- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 30 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to encourage sports clubs to record injuries.
Answer
Many Scottish governing bodies of sport have accreditation schemes in place requiring member clubs to be aware of and implement normal operating procedures and emergency operating procedures. Risk assessment and first-aid procedures are components of these operating procedures which require clubs to complete a report following every incident.
Assistance for clubs including an incident report template is available on sportscotland''s Help for Clubs website at www.helpforclubs.org.uk.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 29 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what surveillance of pupil injuries is carried out by schools.
Answer
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) state in their Education Information Sheet No 1 that some incidents that happen in schools, or during education activities out of school, must be reported to them under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR). These Regulations require employers and other people to report accidents and some diseases that arise out of or in connection with work. The duty to notify and report rests with the responsible person. In the case of schools this will be the local authority.
The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 29 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to increase funding to local authorities for the employment of environmental health officers.
Answer
As part of our concordat with COSLA, we are investing record levels of funding in local government and giving them more freedom and flexibility in how they allocate their funding. It is the responsibility of each local authority to decide the level of funding allocated for environmental health services, based on decisions on local needs and priorities, having fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities, including the Scottish Government''s key strategic objectives and manifesto commitments. When giving evidence to the Health and Sport Committee, COSLA stated that the introduction and enforcement of new sunbed provisions would be cost neutral.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 28 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact assessment has been carried out on the effectiveness of finance allocated for increased education on and awareness of skin cancer and the use of sundbeds and whether there are plans to increase such funding.
Answer
The Scottish Government contributed 10% (£11,000 in 2008-09) to the costs of SunSmart which is commissioned by Health Departments across the UK and run by Cancer Research. SunSmart is a generic skin cancer prevention campaign which aims to raise awareness around the causes of skin cancer and includes information on the health risks associated with sunbed use.
Campaign activities are evaluated by Cancer Research UK on an on-going basis and a full evaluation report of all activities sent to UK health departments. Figures from a yearly survey commissioned by Cancer Research UK from the Office for National Statistics show an increase in knowledge that using sunbeds increases the risk of skin cancer from 71% in 2003 to 81% in 2005. Further studies have been carried out in 2007 and 2008 but we are awaiting verification of the results.
Following the passage of the Public Health etc (Scotland) act 2008 the Scottish Government will refocus its activity to carry out an awareness raising campaign to accompany the act''s provisions on sunbeds when they come into effect in 2009. The sunbed provisions in the Act will ban the use, sale and hire of sunbeds to under 18s, ban unsupervised use and introduce a requirement for sunbed operators to give their clients detailed information on the health risks associated with sunbed use. The campaign will be targeted at sunbed users and all known sunbed operators in Scotland. It is envisaged that the campaign will include the distribution of leaflets and posters and that information and materials will be available to download free of charge from the Scottish Government website. The estimated cost of the campaign is in the region of £50,000.
The final form of the campaign has not been decided. Therefore no impact assessment has been designed at this stage although the campaign will be evaluated and impact assessed following its delivery.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 28 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline its proposals for a health education campaign to accompany the Public Health etc. (Scotland) Act 2008.
Answer
Following the passage of the Public Health etc (Scotland) 2008 the Scottish Government intends to conduct an awareness raising campaign to accompany the act''s provisions on sunbeds when they come into effect in 2009. The final form of the campaign has yet to be decided.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 22 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what monitoring and surveillance arrangements are in place for Stenotrophomonas maltophilia infections.
Answer
All clinically significant blood infections, including Stenotrophomanas maltophilia, are reported to Health Protection Scotland on a weekly basis by NHS bacteriology laboratories, a national arrangement which has been in place since 1969. Antibiotic resistance will be monitored locally and nationally via the national roll-out to laboratories of automated sensitivity testing equipment, which is being funded by the Scottish Government. Immediate management of potential outbreaks of Stenotrophomanas maltophilia is an issue for the NHS board infection control team to address.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 22 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will extend the age ranges for automatic screening for breast cancer in line with those of England and Northern Ireland.
Answer
Breast screening is offered to women between 50 and 70 years of age in Scotland. Women over 70 can self-refer for screening. This is in line with the UK National Screening Committee recommendations.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when the report by Health Facilities Scotland’s independent assessor on each NHS board’s audit of its cleaning process will be made available to the Parliament.
Answer
The draft report was only recently received by Health Facilities Scotland (HFS). The final report will be placed on the HFS website in due course and I will write to the member as soon as I can to advise him of precisely when that will be. A copy will also be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 46781) when the report is published.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Ambulance Service will implement a cleaning audit process throughout the service.
Answer
The Scottish Ambulance Service has national infection control policies in place, including a well defined cleaning and disinfection policy. Processes require that vehicles should have both a daily and a weekly clean and that the interior of the vehicle is wiped down after each patient. These practices are subject to regular audit and review.
The service is working towards implementation of the NHS Scotland National Cleaning Services Specification and Monitoring Framework. A pilot delivering this through joint working with the local NHS Domestic Services Department in two of the largest stations (Edinburgh and Paisley) was successful. The service are in the process of rolling this model out to the other stations within the boundaries of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lothian. Once in place, vehicle cleaning at these stations will be monitored monthly in line with the national monitoring framework developed by Health Facilities Scotland.
The service is considering the most effective option to deliver the National Cleaning Standard and Monitoring Framework across the rest of Scotland.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what compliance with National Cleaning Services Specification is audited and reported for hospitals other than those coded as A1 (acute teaching) and A2 (acute non-teaching).
Answer
All premises owned or run by an NHS board, from operating theatres to office areas, are audited against the compliance tool and the national cleaning specification standards and there is a rectification process embedded in the monitoring system for managers to develop and implement an action plan to address any issues, as required. The results of the A1 and A2 hospitals are reported to the Scottish Government''s Health Directorates.