- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what financial rewards it will provide to nurses who are willing to take on wider roles as stated in the health and community care section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys; what incentives it will provide to doctors to focus on where their skills are needed in the NHS where the specialities involved are not considered as interesting or as popular as others, and what level of funding it will provide to achieve these commitments.
Answer
Record sums are being invested in the NHS by the Scottish Executive so that we can revitalise services for patients everywhere. As part of our action on workforce development we are encouraging innovative multi-professional teamworking, and seeking to reward staff appropriately to the level of responsibility carried. We are working at local, regional and national levels to provide attractive career opportunities for staff at all levels and in all specialities.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been carried out or commissioned to compare Scotland's health provision with European levels over the next three years and whether it will publish any such research.
Answer
The Scottish Executive do not currently have plans to commission research of this nature. A study to compare health care systems in the United Kingdom with seven other countries (mostly European) was commissioned by HM Treasury and published in April 2002. The report,
Health care systems in eight countries: trends and challenges, is available at:
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 1 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it estimates that each community place for people leaving hospital will cost #20,000, given that it will provide #20 million each year to 2005-06 to provide 1,000 such community places as stated in the health and community care section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys, and what plans it has to help these people and ensure that their discharge from hospital is not delayed.
Answer
This investment will enable 1,000 additional people to move from hospital into more appropriate community-based settings at varying costs. It will also allow local authority and NHS board partnerships to put in place a variety of other measures to tackle delayed discharge, including admissions avoidance and rapid response.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what building and information technology (IT) projects currently under development are likely to benefit from the investment of at least #750 million referred to in the health and community care section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys; which of these building projects are likely to cost under #5 million, and which of these IT projects are likely to cost under #1 million, over the period to 2005-06.
Answer
Following the changes introduced to the Capital Planning and Approval processes in April this year, it is anticipated that the majority of the £750 million will be allocated directly to NHS boards to undertake those improvements already under way or planned as part of the board's Capital Investment Programme.Those building projects currently under development include the provision of appropriate facilities for mental health; ambulatory care and diagnostic facilities; reconfiguration of services arising from completed or on-going acute services reviews; improved primary care and community hospital facilities, and investment in and the upgrading of medical equipment. IT projects costing under £1 million are managed under delegated authority by the NHS boards and trusts. Projects managed by NHS boards and trusts costing over £1 million are subject to business case approval by the Health Department. These projects are likely to include the development of electronic integrated care records and systems supporting accident and emergency and ambulatory care and diagnostic services. Such investments will be directed in line with the national Information Management and Technology (IM&T) strategy and the health board IM&T Action Plans currently under development.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any of the #36 million it plans to allocate to the modernisation and improvement of general practitioner and dental facilities as stated in the health and community care section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys will be distributed in a lump sum of over #5 million for any capital building work, or as more than #1 million over four years for any IT improvements.
Answer
The detailed deployment of the resources identified for the modernisation and improvement of general practitioner and dental facilities has yet to be determined.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the increased health budget to 2005-06 announced by the Minister for Finance and Public Services on 12 September 2002 will be (a) given to NHS institutions and (b) provided for initiatives outwith NHS institutions such as increasing physical activity, or reducing food-borne illness.
Answer
Detailed decisions have not yet been made on the distribution of the health budget announced on 12 September.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest technologies available for the treatment of coronary heart disease (CHD) are and how much it plans to invest in these technologies in each year to 2005-06.
Answer
The treatment of coronary heart disease is a continuously advancing field. Our CHD and Stroke Strategy, which we will publish shortly, will set out arrangements designed to make sure that people in Scotland who suffer from CHD can benefit at as early a stage as possible from those advances.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it intends to fund to improve the recruitment and retention of NHS frontline staff as stated in the health and community care section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys; how much these measures are likely to cost, and by how much it estimates the NHS frontline workforce will improve as a result of these measures.
Answer
Record sums are being invested in the NHS by the Scottish Executive so that we can revitalise services for patients everywhere. As part of our action on workforce development we are encouraging innovative multi-professional teamworking. We are working at local, regional and national levels to provide attractive career opportunities for staff at all levels and in all specialities.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the money allocated to health announced by the Minister for Finance and Public Services on 12 September 2002 will be allocated to other portfolios under health improvement initiatives.
Answer
Building a Better Scotland indicated additional resources of £23, 50 and 100 million towards health improvement initiatives. £18, 44 and 61 million of this has been allocated to portfolios other than health but for clarity has not been included in the health portfolio allocation.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether a hospital case can be treated other than as in-patient, day case or out-patient.
Answer
The terms in-patient, day case and out-patient denote the type and level of resource used to treat a patient during a particular contact with hospital services. These terms are formally defined by ISD Scotland in its Definitions and Codes manual, which can be accessed at the following web address. Other defined terms include day patients, ward attenders, accident and emergency attenders and nurse only clinic attendances.
http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/isd/isd_services/NHSiS_services/National_data_standards/defsmanual.htm.
