Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-10323

Asked by: Bristow Muldoon, MSP for Livingston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 11 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive which operating divisions of NHS Lothian did not meet the budget they were set for 2003-04 and what the level of overspend was in each case.

Before 31 March 2004 “operating division” was generally analogous with NHS trust. Information on the outturn of Lothian NHS Trusts and NHS board for 2003-04 is a matter of public record and the following information has been taken from the annual accounts.

Underspend

	2003-04 (£ Million¹)
Lothian NHS Board	13,207
Lothian Primary Care NHS Trust	0
West Lothian Healthcare NHS Trust	0

Note: 1. Against Revenue Resource Limit.

Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust was dissolved on 31 December 2003 with an overspend against revenue resource of £8,245,000. This overcommitment is included in Lothian NHS Board’s year-end position.

Question reference: S2W-10230

Asked by: Bristow Muldoon, MSP for Livingston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9238 by Mr Jim Wallace on 21 July 2004, what percentage of medical students who successfully complete their Pre-Registration House Officer post subsequently practice in a Scottish medical establishment, broken down by medical school of origin.

The table provides details of the school of qualification of Pre-Registration House Officers (PRHO) employed in NHSScotland at the 30 September 2002, and of these, the number subsequently employed as senior house officers (SHO) in NHSScotland at the 30 September 2003.

PRHOs in post at 30 September 2002 in NHSScotland

School of primary medical qualification	All Employed (headcount)	Subsequently employed as SHO 30/09/03	% Subsequently employed as SHO 30/09/03
Aberdeen	145	90	62%
Dundee	118	78	66%
Edinburgh	221	108	48%
Glasgow	261	205	78%
Subtotal	745	481	64%
UK Other	11	6	54%
Rest EEA	25	3	12%
Overseas	22	11	50%
Total	803	501	62%

Source: ISD Scotland.

Notes:

1. Sourced from the Medical and Dental Workforce Census and the GMC register.

2. Information is not available on the number of doctors successfully completing PRHO posts.

3. Although St Andrews University offers medical courses, these provide pre-clinical qualifications only. The clinical component of medical courses undertaken by students at St Andrews is taken at the University of Manchester. For this reason St Andrews is not included in the table.

Information is only available on those doctors who continue to work within NHSScotland. There are a number of different reasons for leaving between PRHO and SHO posts including career breaks, maternity leave, and taking up posts outwith Scotland either within the United Kingdom or overseas.

The introduction of Foundation Programmes in August 2005 under Modernising Medical Careers should offer the opportunity to improve the quality of training and retention of doctors in training.

Question reference: S2W-10321

Asked by: Bristow Muldoon, MSP for Livingston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many rotas covering junior doctors in NHS Lothian are compliant with the EU working time directive, broken down by speciality.

We do not hold detailed rota information for doctors in training. However, the following table provides details of NHS Lothian’s assessment of the number of doctors in training, broken down by specialities who are compliant with the requirements of the Working Time Regulations (WTR), as at 1 August 2004. I hope this information is useful.

Analysis by Speciality - Lothian

Specialty	Number of Doctors in Training¹
WTR compliant at 16-06-/04⁵	Expected to be WTR compliant at 01-/08-04^2,5	Total
Accident and Emergency	41	41	41
Anaesthetics	15	58.6	58.6
Clinical Pathology	11	11	11
Haematology	4	9	13
Medical Microbiology and Virology	8	8	8
Dermatology	6	6	6
Cardiology	6	17	17
Infectious Diseases	5	5	5
Gastroenterology	0	0	10
General Medicine	22	49	49
Renal Medicine	4	10	10
Respiratory Medicine	8	13	13
Rheumatology	1	1	1
Genito-urinary Medicine	2	2	2
Geriatrics	5	22	38
Intensive Care Medicine	10	16	16
Medical Oncology	6.5	6.5	6.5
Neurology	6	6	14
Paediatrics	35	35	35
Palliative Medicine	1	1	1
Clinical Oncology	9	9	9
Rehabilitation Medicine	0	0	6
Obstetrics and Gynaecology	45	45	45
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry	0	0	7
General Psychiatry	29	29	70
Clinical Radiology	24	24	24
Cardiothoracic Surgery	4	18	18
ENT Surgery	6	6	12
General Surgery	25	25	36
Neurosurgery	0	0	5
Ophthalmology	14	14	14
Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery	18	23	23
Paediatric Surgery	5	15	15
Plastic Surgery	12	12	12
Urology	7	7	7
General Practice	1	1	1
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery	6	6	6
Mixed³	10	33	53
Unknown⁴	23	55	70
Totals	434.5	639.1	788.1
Percentages	55.1%	81.1%	100.0%

Notes:

1. These figures do not include GP Registrars.

2. Figures are board predictions for the number of doctors in trainingexpected to be WTR compliant/non-compliant at 1 August 2004.

3. A mixed specialty rota occurs where a return has specified more than one of the above specialties on the same rota.

4. An unknown rota occurs where the return has provided insufficientinformation to distinguish which of the above specialties apply.

5. Compliance with the European Working Time Regulations includes working no longer than 58 hours per week, taking a minimum 11 hours rest in a 24 hour period, and receiving four weeks' paid annual leave.

Question reference: S2O-03237

Asked by: Bristow Muldoon, MSP for Livingston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 16 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to encourage sport and physical education in schools.

