Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-10273

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 28 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time has been for an assessment for a (a) heart-lung, (b) heart and (c) lung transplant in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S2W-10193

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 28 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reinstate the Scottish Key Indicators Package for Performance (SKIPPER) database and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

The SKIPPER package was originally developed by ISD Scotland, in the mid 1990s, as a means of supporting NHSScotland in planning and performance management. It is based on old pre-web technology and is expensive to maintain, distribute and support. Difficulties have increased with the introduction and use of more modern operating systems (e.g. Windows 2000) where the successful installation of SKIPPER requires much more effort.

Finally, the knowledge that the system needed substantial development to reflect changes in information requirements and organisational changes in NHSScotland led ISD Scotland to conclude that it was not viable to continue to support SKIPPER.

The final release of SKIPPER was at end of May 2004. Before reaching a final decision ISD Scotland reviewed to what extent there were alternative sources to the SKIPPER screens. In some cases SKIPPER duplicated information published on the ISD Scotland website. Indeed, ISD Scotland found that the majority of SKIPPER screens had an alternative source, although not necessarily with the same level of detail. ISD is committed to continual improvement of the contents of its website and is confident that, in time, much of the useful information, previously on SKIPPER, can be made available through the web.

Question reference: S2W-10096

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of each NHS board's spending was spent on administration in each of the last five years.

The percentage of each board’s spending spent on administration costs in each of the last five years was as follows:

Board	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Argyll and Clyde	7%	6%	6%	6%	6%
Ayrshire and Arran	6%	6%	6%	6%	6%
Borders	7%	8%	7%	8%	8%
Dumfries and Galloway	7%	7%	7%	6%	6%
Fife	6%	6%	6%	7%	6%
Forth Valley	6%	6%	5%	5%	6%
Grampian	6%	7%	7%	7%	7%
Greater Glasgow	8%	7%	8%	8%	8%
Highland	7%	7%	6%	6%	6%
Lanarkshire	7%	7%	7%	7%	6%
Lothian	8%	7%	7%	7%	7%
Orkney	6%	6%	7%	7%	4%*
Shetland	6%	5%	5%	6%	4%*
Tayside	8%	8%	9%	7%	7%
Western Isles	8%	7%	8%	8%	4%*

Notes:

The boards’ spending is taken to be the gross total revenue expenditure figures from their published Annual Accounts for each respective financial year. The amount spent on administration is taken to be management and administration costs reported in their published Annual Accounts plus management and administration expenditure incurred by trusts in their area. Trust management and administration expenses are taken from Scottish Financial Return (SFR) 5.2, which is completed by each hospital, as disclosed in answering parliamentary question (S2W-8040).

^*Due to a change in reporting requirements, the 2002-03 figures of the Island Health Boards (Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles) are not directly comparable with the preceding four years. Their 2002-03 figures shown thereforeonly include the hospital management and administration costs but not board management costs, which are not available for that year. This situation has been rectified in 2003-04.

Question reference: S2W-10258

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive where information can be accessed by the public to determine whether a GP practice has closed its patient list; whether there is any guidance or regulations requiring a GP practice to give notice that its list is closing and, if so, what these requirements are.

Information is provided by practices themselves. Any patient who has moved to a new location and wishes to join the list of a practice, or who wishes simply to change doctor, is free to apply to any local practice. A practice is required by the National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 to state the reasons for the refusal of any application. A patient whose application is made to a practice with a closed list will be informed accordingly. The procedure for the closure of a list is set out in the regulations and a practice is required to give notice to its health board prior to consideration of the proposal.

Question reference: S2W-10267

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many heart-lung transplants there have been in Scotland in each year since 1999 and how many patients were referred outside Scotland for such transplants in each year.

Question reference: S2W-10247

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many unscheduled readmissions to hospital following discharge there have been in (a) 1999, (b) 2000, (c) 2001, (d) 2002, (e) 2003 and (f) 2004 to date, broken down by (i) NHS board and (ii) hospital.

Question reference: S2W-10269

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people carried donor cards in each year since 1999 (a) nationally and (b) in each NHS board area.

Question reference: S2W-10325

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9957 by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 September 2004, whether the #9,882,454 cost of negligence claims in 2003-04 was met by NHS boards or by insurers and, if the cost was not met by insurers, how much has been paid in premiums (a) by each NHS board and (b) in total.

In 2003-04 the cost of £9,882,454 for clinical negligence claims was met by theClinical Negligence and Other Risks Indemnity Scheme (CNORIS) and NHS boards.

