Chamber and committees

In 1998, guidance on the use of new drugs for Alzheimer's disease produced by the Standing Medical Advisory Committee in England and endorsed by the National Medical Advisory Committee in Scotland, was issued to all relevant clinicians from the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer. This guidance remains extant.

The Scottish Executive's policy is to encourage schools to tackle sex education within a comprehensive programme of health and social education for all pupils.This co-ordinated approach is designed to ensure the information about sex education is given, not in isolation, but as part of a programme that considers a number of issues relating to lifestyle choices and healthy living.

A short-life Working Group has been created, under the chairmanship of the Chief Medical Officer, to review the provision of neurosurgical services throughout Scotland as a whole. This is part of the implementation of the Acute Services Review which was published in 1998.The Group will take account of the work of all four neurosurgical units, aiming to ensure that the services provided are of the highest quality and that neurosurgery centres in Scotland form an effective network.

The drugs Taxol and Taxotere are available on the NHS. The use of these drugs in the treatment of patients with ovarian and breast cancer depends on the clinical judgement of the clinicians concerned.

I refer the member to the answer I gave to question S1W-3868 on Friday 21 January.

The reduction in the number of NHS Trusts in Scotland is expected to provide direct net savings of £6 million a year. These contribute to the £100 million cumulative savings which will be generated by 2002 as a result of the ending of the NHS internal market.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-2318.

Yes, although in some cases the level of demand may exceed the amount of vaccine immediately available to general practitioners. My Department's letter inviting first-time students to be immunised made it clear that any not immunised before starting their courses would be able to be immunised either through the Student Health Service or by a general practitioner where they are attending university or college. Supplies began to be made available to general practitioners from 20 September and continued to be issued as required. Vaccine was also issued to health boards for use at universities and colleges as supplies became available. There was sufficient vaccine to immunise all first-time students coming forward.

The promotion of sexual health is a priority for the Executive and we are working to reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted infections, including among young people.A Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network development group has considered the prevention and management of genital chlamydial infection and the group's draft guidelines are at present the subject of consultation. The National Screening Committee has established two pilot screening programmes to assess the feasibility of a UK opportunistic population-based screening programme for genital chlamydial infection.

The information requested is as follows:

	STARTING DATE OF PROJECT	PLANNED COMPLETION DATE
New Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh	August 1998	Phase 1 - Maternity and Gynaecology; Autumn 2001Phase 2 - Remaining Services; December 2002
Wishaw General Hospital	June 1998	February 2001
New Hairmyres Hospital	April 1998	September 2000
East Ayrshire Community Hospital	April 1999	November 2000
Glasgow Royal Infirmary	November 1998	Phase 1 - Maternity; December 2000Phase 2 - Emergency Receiving, Plastic Surgery and Burns; July 2001
Western General Hospital, Edinburgh	August 1998	March 2001
Southern Isles Community Hospital	July 1999	December 2000
Aberdeen Children's Hospital	October 2000 (Planned)	April 2003