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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-10870

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to introduce a national screening programme for chlamydia.

Question reference: S3W-10873

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to NHS boards regarding improved recording of repeat testing of individuals for chlamydia in order to improve the accuracy of statistics.

Question reference: S3W-10874

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to collect data by NHS board for chlamydia screening in 2008 and how regularly such data is expected to be collected in future years.

Data on chlamydia testing in NHS board areas is collected by Health Protection Scotland to answer the first population key clinical indicators. These were developed as part of the implementation of the sexual health strategy, Respect and Responsibility, the baseline report on the 2005 data was published in February 2006 and the 2006 data has just been published (February 2007). This has become an annual exercise and is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.

Question reference: S3W-10876

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it believes that the chlamydia screening targets set out in NHS Quality Improvement Scotland’s draft standards are sufficient to meet the aims of its sexual health and relationships strategy on preventing sexually transmitted infections.

Question reference: S3W-10472

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive who is prevented from donating blood; what the scientific justification is for each category of person prevented from donating blood, and what plans it has to reconsider who can and who cannot donate blood.

People prevented from donating blood can be placed broadly in two categories:

(1.) Those whose medical history, travel history, or behaviours put them at risk of passing on transfusion transmissible infections and

(2.) Those whose medical history suggests that giving blood could place them at risk of the adverse affects of donation.

Full details of the current UK donor selection guidelines, with explanatory notes, can be found at: www.transfusionguidelines.org.

The guidelines are reviewed on a regular basis at UK level through the Advisory Committee for the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs and the Joint Professional Advisory Committee for the four UK transfusion services, based on the latest epidemiological information from the Health Protection Agency, Health Protection Scotland and other experts in this field.

Question reference: S3W-10473

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many volunteer drivers there have been to take patients to health-related appointments in each year since 1997, also broken down by NHS board area.

The following table details the number of volunteer ambulance car drivers since 2004, broken down by NHS board area. Information is not held for the years previous to 2003-04.

NHS Board	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Argyll and Clyde	18	18	0	0
Ayrshire and Arran	15	16	14	11
Borders	9	9	10	10
Dumfries and Galloway	25	25	21	21
Fife	11	13	14	12
Forth Valley	29	34	35	35
Grampian	19	21	20	19
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	47	46	45	38
Highland	57	58	64	64
Lanarkshire	28	30	32	26
Lothian	13	11	10	10
Orkney	4	4	2	1
Shetland	0	1	0	0
Tayside	28	25	24	24
Western Isles	12	13	14	9
Scotland	315	324	305	280

Notes: * Information provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service

# Dissolution of NHS Argyll and Clyde “ figures for 2005-06 and 2006-07 included in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Highland

Question reference: S3W-10474

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to attract and retain volunteer drivers to take patients to and from health-related appointments.

Community transport organisations play a vital role in proving access to NHS facilities. Recent guidance to the NHS in Scotland sets out a three-year action plan aimed at increasing the focus on volunteering in Scotland''s NHS. The guidance is available at:

http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/CEL2008_10.pdf.

In addition, each division of the Scottish Ambulance Service places their own advertisements for volunteer drivers according to their recruitment needs.

Question reference: S3W-10470

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints have been registered against the Scottish Ambulance Service in each year since 1997, also broken down by NHS board area.

Details of the number of complaints against the Scottish Ambulance Service from 1997-98 to 2007-08 are outlined in the following table. The information is only available broken down into complaints relating to Scottish Ambulance Service Divisional Areas and Emergency Medical Dispatch Centres (EMDCs).

>	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Air Ambulance	Complaints Recorded Against Divisional Area
East Central	23	21	101	141	104	128
East EMDC	EMDC Established 2003-04
North East	Not Provided	Not Provided	57	51	49	48
North EMDC	EMDC Established 2003-04
North West	Not Provided	Not Provided	Not Provided	22	5	5
South East	Not Provided	52	50	55	43	50
South West	144	137	69	74	61	32
West Central	240	135	89	131	92	103
West EMDC	EMDC Established 2003-04
Total	407	345	366	474	354	366

>	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007 to 28-02-08
Air Ambulance	Complaints Recorded Against Divisional Area				2
East Central	79	30	60	42	36
East EMDC	50	39	65	91	44
North East	65	19	34	27	10
North EMDC	34	4	3	14	7
North West	17	2	5	11	8
South East	61	21	44	32	42
South West	58	21	34	33	21
West Central	122	31	77	87	63
West EMDC	35	31	77	103	53
Total	521	198	399	440	286

Note: *Information provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service

Question reference: S3W-10471

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total number of vehicles was in the Scottish Ambulance Service’s fleet in each year since 1997, also broken down by NHS board area.

The total number of Scottish Ambulance Service fleet vehicles for the years 2001-02 to 2007-08 is outlined in the table. The information is provided in terms of Scottish Ambulance Service division areas and is not available broken down into NHS board areas. This information is not available for the years 1997 to 2001.

Total Number of Vehicles By Division	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
East Central	228	235	235	247	252	242	244
North East	133	136	137	148	153	138	140
North West	108	109	111	119	123	122	125
South East	208	211	211	222	223	211	218
South West	280	281	283	315	316	293	293
West Central	272	287	289	319	322	331	329
Total Number of Vehicles for Scottish Ambulance Service	1,245	1,276	1,283	1,386	1,406	1,354	1,354

Note: *Information provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service

Question reference: S3W-10476

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-9255 by Shona Robison on 19 February 2008, what steps NHS boards are taking to ensure that diabetic patients on rosiglitazone who suffer from ischaemic heart disease or peripheral arterial disease are no longer prescribed this medicine, as it is no longer recommended by the European Medicines Agency for these patients.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-9255 on 19 February 2008. Health care professionals were informed about the advice from the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use in the February 2008 edition of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Drug Safety Update bulletin. This information can be accessed at:

www.mhra.gov.uk.

In addition, product information for rosiglitazone has been updated to include the new advice. Medicines should be prescribed by clinicians taking account of the approved advice provided in the Summary of Product Characteristics which provides full information about the product, including its side effects and its use.

NHS boards can reinforce this advice through a variety of methods. These may include articles in prescribing newsletters and information included in local formularies.

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/webapp/wa.search.