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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S3W-18246

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers it appropriate for NHS boards to cut improvement and support budgets as part of efficiency savings.

Only schemes that comply with the definition of an efficiency saving would be accepted. The definition of a cash‘releasing efficiency saving is where the organisation delivers the same service at a reduced cost, demonstrated by delivering the same outcome(s) or output(s) for a reduced input or delivering a reduced unit cost allowing an increased volume of service for the same cost.

Potential efficiencies are considered on a case-by-case basis.

Question reference: S3W-18245

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all NHS hospitals or units where external cleaning and catering contracts are (a) in operation, (b) subject to best value reviews or test marketing, (c) in operation under extended PFI/PPP contracts or (d) planned to operate in hospitals or under construction.

With regard to cleaning services I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-15208 on 22 August 2008. 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.

The hospitals and NHS board with outsourced or PFI catering contracts are as follows:

NHS Ayrshire and Arran:

East Ayrshire Community Hospital. PFI contract over 25 years benchmarked on a five yearly basis.

NHS Highland:

New Craigs Hospital, Inverness. PFI contract due for benchmarking in 2010.

NHS Lanarkshire:

Hairmyres Hospital. PFI contract for 30 years commencing March 2001. Next benchmark exercise due in 2012, and

Wishaw Hospital. PFI contract for 30 years commencing June 1998. Next benchmark exercise will be on 2013.

NHS Lothian:

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. PFI contract, benchmarking in five years.

Ellensglen House - PFI to be market tested in 2008-09.

Ferryfield House - PFI to be market tested in four years time.

Tippethill - PFI to be market tested in five years time.

NHS Shetland:

Contract awarded for five years in 2007.

NHS Tayside:

Carseview - PFI 25 years commencing 2001.

The new acute hospital in Larbert is under construction as a PFI and both cleaning and catering services will be provided by the external provider but will be subject to value testing after five years of operation. Due to commence in 2010.

Question reference: S3W-18244

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3M-15208 by Nicola Sturgeon on 22 August 2008 indicating that a number of hospital cleaning and catering services contracts is subject to review, whether this position contradicts the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing’s letter to NHS boards on 20 October 2008 advising them that there will be no further privatisation of hospital cleaning and catering services anywhere in Scotland.

The announcement I made on 18 October, 2008 is in line with the answer to S3W-15208 and the guidance issued to NHS Chief Executives on 20 October 2008 which indicates that existing contracts for the provision of such services are not affected.

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.

Question reference: S3W-18256

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether hospital pharmacists have access to patients’ emergency care summaries as part of efforts to improve patient safety.

Question reference: S3W-18253

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it or NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has undertaken a review of the costs of (a) construction or (b) staffing following the announcement that future, new or significantly refurbished hospitals will have only single rooms.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde had already considered the application of 100% single rooms in the New Southern Hospital prior to submission of the outline business case in March 2008.

Following the issue of CEL (48) 2008 all NHS boards will have to take into account construction and staff issues within their proposals. These issues will be assessed as part of the review of business cases undertaken by both NHS boards and the Scottish Government Health Directorates.

The Single Room Steering Group considered a number of factors including construction and staffing. Details are contained within the steering group''s report which will be available from the HAI Task Force website www.scotland.gov.uk/haitaskforce.

Question reference: S3W-18249

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all the efficiency savings made or being made by NHS boards in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09 and (c) 2009-10, broken down into recurrent and non-recurrent savings.

Details of recurrent and non-recurrent savings by NHS boards are as follows:

NHS Board	2007-08 Recurrent Savings Achieved (£000)	2007-08 Non-Recurrent Savings Achieved (£000)	2008-09 Forecast Recurrent Savings (£000)	2008-09 Forecast Non-Recurrent Savings (£000)	2009-10 Forecast Recurrent Savings (£000)	2009-10 Forecast Non-Recurrent Savings (£000)
Ayrshire and Arran	5,516	0	10,934	0	11,284	0
Borders	1,704	0	3,343	2,318	3,400	1,300
Dumfries and Galloway	2,176	0	4,641	450	4,707	0
Fife	4,746	0	10,201	0	9,902	0
Forth Valley	4,323	0	7,511	4,230	7,751	4,434
Grampian	5,398	0	10,377	2,549	7,797	24,692
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	16,385	0	42,200	4,000	35,000	0
Highland	5,971	0	7,674	8,311	8,715	8,715
Lanarkshire	5,823	0	11,002	3,802	4,500	16,405
Lothian	10,016	0	13,682	6,055	20,000	0
Orkney	93	0	812	115	1,023	0
Shetland	408	0	520	190	1,165	0
Tayside	8671	0	9,630	9,409	12,625	6,887
Western Isles	601	0	1,527	650	1,000	898
National Waiting Times Centre	1,382	0	800	0	824	0
NHS 24	2,579	0	4,696	0	1,868	0
NHS Education for Scotland	1,468	0	724	0	747	0
NHS Health Scotland	0	0	319	17	358	0
NHS National Services Scotland	2,554	0	5,617	0	5,102	0
NHS Quality Improvement Scotland	79	0	332	0	171	167
Scottish Ambulance Service	1,792	0	4,783	555	3,918	0
The State Hospitals Board for Scotland	917	0	974	0	1,122	225
Total	82,602	0	152,299	42,651	142,979	63,723

Question reference: S3W-18262

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements are in place for ensuring that medical information on prisoners is transferred to their GPs on release, including (a) primary care information, (b) screening information and test results, (c) information on programmes addressing issues such as drugs and alcohol use or anger management and other behavioural programmes and (d) information about the nature of their offences where that may relate to future health issues, such as alcohol, drugs, domestic violence, anger control or other forms of abuse.

I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

Clinical practice in SPS conforms to current General Medical Council guidance regarding confidentiality and the protection and provision of information.

Any prisoner in receipt of prescribed medication at point of planned release, or who has served a prison sentence of six months or more, should have a discharge summary completed by the prison medical officer and issued to the prisoner''s GP where this is known. Arrangements are also in place to ensure that any substitute prescribing to address drug misuse issues are continued in the community upon release.

Question reference: S3W-18260

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that clinically important information obtained by members of the primary care team or the primary care network is recorded on a single accessible record.

Question reference: S3W-18248

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 5 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that delaying filling vacancies is an appropriate way of achieving efficiency savings.

Question reference: S3W-18255

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to promote public and patient awareness of the new roles of community pharmacists.

The Scottish Government has produced promotional and patient awareness materials for the Minor Ailments Service and Acute Medication Service. These materials were made available in pharmacies and GP surgeries. In addition, the Minor Ailments Service has been promoted through the use of posters in pharmacies'' windows. Further patient awareness campaigns are planned for other services to be introduced in the new pharmacy contract.