Chamber and committees

At a recent meeting between the Office for National Statistics (ONS), National Services Scotland Information Services Division (ISD), the Scottish Government and the Nuffield Trust, ONS acknowledged there were errors in some of the source data on NHS workforce that was used in the Nuffield Trust report. This had been taken from UK statistical publications produced by ONS, with input from the four countries. However, workforce data had been lifted directly by ONS from the ISD website. These data were not comparable with the rest of the UK and this had not been picked up during peer review. ONS are in the process of revising this data. It also was agreed that the Nuffield Trust made comparisons of the four countries and over time using published data on hospital activity that was not directly comparable between the four UK countries, or through time, due to differences in the publication definitions. Nuffield Trust have said that they will consider whether they might revise their report and findings once revised workforce data is published and more comparable hospital activity data is made available for the four countries.

The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) Guideline 87 is intended to guide the management of any patient with oesophageal or gastric cancer, regardless of age. It does not state that these cancers occur exclusively in the over 55 age range. However, the incidence of these cancers is higher in people over 55 years of age, with 91% of oesophageal cancer and 92.5% of gastric cancer cases occurring in people over 55 years of age, between 2003-07. Use of the term mainly reflects these data.

Further information on the incidence of oesophageal cancer can be found at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/1493.html, and information on the incidence of gastric cancer can be found at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/1503.html.

The Scottish Centre for Telehealth (SCT) continues to support and encourage the clinical use of teledermatology. The SCT have indicated that the consensus view is that the clinical climate is not yet right for a national teledermatology solution. The SCT has recently become part of NHS24. As a service delivery and improvement organisation NHS24 will provide a national focus for telehealth related activity. NHS24 and the SCT are developing a national telehealth strategy and business plan in consultation with stakeholders. Next steps for projects such as the teledermatology project will be considered as part of this process which will be complete by April 2010.

Data on the mortality from oesophageal cancer are available by calendar year at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/servlet/FileBuffer?namedFile=m_cancer_oesophagus.xls&pContentDispositionType=inline.

The most recent calendar year for which complete.

Better Cancer Care, An Action Plan recognised that early detection of cancer is crucial and the earlier it can be diagnosed, the better the chance of a positive outcome.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving awareness of possible cancer symptoms amongst members of the public and medical staff. The Scottish Cancer Taskforce (SCT) has been working with the Scottish Cancer Coalition in the area of awareness raising of cancer generally and recently held a national workshop to consider these issues in more detail. It will consider specific actions to help improve the awareness of cancer symptoms at a future meeting.

Action has been taken to ensure doctors across the country have up to date referral guidelines to ensure patients presenting with possible symptoms of oesophageal cancer are quickly and efficiently referred for further investigation. Such guidelines include SIGN Guideline 87 on the Management of Oesophageal and Gastric Cancer and SIGN Guideline 68 on Dyspepsia (which is due to be updated this year). Managed clinical networks use these guidelines to develop patient referral and care pathways.

Cancer services in Scotland have developed and improved significantly in recent years, with more doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals and state of the art equipment in all five cancer centres.

Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) is currently available in the areas covered by all three Regional Cancer Networks (North of Scotland, West of Scotland and South East Scotland) and is one form of treatment used to treat various types of cancer. The decision for the most appropriate treatment for an individual is the responsibility of the clinician in consultation with the patient, their family and carers.

NHS chiropody and podiatry services are delivered by Allied Health Professionals (AHP) and not through consultant-led outpatient clinics.

In the year ending 31 March 2009, 48,413 new patients were seen by NHS chiropodists and podiatrists based on published AHP statistics.

Further information on AHP activity is published on the ISD website and can be found at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4452.html.

It is the responsibility of local authorities to manage their common good assets and funds in accordance with current statutory and non statutory requirements as set out in the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. Local authorities are required to manage assets held for the common good according to sound asset management principles and in accordance with proper accounting practice.

Statutory guidance exists through the Local Government (Scotland) Acts of 1973 and 1994. There are also accounting guidelines set out in the Local Authorities Scotland Accounts Advisory Committee (LASAAC) document Accounting for the Common Good: A Guidance Note for Practitioners which was revised in December 2007. In addition, the Scottish Government wrote to all local authorities in 2007 to remind them of their responsibilities under accounting codes of practice, best value guidance grant conditions and statute in respect of their management of common good funds and assets.

Section 93 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 states that any sums payable or received which relate to the common good shall not be paid into the general fund. Specific guidance on the financial accounting of common goods assets has also been published by the Local Authorities (Scotland) Accounts Advisory Committee in 2007.