Chamber and committees

The Scottish Arthroplasty Project was one of a number of initiatives under review by Information Services Division in light of funding pressures. However continued collection of information on the use of arthroplasty is a necessary part of our quality strategy at the present time and it has been decided to maintain this project.

I am advised by SCSWIS that the last inspection it carried out at the Elsie Inglis Nursing Home took place on 16 May 2011. The results of this inspection form part of an ongoing police investigation.

Local authorities are subject to the Equality Act 2010 and the new public sector equality duty which it contains. This new duty came into force on 5 April 2011 and covers all of the relevant protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010. The duty requires public authorities to pay “due regard” to the need to eliminate discrimination, victimisation and harassment which are unlawful under the Act, to advance equality of opportunity and to foster good relations. It is for local authorities themselves to determine how they respond to the duty.

I understand that the Care Commission received three complaints in the period January 2006 to March 2011 and SCSWIS received two complaints about this service in April 2011. Five complaint investigations were carried out resulting in two complaints being upheld and three partially upheld.

Whilst the Scottish Government sets national direction of policy on mental health and provides funding to agencies, including NHS boards and local authorities, to support the implementation of policy, it is the responsibility of relevant local agencies to decide on local actions and spending priorities in the implementation of national policy.

Access to independent advocacy for people with learning disabilities continues to be a priority and the Scottish Government is working with key stakeholders to ensure disabled people have access to a range of structured, valued and accessible advocacy services to support their access to independent living in all aspects of day to day life.

The Scottish Government is providing local government in Scotland with almost £11.6 billion. The vast majority of the funding, including the funding for disability services will be provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives.

The expenditure on disability benefits is a reserved issue and a matter for Westminster.

A number of outcomes have improved following the introduction of the project. These include reduced infection and dislocation rates as well as a reduction in the number of different prostheses used in NHSScotland.

In 2009, 12 patients from Scotland were transferred to England for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI).

The National Planning Forum (NPF) reviewed the costs associated with these transfers, as part of its review of TAVI, earlier this year. The NPF found that from a sample of six cases, costs varied from £25,009 to £70,778, with an average cost of £44,213 per procedure.

This variation in cost is primarily due to varying length of stay within an intensive treatment unit following the procedure.

Information on the cost of voluntary redundancies is not held centrally and would have to be requested from individual NHS boards in Scotland.

NHS boards continue to ensure that local arrangements are in place so that people with severe aortic stenosis get access to appropriate clinical treatment. As part of those arrangements, where it is considered clinically appropriate by their doctors, patients can get access to transcatheter aortic valve implantation treatment through consideration by an individual case panel.

It should be noted that conventional aortic valve replacement surgery in appropriate cases remains a clinically proven and cost effective treatment for aortic stenosis.

The cost of NHS National Services Scotland support to the Scottish Arthroplasty Project in the financial year 2010-11 was £51,000.