Chamber and committees

The report of the Expert Advisory Group on Infertility Services, which was issued to all health boards and NHS Trusts in Scotland earlier this year, recommends equity of access to services and treatment throughout Scotland. All health boards have been asked to work towards implementation of the recommendations as resources permit bearing in mind their existing clinical priorities which are cancer, coronary heart disease/stroke and mental health.

I refer the member to the answer given to PQ S1W-7461.

Health boards and NHS Trusts have to account for all their expenditure. The level of information required from University Departments of General Practice in connection with their expenditure from health boards "Additional Cost of Teaching" budgets is for local agreement.

The General Medical Council (GMC) is responsible for considering allegations of professional misconduct against doctors.

Doctors at present have the right and will continue to have the right of access to information regarding their own practice or performance in such cases.

The Scottish Executive Health Department's Clinical Resource and Audit Group has set up a Working Group on Information Technology to Support Shared Care in Diabetes. The purpose of this group is to develop work already done on diabetes registers and information technology, with a focus on the information required by doctors and other health professionals to directly support their clinical practice. This will raise awareness of diabetes among clinicians, which will enable them to provide improved information to their patients.

It is for health boards to plan and deliver services which meet the needs of their local population, within the resources allocated to them, taking account of national and local priorities. Priorities and Planning Guidance for the period 1999-2002, issued by the Scottish Executive Health Department to health boards, asked health boards and NHS Trusts to review their diabetes services to ensure that the NHS in Scotland meets the targets set out in the WHO St Vincent Declaration.

The Executive expects all NHS Trusts to achieve national targets while taking account of local circumstances. The additional resources made available by the Executive, together with local efficiency improvements, are sufficient for the NHS to meet the costs of service developments and pay and price increases.

Headline targets to achieve these reductions were established in the White Paper, Towards a Healthier Scotland. The White Paper, which is available in SPICe, also announced that a new national committee would develop a national strategic framework to tackle alcohol misuse in Scotland. The Scottish Advisory Committee on Alcohol Misuse, established in April 1999 has developed a draft Action Plan which identifies action in four main areas to lay firm foundations for an effective strategy. These are information collection; prevention and health promotion; service provision and co-ordination.

It is the responsibility of health boards to assess local needs for patients with hepatitis C and arrange provision of appropriate support, treatment and care services.

In 1999, The Scottish Office commissioned the Scottish Needs Assessment Programme to establish a working group to consider all aspects of hepatitis C including epidemiology, prevention, investigations and treatment and to estimate future implications for the Scottish population and for service needs.

It is expected that the report will be published in the summer, when the Executive will give its conclusions urgent consideration.

The level of funding provided for general practice under-graduate teaching is for negotiation between the relevant health board, NHS Trusts and University.