Chamber and committees

Renewables Obligation Certificates are issued by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) and not by the Scottish Executive. This information is available via Ofgem’s website at http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem/work/index.jsp?section=/areasofwork/renewableobligation.

This information is not held centrally in the form requested. An estimate derived from information collected under NHS National Services Information and Statistics Division’s Continuous Morbidity Recording system suggest that over the whole of Scotland in the 12 months ended in March 2004 approximately 213,500 people with asthma were seen by GPs, practice nurses, community nurses and health visitors. This figure is based on the activity of 59 Scottish general practices with a combined patient population of 375,539.

These are matters for the Forth Estuary Transport Authority and the Tay Road Bridge Joint Board respectively, as they own and operate these bridges.

There is no outstanding debt on the Forth Road Bridge, which is owned and operated by the Forth Estuary Transport Authority.

The Tolled Bridges Review: Phase One Report, published by the Scottish Executive, noted that the loan debt held by the Tay Road Bridge Joint Board, which owns and operates the Tay Road Bridge, amounted to some £16.6 million at 31 March 2004. A copy of the report is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 34847).

The Executive has not provided any support funding to maintain the Forth Road Bridge since 1999.

Capital borrowing consents totalling £7.507 million were made available to the Tay Road Bridge Joint Board, which owns and operates the Tay Road Bridge, in the years 1999-2000 to 2003-04. From 1 April 2004 support funding is being paid in the form of capital grant, which is set at £2.3 million for the current year.

It is not possible to provide an accurate estimate because prescription data is not condition specific. However, an indication of the upper level of prescription charges can be derived from an analysis of the prescriptions for medicines that can be used in the management of asthma and those that attracted a prescription charge.

Drugs used in the management of asthma are given in chapter 3 of the British National Formulary (BNF), specifically sections 3.1 to 3.3.       The table below shows the number of drugs in these categories that were dispensed in 2003-04. The data covers prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors, but do not take into account medicines dispensed by hospitals or hospital based clinics.

Of the 4,328,655 prescribed items below, 440,222 were charged at the point of sale, raising £2.83 million for direct patient care. This figure does not include “Asthma” patients who buy a pre‑payment certificate to pay for their prescriptions.

Table – Volume of Asthma Drugs – 2003-04

BNF Sub Section Code	Description	No of Prescribed items
30101	Adrenoceptor agonists	2,254,828
30102	Antimuscarinic bronchodilators	259,426
30103	Theophylline	109,537
30104	Compound bronchodilators	185,168
30200	Corticosteroids	1,424,114
30301	Cromoglicate and related therapy	9,224
30302	Leukotriene receptor antagonists	86,358
Total		4,328,655

 

We are aware of research undertaken by Asthma UK. Any published reports may well feature in the literature research project that is currently underway and which forms part of the Executive’s review of NHS prescription charge exemption policies. The public consultation phase is expected to begin around summer this year and run for a minimum of three months to allow all stakeholders to submit their views. The Executive will, thereafter, consider the responses in detail before taking any decision on possible policy changes. In the meantime, the Executive has no plans to change the list of chronic medical conditions that are currently exempt from NHS prescription charges.

Patients who are not exempt and need a lot of prescription medicines can cap their prescription charge liability by using Prescription Pre-payment Certificates. Patients can save money with a four months certificate costing £33.40 if they need more than five items during that period. Twelve month certificates cost £91.80 and are cost effective for patients who need more than 14 items per year.

We have no plans to extend the current list of chronic conditions that are exempt from NHS prescription charges. Any decisions to change the current exemption criteria will not be taken until the Executive’s review of exemption policies, for patients with chronic conditions and people in full time education or training, is complete.

Patients who are not exempt and need a lot of prescription medicines can cap their prescription charge liability by using Prescription Pre-payment Certificates. Patients can save money with a four months certificate costing £33.40 if they need more than five items during that period. Twelve month certificates cost £91.80 and are cost effective for patients who need more than 14 items per year.

We are aware of the on-goingjudicial review action but the Scottish Executive is not a party to that action.This is a matter for the local authorities and the court.

This holiday period was the firstin which NHS 24 had been fully operational and provided the access point for Outof Hours services across Scotland. In the run up to the festive period – and with the fullsupport of the Health Department - NHS 24 and the health boards agreed contingencyplans to ensure that patients would continue to receive an effective response fromthe NHS during what was expected to be a very busy time.

Between Christmas Day and the4 January, the Health Department received daily status reports on the position ofNHS 24 and the Out of Hours services it supported. At the end of the period a reporton how the service had performed was submitted to the Health Department. The initialassessment was that the festive period had indeed been an extremely busy time with89,700 calls being dealt with by NHS 24 between Christmas Day and 4 January. Whilstresponse times had lengthened due to the demand, NHS 24 and its partner organisationshad coped. A further wash-up report is expected once NHS 24 and the healthboards have identified the learning points coming out of the performance over thewinter period.