Chamber and committees

Emergency Departments (EDs) were defined by the British Association of Emergency Medicine (now the College of Emergency Medicine) in The Way Forward (2005) as “those hospitals with new patient attendances of greater than 40,000 per annum.

The principles for EDs in this type of hospital are as follows: Departments must have immediate access to the key supporting specialties to allow an ED to function safely. The following should be available on site: intensive care, anaesthetics, acute medicine, general surgery, orthopaedic trauma. There should be rapid easy access to child health (preferably on-site), 24-hour access to imaging (including CT scanning) and laboratory services available on site. In these circumstances, such departments can provide high quality emergency care around the clock for any patient presenting to the department. For those patients requiring regional centre expertise, then safe stabilisation and transfer protocols must be in place. These principles apply to such hospitals whether in metropolitan, urban or rural areas.”

In addition, ISD Scotland has historically classified Emergency Departments as either core or non-core sites. Core sites include all Emergency Departments within large hospitals. It is important to note that, according to this classification, some core sites are large minor injuries units, such as the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh.

Notes: Forth Valley Royal Hospital opened during 2011-12 - attendances based on partial year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-12752 on 28 February 2013. 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/Apps2/MAQASearch/QAndMSearch.aspx.

The vast majority of GPs operate as independent contractors within the NHS under the terms of the nationally negotiated General Medical Services (GMS) contract.

Payments for the GMS contract are made to practices and not to individual GPs. These payments are set out in the GMS Statement of Financial Entitlements (SFE). The SFE for the current financial year is published on SHOW (Scotland’s Health on the Web) under cover of Scottish Government circular PCA (M) (2012) 13:

http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/pca/PCA2012(M)13letter.pdf.

The global sum is the payment to each practice towards its costs in delivering essential services, including its staff costs and expenses. When the new GMS contract was negotiated in 2004 the global sum was adjusted to include an amount reflecting employer pension contributions for GPs at that time.

The global sum and arrangements for contractors’ employer’s and employee’s superannuation contributions in respect of the NHS Superannuation Scheme (Scotland) for employees of their practice are covered in sections 2 and 22 of the SFE.

GP contractors are not salaried: a practice partner’s income is their share of the practice’s residual profits after practice expenses have been met. Partners’ NHS Superannuation Scheme (Scotland) contributions are deducted in determining their taxable profits.

The NHS Superannuation Scheme (Scotland) is not a compulsory scheme and a contractor would be entitled to opt out of the scheme if they wished to do so. These arrangements and the management of practice income, including the element for GP employer pension contributions are all matters for practice partners to determine in line with their practice’s Partnership Agreement. Information on these matters is not held centrally.

This is additional funding to the territorial NHS boards and will be met from efficiencies/reprioritisation within our central portfolio budgets and will fund around ten full time consultants. NHS boards will be allocated £1,000,000 in 2013-14, £500,000 in 2014-15 and £250,000 in 2015-16.

The Scottish Government has supported NHS boards to increase the number of consultants working in Scotland’s accident and emergency departments, with the number of consultants increasing from 75.8 consultants whole time equivalent (WTE) in September 2006 up to 144.4 consultants (WTE) in September 2012.

Over and above this additional funding, NHS boards will continue to review their projections for their consultant workforce going forward.

A Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of National Planning Framework 3 is being undertaken. As required by the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005, this will identify the likely significant environmental effects arising from the Framework, and set out mitigation measures to avoid or reduce significant adverse effects, where possible and appropriate. A Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA) is also being undertaken, to identify and avoid adverse effects on the integrity of European protected sites and species. The SEA Environmental Report and a Draft HRA Record, setting out the findings of these environmental assessments, will be published for public consultation alongside the Main Issues Report.

The emerging National Marine Plan, on-going sectoral marine planning for offshore renewable energy and the Land Use Strategy are important drivers for National Planning Framework 3's spatial strategy and will be reflected in the Main Issues Report, to be published for consultation shortly.

The criteria for National Developments were announced and published in September 2012 when we launched the pre Main Issues Report engagement exercise. Those national developments that we propose to take forward will be identified in the Main Issues Report, to be published shortly. The proposed national developments will be those which meet the mandatory criterion, at least one of the optional criteria and support the emerging spatial strategy.

The vast majority of GP practices operate as independent contractors within the NHS and are contracted locally by territorial Health boards to provide general medical services. Practices are contracted under the terms of either The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) (Scotland) Regulations 2004, as amended, or The National Health Service (Primary Medical Services Section 17C Agreements) (Scotland) Regulations 2004, as amended.

Both sets of Regulations prohibit a service provider from using a practice telephone number which patients and others are required to call in relation to its NHS services that starts with the digits 087, 090 or 091; or is a number starting 070 and followed by a further eight digits.

Both sets of Regulations also require contractors to comply with all relevant legislation and to have regard to all relevant guidance issued by the Health board and the Scottish Ministers.

On 22 February 2011, the then Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing wrote to the Chief Executives of Scottish NHS boards setting out the Scottish Government’s policy that patients should not incur charges above the equivalent of a local call when contacting their GP practice.

NHS boards were asked to draw this policy to the attention of all GP contractors working in their areas and to encourage them to ensure that telephone calls to their practice incur as low a charge as possible; to ensure that no new premium rate contracts are entered into; and for any existing premium rate numbers that Boards review these arrangements with each individual contractor and aim to reduce any premium rate charge to the equivalent of a local call.

Note: the local call tariff patients pay will vary depending on the call provider chosen by the individual and the terms and conditions of the telephone contract which they as an individual have opted to enter into with the telephone provider of their choice.

The Scottish Government has received the independent evaluation on health board elections and alternative pilots and will take this issue in to account as it considers its position.

The Scottish Government will announce its position on the independent evaluation on health board elections and alternative pilots once it has considered the information contained in the report.