Chamber and committees

The number and percentage of emergency in-patients treated in NHSScotland over the age of 65 for the last three years are contained in the following table.

	Number	Percentage of Total1
Year Ending March 2000	179,456	38.3 %
Year Ending March 2001	179,306	38.0 %
Year Ending March 2002P	182,570	38.3 %

Source: ISD Scotland, SMR01.^PProvisional.Note:Percentage based on all emergency in-patients.

Investment plans for the provision of personal computers, network connections and training for NHS staff are agreed between NHS boards and NHS trusts in support of their local IM&T Strategy. Central records are not kept of this investment.Central funds are provided on a recurring basis for national telecommunications network services, GP email/messaging services, to facilitate provision of local IM&T training for staff and to provide European Computer Driving licences for staff. These funds totalled £4.592 million in 2002-03.Central funds have been provided on a non-recurring basis this year to assist NHS boards and NHS trusts improve their IM&T infrastructure and to assist in advancing their strategic plans for IM&T. These funds totalled £13.39 million.Central funds to be made available for eHealth investment are to nearly double over the coming three years to more than £48 million per annum.

The white paper Partnership for Care notes that patient information is currently available from a variety of sources. However, this information may vary in quality, or may not be in a format which is readily accessible to those who use NHS services in Scotland.The Patient Information Initiative will develop national quality assurance guidance for the development, review and management of patient information. An important part of this is the involvement of patients in the development of information. It will also support equal access across Scotland to a patient focussed resource of generic health information. Funding for this initiative will be £1 million.

Local health councils have formed a national association, the Scottish Association of Health Councils, as a membership organisation entirely funded by its members' subscriptions. Currently, 14 out of the 15 Scottish health councils have chosen to be members.The consultation paper on A new public involvement structure for NHSScotland, launched on 4 March, proposes that the Scottish Health Council should be established within NHS Quality Improvement Scotland as a national body with a local presence in each NHS board area. Copies of the consultation paper are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 26830).

The information requested is not held centrally.

The work of the Scottish Partnership Forum (SPF) is supportive of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Scottish Executive and the STUC. This provides a framework for the development of genuine partnership working between the two organisations and includes a joint commitment to make the best use of resources. The Partnership Support Unit and Human Resources Forum (HRF) have recently been announced and have no allocated funding for 2002-03. They will not be fully operative until after April. The SPF and the associated Partnership Information Network (PIN) were not allocated specific funding in 2002-03, however it is estimated that funding for work associated with these groups amounted to £108,000.Combined funding of £395,000 has been set aside for 2003-04 for the Partnership Support Unit, SPF,HRF and work of the PIN. The two forums and the PIN board will shortly be developing their programme of work for the coming years which may influence future funding arrangements.The new SPF will be able to influence future strategy on a range of health service policy spending issues. The HRF will have the capacity to influence spending on human resources issues.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The budget of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland for 2003-04 is £10.231 million.

Our recent White Paper Partnership for Care focuses on listening to patients and involving the public and communities, and on improving the quality of health care. Our proposals involve a range of interventions that may be necessary to ensure that adequate standards and performance are maintained by the NHS in Scotland. These are set out in Chapter 4 of the health white paper Partnership for Care. These include actions by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland to investigate serious service failures and make clear recommendations for remedial action, and action by the Executive to require NHS boards to make immediate changes to remedy serious concerns about patient safety and service quality.NHS Quality Improvement Scotland is a body independent of government and the NHS. It was established on 1 January 2003. The purpose of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland is to improve the quality of health care in Scotland by setting standards and monitoring performance. Standards are reviewed by teams including patients and professionals and NHS organisations are expected to meet the standards laid down by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. The white paper makes clear that the Executive has arrangements for escalating intervention to address service failures within the NHS. The Executive will also review its powers of intervention and bring forward legislation, if necessary, to ensure that effective mechanisms are in place for the delivery of national standards and priorities.

A consultation paper on A new public involvement structure for NHSScotland was launched on 4 March and includes proposals for how the Scottish Health Council might operate nationally and locally. Copies of the consultation paper are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 26830).