Chamber and committees

Following detailed discussion, the National Demonstration Projects Steering Group has agreed proposals for Scotland-wide Learning Networks. These will be implemented by the Public Health Institute of Scotland. Project manager posts will be advertised shortly.

The Scottish Community Diet Project received £197,843 and £294,615 in 2000-01 and 2001-02 respectively, and is due to receive £381,350 in 2002-03. As specified in the Our National Health commitment, the grant provided in 2000-01 included an increase to allow the project to support over 50% more projects than previously budgeted for.

Our work to improve governance and accountability of NHSScotland has not been confined to the establishment of 15 new NHS boards across Scotland. We have also been concerned to ensure that the spirit of these changes is reflected in improvements in the governance of the Special Health Boards and other national bodies, whilst recognising their distinctive nature and activities.A number of initiatives, many of which were announced in Public bodies: Proposals for change (June 2001), are currently under way to ensure that national NHS bodies are fit for purpose and efficiently structured. These include: work to establish a new Special Health Board for education, training and lifelong learning for all NHSScotland staff in April 2002; an examination of the structure and relationships of all national bodies with an interest in clinical quality, such as the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland and the Health Technology Board for Scotland; anda review of the future governance of the State Hospitals Board for Scotland.

Patient Focus and Public Involvement, published in December of last year, set out plans for developing the actions identified in the Involving People section of Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change. It also identified how the earmarked £14 million investment would be allocated across four complementary strands of building capacity and communications, patient information, involvement, and responsiveness to develop a patient-focused health service.

Patient Focus and Public Involvement, published in December of last year, reported on steps taken to develop the actions identified in the Involving People section of Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change. It also set out more detailed proposals for work over the coming three years to develop the capacity of the NHS to provide patients and the public with information about their health, their treatment, the options for care, and the availability of health services.The Patient Information Initiative will:assure the quality of patient information, based on evidence;involve and engage with other sources of expertise such as expert patients;make information accessible and available in a variety of formats, andlink to future developments, for example NHS24 online. The initiative will develop proposals for establishing a network that will ensure that relevant high quality information is available where and when needed in a suitable format.

Patient Focus and Public Involvement, published in December of last year, reported on steps taken to develop the actions identified in the Involving People section of Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change. It also set out detailed proposals for work over the coming three years on building capacity and communications, patient information, involvement, and responsiveness to equip the NHS to communicate with, listen to and work in partnership with individuals and communities.

The Community Care and Health (Scotland) Bill, introduced on 24 September 2001, Part 2, Section 12 allows NHS bodies and local authorities to work together in different ways by removing some of the legal barriers to joint working which currently exist.A consultation paper on the Executive's proposals for a Local Government Bill issued in early December 2001 with a closing date for responses on 6 February 2002. One of the proposals in the Bill is a general power for councils to promote the well-being of their area. This power will remove any constraints on councils from developing a broader and more innovative role. The legislation will introduce a duty on other bodies such as NHS Boards to engage in the Community Planning process. The Bill will be introduced in spring this year.The Executive is providing support for two posts based in COSLA which will further enhance local authorities' public health capacity. Funding of £1.5 million over three years has also been made available to support joint funded health improvement posts in every local authority.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-21477.

During 2001 the Strategic Programme for Information & Management has been rewritten; a final draft version is on SHOW (www.show.scot.nhs.uk/imt) to allow for any final comments from the NHS. The draft strategy sets out national and local programmes and targets and is intended to establish greater collaboration and consistency of approach to the development of information management and technology across NHSScotland. It is likely to be published in February 2002.

Since the publication of Our National Health: a plan for action, a plan for change, a number of steps have been taken to improve communications with and by NHSScotland. For example, ministers meet regularly with NHS Board Chairs, the Chief Executive of NHSScotland holds regular meetings with NHS Chief Executives and senior officials have regular dialogue with key stakeholder groups. The importance of effective two-way communication features highly in these discussions.Effective communication with patients and the public is a key theme of the plans outlined in Patient Focus and Public Involvement published in December 2001.Additionally, the Health Department has introduced a web-based Weekly Bulletin aimed at alerting the NHS, local authorities and other key stakeholders to publications, guidance and other papers issued by the department. The department has recently appointed a Corporate Communications Manager who will have a key role in working with NHSScotland to develop a structured programme to further improve communications.