- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 12 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason some NHS boards did not follow the advice issued in 2006 to employ locums through the contract agencies only.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 12 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will require the NHS Scotland Central Legal Office to record whether doctors involved in incidents are locums.
Answer
The NHSScotland Central Legal Office has the facility to record in its clinical negligence claims database the locum status of any clinician who has been identified as having contributed to a negligent act or omission which has resulted in a compensation being made by an NHS board to a patient or relative. Discussions will be held with the relevant stakeholders to take this forward.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 12 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that the integrity of NHS IT systems is maintained by ensuring that each locum doctor uses an individual password.
Answer
The integrity of Board IT systems is the responsibility of individual NHS Boards. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring that appropriate access management is in place. The NHSScotland Information Security Policy contains guidance on user password management and makes clear that staff members must be assigned individual passwords. This requirement applies to all doctors, including locums.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 12 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that NHS boards maintain data on locum doctor employment; that they do so using the most effective electronic data set already in use and that where locums are employed, junior doctors do not endanger patient safety by contracting on a regular or frequent basis beyond the 48 hours stipulated in the European working time directive.
Answer
The Scottish Government is leading work with key stakeholders to develop a package of measures designed to reduce demand for temporary medical staff and, where their use is unavoidable, ensure they are both high quality and affordable. These measures are currently under consultation with NHSScotland Chief Executives and are due to be published later this year.
In NHSScotland, over 98% of doctors in training are compliant with the Working Time Regulations (WTR). Boards continue to work towards achieving full compliance.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 12 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason the number of locum agency requests increased from 3,700 in 2006-07 to 8,200 in 2008-09 in seven NHS boards, as noted in the Audit Scotland report, Using locum doctors in hospitals.
Answer
There is no clear evidence to explain why the number of locum agency requests increased. However, we are leading work with key stakeholders to develop a package of measures designed to reduce demand for temporary medical staff and, where their use is unavoidable, ensure they are both high quality and affordable.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason it allowed the national locum agency contract to lapse in 2009 and what the financial consequences were.
Answer
I refer the member to the answers to questions S3W-34583 and S3W-34584 on 30 June 2010. All the answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken in terms of (a) pre-employment checks, (b) induction and supervision and (c) other performance management processes to ensure that any potential risks associated with the employment of locum doctors are minimised.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-34639 on 1 July 2010. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www:scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason the employment of locum doctors other than through the contract agencies increased from 31% to 33% between 2006-07 and 2008-09.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-34600 on 28 June 2010. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 5 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to review the potential for equalisation of business rates for off-trade and on-trade licensees as referred to in evidence by the Scottish Licensed Trade Association to the Health and Sport Committee on 10 March 2010, (Official Report c. 2897).
Answer
Business rates are a property based tax calculated using the rateable value of a property. Rateable values are set independent of the Scottish Government by the Scottish Assessors.
The Scottish Government has put in place a number of measures to support on-trade licensees through business rates relief schemes. From 1 April 2010 the thresholds for the small business bonus scheme and rural rate relief were uplifted, both of which will benefit on-trade licensees, including many public houses.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the UK Government’s decision to require the NHS in England to report rates of MRSA bacteraemia and Clostridium difficile infections weekly, what steps it is taking to provide the same level of information in Scotland.
Answer
NHS boards in Scotland already provide information on MRSA, Clostridium difficile, hand hygiene and environmental cleaning compliance and the causes of adverse incidents. This is published on NHS board websites and discussed publicly at bi-monthly NHS board meetings.
A national HAI reporting template used to capture and report this data has recently been revised and issued to NHS boards with a six month review date. This places a requirement on boards to publish hospital level cases of Clostridium difficile, MSSA and MRSA bacteraemia on a monthly basis. We will consider the merits of increasing the frequency of reporting as part of our ongoing review process.
Improvements in our local monitoring arrangements, that go beyond those limited to MRSA and Clostridium difficile in England, are allowing NHS boards to identify issues early and take the necessary action to ensure infection control practices and procedures are being applied effectively at local level.
