Chamber and committees

Tackling hospital-acquired infection (HAI) is an important priority for the NHS in Scotland, and effective surveillance of HAI is a key part of this agenda. A sub-group of the Health Department's Advisory Group on Infection has been developing plans for a national surveillance system for HAI in Scotland. The group has been asked to provide recommendations to the Scottish Executive Health Department by the end of March. Once their report is received, I will be considering what further steps need to be taken to improve surveillance of HAI across Scotland.

The September 2000 national census showed 1,944 NHS beds occupied by patients who had waited more than six weeks from the date they were assessed as clinically ready for discharge (six weeks is the common period for discharge planning agreement timescales across Scotland). This suggests approximately 700,000 bed days incurred in a recent typical year. This figure is an estimate only and should be treated with caution; due to the absence of national trend-based information, no account can be taken of seasonal fluctuation. It is not possible to calculate accurately the associated cost which is, of course, off-set by the costs that would be incurred following discharge in each case.Full details of the September 2000 census are available at the following web site:http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/isd/scottish_health_statistics/subject/ready_for_discharge/sept00.pdf

The NHSScotland Information Management and Technology Strategy is currently being revised.Telecommunications networks will increasingly be used on a local and national basis to support in-patient planning and bed management. An example is the Wardwatcher system which links Intensive Care Units across Scotland to a central database of ICU beds. The Scottish Executive supports - and funds where appropriate - the development of such systems.Electronic Patient Records are being developed to hold patient specific demographic and clinical information relating to a single episode of care, and is therefore not relevant to in-patient planning or bed management.

All NHS Trusts have systems in place to manage the use of key resources and plan patient admissions.However, the use of real-time systems for these purposes is at an early stage. It is important for the development of such systems to be consistent with other systems within each Trust. The Health Department is working with NHS Trusts to take such developments forward.

We expect the Deloitte and Touche study to be published during March. They have consulted 63 groups and individual stakeholders in the course of their detailed study. The Executive looks forward to discussing the way forward with interested parties.

Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change makes clear our view that "in their local areas Local Authorities should have a strong voice on the new NHS Boards" (section 3, page 29). Some health boards already have non-executive members who are also elected local authority members. We believe that the presence of local authority members on the NHS Board will be important for the future development of local services.Further details of the role and proposed composition of NHS Boards will be set out in a detailed change programme, Rebuilding our National Health Service, which will be issued in the spring. In the meantime, we will be discussing this issue with CoSLA and other key stakeholders.

Councils are allocated Grant Aided Expenditure for Roads and Road Lighting which includes road maintenance. It is entirely a matter for each council to determine its current expenditure priorities and from GAE to allocate resources for roads maintenance. Similarly Scottish Ministers provide local authorities with a single block allocation for capital expenditure on a number of services including roads and transport but that is the extent of our control. Councils can supplement their allocations from resources raised locally, mainly capital receipts.Exceptionally, to alleviate significant public safety concerns about the condition of the roads on Arran, North Ayrshire Council was awarded in August a supplementary capital allocation of £400,000.

Detailed information about hospital waiting lists in Scotland, compiled from hospitals' Patient Administration Systems, is collected centrally by the Information and Statistics Division (ISD) of the Common Services Agency for NHS Scotland. The Scottish Executive relies on the information provided by ISD to monitor movements in waiting lists across Scotland. Key figures for each health board and NHS Trust are published quarterly on the Scottish Health On the Web (SHOW) website (http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/isd).

This information is not held centrally but can be obtained from individual health boards and Trusts. The names and addresses of all health boards and Trusts are available on the Scottish Health on the Web (SHOW) site at www.show.scot.uk.

This information is not held centrally but can be obtained from individual health boards and Trusts. The names and addresses of all health boards and Trusts are available on the Scottish Health on the Web (SHOW) site at www.show.scot.uk.