Chamber and committees

Regular briefings to professionals on a range of organisms, including rotavirus, are provided by Health Protection Scotland (HPS) via the HPS surveillance systems and through the HPS weekly report, which is available on the HPS website. At present no public facing activity to raise awareness of rotavirus is planned.

Under the GMS contract GPs are paid for maintaining a register of patients with a diagnosis of dementia. We recognised in 2007 that the number of people on the dementia register was less than we expected from survey data available. That is why we put in place a target for NHS boards to deliver agreed improvements in the early diagnosis and management of patients with dementia and specifically linked to the number of people on the dementia register. The Mental Health Collaborative is also continuing to support NHS boards in their delivery of this target.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-24333 on 11 June 2009. 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/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

As part of our ongoing twice yearly performance management reviews with NHS boards and partners we will be reviewing progress against the published challenging national performance targets which cover the full spectrum of mental health.

Specifically to support improvements in the children and adolescent mental health services agenda (CAMHS) we are providing £6.5 million new money over the next three years to develop specialist CAMHS psychology workforce and support additional training places and posts.

Vaccination policy in the Scotland is informed by recommendations by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the UK-wide independent advisory committee that provides advice to all UK health departments on vaccination. The JCVI have considered rotavirus vaccination and have concluded that while rotavirus vaccines would reduce the incidence of gastroenteritis in the population, at current vaccine prices they do not meet the current economic criteria for the introduction of a new vaccine. The JCVI keep all recommendations under review.

NHS boards and local authorities have responsibility to work in partnership and allocate resources on the basis of local needs and priorities, within the context of the Scottish Government''s key strategic objectives and commitments.

Allocation of resources from boards to local authorities are a contribution towards the costs involved in shifting the balance of care from hospital to the community, and are negotiated, agreed and monitored locally. NHS board chief executives remain accountable for ensuring that resources allocated by boards to local authorities are used for the level and type of services agreed with care partners.

Discussions are taking place between the Scottish Government and COSLA to assess the current arrangements for agreeing and managing resource transfers, to ensure consistency across Scotland.

The Scottish Government''s Mental Health NHS Benchmarking Project is working to obtain more comprehensive information around both in-patient and community services; this data will enable boards, local authorities and others to compare and measure services and enhance local planning. The project has representation from the local authorities and through them we have approached the Association of Directors of Social Work (ADSW) who are working to commission core definitions around local authority services. This work has to go to ADSW and local authorities for consultation and approval.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the UK-wide independent advisory committee which provides advice to the UK health departments on vaccination issues, considered the cost of providing a universal rotavirus vaccine for children prior to making its statement of 20 February 2009. The JCVI continues to reassess the cost effectiveness data in order to inform future decisions.

No such assessment has been made.

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) published the standards for integrated care pathways in mental health (Bib. number 44374) in December 2007 and established an accreditation system which was rolled out to the NHS boards in December 2008.

This accreditation system is intended to be incremental and will support continuous quality improvement within mental health services, to ensure that NHS boards are moving forward with the development and implementation of mental health ICPs and that those ICPs are in line with the national standards.

NHS boards are now working towards achieving foundation level accreditation, focusing on a number of the process standards. A number of NHS boards have already come forward and been successful in achieving foundation level accreditation; all results will be made public once the final ICP accreditation panels are held in August 2009.

Psychiatric Emergency Plans (PEPs) set out locally agreed, multi-agency plans for the safe and appropriate transport of people assessed as requiring emergency detention in hospital. PEPs cover a range of topics including the role of the Police and other agencies in emergency detention and the provision of appropriate places of safety. PEPs are all developed in keeping with the principles of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003. Every health board has produced a PEP, agreed with the local authority, police and partner agencies. The PEP describes the procedures to be followed in identifying a suitable place of safety.

In addition the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) has published and distributed a diversity booklet, A Practical Guide, to all police staff within the Scottish Police Service. In relation to the issue of place of safety, the booklet contains a section specifically about mental health.

All Scottish forces also have a place of safety policy in place which provides police staff with much more detailed information and guidance relating to local arrangements for place of safety.

The ACPOS Mental Health Group continually monitors issues around the place of safety and has a strong working relationship with the Mental Welfare Commission. Indeed, work is currently ongoing to consider the reporting process for place of safety to the Mental Welfare Commission.