- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 2 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the First Minister’s statement that “Nicola Sturgeon has extended the opening hours of GP surgeries in Scotland” (Official Report c. 23006), whether it will provide details of these extended opening hours and where they are in operation.
Answer
GP practices in Scotland now offer a variety of extended hours to registered patients on their list. These include earlier appointment times, evening sessions, concurrent working patterns and occasional Saturday morning clinics.
The following table details the number of GP practices which are providing extended opening hours in Scotland. Uptake position as at November 2009.
| NHS Board | Category | |
| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 47 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 59 |
| Borders | 11 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 25 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 33 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 35 |
| Fife | 28 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 57 |
| Forth Valley | 50 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 57 |
| Greater Glasgow and Clyde | 186 | 0 | 84 | 0 | 270 |
| Grampian | 51 | 1 | 32 | 0 | 84 |
| Highland | 69 | 1 | 29 | 3 | 102 |
| Lanarkshire | 58 | 1 | 29 | 10 | 98 |
| Lothian | 79 | 1 | 45 | 0 | 125 |
| Orkney | 9 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 14 |
| Shetland | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| Tayside | 39 | 0 | 22 | 8 | 69 |
| Western Isles | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 |
| Totals | 674 | 8 | 309 | 26 | 1,017 |
Notes:
Category 1: The number of practices that have contractually signed-up to provide extended hours to their patient list.
Category 2: The number of practices that have expressed a willingness to provide extended hours.
Category 3: The number of practices that are not providing extended hours.
Category 4: The number of practices that are currently undecided whether or not to provide extended hours.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 25 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank Mulholland on 2 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance has been issued to prosecutors fiscal in relation to the evaluation or prosecution of cases in which it is suspected that someone has been assisted to commit suicide.
Answer
Suicide has not, in modern times, been considered a criminal offence in Scotland and therefore, unlike in England and Wales, there is no criminal offence of assisted suicide. Any question of responsibility for causing the death of another could amount to homicide and would be investigated as such.
A decision to prosecute would be taken by Crown Counsel on the facts and circumstances of the particular case and the Law Officers do not regard it as appropriate to prepare and publish detailed prosecution policy guidance in this area as the Director of Public Prosecutions has recently done in England and Wales.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 25 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 2 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases have been prosecuted with a charge of culpable homicide against someone alleged to have assisted another person to commit suicide and how many resulted in convictions, in each year for which data are available.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 25 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank Mulholland on 2 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what factors it would consider in evaluating whether to bring charges against someone suspected of assisting another person to commit suicide.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31018 on 2 February 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: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 26 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executivehow it will monitor implementation of the arrangements set out in its final policy framework for the introduction and availability of new medicines in the NHS.
Answer
As outlined in the answer to S3W-28278 on 19 November 2009, the Scottish Government intends to review the implementation of the policy framework following a period of operation.
In addition, active consideration is being given to monitoring arrangements which will underpin this guidance.
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: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 26 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the extent to which NHS boards have made information about local arrangements for the introduction and availability of medicines available to patients.
Answer
The Scottish Government has been working with NHS boards to review local processes and is preparing guidance for NHS boards which sets out the policy framework with regard to the introduction and availability of new medicines in the NHS in Scotland. A key requirement within the guidance is the need for NHS boards to have written policies describing the systems and processes for the managed entry of new medicines and that these should be publicly available. It will be for NHS boards to ensure that this is delivered.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 26 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the letter to the Public Petitions Committee from the Deputy Director of the Scottish Government’s Healthcare Policy and Strategy Directorate on 27 July 2009, when a national network of Exceptional Prescribing Leads and Chairs of Area Drug and Therapeutics Committees will be established.
Answer
Further to the Area Drug and Therapeutics Committees and Exceptional Prescribing Leads event facilitated by the Scottish Medicines Consortium on 12 May 2009, the Scottish Government has asked the Scottish Medicines Consortium to facilitate another event in the spring 2010. This will provide an opportunity to bring these groups together to consider issues related to the managed introduction of new medicines within NHSScotland, particularly around how best to achieve consistency of approach in relation to individual patient treatment requests.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 26 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executivewhen Health Rights Information Scotland will publish its generic patient information leaflet on local arrangements for the introduction and availability of medicines.
Answer
As outlined in the answer to S3W-27698 on 5 October 2009, work is progressing on the information leaflet for patients as commissioned by the Scottish Government from Health Rights Information Scotland. The draft leaflet has been tested with patients and the public and will be published in due course.
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: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 26 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has sufficient data on medicine prescribing and usage to make an accurate assessment of any variations in practice across Scotland.
Answer
Prescribing information derived from prescriptions dispensed in the community by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors is available at
www.isdscotland.org/prescribing. These data can be used for monitoring trends and utilisation. Detailed prescribing information is available to NHS boards through PRISMS “ the Prescribing Information SysteM for Scotland which is a web-based information system on all prescriptions dispensed in the community over the previous five years. NHS boards have prescribing advisors who monitor the use of medicines by GP practices using PRISMS information and who can provide expert interpretation of the data and assess the clinical appropriateness of prescribing.
Variations in prescribing practice across Scotland can be influenced by a number of different local factors, for example, population size, patient demographics and deprivation and it is therefore important not to draw definitive conclusions from national data alone.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 26 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what the purpose is of the Hospital Medicines Utilisation Database and when the data will be available for the NHS and patients to understand the uptake of new medicines.
Answer
The Hospital Medicines Utilisation Database will provide access to high level cost and volume data on medicines use in hospitals. This has been developed and piloted and will cover all NHS boards during 2010 with the exception of NHS Highland who are currently reviewing their pharmacy system and are therefore outside the scope of phase one of the programme.
