Chamber and committees

All GP surgeries and NHS hospitals are linked to NHS networks and are able to communicate with each other electronically. Over 80% of GP practices use the General Practice Administration System for Scotland (GPASS); nearly all of the remainder use commercial systems. The Electronic Clinical Communications Implementation (ECCI) programme is helping practices and hospitals in all NHS board areas to implement electronic transmission of laboratory test results, referral and discharge letters, and appointment booking.

Media spend by the Health Education Board for Scotland (HEBS) forms an integral part of the organisation's health education effort which centres on the Big 3, Think About It and child and family health. This has remained stable at around £2 million for the last four years.Details of Scottish Executive expenditure on public health advertising from 1997 to 2002-03 (to date), is as follows:

Year	Campaign	Spend
1997-98	Continence Campaign	£2,900
	Green Paper: Working Together for a Healthier Scotland	£84,178
	Food Safety	£21,455
	Organ Donors	£41,300
	Total	£149,833
1998-99	White Paper: Towards a Healthier Scotland	£87,452
	Food Safety	£21,150
	Total	£108,602
1999-2000	Food Safety	£29,035
	Healthy Christmas Campaign	£89,649
	Total	£118,684
2000-01	Alcohol Misuse	£471,970
	Flu Campaign	£1,080,845
	Food Safety	£32,480
	Lead In Water	£76,977
	NHS Helpline	£137,531
	Organ Donors	£48,465
	Total	£1,848,268
2001-02	Alcohol Misuse	£609,545
	Drugs Misuse	£1,710,321
	Flu Campaign	£723,460
	NHS Helpline	£125,391
	Mental Health Problems - Telephone Advice Line	£88,050
	Healthy Eating	£65,809
	Total	£3,322,576
2002 to date	Alcohol Misuse	£765,290
	Drugs Misuse	£1,095,817
	Flu Campaign	£657,165
	Healthy Eating	£346,376
	NHS Helpline	£100,160
	Organ Donors	£18,330
	Mental Health Problems - Telephone Advice Line	£73,208
	Total to date	£3,056,346

The first stage in an on-going programme to review the Scottish Medical Workforce was completed earlier this year with the publication on 3 July 2002 of the report Future Practice. The report recommended that further work be undertaken to explore increased output from Scotland's medical schools. We have therefore invited Sir Kenneth Calman to review aspects underpinning the provision of basic medical education in Scotland. This work is under way and will address the possibility of establishing fast-track graduate-entry medical degree courses in Scotland.

Very substantial progress has been made towards achieving the target of ending mixed sex hospital wards. At present, of the 1,630 wards in Scotland, 1,591 are fully compliant. This represents 98% compliance and 2% non-compliance. Plans are in place to make the remaining 39 wards compliant in the shortest possible time. In the meantime, all trusts have agreed with their local health council a local policy to ensure that the dignity and privacy of patients is respected at all times in non-compliant wards.

It is intended that the setting up of pilot patient-held smartcards should be co-ordinated with the work of the Scottish Executive's 21st Century Government Unit on developing and supporting an infrastructure for Citizen's Cards through the Modernising Government Fund. Decisions about the timing of the patient-held smartcard will be made as that programme develops.

The Centre for Change and Innovation, which will have a pivotal role in supporting major service improvement in NHSScotland, was established on 1 November 2002.Ms June Andrews, currently Director of Nursing, Forth Valley Acute Hospitals Trust and formally Scottish Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, has been appointed to the position of Head of the centre and brings to the post a wide experience of NHS issues.

The Executive is implementing occupational health policies and initiatives for the NHS, for business generally, and has provided new resources to help develop initiatives for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Taken together, this forms the basis for an integrated occupational health strategy for Scotland. The combined funding total, from 2001-02 to 2003-04, is £7 million. This will form an important component of our wider strategy for a significant improvement in Scotland's health.

The Health Service Research Unit (HSRU) was commissioned to develop a guide to producing health information (available at www.abdn.ac.uk/hsru/guide.hti). As part of this, HSRU developed three patient guides based on SIGN guidelines. These guides were published in May of this year. Currently discussions are under way with NHS 24 about its potential role as a single national source of patient information and advice.In addition to the above guidance, a network of information specialists including patient, NHS and voluntary body representatives, will be established throughout Scotland. The network will be instrumental in the sharing of good practice and the development of a patient information strategy.Opportunities to extend health information access points are currently being explored, to help people find care, treatment and local service information at a variety of locations within local communities.

As with all medicines, the safety of Ritalin is continually monitored by the Medicines Control Agency and the Committee on Safety of Medicines, an independent expert advisory body.The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) Guideline 52 on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder provides clinicians with advice about possible drug side-effects and management options to deal with them. The SIGN Guideline can be accessed on their website at: www.sign.ac.uk.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:All drug misusing prisoners are offered a comprehensive multi-disciplinary assessment while in custody, which includes planning for their release.