Chamber and committees

The precise number of people attending NHS emergency services due to falls during the recent severe weather is not available from centrally collected, validated statistics.

Please refer to the answer to the question S3O-9094 on 14 January 2010 for high level management information provided by NHS boards and figures published by the Scottish Ambulance Service. Note; this does not include age-related information. The answer to the oral parliamentary question is available on the Parliaments website, the official report can be viewed at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-10/sor0114-02.htm#Col22786.

Official statistics on accident and emergency attendances up to 31 December 2009 will be published by Information Services Division on 24 February 2010 http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4024.html.

Implementing the provisions of the Disabled Persons'' Parking Places (Scotland) Act 2009 is for local authorities to take forward. In order to assist them in doing so, the Scottish Government has set up an Implementation Working Group consisting of representation from local authorities, ACPOS and disability stakeholders. As local authorities are required to report to the Scottish Government on a yearly basis, recording all activity carried out in relation to the provisions of the act, future progress will be clearly monitored. The first reports are expected towards the end of 2011.

The Scottish Government Health Directorate (SGHD) and Health Protection Scotland (HPS) have worked closely with NHS boards on planning for local service delivery on a national level, and the SGHD and HPS continue to have frequent engagement with NHS boards to monitor the progress of the vaccination programme.

The second phase of the vaccination programme has now commenced and is offering vaccination to children over six months and under five years. It is expected that this will be completed by the end of January with some mop up activity into mid-February.

An analysis of the underlying health conditions suffered by people who have died from influenza A (H1N1) is reported and published weekly by Health Protection Scotland in their weekly situation report.

The total number of deaths in Scotland, as of midday 6 January, is 62. Of the 60 cases who died in hospital, at least 72% (43/60) were known to have underlying medical conditions including: diabetes (six), a respiratory condition (12), obesity (seven), renal/liver conditions (11), congenital abnormalities (nine), immunosuppression (seven), pregnancy (three) and a malignant illness (five). In some cases, there were multiple conditions present.

As acknowledged in the answer to the question S3W-29773 on 7 January 2010, the content and substance of each report held on NHS board websites has varied and has led to inconsistencies in the range of data being reported across NHS Scotland. The review of the structure and presentation of the HAI reporting template (HAIRT), currently being undertaken by a short-life working group led by NHS Scotland, is working to ensure consistency of reporting across all NHS boards. The revised HAIRT will be introduced from spring 2010 and will reinforce the requirement for specialty information to be included.

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.

The estimated uptake rate so far for people under 65 years in a clinical at-risk group is 48.3%, among individuals aged 65 years and over in a clinical at-risk group the figure is 42.3% and among pregnant women it is 45.0%. Overall, this equates to 45.6% for the whole clinical at-risk group.

To date, an estimated 50.8% of eligible frontline health care staff have received the vaccination, and 32.1% of eligible frontline social care staff have been vaccinated.

Data is not held in GP systems on the number of individuals who are a household contact of an immunocompromised individual and therefore there is no reliable denominator for this population to determine uptake rates at a national level.

Reporting mechanisms for uptake of the H1N1 vaccine are not yet consistent across all health boards, therefore accurate and comparable figures will not be available until the end of the vaccination programme. Overall, the vaccine uptake rate for all health boards across Scotland is 45.6% for the whole clinical at-risk group.

The information is not held centrally. Health Protection Scotland (HPS) collate and publish Clostridium difficile surveillance statistics by NHS board on a quarterly basis. HPS data for 2009 is available up to and including September 2009. The HPS report for the quarter ending December 2009 will be published in April 2010.

Data for patients aged 65 and over in all healthcare settings for the periods January 2008 to December 2008 and January 2009 to September 2009 are as follows:

NHS Board	January 2008 to December 2008	January 2009 to September 2009
Ayrshire and Arran	560	335
Borders	115	68
Dumfries and Galloway	170	128
Fife	394	98
Forth Valley	458	116
Grampian	953	513
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	1395	532
Highland	150	98
Lanarkshire	715	214
Lothian	850	495
Orkney	21	21
Shetland	6	1
Tayside	524	328
Western Isles	14	6
National	6,325	2,953

Since January 2009, all NHS boards have been publishing hospital level data on Clostridium difficile. This can be accessed at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/NHS-Scotland/19529/statistics/Local.

Official statistics relating to emergency admissions to acute general hospitals in NHSScotland are published as part of the quarterly update to the acute hospital care section of the Information Services Division''s (ISD) website http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/3400.html.

The next publication is scheduled for 30 March 2010, and will include high level statistics up to the quarter ending 31 December 2009 based on ISD(S)1 aggregate data returns.

The subsequent publication is scheduled for 29 June 2010, and will include high level statistics up to the quarter ending 31 March 2010.

Publication of annual hospital activity, national statistics up to the year ending 31 March 2010, is scheduled for 28 September 2010 as part of the annual update to the acute hospital care section of ISD''s website. These statistics will include detailed age and diagnosis specific information for emergency admissions based on SMR01 patient level discharge records.

Whilst details of diagnoses on SMR01 records can be used to identify medical conditions likely to be related to cold weather, the data collection cannot attribute admissions due to prevailing cold weather per se.

The at risk groups as announced on 13 August 2009 includes all people who have asthma that requires continuous or repeated use of systematic steroids or with previous exacerbations requiring hospital admission.

The H1N1 vaccination programme was launched on 21 October and proceeded with a phased roll out from this date. Health boards have indicated that vaccination has been offered to all those in the initial priority groups and a mop up exercise continues to take place to the end of January to ensure that everyone in the initial priority groups has been invited for vaccination.