The cost of clinical negligence claims is generally met from (CNORIS) which is a risk management scheme for NHSScotland that came into operation on 1 April 2000. The scheme was established by the Clinical Negligence and Other Risk Indemnity Scheme (CNORIS) Scotland Regulations 2000, as amended.

Membership of CNORIS is mandatory for all health bodies in Scotland. The arrangements cover both clinical and non-clinical liabilities and are funded by contributions from the members. At the outset there were two aims in establishing the scheme, firstly, to provide cost-effective claims management and financial risk pooling arrangements for all of Scotland's NHS bodies. Secondly, to encourage a rigorous and logical approach to risk management in both the clinical and non-clinical sectors of NHSScotland.

In 2003, the special health board, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) was formed and the Health Department decided that the CNORIS risk management standards, should become part of the work of NHS QIS. It was decided to combine the CNORIS standards with the former Clinical Standards Board’s generic standards to form Healthcare Governance standards. The process of establishing the new standards is on-going.

CNORIS operates as a risk pool, meeting the cost of negligence cases arising in any one year (subject to a deductible payable by the member (i.e. NHS body)). The pool operates on a pay-as-you-go basis with members' contributions for any one year based on the expected level of demand on the pool in that year. Further information on the scheme can be found at http://www.cnoris.com/.

In managing the scheme two actuarial reports are commissioned each year. The main report is undertaken in November each year and is used to assess the likely demand on the scheme and determine contribution levels for the coming year. The second report is undertaken each September and assesses the claims to be settled in the remaining six months of the year, the level at which claims have settled in comparison to the amount claimed, the likelihood of new claims and existing funds. This allows the Department to manage the level of funds held centrally and assess if the scheme can return unspent resources in-year.

The scheme actuaries assessed that the potential liability in 2003-04 was £13.68 million. The Department off-set this amount by £4 million, from a carried forward balance leaving £9.68 million to be collected for 2003-04. After the application of risk management discounts £8.49 million was collected. The amounts collected were as follows:

NHS Board	Amount Collected
Argyll and Clyde	£911,774
Ayrshire and Arran	£550,385
Borders	£177,734
Dumfries and Galloway	£289,903
Fife	£513,897
Forth Valley	£401,985
Grampian	£741,823
Greater Glasgow	£1,606,639
Highland	£332,781
Lanarkshire	£656,578
Lothian	£1,171,764
Orkney	£30,963
Shetland	£36,073
Tayside	£740,763
Western Isles	£58,096
Special Health Boards	£271,827
Total	£8,492,985

In 2003-04, a further £4.53m was returned to CNORIS members following the in-year review.

Question reference: S2W-10095

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 17 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases were marked “no proceedings” in each procurator fiscal office in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of the total number of cases dealt with by each office.

The figures given under “TotalReports Received” relate to all reports received by procurators fiscal and includecriminal reports, complaints against the police and reports of sudden deaths.

The figures show that the numberof cases marked “no proceedings” by all offices was stable at 15% in each of theyears prior to 2002/03 when 51,133 (17%) of cases were marked “no proceedings”.This increase was caused by a rise in the number of cases marked “no proceedings”because of a delay by the police or other reporting agency in submitting the caseto the procurator fiscal. The rise occurred mainly in procurator’s fiscal officesin the Strathclyde, Lothian and Borders, Fife and Central police areas.

The number of cases marked “noproceedings” dropped to 43,702 (13%) in 2003-04.

Cases can be marked “no proceedings”by procurators fiscal for a number of reasons including a lack of sufficient admissibleevidence, mitigating circumstances, lack of jurisdiction over the offence, the factthat the suspected offence is not a crime or that a civil remedy is more appropriatethan criminal proceedings.

