Chamber and committees

Information Services Division has confirmed that this information is not collected centrally since it would depend on the cause of failure of the operation.

In 2010, 163 patients required revision for an elective primary hip that had been replaced within the previous five years, and 184 patients required revision for an elective primary knee that had been replaced within the previous five years. A five-year timescale was chosen because revision of a hip or knee replacement within five years generally indicates some problem or failure of the implant ahead of the usual 10+ years lifespan of the implant. These figures exclude repeat revisions of an implant in the same joint.

As well as revision of failed implants, revision arthroplasty surgery also occurs in order to replace implants that have worn out over time (10+ years implant lifespan), and to revise implants that are already themselves revisions. In 2010 the total number of hip and knee arthroplasty revisions from all sources was 832 and 530 respectively.

Data for the financial year 2010-11 are not yet available.

Whilst the government maintains its commitment to keeping services local, I have always been clear that patient safety and the quality of care remains my paramount concern.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s decision has been informed by a review of paediatric neurosurgery and craniofacial surgery at the Southern General and Yorkhill Hospitals carried out by the Royal College of Anaesthetists in November 2010. A key recommendation of the review was to consolidate the paediatric neurological service at Yorkhill as an interim move, ahead of the relocation of the children’s hospital to the new south Glasgow hospital site in 2015.

It was the unanimous view of the Royal College review team that this interim change is necessary to provide the safest and most clinically appropriate service for children until the new hospital opens in 2015.

This means that we will work with NHS employers in Scotland to fulfil our manifesto commitment to guarantee there will be no compulsory redundancies in the NHS. In this way security and certainty will be provided for thousands of households across Scotland who are already dealing with pressures on family budgets caused by rising prices and higher UK taxes such as VAT.

Under the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 2003, advocacy for people with learning disabilities is provided locally by local authorities and health boards. The 2010 report by the Parliament’s Equal Opportunities Committee, recognised that significant resources, approximately £18 million, had been given to both local authorities and health boards as part of the implementation of the 2003 Act, of which advocacy is an important part.

The Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 provides for the establishment of the Patient Advice and Support Service (PASS). One of the duties of PASS will be to direct people to other sources of advice and support.

Additional funding of £500,000 per year from 2010-11 is being provided to cover the potential increase in referrals and to address gaps in provision. In 2010-11 this additional funding was provided to ensure health boards have undertaken a needs assessment and have up to date Advocacy Plans in place.

The Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance (SIAA), which is funded by the Scottish Government Health Directorates is working with boards on the development of the advocacy plans.

The Scottish Arthroplasty Project was set up to provide anonymised individual consultant and aggregated service outcome data on patients undergoing elective joint replacement surgery throughout Scotland.

The approach of the Scottish Government and individual territorial health boards is to contain reimbursement costs for prescribed items, to encourage best practice, and to develop, in conjunction with the clinicians concerned, local prescribing budgets, which support evidence based prescribing and thus deliver optimal patient care and value for money.

The savings achieved since 2007-08 attributable respectively to improved prescribing in primary care and more effective drug purchasing in primary care are detailed in the efficiency outturn reports for 2008-09 and 2009-10. These can be accessed at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/11/Outturn2008-09/Q/EditMode/on/ForceUpdate/on/Page/11, and

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/10/Outturn2009-10/Q/EditMode/on/ForceUpdate/on/Page/8.

A report for 2010-11 will be published in due course.

The data requested in respect of 2008-09 and 2009-10 is already published on the archived web site of the Information and Statistics Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland. The website can be reached at:

http://www.isdscotlandarchive.scot.nhs.uk/isd/2241.html.

Data for 2010-11 will be added in due course to the new ISD website which can be reached at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Prescribing-and-Medicines/Publications/.

Our manifesto commitment covers all NHS employees.

The Scottish Government is committed to providing economic security for the public service workforce in these challenging times. In March 2011 it announced the continuation of the existing no compulsory redundancies agreement for a further year to 31 March 2012 and is committed to extending coverage to other parts of the public sector.

Scottish ministers have no statutory powers to intervene in local government staffing matters but the Scottish Government will continue to work with and support local authorities who want to provide the assurance of no compulsory redundancies, to their staff.