Chamber and committees

This information is not available centrally. Prescription data collected centrally are not patient-specific and do not record the condition for which the medicine has been prescribed.

While this information is not available centrally, we estimate that there are approximately 1,200 community councils in Scotland. Encouraging people and organisations to become involved in their local community is one of the issues we address in our recently published Discussion Paper What can we do to help community councils fulfil their role, copies of which are available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37978) or via the Scottish Executive website at www.scotland.gov.uk/publications/2005/10/31132008/20088.

The Scottish Executive is committed to achieving full compliance with the water quality standards set out in the European Bathing Water Directive (76/160/EEC), at all designated bathing waters in Scotland.

To this end, the Scottish Executive has sanctioned the expenditure of £1.8 billion by Scottish Water during the period 2002-06 to upgrade its assets, with priority action being taken to protect bathing waters. A number of pilot projects have also been taken forward by the Scottish Executive in partnership with others, tackling diffuse pollution from farms and urban areas. As a result, more than half of Scotland’s bathing waters currently meet the stringent water quality standards required to attain Blue Flag status.

However, for Blue Flag status to be awarded, other factors, such as the provision of beach amenities, are assessed. These however, are matters for individual beach operators. The decision as to whether or not to apply for Blue Flag status is also a matter for individual beach operators, although the Scottish Executive is pleased to note that Scotland currently has a record number of Blue Flag beaches.

The term “cottage hospital” is not a recognised data definition and consequently this information is not available in the form requested. However, information is available about community hospitals, under which heading “cottage hospitals” would be expected to fall. Community hospitals which have opened and closed since 1997 are as follows.

Name of Hospital	Opened/Closed	Date
Eastbank Hospital Largely services for the elderly: transferred in part to the Ninian Ward in the Balfour Hospital, Kirkwall, and in part to social services care	Closed	02-04-2000
East Ayrshire Community Hospital Replaced the Ballochmyle Hospital	Opened	07-08-2000
Daliburgh Hospital Replaced by the Uists and Barra Hospital, Balivanich	Closed	09-03-2001
Lochmaddy Hospital Replaced by the Uists and Barra Hospital, Balivanich	Closed	09-03-2001
Kincardine O’Neil War Memorial Hospital Services provided from Aboyne and Glen O’Dee Hospitals, at Banchory.	Closed	01-05-2003

 

Information is available centrally in respect of patients failing to attend first appointments at consultant-led out-patient clinics. Information on patients who miss appointments for other NHS services such as at local family doctor practices is not collected centrally.

The table gives the number of missed first out-patient appointments in each year since 1997-98. The average cost of a first out-patient appointment in 2003-04 was approximately £80 but the costs of missed appointments are dependent on too many variables to be able to make meaningful estimates.

The cost to the NHS of missed appointments will vary depending on the circumstances of the appointment. For example, hospitals may anticipate, in scheduling out-patient clinics, that a proportion of patients will miss their appointments. On that basis, the hospital may decide to overbook appointments at clinics. If all patients attend, the clinic may overrun, with inconvenience to patients seen at the end of the clinic and to staff.

Overall, NHS patients who fail to keep appointments increase costs for the NHS and deprive others of the opportunity for good service by wasting the time of clinicians and supporting staff.

Year Ending	Patients Who Did not Attend their First Out-Patient Appointment
31 March 1998	153,794
31 March 1999	156,766
31 March 2000	162,540
31 March 2001	158,986
31 March 2002	167,135
31 March 2003	169,435
31 March 2004	164,063
31 March 2005	152,400

Sources: ISD Scotland: SMR00 (Scottish out-patient records), Scottish Health Service Costs (Costs Book).

The information requested is not data that the Scottish Executive collects.

The information specifically requested is not available. The number of NHS locations recorded as providing an accident and emergency service for each financial year is shown in the table. The list includes services which are provided other than on a 24-hour, seven-day basis, and services provided by a range of clinical staff including GPs and nurses. It also includes other units such as those dealing with minor injuries and community casualties. This wide range of provision enables effective services to be offered which are tailored to delivering good patient outcomes.

The reduction in sites providing accident and emergency services reflects the work by boards’ to provide high quality services from well-equipped premises, meeting our goals for safe, sustainable services provided as locally as possible.

1995	103
1996	100
1997	103
1998	98
1999	97
2000	96
2001	97
2002	97
2003	95
2004	96
2005	95

Source: ISD(S)1.

NHS boards who have been allocated Executive funding to contract with the independent sector during 2005-06 are: Argyll and Clyde, Ayrshire and Arran, Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Fife, Forth Valley, Grampian, Greater Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Lothian and Tayside. The following are independent health care providers who undertake activity on behalf of NHS Scotland:

Abbey Caldew, Carlisle

Abbey Carrick Glen, Ayr

Abbey Kings Park, Stirling

Advanced Centre for Eyecare, Glasgow

Alliance Medical

BMI Albyn, Aberdeen

BMI Fernbrae, Dundee

BMI Ross Hall, Glasgow

BUPA Murrayfield

Healthcare at Home

Nuffield, Glasgow

Nuffield, Newcastle

UK Medinet

Vanguard Healthcare

Woodlands, Darlington.

The Scottish Executive has assisted boards by facilitating the contact with these non-NHS providers, however contracts are agreed and held at local board level and details are not held centrally.

The Scottish Executive does not plan to enter into any contracts direct with independent health care providers, however, it is likely that boards may contract directly with non-NHS providers where they have a particular need for additional capacity. NHS Tayside plans to contract with an independent provider towards the end of this financial year to pilot a regional treatment centre at Stracathro hospital.

In Fair to All, Personal to Each (2004), we pledged £45 million over three years to negotiate contracts with the independent health care sector, to enable NHS patients to receive their operations more quickly.

It is for NHS boards to decide whether to commission treatment from outside the NHS to ensure that they are able to offer timely elective treatment to all of their residents. The Scottish Executive has assisted boards by facilitating the negotiation of contracts with non-NHS providers, and by working with individual boards that have identified a particular need for additional capacity. Information about precise numbers of procedures carried out by non-NHS providers is not centrally available.

The Executive has allocated £10 million to NHS boards in 2005-06 to purchase private sector capacity to assist them to meet their waiting times targets. Approximately 3,000 NHS patients will benefit from shorter waits as a result. The number of procedures that can be purchased depends on the mix and complexity of procedures commissioned by boards, which in turn depends on the clinical needs of patients.

NHS boards are of course able to commission additional procedures from independent providers using their own unified budgets. They also commission work from the Golden Jubilee National Hospital, which is part of the NHS.