Chamber and committees

Lothian and Borders Police have confirmed that they are in the final stages of completing their report for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in relation to the Elsie Inglis Care Home Inquiry. It is anticipated that this will be complete within the next fortnight.

Earlier this year, NHS Health Scotland merged five posts into two resulting in annual savings of £126,311.

The Head of People and Performance is a new post. It has a far wider ranging remit than the previous post of Head of HR, and now encompasses HR responsibility, organisational staff development, and organisational planning and performance.

The starting salary for Head of People and Performance is £54,454. The former position of Head of HR had a starting salary of £45,254.

As I announced on 11 September, I have taken the decision to introduce a Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) service in Scotland. This decision was based on the advice of the TAVI Short Life Group, who recommended that there should be a single centre providing TAVI for patients across Scotland, and that centre should be in Edinburgh.

The new service will be closely monitored over the next six to 12 months, and consideration will be given to expanding the provision of TAVI elsewhere in Scotland, as required.

The Care Inspectorate carried out 7,489 inspections in 2011-12 and 3,451 between 1 April and 30 September 2012, across the range of services for which it has responsibility.

The Care Inspectorate has responsibility for inspecting, regulating and supporting improvement of care and social work and child protection services across Scotland.

The Care Inspectorate has powers under section 62 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 to serve an improvement notice on a care service, specifying the improvements required to bring a care service up to the standards required and the timescale for meeting these standards.

The total number of improvement notices issued by the Care Inspectorate in the period (a) between 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2012 was 74 and (b) between 1 April and 30 September 2012 was 31.

Protecting patients is always our top priority, and NHS boards, as employers, have a duty to ensure that staff working with patients do not pose a risk to their patients.

NHSScotland health boards, as employers, have full delegated powers relating to recruitment, including ensuring the appropriate employment checks are carried out prior to, and where appropriate during, employment.

The Care Inspectorate has confirmed that in 2011-12, 1 quality of care related improvement notice was not complied with. As a result, registration of the care service was cancelled.

The Scottish Government has worked together with NHS Scotland, through the National Planning Forum (NPF), to gather expert advice and evidence from clinicians, health professionals and planners from Scotland and elsewhere in the UK on the potential provision and location of a transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) service in Scotland.

On 11 September, I announced the decision to introduce TAVI in Scotland, based on the advice of the TAVI Short Life Group, who recommended that there should be a single centre providing TAVI, and that centre should be in Edinburgh.

As the national Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) service is now operational, NHS boards are able to routinely refer patients to the national service in Edinburgh. All new referrals should therefore be directed to the national TAVI service at the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh.

However, there may be some patients who have been assessed as requiring TAVI who had an existing individual patient treatment request approved prior to the launch of the national TAVI service. For these patients, it will be a matter for the patient, their clinician and the national TAVI service to make a judgement on whether it is appropriate for the individual to have the procedure in Edinburgh, or whether this should be carried out in another UK TAVI centre as previously planned.

This is a matter for NHS boards to manage and, accordingly, a central surplus asset register is not kept.