Chamber and committees

There are currently 18consultant-led maternity units and 22 community units across Scotland.

Information about past and futureprovision and planning in this regard are matters for NHS boards in the first instance.

This information is not heldcentrally. However, ISD Scotland have been working with NHS boards to create a dataset on the total number of people waiting to be fitted with a hearing aid. Thisinformation will be available in June 2007.

Life expectancy figures arenormally calculated for a three year period, to provide large enough numbers toensure accuracy. Figures are available up to 2003-2005.

Information on lifeexpectancy at birth for ranked local authority areas for the latest period isavailable from the General Register Office for Scotland’s website through the following link:

http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/library/life-expectancy/le2003-05/list-of-tables.html.

Although not ranked, figuresfor earlier years are also available from this web page.

Information is not availablefor life expectancy at birth in each ward, because of the small size of thepopulations involved.

The number of NHS locations recordedas providing an accident and emergency (A&E) service in each of the years requestedis shown as follows. The list includes services that are provided other than ona 24-hour, seven day basis, and services provided by a range of clinical staff includingGPs and nurses. Information broken down by type of service is not held centrally.

Year Ending 31 March	A&E Departments
1997	103
2001	97
2006	96

Source: ISD Scotland ISD(S)1,Ref: IR2007-00428.

It is for NHS boards workingboth individually and, where appropriate, collectively through regional planninggroups to determine the number and type of accident and emergency services requiredin the future. In doing so they will take account of local and regional needs andof national guidance and priorities. Delivering for Health sets out clearprinciples for the reorganisation of unscheduled care services, based on care inCommunity Casualty Units where possible and appropriately staffed Emergency Centreswhere necessary. NHS boards are already putting these principles into practice –for example through the reorganisation of acute services in Glasgow, Lanarkshireand Ayrshire.

The treatment of myasthenia gravisis undertaken mainly in primary care and hospital out-patient settings, and in asmall number of cases in-patient and day case treatment is performed. Informationon waiting times is available centrally for first out-patient appointments witha consultant, following GP referral, at specialty level only, and forin-patient and day case treatment. Provisional information for the year ended 30 September 2006, indicatesthat 47 patients with a principal diagnosis of myasthenia gravis were admitted fromthe in-patient/day case waiting list for treatment. The median waiting time was21 days.

The Scottish Executive has funded £45 million over threeyears, as part of the commitments in Fair to All, Personal to Each (2004),to enable NHS boards to use the independentsector to provide treatment for NHS patients where this added capacity offers valuefor money and provides a responsive, high-quality service for patients.

NHS boards also use their ownresources to purchase from the private sector as and when required in the interestsof patients, but this information is not collected centrally.

The only funding specificallyallocated by the Executive for private sector spend in 2007-08 is £5 million toNHS Tayside for the Stracathro Pilot Treatment Centre Project (part of the £45 million).This represents 0.05% of the total NHS budget for 2007-08.

Funding plans for 2012-13 arenot yet established.

Information on waiting timesand waiting lists for a first out-patient appointment following referral from ageneral medical or dental practitioner, is collected at specialty level onlyand not at hospital department level.

The current national maximumwaiting time for a first out-patient appointment at a consultant-led clinic,following referral by a general medical or dental practitioner, is 26 weeks. Thiscommitment is being met by all NHS boards.The national maximum waiting timewill be reduced to 18 weeks from the end of this year.

Median waiting times arederived from continuous retrospective data. To remove the effects ofseasonality and to minimise the effects of data shortfalls, rolling annual datahas been used to calculate the median waits. Comparable information isavailable only from the year ended 31 March 1998.

Median waiting times for afirst out-patient appointment with a consultant, following a general medical ordental practitioner referral, at Dundee Dental Hospital, Edinburgh DentalInstitute and Glasgow Dental Hospital and School, by dental specialty, and compiledon a rolling annual basis, for the years ending 31 March 1998 to 30 September2006 have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib.number 42003).

Dental out-patient waitinglist information has only been collected centrally since 31 December 2004. Informationon the number of patients waiting for a first out-patient appointment with a consultant,following referral from a general medical or dental practitioner, by dentalspecialty, at Dundee Dental Hospital on each quarterly census date from 31December 2004 to 31 March 2006, at Edinburgh Dental Institute  on eachquarterly census date from 31 December 2004 to 31 December 2006 and at GlasgowDental Hospital and School on each quarterly census date from 30 September 2005to 31 December 2006, has been placed in the Scottish Parliament InformationCentre (Bib. number 42004).

Administrative staff make aninvaluable contribution to the operation of the health service, organising servicesin a way which provides equitable access to the highest possible levels of sustainablequality care and ensuring that the patient’s journey through the system is madeas smooth as possible, for example through effective management of patient recordsand efficient scheduling of appointments.

Over the years, the way administrativestaff figures have been collected has changed, so it is difficult to compare fromyear to year. Administration costs are available prior to 1994-95, however, whilethey identify staffing numbers, they do not include the costs associated with them,therefore they have not been included in the following table. The figures for 1994-95to 1997-98 includes management and administration staff working in NHS trusts andboard “headquarter” employees. From 1998-99 onwards, the figures are for “administrativeand clerical” staff employed in trusts and boards.

Staff classified as “administrativeand clerical” include health promotion workers, medical secretaries and clinicalgovernance officers. Despite their classification, staff in these areas would notnormally be considered as administrators.

In order to establish context,the following table also shows these costs as a percentage of the overall NHS staffcosts.

	£000	%
1994-95	217,220	11.4%
1995-96	253,860	12.6%
1996-97	268,944	12.9%
1997-98	267,413	12.6%
1998-99	265,697	11.9%
1999-2000	290,179	12.8%
2000-01	311,673	12.7%
2001-02	334,674	12.1%
2002-03	370,331	13.1%
2003-04	413,216	12.9%
2004-05	489,136	13.5%
2005-06	537,255	13.7%

 

We are not aware of any NHSboards imposing such restrictions. The costs of general dental services are metcentrally.

Dentists providing NHS generaldental services in Scotland do not have NHS contracts, unlike those in England andWales.