FY 2003-04	Total Reports Received	Total - No Proceedings	No Pro as % of Total
Aberdeen	13,257	717	5%
Airdrie	16,064	3,103	19%
Alloa	2,941	439	15%
Arbroath	4,007	594	15%
Ayr	8,802	876	10%
Banff	1,235	185	15%
Campbeltown	697	44	6%
Cupar	2,034	419	21%
Dingwall	1,511	155	10%
Dornoch	386	66	17%
Dumbarton	9,355	1,194	13%
Dumfries	6,559	697	11%
Dundee	14,395	2,140	15%
Dunfermline	7,488	973	13%
Dunoon	1,459	250	17%
Duns	1,058	81	8%
Edinburgh	25,830	5,216	20%
Elgin	3,005	456	15%
Falkirk	9,682	2,198	23%
Forfar	2,910	241	8%
Fort William	1,251	185	15%
Glasgow	77,603	9,512	12%
Greenock	5,192	752	14%
Haddington	2,563	415	16%
Hamilton	22,140	2,765	12%
Inverness	7,235	886	12%
Jedburgh	1,694	178	11%
Kilmarnock	14,373	1,922	13%
Kirkcaldy	9,001	1,409	16%
Kirkcudbright	1,058	109	10%
Kirkwall	500	56	11%
Lanark	3,550	240	7%
Lerwick	713	63	9%
Linlithgow	7,228	962	13%
Lochmaddy	162	35	22%
Oban	1,188	150	13%
Paisley	11,275	914	8%
Peebles	419	80	19%
Perth	8,331	1,029	12%
Peterhead	1,653	174	11%
Portree	463	41	9%
Rothesay	303	67	22%
Selkirk	1,863	360	19%
Stirling	6,123	609	10%
Stonehaven	1,275	96	8%
Stornoway	727	61	8%
Stranraer	2,284	221	10%
Tain	1,437	182	13%
Wick	1,182	185	16%
PFS	325,461	43,702	13%

FY 2002-03	Total Reports Received	Total - No Proceedings	No Pro as % of Total
Aberdeen	13,526	1,274	9%
Airdrie	13,927	3,683	26%
Alloa	2,850	511	18%
Arbroath	3,672	249	7%
Ayr	8,662	868	10%
Banff	1,319	267	20%
Campbeltown	667	44	7%
Cupar	2,098	459	22%
Dingwall	1,457	121	8%
Dornoch	425	48	11%
Dumbarton	8,098	1,194	15%
Dumfries	5,351	464	9%
Dundee	11,666	1,093	9%
Dunfermline	6,602	1,050	16%
Dunoon	1,238	185	15%
Duns	1,053	78	7%
Edinburgh	25,801	5,110	20%
Elgin	3,145	476	15%
Falkirk	8,979	1,671	19%
Forfar	2,594	266	10%
Fort William	1,099	148	13%
Glasgow	75,277	16,750	22%
Greenock	5,558	700	13%
Haddington	2,567	221	9%
Hamilton	21,973	2,895	13%
Inverness	6,956	913	13%
Jedburgh	1,721	172	10%
Kilmarnock	12,047	2,075	17%
Kirkcaldy	8,800	1,768	20%
Kirkcudbright	958	108	11%
Kirkwall	450	45	10%
Lanark	3,324	309	9%
Lerwick	546	48	9%
Linlithgow	7,512	1,490	20%
Lochmaddy	273	31	11%
Oban	1,043	158	15%
Paisley	11,043	1,607	15%
Peebles	387	60	16%
Perth	7,263	657	9%
Peterhead	1,576	118	7%
Portree	246	18	7%
Rothesay	318	52	16%
Selkirk	1,860	252	14%
Stirling	5,745	698	12%
Stonehaven	1,292	74	6%
Stornoway	629	52	8%
Stranraer	2,165	268	12%
Tain	1,384	175	13%
Wick	1,113	160	14%
PFS	308,255	51,133	17%

FY 2001-02	Total Reports Received	Total - No Proceedings	No Pro as % of Total
Aberdeen	12,475	1,269	10%
Airdrie	7,931	1,225	15%
Alloa	2,562	473	18%
Arbroath	2,949	184	6%
Ayr	7,697	858	11%
Banff	1,475	199	13%
Campbeltown	484	36	7%
Cupar	1,748	353	20%
Dingwall	1,502	148	10%
Dornoch	321	47	15%
Dumbarton	8,826	1,563	18%
Dumfries	5,556	862	16%
Dundee	9,957	911	9%
Dunfermline	5,604	1,081	19%
Dunoon	1,128	212	19%
Duns	1,077	88	8%
Edinburgh	24,702	3,879	16%
Elgin	3,206	309	10%
Falkirk	8,544	1,329	16%
Forfar	2,156	224	10%
Fort William	1,176	109	9%
Glasgow	64,738	13,967	22%
Greenock	5,029	724	14%
Haddington	2,696	359	13%
Hamilton	19,297	2,198	11%
Inverness	6,695	705	11%
Jedburgh	1,728	172	10%
Kilmarnock	10,723	1,614	15%
Kirkcaldy	6,994	1,349	19%
Kirkcudbright	820	119	15%
Kirkwall	452	57	13%
Lanark	3,411	201	6%
Lerwick	544	76	14%
Linlithgow	7,139	841	12%
Lochmaddy	216	18	8%
Oban	1,036	132	13%
Paisley	9,875	1,660	17%
Peebles	310	60	19%
Perth	6,636	766	12%
Peterhead	1,616	135	8%
Portree	417	60	14%
Rothesay	263	45	17%
Selkirk	1,988	231	12%
Stirling	5,711	922	16%
Stonehaven	1,442	86	6%
Stornoway	584	52	9%
Stranraer	1,949	276	14%
Tain	1,461	209	14%
Wick	957	123	13%
PFS	275,803	42,516	15%