Question reference: S2W-09231

Asked by: Bristow Muldoon, MSP for Livingston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 June 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 29 July 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the time taken to route a patient from pick-up point to the nearest accident and emergency department is taken into account in determining the recipient location.

Question reference: S2W-09232

Asked by: Bristow Muldoon, MSP for Livingston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 June 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 29 July 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact is on ambulance travel times of congestion, accidents, road works or other factors on the A720 Edinburgh city bypass.

The key factor in theoverall outcome of an emergency ambulance service intervention is the timetaken for the crew to reach a patient and to begin providing treatment – theresponse time. The Ambulance Service reviews constantly the patterns of emergencydemand in relation to the location of vehicles and crews and seeks to optimiselocation to reduce response times. Clearly, factors such as road congestion atparticular times of day, road works etc can impact on response times. It is notpossible to quantify this impact. In an emergency situation an ambulance whichis caught up in congestion can use visual and audible warning systems to makeprogress. Predictable heavy congestion or known delays such as road works canbe factored into route planning by ambulance crews, on the advice of ambulancecontrol. In exceptional circumstances ambulance control may advise crews todivert to an alternative hospital or to the nearest one.

Question reference: S2W-09238

Asked by: Bristow Muldoon, MSP for Livingston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 June 2004
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 21 July 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many medical students graduate from each university medical faculty on average each year and what percentage of those graduates are subsequently placed in Scottish hospitals in the year after their graduation.

In order to complete their basic medical education and obtain registration with the General Medical Council, graduates of UK medical schools must currently undertake a one-year Pre-Registration House Officer (PRHO) post within the NHS.

The following table shows information reported to the NHS on the number of graduates from each Scottish medical school who were eligible to apply to UK PRHO allocation schemes for entry in the year following graduation and the percentage share who were placed in a Scottish hospital. This information is given for the latest two years for which information is available.

Medical Graduates from Scottish Medical Schools¹ and Share Taking up PRHO Posts in Scotland, 2002-03

	2002		2003
	Medical Graduates	Share of graduates taking up PRHO posts in Scotland	Medical Graduates	Share of graduates taking up PRHO posts in Scotland
University of Aberdeen	185	94%	160	92%
University of Dundee	163	83%	129	91%
University of Edinburgh	177	93%	237	92%
University of Glasgow	263	94%	275	96%
Total	788	91%	801	93%

Source: NHS Education for Scotland

Note:

1.Although St Andrews University offers medical courses, these provide pre-clinicalqualifications only. The clinical component of medical courses undertaken by students at St Andrews is taken at the University of Manchester. For this reason St Andrews is not included in the table.

The following is a corrected answer (published on 28 September 2004); see below.

Mr Jim Wallace: In order to complete their basic medical education and obtain registration with the General Medical Council, graduates of UK medical schools must currently undertake a one-year Pre-Registration House Officer (PRHO) post within the NHS.

The following table shows information reported to the NHS on the number of graduates from each Scottish medical school who were eligible to apply to UK PRHO allocation schemes for entry in the year following graduation and the percentage share who were placed in a Scottish hospital. This information is given for the latest two years for which information is available.

Medical Graduates from Scottish Medical Schools¹ and Share Taking Up PRHO Posts in Scotland, 2002-03

	2002		2003
	Medical Graduates	Share of graduates taking up PRHO posts in Scotland	Medical Graduates	Share of graduates taking up PRHO posts in Scotland
University of Aberdeen	160	92%	185	94%
University of Dundee	129	91%	163	83%
University of Edinburgh	237	92%	177	93%
University of Glasgow	275	96%	263	94%
Total	801	93%	788	91%

Source: NHS Education for Scotland

Note: 1. Although St Andrews University offers medical courses, these provide pre-clinical qualifications only. The clinical component of medical courses undertaken by students at St Andrews is taken at the University of Manchester. For this reason St Andrews is not included in the table.

Question reference: S2W-09240

Asked by: Bristow Muldoon, MSP for Livingston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 June 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 July 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that the deployment of junior doctors is driven by patient need.

The employment of junior doctors, as with all other staff, is a matter for NHS boards and their deployment and numbers are not determined primarily for service delivery reasons. They are training grade posts and as such are designed to provide junior doctors with high-quality training experiences. This will ensure that Scotland produces well trained doctors to deliver safe and effectiveservices, which are appropriate to patients’ needs.

The commissioning and training of junior doctors to meet known and anticipated patient needs will be further supported through the developing Scottish arrangements to implement the postgraduate medical training reforms set out in the UK policy Modernising Medical Careers.

Question reference: S2W-09338

Asked by: Bristow Muldoon, MSP for Livingston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 June 2004
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 19 July 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the population was in (a) West Lothian, (b) City of Edinburgh, (c) Midlothian and (d) East Lothian local authority area in each year since 1999.

The Registrar General’s mid-year population estimates show the population of these local authority areas since 1999 to be:

Council	Year
1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
East Lothian	89,110	89,910	90,180	90,750	91,090
Edinburgh, City	447,190	448,430	449,020	448,080	448,370
Midlothian	80,630	81,110	80,950	80,500	79,710
West Lothian	154,760	157,050	159,030	159,960	161,020

Question reference: S2W-09234

Asked by: Bristow Muldoon, MSP for Livingston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 June 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 July 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive when the national acute services review will report.

Chamber and committees