Chamber and committees

The table at the following link: http://www.scotpho.org.uk/health-wellbeing-and-disease/allergic-conditions/data/secondary-care-data shows the number of hospital discharges following admission with a diagnosis of any allergic condition. The figures include asthma within the total.

Primary care data relating to allergic conditions are available at

http://www.scotpho.org.uk/health-wellbeing-and-disease/allergic-conditions/data/primary-care-data which shows “Patients in Scotland consulting a GP or Practice Nurse at least once in the year: rates per 10,000 population for anaphylaxis from 2004-5 to 2012-13.”

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-27505 on 23 September 2015.

In addition, CYANS, the Children’s and Young People’s Allergy Network Scotland, is a National Managed Clinical Network that focuses on improving health service provision for children and young people with allergies in Scotland. CYANS was developed as a result of a review of allergy services in Scotland and was established in June 2011 with a remit to lead improvements in allergy care with a focus on severe allergy, to establish the evidence base that underpins sustainable coordinated development and delivery of allergy care.

To improve allergy care for children and young people CYANS has: created a website to provide easily accessible and reliable information for children, young people and their families as well as clinicians; developed and agreed clinical recommendations for the management of anaphylaxis and food allergy to promote consistency in allergy care throughout NHS Scotland; developed and successfully piloted an allergy training package for primary care clinicians, and developed an allergy database to support future service planning, quality improvement and allergy research.

The Scottish Government committed £32 million over three years to improve priority specialist children’s services, which treat some of our most vulnerable young people. The National Delivery Plan was a three year plan (2009-11) with 55 commitments to enable the improvement in priority specialist children’s services. Funding of £32 million was provided by the Scottish Government with recurring investment of £19.5 million from 2011-12 to ensure that services continue to improve.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the lives of people with learning disabilities, their families and carers through the implementation of The keys to life in Scotland. The focus of the keys to life strategy is to reduce the significant health and social inequalities faced by people who have learning disabilities. Specifically the strategy aims to reduce the significant health inequalities and early mortality of the population.

The government has several approaches to supporting people living in deprived neighbourhoods. Additionally, it accepts that with regards specifically for people with learning disabilities, they have substantial needs wherever they live (not only people living in deprived neighbourhoods), depending upon their health and the quality and quantity of support they receive both personally and within their community. That is why the keys to life implementation framework outlines how the government aims to address the needs of all people with learning disabilities. The framework can be found in the following link: http://keystolife.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/The-Keys-to-Life-Implementation-Framework-and-Priorities.pdf

The Scottish Government works in partnership with the Scottish Consortium for Learning Disabilities in the collection of statistics about adults with learning disabilities who are known to local authorities in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the lives of people with learning disabilities, their families and carers through the implementation of The keys to life in Scotland. The focus of the keys to life strategy is to reduce the significant health and social inequalities faced by people who have learning disabilities. Specifically the strategy aims to reduce the significant health inequalities and early mortality of the population.

A strategic framework with identified outcomes has been developed to support the delivery of the keys to life. This will concentrate on outcomes and key activities to support their achievement, including supporting the development of effective physical activity interventions and facilitating innovative social connectedness and employment opportunities for people with learning disabilities. The framework can be found in the following link: http://keystolife.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/The-Keys-to-Life-Implementation-Framework-and-Priorities.pdf

Overall, health in Scotland is improving, but health inequalities between our more affluent and more deprived communities still exist. We continue to address these long-standing problems by taking significant action to cut alcohol consumption, reduce smoking rates, encourage active living, healthy eating, and promote positive mental health.

Equally Well, the report of the Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities, shifted the emphasis of our approach from dealing with the consequences of health inequalities to tackling the underlying causes such as poverty, employment, support for families and improving physical and social environments. This has been reflected in the latest Programme for Government published at the beginning of September 2015.

We have also made a fundamental shift to focus on preventative spending, while our Early Years Framework and Getting it Right for Every Child approach places a strong emphasis on giving children, particularly those who are most disadvantaged, the best possible start in life to make a real difference to their future health and life chances.

However, most of the main levers for tackling poverty lie with the UK Government – not least the welfare system. That it is why we have voiced our concern at Westminster’s drastic welfare cuts, which will have the biggest impact on our most vulnerable groups, including those children who are in most need of support.

The information is published on Information Services Division’s website at:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2015-09-01/Non-Medical_Trend_J2015.xls.

Information Services Division does not record this as a separate specialty, but we are aware that there is medical consultant input into allergy management from a number of other medical specialties, including immunology, anaesthesia and others.

Allergy is covered extensively in Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN) guideline 141 – British Guideline on the Management of Asthma and also in SIGN guideline 125 – Management of Atopic Eczema in Primary Care.

Information is collected centrally in relation to waits for a first outpatient consultation, inpatient and day case treatment and for the whole journey 18 weeks referral to treatment standard at specialty level only. Most patients requiring hospital care for allergies are likely to be recorded under specialties such as dermatology and respiratory medicine. However, a small number of patients in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area have been recorded under the specialty of allergy; this is likely to reflect patients who have been seen in a dedicated allergy clinic.

The information requested is not held centrally.