- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-20033 by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 January 2009, whether it will collect and publish the information on which hospitals have reported the 078 strain of Clostridium difficile since 2007.
Answer
Discussions are on-going with Health Protection Scotland (HPS) about the future publishing of the detail for all strains of Clostridium difficile identified from samples sent to the National Reference Laboratory for typing.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether all patients transferring between hospitals or entering hospitals from a community setting are routinely tested for healthcare associated infections and, if so, how this is carried out in each hospital.
Answer
There is currently no national routine testing of patients for healthcare associated infections when transferring between hospitals or on admission from the community. Boards do have screening protocols for those being admitted to certain specialties and these are determined locally.
The MRSA screening programme, currently being piloted, will provide direction on the phased national roll out of MRSA screening across NHS Scotland from April 2009. There is no routine test for Clostridium difficile. Patients are only tested when presenting with symptoms.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 6 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of rough sleeping was for the last quarter for which information is available and how this compares with the (a) previous quarter and (b) same quarter in 2008.
Answer
The last quarter for which published data is available is January to March 2008. There were 798 applications during this quarter where a member of the household reported having slept rough the previous night, compared to 717 in the previous quarter and 891 in the same quarter in 2007.
Data for the following two quarters (April to September 2008) is scheduled to be published on 17 March 2009.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-20032 by Nicola Sturgeon on 29 January 2009, whether it will list those laboratories that test for hospital-acquired infections and specifically Clostridium difficile.
Answer
All of the laboratories listed in the answer to S3W-20032 test for both Clostridium difficile and Staphylococcus Aureus Bacteraemias.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what the level is of community-acquired healthcare associated infections (HAI), in particular Clostridium difficile, and what the level was in each quarter since May 2007.
Answer
Surveillance systems assume that all patients testing positive for Clostridium difficile Associated Disease (CDAD) have been in contact with the healthcare system. Current systems do not distinguish between samples taken in acute hospitals, non-acute hospitals, and community settings.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what records are kept of the transmission of Clostridium difficile in patients being transferred between hospitals.
Answer
This information is not routinely collected and but would be considered in the context of an investigation into an incident/outbreak of Clostridium difficile.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-20031 by Nicola Sturgeon on 29 January 2009, whether it will collect data on the (a) minimum, (b) maximum and (c) average turnaround time for medical laboratories testing samples from patients with suspected hospital-acquired infections.
Answer
This data is not collected and there are no plans to do so.
Turnaround times, set by local laboratories in conjunction with their clinical users, are usually between 24 and 48 hours and are dependent on the organism being cultural.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 6 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that it is on track to achieve the 2012 homelessness target.
Answer
The Scottish Government acknowledges that the 2012 target is a challenging one for some local authorities. Progress will be measured against the interim targets set for 2008-09 during the course of this year - this will include a qualitative analysis of factors affecting progress as well as statistical information.
The Scottish Government and COSLA have agreed a four-point plan for moving towards 2012 “ focussing on investing in new supply; access to existing stock; preventing homelessness occurring in the first place, and more effective joint working.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 6 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were sleeping rough in (a ) Argyll and Bute and (b) West Dunbartonshire in the last quarter for which information is available.
Answer
The last quarter for which published data is available is January “ March 2008. There were six homelessness applications in Argyll and Bute and three in West Dunbartonshire during this quarter where a household member reported having slept rough the previous night.
Data for the following two quarters (April to September 2008) is scheduled to be published on 17 March 2009.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many urinary tract infections have occurred in hospital patients in each year since 2007.
Answer
This information is not collected centrally. The Healthcare Associated Infection Task Force has identified targeted incidence surveillance of Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI) as a priority area.
A protocol for CAUTI has been developed by Health Protection Scotland (HPS) for care of the elderly and for the long term care setting. This is being piloted in five boards during February to April 2009, and the findings will be used to inform the future approach taken for the surveillance of CAUTI.
