Chamber and committees

Information on the numbers ofdischarges from acute general hospitals involving an operation of coronary arterybypass graft or angioplasty (percutaneous coronary intervention) for years ended31 March 2001-2006 by NHS board of treatment is published on ISD Scotland’swebsite at:http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/files/Annual_trends_in_surgical_procedures_hbt_November2006.xls.

Information for the year ended31 March 2006 is provisional.

The information requested isnot available centrally.

Information on inpatient/daycase waiting lists is collected via a monthly census and published quarterly byISD Scotland. Between census dates, thousands of patients are added to or removedfrom NHS boards’ waiting lists. There are many reasons for the removal of patientsfrom lists, including for example, those admitted for treatment, those whose conditionhas improved and no longer require hospital treatment, and those who move addressoutwith the NHS board area.

Spending on medical technologyis a matter for individual health boards within their delegated limits of approvals.Investment in this area may require business cases to be approved by the board andsubsequently by the Health Department depending on the level of expenditure required.The Scottish Executive does not centrally collect information on the total expenditureon medical technology by health boards.

There is no information held centrally on how many jobs have been created in the private and public sector.However, it is possible to look at net change in employment in both of thesesectors. The following table shows the level of public and private sectoremployment and the net change over the year in Scotland for each year since1999. These data used are not seasonally adjusted.

Table 1 Employment bySector, 1999-2006

	Public Sector		Private Sector
	Level	Change on Year	Level	Change on Year
1999	528,200	N/A	1,784,800	N/A
2000	530,500	2,300	1,825,500	40,700
2001	534,600	4,200	1,826,400	800
2002	545,100	10,400	1,827,900	1,600
2003	557,500	12,400	1,853,500	25,600
2004	572,100	14,600	1,883,900	30,400
2005	581,600	9,500	1,884,400	500
2006	580,300	-1,300	1,906,700	22,300

Source:Quarterly Public Sector Employment Series.

Notes:

N/A notapplicable

1. Data arefor Q3 (September) each year.

2. Publicsector figures include estimates for NHS. NHS quarterly workforce data areestimates based on the time series of actual annual data.

3. Data arebased on the National Accounts definition.

4. Data arerounded to the nearest hundred.

A budget of up to £85,000 (excludingVAT) has been allocated for this work. The final costs will not be known until thestudy is complete.

A total of 89 submissions werereceived in response to the invitation to submit factual evidence in support ofretaining or removing the bridge tolls.

The consultant appointed to conductthe study, Steer Davies Gleave, is progressing a number of aspects of the work.This includes developing the traffic modelling work done in Phases 1 and2 of the Tolled Bridges Review; conducting primary research, including consultingbusinesses and bridge users, to provide an understanding of how individuals andbusinesses behave in relation to the bridge tolls, and assessing the economic andother impacts of the tolls. We expect the consultant to submit a draft final reportto the Executive by the end of the year.

As I indicated in the answerto question S2W-29360 on 10 November 2006, the Chief Medical Officer will want toconsider the result of the stock take currently being undertaken by NHS QualityImprovement Scotland (NHS QIS) of all the initiatives in place in Scotland aimedat managing venous thromboembolism, of which DVT is one of the common presentations.The Chief Medical Officer will consider in particular, as a matter of urgency, theaction that needs to be taken in terms of raising awareness amongst health careprofessionals of the management, including diagnosis, of DVT.All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliaments website, the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

There is already considerablepublic awareness of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) through the information leafletsproduced by NHS boards and organisations such as Lifeblood, the Thrombosis Charity.NHS Quality Improvement Scotland’s stock taking work includes collating all currentinformation leaflets. We will then be able to consider what further action mightbe taken to increase public awareness.

The Executive has accepted therecommendation from the Scottish Public Service Ombudsman that consideration shouldbe given to the need for Scotland-wide guidance on the management of DVT. The developmentof any clinical guidance is primarily a matter for NHS Quality Improvement Scotland.