FY 2000-01	Total Reports Received	Total - No Proceedings	No Pro as % of Total
Aberdeen	12,704	1,188	9%
Airdrie	9,219	1,523	17%
Alloa	2,300	397	17%
Arbroath	2,748	324	12%
Ayr	8,025	923	12%
Banff	1,626	102	6%
Campbeltown	611	69	11%
Cupar	1,936	391	20%
Dingwall	1,372	169	12%
Dornoch	299	43	14%
Dumbarton	8,611	1,538	18%
Dumfries	6,080	787	13%
Dundee	10,137	1,115	11%
Dunfermline	5,568	883	16%
Dunoon	1,367	176	13%
Duns	1,022	74	7%
Edinburgh	24,839	2,804	11%
Elgin	2,713	277	10%
Falkirk	7,754	1,099	14%
Forfar	1,984	259	13%
Fort William	1,162	135	12%
Glasgow	71,419	16,081	23%
Greenock	5,608	792	14%
Haddington	2,664	380	14%
Hamilton	20,064	2,355	12%
Inverness	5,532	776	14%
Jedburgh	1,728	150	9%
Kilmarnock	10,785	1,216	11%
Kirkcaldy	7,417	1,710	23%
Kirkcudbright	1,164	170	15%
Kirkwall	492	71	14%
Lanark	2,997	344	11%
Lerwick	549	60	11%
Linlithgow	7,098	769	11%
Lochmaddy	192	21	11%
Oban	1,085	142	13%
Paisley	10,789	1,586	15%
Peebles	540	65	12%
Perth	5,894	695	12%
Peterhead	1,936	174	9%
Portree	385	51	13%
Rothesay	254	22	9%
Selkirk	1,961	303	15%
Stirling	5,322	943	18%
Stonehaven	1,509	129	9%
Stornoway	603	46	8%
Stranraer	2,212	320	14%
Tain	1,336	181	14%
Wick	1,021	152	15%
PFS	284,633	43,980	15%

FY 1999-2000	Total Reports Received	Total - No Proceedings	No Pro as % of Total
Aberdeen	13,547	2,198	16%
Airdrie	8,466	1,319	16%
Alloa	2,173	362	17%
Arbroath	2,932	389	13%
Ayr	8,975	1,009	11%
Banff	1,777	456	26%
Campbeltown	590	76	13%
Cupar	1,783	388	22%
Dingwall	1,497	143	10%
Dornoch	332	39	12%
Dumbarton	8,064	1,275	16%
Dumfries	6,646	806	12%
Dundee	10,016	1,251	12%
Dunfermline	5,539	1,153	21%
Dunoon	1,152	148	13%
Duns	853	56	7%
Edinburgh	24,121	3,386	14%
Elgin	2,830	486	17%
Falkirk	7,572	864	11%
Forfar	2,483	276	11%
Fort William	1,175	109	9%
Glasgow	71,443	13,726	19%
Greenock	5,902	817	14%
Haddington	2,574	347	13%
Hamilton	19,502	2,440	13%
Inverness	5,877	720	12%
Jedburgh	1,778	175	10%
Kilmarnock	11,270	1,451	13%
Kirkcaldy	6,676	1,308	20%
Kirkcudbright	1,228	171	14%
Kirkwall	567	72	13%
Lanark	3,163	346	11%
Lerwick	636	94	15%
Linlithgow	6,446	841	13%
Lochmaddy	198	24	12%
Oban	1,116	184	16%
Paisley	11,335	2,036	18%
Peebles	459	81	18%
Perth	6,283	893	14%
Peterhead	2,601	204	8%
Portree	298	32	11%
Rothesay	235	30	13%
Selkirk	1,545	273	18%
Stirling	4,423	660	15%
Stonehaven	1,911	118	6%
Stornoway	725	34	5%
Stranraer	2,612	446	17%
Tain	1,350	134	10%
Wick	1,042	112	11%
PFS	285,718	43,958	15%

Question reference: S2W-09877

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 17 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9477 by Nicol Stephen on 2 August 2004, whether it has made specific representations to Her Majesty's Government regarding the prohibition of the adaptation of vehicle exhausts that are to be used on public highways.

Chamber and committees