Chamber and committees

Free-ranging domestic cat numbers are being monitored in wildcat priority areas through survey work conducted by Scottish Wildcat Action. This survey work is too recent to establish whether there have been changes in the domestic cat populations in those areas. The Scottish Government is unaware of any historic long-term data on domestic cats of sufficient quality to allow assessment of population trends in Scotland and it is difficult to predict what effect an increased domestic cat population would have on pet cats.

One of the main threats to Scottish wildcat is hybridisation with domestic cat, with survey work and genetic analysis confirming widespread hybridisation. An increase in the domestic cat population within the range of the wildcat could result in a corresponding increase in the risk of further hybridisation with wildcats.

The report, Proposal for Additional Control Measures on Domestic Cat Ownership in Scotland as a Conservation Action to Protect the Scottish Wildcat, by Anna Meredith has not been submitted to the Scottish Government and thus no response to it has been formulated.

NHS Information Services Division publish the Delayed Discharge in NHS Scotland census on a monthly basis (http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Health-and-Social-Community-Care/Publications/data-tables2017.asp?id=1968#1968), showing the total numbers of patients who are delayed in their discharge from hospital in Scotland. Information is shown by NHS Board, local authority, reason, duration and location of delay, but is not broken down by specialties.

As provided for in section 27 of the Inquiries Act 2005, Scottish Ministers expect to be consulted in relation to the Terms of Reference of any statutory inquiry if they are to include anything that will require the inquiry to determine any fact, or to make recommendations, wholly or primarily concerned with Scottish matters. In addition, the Scottish Ministers expect that the responsible UK Minister would also consult them should they consider giving any permission for the Chair of any inquiry to require the production of evidence, documents or other information that is wholly or primarily concerned with a Scottish matter; or production of evidence, documents or other items by Scottish Ministers.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) holds the record of the Penrose Inquiry. The record was transferred to NRS at the end of the Inquiry, as required under Section 16(3) of The Inquiries (Scotland) Rules 2007.

The Penrose Inquiry record includes all documents from the Courtbook evidence database. Courtbook was used to share evidentiary material with the legal representatives of core participants in the Inquiry, and for the display of documents during the Inquiry’s public hearings. The Penrose record at NRS also includes further administrative records from the Inquiry, and an archived version of the website. While much of the Penrose Inquiry record could be made available regardless of the type of inquiry, the Scottish Government and NRS would need confirmation on what type of inquiry was being taken forward before it could determine whether some of the information, such as witnesses’ personal data, could be shared with the UK inquiry. Many documents in Courtbook are currently available on the Inquiry's archived website.

ISD Scotland previously published estimates of the number of people in Scotland consulting their GP or practice nurse, where an eating disorder was recorded as one of the reasons for the consultation.

ISD Scotland collected information about GP consultations from a sample of 6% of practices through the Practice Team Information (PTI) programme from 2003/04 until 2012-13. This data was used to compile estimates for Scotland.

As of September 2013, PTI data are no longer collected. 2012/13 was the last year for which ISD Scotland published annual PTI data. A new national GP information system known as the Scottish Primary Care Information Resource (SPIRE) is in development which will supersede and build on the data previously collected.

Data on the exact number of people recorded as having an eating disorder each year since 2011–12 are not held centrally within ISD Scotland.

ISD Scotland holds historic estimates of the number of people in Scotland consulting their GP or practice nurse, where an eating disorder was recorded as one of the reasons for the consultation.

These figures do not include people with eating disorders who did not consult their GP or practice nurse during the year of the analysis or patients who were treated exclusively at a secondary care facility. Also patients may visit the general practice for a condition related to their eating disorder without eating disorder itself being recorded.

The information included in table 1 and 2 is also published on the ISD website and is available to download (http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/General-Practice/GP-consultations/Health-Conditions/Eating-Disorders/).

Table 1: Estimated numbers of patients in Scotland consulting a GP or Practice Nurse at least once in the year where eating disorder was recorded as the reason for the consultation.

Eating disorder - Estimated numbers¹, with 95% confidence intervals³ for financial years 2011-12 – 2012-13; by gender and age group.

1. Based on 59 and 60 PTI practices that submitted complete GP and practice nurse data for the years ending 31 March 2012 to 2013 respectively. Figures are standardised by deprivation.

2. PTI collected data on face-to-face consultations with either a GP or a practice-employed nurse from a sample of Scottish general practices that covered around 6% of the Scottish population. This sample was considered to be broadly representative of the Scottish population in terms of age, gender, deprivation category and rural/urban mix.

3. As the estimates are based on data from a sample of practices, 95% confidence intervals are included to indicate the accuracy of these estimates. A confidence interval gives a range of values in which an estimate lies, along with the probability that the exact value will lie within that range. In this example estimates are shown with a 95% confidence interval, i.e. there is a 95% chance that the 'true' value will be in between the lower and upper limits shown in brackets after the estimate.

Table 2: Estimated numbers of eating disorder consultations in Scotland with a GP or Practice Nurse.

Eating disorder - Estimated numbers¹, with 95% confidence intervals³ for financial years 2011-12 – 2012-13; by gender and age group.

1. Based on 59 and 60 PTI practices that submitted complete GP and practice nurse data for the years ending 31 March 2012 to 2013 respectively. Figures are standardised by deprivation.

2. PTI collected data on face-to-face consultations with either a GP or a practice-employed nurse from a sample of Scottish general practices that covered around 6% of the Scottish population. This sample was considered to be broadly representative of the Scottish population in terms of age, gender, deprivation category and rural/urban mix.

3. As the estimates are based on data from a sample of practices, 95% confidence intervals are included to indicate the accuracy of these estimates. A confidence interval gives a range of values in which an estimate lies, along with the probability that the exact value will lie within that range. In this example estimates are shown with a 95% confidence interval, i.e. there is a 95% chance that the 'true' value will be in between the lower and upper limits shown in brackets after the estimate.

NHS Boards all have local arrangements for providing information to people in advance of planned procedures. Work to improve the provision of clear information prior to procedures has taken place in NHS Tayside as part of ‘Making It Easy’, Scotland’s Health Literacy Action Plan. This learning will be spread to other Board areas as part the refreshed action plan, Making it Easier, due to be published by the Scottish Government later in 2017.

The Scottish Government expects all regulated health professionals working in NHS Scotland to comply with relevant professional guidance relating to consent to treatment.

As part of our work to embed Realistic Medicine principles and values across health and social care, we will review the consent process for patients in Scotland with the General Medical Council and Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and make recommendations for implementation from 2018 onwards.

Neither the Scottish Government nor ISD Scotland currently records or publishes any routine information regarding the incidence of eating disorders in Scotland.

ISD Scotland previously published estimates of the number of people in Scotland consulting their GP or practice nurse, where an eating disorder was recorded as one of the reasons for the consultation, which could be calculated using the Practice Team Information (PTI) scheme. However, PTI data are no longer collected.

A new national GP information system known as the Scottish Primary Care Information Resource (SPIRE) is in development which will supersede and build on the data collected previously for PTI.

Neither the Scottish Government nor ISD Scotland currently collects data regarding the incidence of eating disorders.