Chamber and committees

The number of road traffic accidents where people were released by the Scottish fire and rescue services in the last five years are given in the following table.

Year	Number of Accidents
2000-01	769
2001-02	851
2002-03	856
2003-04	897
2004-05	832

 

The Scottish Executive does not hold this information centrally and therefore could only provide this information at disproportionate cost.

The Minister for Justice replied on 3 October 2005, following which the Permanent Secretary wrote on 10 October 2005.

It is not possible to make a direct comparison between out-of-hours services prior to and after the implementation of the GP opt-out. This is because new out-of-hours services, although continuing to rely heavily on GPs, have been or are in the process of being substantially redesigned by NHS boards using a range of different providers.

Prior to the new General Medical Services (GMS) contract, out-of-hours services were the responsibility of general practitioners and cost information on out-of-hours services was not separately identifiable.

Following the negotiation of the new GMS Contract, GPs are able to opt-out of out-of-hours services and they have become the responsibility of each NHS board. Cost information is therefore held at NHS board level rather than by the department.

The Executive remains committedto implementing its Carers Strategy. Under that strategy a number of steps has beentaken to help improve the support available to young carers. The number of projectssupporting young carers has risen from 23 in 1999 to 52 in 2004. I recognise, however,that more needs to be done to meet the needs of young carers. The recommendationsof the Care 21 futures exercise on unpaid care in Scotland, dueat the end of September, will inform policy decisions relating to young carers.I will be discussing that and other issues with carers’ representatives in October.

There are two main reasons for the proposed utilisation of the independent health care sector in the provision of services at Stracathro Hospital:

The first is due to lack of available appropriate staffing resource within the NHS in Scotland. It is expected that the independent healthcare sector will be able to provide the additional requirement that NHSScotland is unable to deliver quickly.

The second is to provide the opportunity to test the market in terms of innovative solutions which may be available through the independent sector which are not currently available in the NHS.

Stracathro Hospital site has existing available capacity in terms of theatres and appropriate buildings that could be utilised to treat patients from Tayside, Grampian and Fife Health Board areas. This approach will provide additional capacity for patients when they need it.

The Executive will fully fund the pilot project, up to £15 million over the next three years, for delivery of health care services by the independent healthcare sector at Stracathro Ambulatory Diagnostic Treatment Centre. Should NHS Tayside, or other participating boards, wish to expand the scope of this provision, then they would require to find any additional funding necessary.

The number of patients to be treated in a partnership arrangement with the private sector at Stracathro Ambulatory Diagnostic Treatment Centre has yet to be determined. This will be agreed through a future tendering process.

The final contract will be between Tayside NHS Board and the independent health care sector provider. The tendering process will therefore be led by NHS Tayside. Tendering procedures to be adhered to will be in accordance with NHS Tayside procurement policy and standing financial instructions.

The tender specification for the provision of healthcare services by the independent health care sector at Stracathro Ambulatory Diagnostic Treatment Centre will be issued by Tayside NHS Board. It is expected that this will be issued in the autumn.