation in Scotland: national and local authority analyses 2004-05). Figuresfor 2005-06 will be published later this year.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 31 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any link between the number of homeless people in a given local authority area and the amount of money that the Executive makes available to address homelessness in that area.
Answer
The Rough Sleepers Initiativefunding was originally distributed on the basis of bids made by local authorities.This funding has been included in the Revenue Support Grant since 2002-03, and theproportion of funding allocated to each local authority has continued to be calculatedon the same basis.
The distribution of both HomelessnessTask Force and general homelessness (GAE) funding is based on an historic calculationof the numbers of homelessness applications as a proportion of the population, ineach local authority.
The Rough Sleepers Initiativewas integrated into the local authorities’ strategies and both funding streams nowsupport the implementation of these.
The Executive has made a commitmentto amalgamate currently distinct homelessness funding streams from 2007-08. Considerationis currently taking place around the most appropriate arrangements for doing so.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how long women needed to wait to receive treatment for post-natal depression in (a) Scotland, (b) each NHS board and (c) each local authority area in each of the last five years.
Answer
The information requested isnot available centrally.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider researching the barriers to reporting adverse drug reactions, as suggested in the recent British Medical Association report, Reporting Adverse Drug Reactions.
Answer
The regulation and safety ofmedicines are reserved and are the responsibility of the Medicines andHealthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA and the Commission onHuman Medicines run the UK’s spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting scheme,the Yellow Card Scheme.
The MHRA has welcomed the recent British Medical Association report, ReportingAdverse Drug Reactions. The MHRA and the Commission on Human Medicines arecommitted to promoting the reporting of suspected adverse reactions through theYellow Card Scheme and are considering how best to take the recommendationsforward.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines are offered for monitoring adverse drug reactions in children.
Answer
The regulation and safety ofmedicines are reserved and are the responsibility of the Medicines andHealthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA and the Commission onHuman Medicines run the UK’s spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting scheme,the Yellow Card Scheme.Guidelines on reporting ofadverse drug reactions through the Yellow Card Scheme are provided to healthprofessionals in the British National Formulary. Health professionals(including doctors, dentists, coroners, pharmacists and nurses) are asked toreport suspected adverse reactions to any therapeutic agents, both prescribedproducts and those available over the counter, including herbal products.Detailed guidelines for health professionals and patients on what to report andhow to report suspected adverse reactions are available
at www.yellowcard.gov.uk.This website also contains an electronic Yellow Card form for reporting ofsuspected adverse reactions.In relation to adversereactions in children, the guidelines provided in the British NationalFormulary make it clear that reporting of all suspected adverse drugreactions in children is strongly encouraged through the Yellow Card Scheme.This is because less is known about the effect of drugs in children. Similarguidance is available at www.yellowcard.gov.uk.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what literature or guidance it provides to patients to ensure that they know how to report an adverse drug reaction.
Answer
The regulation and safety ofmedicines are reserved and are the responsibility of the Medicines andHealthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA and the Commission onHuman Medicines run the UK’s spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting scheme,the Yellow Card Scheme.
Patients, parents and carerscan report suspected adverse reactions through the Yellow Card Scheme. The MHRAsupplied Yellow Cards for patients to a number of National Health Serviceoutlets including all General Practitioners, community and hospital pharmaciesin autumn 2005. The Yellow Cards provide guidance notes on when and how toreport suspected adverse reactions. Posters were also sent to all outlets withdetails of how to report. The MHRA leaflet Taking medicines - some questionsand answers about side effects also includes information on how to report asuspected adverse reaction. This was launched in December 2005 and the MHRA isworking with the Commission on Human Medicines’ Patient Information ExpertAdvisory Group to discuss how this leaflet and the patient Yellow Card can befurther promoted and made available. The MHRA is also developing acommunication campaign, which includes articles in magazines, and working withvoluntary organisations to promote patient reporting of suspected adversereactions.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of reports of adverse drug reactions in Scotland made by (a) GPs, (b) hospital-based doctors, (c) nurses, (d) pharmacists and (e) patients.
Answer
The regulation and safety ofmedicines are reserved and are the responsibility of the Medicines andHealthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA and the Commission onHuman Medicines run the UK’s spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting scheme,the Yellow Card Scheme.
The MHRA publishes on its website anonymisedaggregated reports of suspected adverse drug reactions received through theYellow Card Scheme. These include data for individual drugs and analysed byreporter type.
The number of reports ofsuspected adverse drug reactions sent to MHRA and the Commission on HumanMedicines via the Yellow Card Scheme from reporters in Scotland in2005, according to type of reporter, is shown in the table.
| Reporter Type | Number of Reports |
| General Practitioner | 492 |
| Hospital doctor | 544 |
| Nurse | 340 |
| Pharmacist | 426 |
| Other healthcare professional | 165 |
| Patient | 63 |
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that (a) local authorities receive full funding for free personal care, (b) all charges for assistance with food preparation are removed and (c) all pensioners who have been charged for the food preparation element of free personal care are fully refunded.
Answer
We have provided substantialfunding to local authorities for the delivery of free personal care. For the 2006-07financial year, we have increased the provision by £9 million to £162 million.
Local authorities can onlybe expected to provide assistance with the preparation of food free of chargeif the individual concerned is assessed as requiring such assistance. If anindividual believes that they have been charged incorrectly for any servicecovered by free personal care, that is a matter which ought to be raiseddirectly with the local authority, who are responsible for providing theservice.
Health Department officialshave written to local authorities reminding them of the legal requirements setout in the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002, in respect of assistance with thepreparation of food.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by George Lyon on 30 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people died as a result of adverse drug reactions in each of the last 10 years, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
The information requested isgiven in the following table.
Deaths fromthe Adverse Effects of Drugs and Medicaments in Therapeutic Use1, byNHS Board Area of Residence
| | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Scotland | 17 | 26 | 15 | 19 | 26 | 26 | 29 | 26 | 24 | 20 |
| Argyll and Clyde | - | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | - | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Borders | - | - | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | 3 | 1 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 2 | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | - |
| Fife | - | 1 | 2 | - | 2 | 4 | 4 | - | - | - |
| Forth Valley | - | 3 | - | - | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | 2 | 2 |
| Grampian | - | 4 | 2 | - | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | - | 4 |
| Greater Glasgow | 7 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | - |
| Highland | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | - | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Lanarkshire | - | 3 | - | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Lothian | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| Orkney | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Shetland | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| Tayside | 3 | 1 | - | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Western Isles | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - |
Note: 1. 1995-99,ICD9 codes E930 - E949; 2000 - 2004, ICD10 codes Y40 - Y59.
The answer gives the numbersof deaths caused by the adverse effects of drugs and medicaments in therapeuticuse. Additionally, drugs and medicaments cause a significant number of deathsby poisoning (mainly associated with drug abuse, accidental poisoning orintentional self-poisoning).
