Chamber and committees

Spend on mental health services will continue to be drawn from the record funds allocated to NHS boards and local government overall. It is the responsibility of these agencies to work in partnership and to allocate funds from the total resources available to them on the basis of local needs, priorities and agreed targets including the Scottish Government''s key strategic objectives and commitments, which includes priority attention to mental health.

In addition, £5 million also allocated in 2008-09 to NHS boards for partnership spend to support implementation of the Mental Health Act, and delivery of the HEAT targets for mental health in Scotland. Similar allocations will be made next year and in 2010-11.

NHS Board/Partners 2008-09	£000
Ayrshire and Arran	378
Borders	196
Dumfries and Galloway	229
Fife	344
Forth Valley	296
Grampian	421
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	948
Highland	342
Lanarkshire	477
Lothian	568
Orkney	134
Shetland	135
Tayside	386
Western Isles	146
Total	=SUM(ABOVE) 5,000

 

As part of our new relationship with local government, we are placing greater emphasis on ensuring positive outcomes for stakeholders, and less emphasis on inputs and processes.

To support this, we are working with local partnerships to develop and implement performance management arrangements that focus on outcomes for service users and carers, including young carers, and which enable local partnerships to measure and manage their performance effectively. We continue to work closely with Carers Organisations in developing the outcomes approach.

The focus of the young carers section of the revised Carers Strategy will be on ensuring positive outcomes for young carers, through better identification and improved support in both young carer specific services and mainstream children''s services.

We have provided funding to the Princess Royal Trust for Carers to conduct a mapping exercise into young carers services across Scotland. This work will highlight good practice in supporting young carers, as well as identifying gaps in provision. The results of this study will inform the development of the young carers section of the Carers Strategy.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-19378 on 15 January 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.

The Better Together programme will provide NHS boards with the tools for staff to capture experience across all aspects of service delivery and care and to use that knowledge to improve services and how we deliver care. Currently, supported through the programme, there are three pilot sites with close links to the regional cancer networks looking at improving the experience of cancer patients.

The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) is expected to consult on a revised version of Guideline 62 on Prophylaxis of Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) during this year, with publication of the revised Guideline in autumn 2010.

The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) Guideline 62 on Prophylaxis of Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) states that all patients admitted to hospital for major trauma (e.g. fracture causing immobilisation), major surgery (e.g. duration over 30 minutes), or acute medical illness (e.g. likely to require bed rest for three days or more) should be assessed individually for risk of VTE. Some elements of the diagnosis and management of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) are covered in SIGN Guideline 36 on Antithrombotic Therapy.

SIGN is now reviewing Guideline 62 and will incorporate recommendations on the diagnosis and management of DVT and pulmonary embolism into a single document. Guideline 36 is also under review.

On 26 January 2008, the Chief Medical Officer and the Chairman of NHS QIS wrote to all NHS boards, asking them to address the requirement for written policies for the prevention and management of DVT as a matter of urgency, based on SIGN Guidelines 36 and 62, and to ensure that consistent and accessible patient information was available. NHS QIS completed a follow-up report in December 2008, concluding that NHS boards had provided reasonable reassurance that they had continued to implement, and in some areas complete, these actions.

NHS QIS has stressed to NHS boards that they should continue to consider this a high priority and fully implement all aspects of their strategy on the management of DVT. The Chief Medical Officer is following up the NHS QIS report with NHS boards'' medical directors.

The Scottish Government does not request information from NHS boards on the numbers of staff or details of staff taking special leave as this is an issue for the board as the employer. In addition, we do not request information on staff who have or are suspended as again this is an issue for the board as an employer. Therefore this information is not held centrally.

It should be noted that special leave includes carers, bereavement and compassionate leave as well as suspensions.

Each board will decide how they record such data in accordance with the local policy.

The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) is currently reviewing its Guideline 62 on Prophylaxis of Venous Thromboembolism (VTE), and as part of that process will take account of the NICE Guideline 46 on venous thromboembolism and the recommendations from the Department of Health in London and the House of Commons Health Committee.

The information requested is provided in the following table. The figures in each column give the total numbers for the five years 2002-07. Aggregated data for five years on the number of re-admissions was necessary, due to the low annual incidence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE) cases occurring in patients who have undergone a primary hip or knee replacement. Confidentiality rules require that any number less than five must be replaced with an *.

NHS Board of Treatment	Number of Primary Hip and Knee Replacements	Number of episodes of DVT/PE in the same Health Board where the primary hip/knee replacement was carried out	Number of readmissions for DVT/PE to a Health Board other than where the primary hip/knee replacement was carried out
Scotland	49,728	584	44
Argyll and Clyde	2,179	20	6
Ayrshire and Arran	3,166	47	*
Borders	1,277	20	0
Dumfries and Galloway	951	26	6
Fife	3,244	36	*
Forth Valley	1,645	16	*
Grampian	5,627	65	*
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	8,905	79	6
Highland	2,832	30	0
Lanarkshire	3,494	53	6
Lothian	7,246	120	6
Orkney	0	0	*
Shetland	0	0	*
Tayside	4,750	62	*
The National Waiting Times Centre Board	4,115	7	0
Western Isles	297	*	*

Source: SMR01, ISD Scotland.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy has collected data on the protected trust deeds recorded in the Register of Insolvencies between April and September 2008 and is currently analysing this data. The Accountant in Bankruptcy has written to credit unions to seek any additional evidence that they think should be taken into account. I intend to present a report to Parliament before the end of March 2009.