Chamber and committees

The Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI) report on Stirling Royal Infirmary raised some issues for attention and also identified some important areas of good practice. NHS Forth Valley accepted the findings of the report and identified a series of actions to be taken which were outlined in its improvement plan that also detailed timescales for action. Unannounced follow up inspections will ensure improvements are made.

Information on NHS patients awaiting placement in a care home is recorded on the Delayed Discharges censuses. Data from October 2005 to October 2010 is available in the Scottish Parliament''s Information Centre (Bib. number 52135).

Source: ISD Scotland, Delayed Discharges Census, Ref: IR2010-02907.

There is no national recommendation on the number of echocardiogram machines per head of population. NHS boards are expected to deploy the number of machines needed to provide an appropriate level of care within an acceptable time, as part of the 18 week referral to treatment care pathway.

Upgrading the A9 remains a priority for this Government and will be undertaken in the context of overall affordability and our commitments to the Strategic Transport Projects Review recommendations.

Transport Scotland has taken forward detailed planning and design to develop options for dualling the section of the A9 between Birnam and Luncarty and design work on the adjacent northern section between Birnam and the Jubilee Bridge is now also taking place. In addition, a number of improvements have taken place within the current programme at Bankfoot, Carrbridge, Loch Moy and Ralia and work has just started on the 3.2km section dual carriageway extension at Crubenmore.

The number of (a) accidents and (b) fatalities which have occurred on the A9 between (i) Dunblane and Perth, (ii) Perth and Pitlochry, (iii) Pitlochry and Inverness and (iv) Inverness and Thurso in 2009 and 2010 is as shown in the following table:

	Year	Personal Injury Accidents	Fatal Accidents	Fatal Casualties
A9 Dunblane to Perth (Inveralmond Roundabout)	2009	35	0	0
	2010*	15	0	0
A9 Perth (Inveralmond Roundabout) to Pitlochry (Junction with A924)	2009	18	0	0
	2010*	8	2	2
A9 Pitlochry (Junction with A924) to Inverness (Longman Roundabout)	2009	45	3	4
	2010*	21	1	1
A9 Inverness (Longman Roundabout) to Thurso (Scrabster)	2009	68	3	3
	2010*	24	0	0

Note: *1 January 2010 “ 30 June 2010.

The accident rate on the A9 trunk road between Perth and Inverness remains around half the national average.

The figures quoted may differ from those published elsewhere because they were extracted on a different date and the database may have changed between the two dates, e.g. due to late returns, corrections or changes to earlier returns and traffic volumes.

No decision has been taken to introduce generic substitution in NHSScotland. It has long been the Scottish Government''s policy to encourage generic prescribing wherever clinically appropriate. This policy has resulted in a high generic prescribing rate. In 2009-10 in Scotland, 83% of prescription items were prescribed generically in primary care. Maximising the use of generic medicines is an area where there may be further opportunities to make cost savings for the NHS and, at present, officials are in discussion with a number of key stakeholders to examine ways to support the use of generic medicines in Scotland.

Funding for flood risk management is no longer ring-fenced but is included within the overall level of capital support provided to local government. This provides local authorities with the flexibility to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government''s key strategic objectives. In 2010-11 the total capital support from the Scottish Government to Perth and Kinross Council amounted to £17.890 million. The settlement took account of the level of flood risk in the council''s area.

Allocation of capital funding for flood prevention schemes within the overall resources provided to them is therefore rightly a decision for Perth and Kinross Council.

Performance for rail services between Perth and Edinburgh is monitored by Transport Scotland. The Public Performance Measure (measuring reliability and punctuality) has shown consistent improvement, rising from 85% in 2006 to 91.1% at present. This is the result of a combined effort by First ScotRail and Network Rail to improve both punctuality and reliability across the whole of the Scottish network.

In December 2008, the Scottish Government introduced in partnership with First ScotRail a package of improvements to the Edinburgh-Fife-Aberdeen corridor, which provided an hourly service between Edinburgh and Perth via Fife, and 1,290 additional seats daily.

The Strategic Transport Projects Review published in 2008, sets out our investment priorities, and includes proposals to improve services between Aberdeen/Inverness and the Central Belt. As a first step, improvements will be made on the Highland Main Line, full details will be known later in 2010.

Information on what improvements have been made to railway stations broken down by cost is not held by the Scottish Government.

Investment funding for rail stations has been provided by various organisations including Network Rail, First ScotRail, Scottish Government, UK Government, local authorities and third parties over the past three years.

Amongst the many improvements delivered include car park expansions, new platforms, passenger communication systems, information screens, better accessibility, new passenger waiting facilities, new toilets and CCTV installation.

The Stirling section of the proposed Beauly to Denny upgrade is almost entirely covered by the Scottish Power Transmission Ltd consent and the Scottish Government have no plans, or means within the conditions of the consent, to ask Scottish and Southern Energy to consider undergrounding in the area.