- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients were not added to waiting lists by virtue of being deemed medically unfit and having no clear end date to the condition which would have allowed the referral to proceed; who is responsible for reaching such a conclusion, and whether the patient, appropriate care giver or GP is contacted before removal from waiting lists.
Answer
Information on numbers of patients not added to waiting lists is not available centrally. Published national guidance makes it clear that medically unfit patients should not be added to a waiting list if there is no estimated end date to their unavailability.
The decision to add a patient to a waiting list or to remove a patient from a waiting list can only be made by the healthcare professional responsible for that patient’s treatment. A patient will not be removed from a waiting list if it is clinically inappropriate to do so. The national guidance makes it clear that the patient and the patient’s GP should be informed if a decision is made to return a patient to the care of their GP. The GP can of course re-refer the patient.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive who made the decision to classify the 12,868 out-patients and the 8,130 in-patient deleted from the waiting lists as “treatment no longer required”.
Answer
The health care professional responsible for treatment. Patients may decide they no longer require treatment, and ask to be removed from the waiting list.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the 20,931 outpatients and the 2,452 inpatients that were removed from the New Ways waiting list in the first quarter of 2008 were previously on the Availability Status Codes waiting list.
Answer
Information on whether patients removed from waiting lists following the introduction of “New Ways” of defining and measuring waiting times held an Availability Status Code is not collected centrally.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation was undertaken with GPs before the introduction of the New Ways waiting times system.
Answer
Interim guidance on the new definitions and main principles of “New Ways” was issued in March 2005. This guidance was produced by a multi-disciplinary group of the health service - including a GP - and the Scottish Executive Health Department. The main principles of this guidance remain in place today. The guidance stressed the need for NHS boards to ensure that all relevant staff, including hospital clinicians and GPs, were fully informed of the guidance and involved in the issues covered
I wrote to all GP practices in Scotland in September 2007, to seek general practitioners’ help in ensuring that patients understood how the new system of defining and measuring waiting times across Scotland would operate. I also indicated that a leaflet had already been issued to general practices to familiarise practice staff with the new approach and to assist them in implementing it, and that NHS boards would be offering training or awareness events.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints have been received by patients about the operation of the New Ways waiting times system.
Answer
I have personally received no complaints from patients or from their representatives about the operation of the New Ways system.
The number of complaints about waiting times made to NHS boards during the year ending 31 March 2008 will be published by ISD Scotland later this year. This period includes nine months prior to the introduction of New Ways. The first publication of complaints data covering the whole full year will be during 2009. It will not be possible to separate complaints relating to the operation of New Ways from complaints about other aspects of waiting times.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 9 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how it proposes to meet its targets of a zero increase in antidepressant prescribing by 2009-10 and a 10% reduction in future years.
Answer
The recently established Mental Health Collaborative will be working with every NHS board area to drive the delivery of this target through change and improvement. This attention and focus will complement the integrated care pathway standards for depression and the work with and through NHS Education for Scotland to build the infrastructure around psychological therapies. We will monitor and measure change through these and other data systems/processes.
In further support we have published a guidance report last year setting out the care advantages of and steps toward social prescribing for those with anxiety and depression or other mental illness.
That report, Developing Social Prescribing and Community Referrals for Mental Health in Scotland (Bib. number 45194) provides current service examples and offers guidance on steps that can be taken to encourage and arrange access to the arts; creativity, physical activity, learning, volunteering and other approaches for the potential positive impact these pursuits can have on mental wellbeing. The report sets out roles for Community Mental Health Partnerships and others.
Attention on progress is maintained through our focus on delivering the now four HEAT targets for mental health which include action on alternatives to medication and on reducing admissions to hospital care both of which have relevance to the objectives set.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it can confirm that the number of mental health nurse training places will drop from 550 to 340 in autumn 2008.
Answer
The student intake numbers for mental health nursing have been agreed at 366 for 2008-09. NHS boards recommended a target of 340, reflecting falling board demand for mental health nurses. The Scottish Government encouraged an additional uplift of 26 training places. The reduction of 156 on the 2006-07 intake reflects a declining uptake of places, the desire to improve student experience and to reduce the attrition rate within courses.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 14 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to encourage parents who were advised to decline the MMR vaccine for their children to now take up the vaccination.
Answer
The NHS in Scotland continues to reinforce the message that the recommended way to protect your child is through the combined MMR vaccination.
Communication from a trusted health professional is key in supporting uptake and minimising parent anxiety. NHS Health Scotland continues to support NHS boards and Health Protection Scotland to achieve good MMR uptake rates through the provision of a range of accessible information for parents and health professionals, along with supporting materials.
The revised MMR discussion pack will be launched later this year. It will build on the positively evaluated first edition and will further reinforce the importance of maintaining open and ongoing communication with parents about MMR.
In addition, the MMR: it''s never too late campaign materials are supplied by NHS Health Scotland to NHS boards to support local activity and include specific information for parents whose children have had single vaccines as well as those who have missed either one or both MMR doses.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 14 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to undertake any catch-up vaccination of children who have not received the pneumococcal vaccine.
Answer
A catch-up exercise was carried out at the time that the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was introduced into the childhood schedule. In total 88% of the children who were offered catch-up immunisation at this time have been immunised appropriately for their age. Among the youngest of these children, who were aged two to eight months at the time, 95.9% have been immunised.
There are no further catch-up plans at this time. In the longer term it would be for the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation to consider the evidence and provide advice on whether or not a further period of catch-up vaccination was required.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 14 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, following recent reports that almost 50% of children opted for six single MMR injections and did not complete the course, what action is being taken to encourage vaccination of these children.
Answer
The recent report referred to in the question details a large cohort of children from the UK, including 1,740 from Scotland, who had their immunisation records examined. 5.2% of the total individuals included in the study (14,578) had opted for at least one single vaccine. In Scotland this was 2.8% (51 out of the 1,780 people included).
Of the 634 people who had chosen single vaccines, only 52% of the children had received all of their immunisations. Therefore almost 50% of those children who opted for single vaccines, did not complete the course. The report does not suggest that 50% of all children opted for single injections and then did not complete the course.
The most recent statistics collected by the Scottish Government indicate that uptake of one dose of MMR (MMR1) by 24 months for children born in the fourth quarter of 2005 is 91.8% Quarterly uptake of MMR1 by five years old is 94.4%, just below the World Health Organization (WHO) target of 95% and uptake of the second dose of MMR (MMR2) by five years old for children born in the fourth quarter of 2002 is 87.1%.
Evidence shows that positive and effective communication from a trusted health professional is a key factor in influencing a parent''s decision to immunise their child. The NHS in Scotland continues to reinforce the message that the recommended way to protect your child is through the combined MMR vaccination. NHS Health Scotland continues to support NHS boards and Health Protection Scotland to achieve good MMR uptake rates through the provision of a range of accessible information for parents and health professionals, along with supporting materials.
