- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 20 November 2012
To ask the Scottish Government what requirements local authorities have to record and publish any measurements carried out on noise and vibration levels in response to complaints made by residents.
Answer
Local authorities have a duty under regulation 4 of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 to take reasonable steps to achieve the active and systematic dissemination of information to the public and to make that information progressively available to the public by electronic means.
Local authorities are able to publish noise monitoring data on that basis.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 20 November 2012
To ask the Scottish Government on what basis properties along the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway line were selected for testing for noise.
Answer
Properties selected for monitoring were considered to be most likely to experience noise from train operations and deemed to be representative of other properties along the length of the reopened section of track with a similar relationship to the track in terms of both vertical and horizontal displacement.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 November 2012
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 22 November 2012
To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government will take in response to concerns that out-of-hours paediatric services at NHS Lothian, Fife and Borders are at risk due to a shortage of trainee doctors.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 22 November 2012
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 14 November 2012
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-09036 by Roseanna Cunningham on 5 September 2012, whether it plans to require primary care providers in the 400 practices receiving payments for providing drug treatment services, to submit SMR25 forms electronically.
Answer
At present there are no plans to require primary care providers to submit SMR25 forms electronically in order to receive a fee. Any fees associated with providing drug and alcohol treatment services are managed locally by NHS boards.
The Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland has reported that they continue to work with data providers from all sectors, including GPs, to provide training and encourage progress with the submission of SMR25a forms.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 November 2012
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-09129 by Michael Matheson on 10 September 2012, what review it is carrying out of the epidemiology of the misuse of Gabapentin and what discussions it has had with the Scottish Advisory Committee on Drug Misuse on the matter.
Answer
The Scottish Advisory Committee on Drug Misuse (SACDM) met for the last time in May 2008 when it signed off Scotland’s drug strategy The Road to Recovery. In May 2009, the Scottish Government established the Drugs Strategy Delivery Commission (DSDC) to independently assess the Scottish Government’s progress in delivering this strategy.
Drug safety is a reserved matter for which the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has responsibility on a UK basis. The MHRA has been actively monitoring the potential risk of gabapentin abuse, misuse and dependence since the time of licensing. These monitoring arrangements are continuing and the Scottish Government remains in close contact with the MHRA over such matters.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 14 November 2012
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-09036 by Roseanna Cunningham on 5 September 2012, for what reason no more than 94 out of 400 general practices that receive payments for drug services submitted SMR25a paper forms to NHS Information Services Division in 2010-11.
Answer
I have asked Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland of NHS National Services Scotland to provide an update on SMR25a submissions by GPs and they have reported the following:
Since September 2011, all SMR25a submissions from statutory and voluntary drug treatment services are completed electronically. Paper SMR25a forms are no longer accepted from statutory drug treatment services unless they are in the process of transitioning to electronic submissions. Currently, no electronic SMR25a submissions are received from primary care providers and paper SMR25a forms are submitted from a limited number of primary care providers (94 general practices in 2010-11 and 81 general practices in 2011-12).
There is currently no requirement for GPs to submit SMR25a forms in order to receive a fee. Any fees associated with providing drug and alcohol treatment services are managed locally by NHS boards.
Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland continue to work with data providers from all sectors, including GPs, to provide training and encourage progress with the submission of SMR25a forms.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 October 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 8 November 2012
To ask the Scottish Government what steps Education Scotland has taken to engage experts in sport and physical activity in its schools inspection teams.
Answer
In a sample number of inspections Health and Nutrition Inspectors (HNIs) are part of the inspection team and have a focus on all aspects of Health and Wellbeing, including physical activity. Where they are not part of the team, this responsibility is undertaken by another member of the inspection team.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 October 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 8 November 2012
To ask the Scottish Government whether every parent receives a report on their child's physical literacy at least once during primary school.
Answer
Physical education is part of the health and wellbeing (HWB) curricular area within Curriculum for Excellence. Schools report on children and young people’s progress and achievement within HWB each school year as part of their annual reporting procedures to parents. Physical education is the most common aspect of children’s progress referred to within HWB. In addition, all pupils will now complete a profile by the end of P7, and by the end of S3 from June 2013, so there are further opportunities for young people to comment on their own strengths and progress within all curricular areas, including HWB and therefore physical education.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 October 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 7 November 2012
To ask the Scottish Government what the position of NHS Education for Scotland is on the Royal College of General Practitioners' educational case for extending and enhancing GP training.
Answer
The Scottish Medical Training Board (SMTB), which is chaired by the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, provides strategic leadership to the management and development of postgraduate medical education and training in Scotland, and reports to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing.
NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is a member of the SMTB and has been party to discussions on the RCGP proposals, which would require UK-wide agreement before proceeding. The SMTB has acknowledged the strength of the educational case but has agreed that further work is necessary to fully explore the implications of implementation.
NES, at the request of the SMTB, is presently assessing the likely impact of these proposals for Scotland's current GP training programmes, which will help inform further discussion and consideration by the SMTB and, ultimately, the Board's advice to Scottish Ministers.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 October 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 7 November 2012
To ask the Scottish Government how many GP practices have a patient participation group.
Answer
NHS boards must involve the communities they serve in planning and developing the health and care services they provide and are supported in that role by the Scottish Health Council. Although, contractual arrangements mean that different approaches to patient or lay involvement exist for general practices, the principles of public involvement do extend to primary care settings.
Recognising this as an important area for development, the Scottish Health Council has been promoting the benefits of involving patients and the public in primary care. Over the past year, it has been working with primary care practioners across Scotland to produce tools to help them develop their existing Patient Partnership Groups (PPGs) or set-up new Groups in areas where they do not yet exist.
A report on the impact of this work is expected in January. This will include an up-to-date position on the numbers of PPGs and offer an up-date on the position reflected in the recent report by P3 and the Royal College of General Practitioners – “Patient Participation in General Practice” - which was based on a survey issued in late 2009.
