Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government expects all care services in Scotland, including care homes, to provide good quality care. It is the responsibility of every provider to ensure that they meet that expectation. Where a service is being graded as “weak” in any area, Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland will take the necessary steps to ensure improvements are made and sustained and the safety and wellbeing of residents are safeguarded.

On 6 June 2011, I met with the Regional Director for Scotland and Northern Ireland from Southern Cross.

On 13 June 2011, I met the Chief Executive of Southern Cross, and his Regional Director for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The following matters were discussed at both meetings; ensuring the continuity and quality of care for all Southern Cross care home residents in Scotland; the wellbeing of residents and staff in Southern Cross Homes during this period of uncertainty; the continuing partnership approach to contingency planning in Scotland.

Castlebeck Care (Teasdale) Limited run four services in Scotland, three are registered with Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS): Ranaich House, in Dunblane; Ellen Mhor, in Dundee; and Trinity House, in Lockerbie. The fourth service, Monroe House in Dundee, is an independent health care service registered with Health Improvement Scotland (HIS).

Ranaich House is currently the subject of intensive inspection and monitoring by SCSWIS and its inspectors as part of SCSWIS’ assurance process. I understand from SCSWIS that Ellen Mhor and Trinity House have a good regulatory history of performance and will be inspected on an unannounced basis according to the schedule in SCSWIS’ inspection plan. Further, SCSWIS will carry out random sampling of good performing care services to check if performance is sustained over time.

Monroe House will continue to be regulated and inspected by HIS.

As the First Minister explained during First Minister’s Question Time on 2 June 2011, Edinburgh City Council received a complaint about the standards of care within Elsie Inglis on 25 March 2011 and the regulator undertook a full inspection in April 2011. On 12 May 2011 the City of Edinburgh Council and NHS Lothian put their own staff into the home. This is how regulation is meant to work.

The Scottish Government was made aware of the situation on 17 May 2011 and immediately made contact with the regulatory body, Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland.

No complaints or concerns were received directly by the Scottish Government in respect of the Elsie Inglis Nursing Home.

For more information about the concerns raised in respect of the Elsie Inglis Nursing Home, I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-279 on 15 June 2011. 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.

I understand from Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland that concerns were first raised with the Care Commission in a complaint on 9 November 2010. The complaint related to communication and general health and welfare issues. The complaint was investigated by the Care Commission and overall the complaint was partially upheld.

Since the events which took place at the Elsie Inglis Nursing Home currently form part of an investigation by Lothian and Borders Police we are limited in what we can say.

Castlebeck Care (Teasdale) Limited provides four services in Scotland, three care homes which are registered with Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland, and an independent healthcare service which is registered with Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

The three care homes are: Ellen Mhor in Dundee, which currently has 11 residents; Ranaich House in Dunblane with 10 residents; and Trinity House in Lockerbie, with 13 residents. The independent health care service, Monroe House in Dundee, currently hosts 24 residents.

All four services provided by Castlebeck were last inspected by the Care Commission whose regulatory functions for care services were taken over by Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS) on 1 April 2011.

Details of the dates of inspections and the gradings awarded are set out in the following table:

The Commission carried out a further follow up visit to Raniach House on 30 March 2011 where they noted that improvements were being made. SCSWIS are monitoring this service closely to ensure that improvements are made and sustained.

Any future inspections to Monroe House in Dundee will be undertaken by Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

NHSScotland’s National Planning Forum (NPF) commissioned a review of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) which was carried out between June 2010 and February 2011. This review was carried out by a subgroup made up of leading clinicians and experts with an interest in, or experience of cardiac service planning, and was supported by analysts from Healthcare Improvement Scotland (then NHS Quality Improvement Scotland) and staff from the Scottish Government Health Directorates.

The conclusion of the NPF, based on the evidence generated by the review, was that there was insufficient evidence, at this point in time, to support a recommendation that a TAVI service in Scotland should be established.

The NPF review found that the long term outcomes of TAVI are unknown, there is only limited evidence of clinical efficacy and no evidence of cost effectiveness. This position was endorsed by the review on the available clinical and cost effectiveness evidence carried out by the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) for the NPF and published in their 8 March 2011 Advice Statement.

At that time I asked that NHSScotland conduct a further assessment of TAVI by February 2012, or sooner should new material evidence be made available.

Further evidence on the use of TAVI has now been published and the NPF has asked the SHTG to begin a formal review. The NPF will agree a timescale for completion of this work when it next meets on 1 July.

Conventional aortic valve replacement surgery in appropriate cases remains a clinically proven and cost effective treatment for aortic stenosis.

(a) The Scottish Parliament Corporate Body advises on all ministerial and MSP salary matters and performs all necessary payroll administration, as required under the Scotland Act. The Scottish Government has no responsibility in this regard and consequently does not hold the information requested.

(b) The budget for the private offices in 2011-12 is £3,654,000 which is a reduction of £281,000 on the 2010-11 budget which was £3,935,000.

(c) The costs of the government car service in 2010-11 were £974,678 which is a reduction of £20,990 on 2009-10. We expect costs in 2011-12, despite the increase in ministers, to be around the same level.