Chamber and committees

Currently, the Community Health Index (CHI) number cannot be used as the sole identifier when GPs are making claims for item of service payments. Whilst GPs do currently use the CHI numbers to make claims for items of service, another form of identification is also required.

The project entitled "Carriage on hypervirulent meningococci before and after introduction of serogroup C conjugate polysaccharide vaccine in the UK" is due to submit a progress report in November 2000 with the possibility of the study being extended until the end of October 2002.

The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) has already established six locality based collection teams throughout Scotland, and hold 2,000 sessions per year in communities and workplaces. SNBTS is currently reviewing its National Collection programme to assess the feasibility of establishing further teams.

Establishing a serogroup for a case of meningococcal disease is straightforward if the organism itself has been isolated from the patient. However, it is good clinical practice for suspected cases to be given antibiotics as soon as possible, even before transfer to a hospital. In such cases, in particular where antibiotics have been successful, isolation of the organism is frequently impossible (around two thirds of the total) because the treatment makes the organism more difficult to extract.

Technical improvements in diagnostic techniques are being made all the time, and the level of submission of specimens to the Scottish Meningococcal Reference Laboratory which carries out such testing, has never been higher.

The information is shown in the table below.

Number of Children and Adults in Scotland Registered with the General Dental Service (GDS)

Financial Year	Child Registrations	Adult Registrations
1990-91	423,104	1,065,303
1991-92	620,696	1,864,835
1992-93	626,645	1,901,623
1993-94	632,720	1,861,265
1994-95	623,874	1,849,884
1995-96	635,945	1,942,469
1996-97	637,743	2,027,245
1997-98	710,064	2,034,688
1998-99	726,124	1,891,328
1999-2000	754,545	1,972,310

Notes:

1. Registering of patients with dentists was first introduced when a new dental contract came into force in October 1990. During 1990-91 registrations were under-counted as patients were only added to the dentists registered list when they visited a dentist after this date.

2. Prior to 1 September 1996 adult registrations lapsed after 24 months and child registrations lapsed at the end of the following calendar year unless the patients returned to the practice. This contributed to the fall in adult numbers between 1997-98 and 1998-99.

3. A new payment system for dentists was introduced in April 1999. Prior to this, records for new patients, patients registering after a period of being lapsed and patients whose information had been written or captured incorrectly were excluded from the registration figures and so some under-counting occurred.

The Scottish Executive is committed to extending the upper age range of routine invitation for breast screening to include those aged (64-70).

I have commissioned a task group to prepare an implementation plan for this extension of the screening programme and look forward to receiving the plan by spring 2001.

There are no plans to extend the age range (20-60 years) for cervical cancer screening.

It is too early to quantify what savings may be attributable to the work of the Common Services Agency's fraud investigation unit, which has been in operation since July, but this is a matter which will be examined further in the light of experience. The unit will also focus on deterring fraud against the NHS.

Currently, the level of resources allocated for capital investment in the NHS in Scotland during 2000-01 and 2001-02 total £179 million and £194 million respectively. In addition, capital resources of £30 million were made available during 2000-01 for investment in medical equipment and other areas of the NHS.

Any resources carried forward from the previous year due to capital slippage will be added to future year totals.

Yes. The Scottish Executive discusses these and other matters with Health Boards and NHS Trusts regularly and in particular in the context of Health Improvement Programmes and Trust Implementation Plans.

The level of capital slippage in any year is determined by a range of factors, including the characteristics and spending profile of particular projects. It will therefore vary from year to year.

The Scottish Executive monitors spending on particular projects against expenditure profiles provided by individual Health Boards and NHS Trusts, and has emphasised to them the need for profiles to be updated regularly so that any potential slippage is identified as early as possible and any resources underspent on a particular project in one year can be carried forward to the next. Prudent financial and project management means that it is not always appropriate for the whole of the capital allocation made available for a particular year to be spent in that year.