Chamber and committees

Firstly, I am sure colleagues will join me in expressing my deepest sympathy for the families of the two girls who died in the East Kilbride area last weekend.Vaccination against meningitis C is already an important element of the childhood immunisation programme. Unfortunately, there is no vaccine against meningitis B, although I understand relevant research is on-going. For now, parents and health professionals should remain vigilant.

I am unsure what the member is referring to by "reading corrections" but assume this may be a reference to the testing of sight. Increases in the NHS sight test fees are negotiated by the Department of Health, on behalf of the other Health Departments, the Optometric Fees Review Committee (for optometrists) and the British Medical Association (for ophthalmic medical practitioners).Where arrangements are made with an optometrist to monitor those with glaucoma and diabetes this is by way of a co-management scheme. The fees for optometrists involved in co-management schemes are agreed locally between the optometrists concerned and the NHS trust.

NHS boards and trusts may establish co-management schemes, whereby appropriately trained high street optometrists screen patients on behalf of hospital ophthalmology departments and refer the patient on to the department concerned when the patient's condition has reached an appropriate stage for surgery, or when specialist advice is needed. Screening of the progress of cataracts in-patients is one of several types of co-management schemes, which have been developed.

None. It is for optometrists as private business people to make a decision on the purchase of equipment based on the commercial activities they are carrying, or plan to carry, out on members of the public.

The Executive is committed to promoting widespread use of direct payments. It has set up Direct Payments Scotland to work closely with local authorities and local support organisations to help them set up direct payments schemes in their area. This work involves increasing local awareness of direct payments and providing support and information as well as identifying and addressing training needs.Provisions in the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 will place a duty on all local authorities to offer direct payments from 1 June 2003.

NHS boards are in the process of implementing the UK-wide risk-sharing scheme. Details of the scheme can be found in the departments guidance HDL (2002) 6, a copy of which has been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. Number 20653). NHS bodies are expected to fund any treatment within the scheme prescribed by clinicians for eligible patients.

This commitment was taken forward by the Chief Medical Officer's Expert Group on the Healthcare of Older People. Its report, Adding Life to Years, which we published in January 2002, makes a number of recommendations, including the need for a review of the routine health checks of the over 75s offered by primary care. The Scottish Executive Health Department is considering how best to take forward implementation of these recommendations.Our policy on this issue will take account of advice from the National Screening Committee (NSC), which is planning two workshops to review all the evidence on the subject, in particular the results which have just emerged from a large, comprehensive trial funded by the Medical Research Council on screening of older people. Because of the priority which we have been giving to this issue in Scotland, the NSC has decided to hold the first of its workshops in Edinburgh next month.

I am pleased to announce that the Technology Transfer Office is formally established today. It is owned jointly by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and will operate under the name of Scottish Health Innovations (SHI). A not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, SHI has been established with the sole aim of providing NHSScotland with the necessary support and expertise to identify, manage, protect and exploit its innovative technologies. The planning and funding of this initiative - which will total over £2 million over the next five years - has been a collaborative enterprise. The £1.3 million offer of funding from the Health Department's Chief Scientist Office will be supplemented by £450,000 from Scottish Enterprise, £150,000 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise and a further £425,000 won from the Department of Trade and Industry by a consortium of NHS bodies. Additionally, trusts will allow a proportion of the royalties gained from successful exploitation to be retained by SHI for further development and support of NHS technologies.Over time, the SHI website will become a shop window for Scottish NHS technologies, both for the benefit of commercial companies interested in licensing those innovations and for NHS researchers. In the more immediate future, it will be a valuable resource for sharing and disseminating such technologies within the NHS.The fulfilment of this white paper commitment is an important step in our aim of harnessing NHS innovation for the benefit of the health and the wealth of the people of Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-28050 on 27 August 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

The Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 will place a duty on local authorities to offer eligible people direct payments as an alternative to provision of community care services, from 1 June 2003.The Scottish ministers have existing powers under section 211 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 to cause an inquiry to be made if they receive complaints that a local authority has failed to perform its duty. We would hope, however, that it would not be necessary to use them and that local authorities will carry out their duties and offer direct payments to eligible people.