Chamber and committees

Information on expenditure on all publicly funded publications beyond those published by the Scottish Government is not held centrally. The Scottish Government Health Directorates spent £113,968 on published documents in  2007-08, £270,642 in 2008-09, and £132,773 in 2009-10. These are public-facing health documents that have been published either in hard copy or electronically and includes production and publishing costs.

Information on the number of publicly funded publications beyond those published by the Scottish Government is not held centrally. The Scottish Government Health Directorates published 39 health documents in 2007-08, 92 in 2008-09, and 80 in 2009-10. These are public-facing health documents that have been published either in hard copy or electronically.

The number of deaths for which the underlying cause was a malignant melanoma of skin are published each year by General Register Office for Scotland (GROS). The figures requested for 1999 to 2008, are given in Vital Events Reference Table 6.1: http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/publications-and-data/vital-events/vital-events-reference-tables-2008/section-6-deaths-causes.html.

These figures are summarised in the following table:

Table 1. Deaths from Malignant Melanoma of the Skin in Scotland 1999-2008.

Year	Deaths
1999	127
2000	115
2001	145
2002	132
2003	146
2004	151
2005	158
2006	158
2007	164
2008	171

Source General Register Office for Scotland. Melanoma of the skin; code C43 in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD10).

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-29061 on 1 December 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The average response times for 2009-10 are set out in the following table.

NHS Board Area	2009-10
	Cat A	All
Argyll and Clyde	6.4	7.6
Ayrshire and Arran	6.8	8
Borders	8.6	9.7
Dumfries and Galloway	8.1	9.1
Fife	6.6	7.5
Forth Valley	7	8.5
Grampian	6.8	8
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	6.8	8.9
Highland	8.2	9.3
Lanarkshire	7	8.2
Lothian	6.8	8.5
Orkney	N/A	11.5
Shetland	N/A	13.1
Tayside	6.8	7.8
Western Isles	N/A	9.8
Scotland	6.9	8.4

Notes:

*Information provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS).

**SAS systems record data under the previous structure of 15 geographic health boards.

***All emergency is defined as Category A, B and C calls.

****The Scottish Ambulance Service completed the roll-out of the priority-based dispatch system across mainland Scotland in March 2004, so 2004-05 is the first year in which average Category A and all emergency responses can be measured across Scotland. Figures for earlier years are not available as the information held is not comparable. Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles are subject to different performance management measures so figures are provided at an all emergency level.

The exact number of consultations in Scotland for the removal of contraceptives within a specified time period is not available centrally. However, national estimates can be given of the number of consultations by either a GP or practice-employed nurse for the removal of contraceptives based on information obtained from a sample of Scottish general practices participating in PTI (Practice Team Information). The patients registered to PTI practices are representative of Scotland as a whole in terms of their age, gender and deprivation profile. The last year for which PTI data are currently available is the year ending 31 March 2009. It is not possible to determine from this data the period of time after which the contraceptive was removed.

The estimated number of consultations for the removal of a contraceptive by a GP or practice-employed nurse in Scotland in the year ending 31 March 2009, by contraceptive type, based on PTI data, is shown in table 1. Estimates are standardised by age and deprivation. However, these data exclude other settings where devices are removed, such as family planning clinics.

Table 1: Consultations in Scotland with a GP or Practice Nurse for the removal of: (a) Implantable contraceptives (implant); (b) Intrauterine devices (IUD); (c) Intrauterine systems. Estimated numbers with corresponding rates per 1,000 female patient population financial year 2008-09:

Contraceptive	Number of Consultations Number	Consultations per 1,000 Female Patient Population Rate
Implantable contraceptives (implant)	3,867	1.4
Intrauterine devices (IUD)	5,530	2
Intrauterine systems	1,652	0.6

Source: Information Services Division Scotland.

The information on figures for the primary method of contraception used by women in each NHS board, broken down by (a) age and (b) primary method is not centrally available. Data from the 2008 Scottish Health Survey (Table W26) shows some of the methods of contraception used by women in Scotland, by age group:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Health/scottish-health-survey/Supplementary2008

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Health/scottish-health-survey/Web2008Excel.

(a) The NaSH system has been live since March 2008 and has been rolled out in NHS boards since then. There are 10 health boards with NaSH, covering 93.76% of the population. Discussions are underway with Highland to agree dates for implementation. Western Isles and Shetland will have limited use of the system in a clinical setting, using it only for a small number of central clinics. Orkney has decided not to implement NaSH as all their services are provided by GPs, who will use a GP system to cover sexual health.

(b) NaSH has been designed to be used by all specialist sexual health services in Scotland, both GUM and sexual and reproductive health clinics.

(c) NaSH maintains a patient index accessible only to NaSH users and there is no mandatory national minimum data set allocated, apart from that mandated for the existing Sexually Transmitted Infections Surveillance System (STISS) coding, which remains anonymous. The system allows information to be captured in the following areas “ sexual history, blood borne virus risk factors, sexually transmitted infection screening, emergency contraception details, gynaecology, examination, sexual partner notification, men''s health, child protection issues and competency, attendance details and chaperone.

The information requested is not available centrally.

The Longer Lasting Contraception (LLC) social marketing campaign is primarily evaluated through the Health Improvement Tracking Study (HITS). HITS monitors, on a continuous basis, awareness of health improvement campaigns and their impact on attitudes and behaviour, amongst a robust sample of the target audience.

The social marketing campaign for LLC reached 67% of our target audience, who recalled the campaign when asked. Awareness of all forms of LLC also rose. Pre and post campaign research was also carried out with the target audience of women aged 18-44, which showed a significant increase in women correctly describing what LLC means and more than 42% motivated to find out more about longer lasting contraception.

The Scottish Government has made progress on all the policy areas included in the statement given by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing on 25 March 2009. These comprise CEL guidance for NHS boards on the introduction and availability of newly licensed medicines in the NHS in Scotland published on 17 May 2010; an information leaflet for the public and patients on new medicines in Scotland published on 17 May 2010; modifiers developed and published by the Scottish Medicines Consortium to be used when appraising medicines in particular categories; the establishment of a National Patient Access Schemes Assessment Group (PASAG) to assess patient access schemes for Scotland, and revised guidance on arrangements for NHS patients receiving healthcare through private healthcare arrangements published on 25 March 2009.

In relation to access to treatment for rarer cancers, the SMC has a standard process for assessing all newly licensed medicines. The process for assessing orphan medicines, as defined by the European Medicines Agency as a medicine licensed to treat or prevent life-threatening rare diseases affecting fewer than five in 10,000 people in the European Union, is the same as for all other medicines. However, in addition to the usual assessment of clinical and cost-effectiveness, SMC may consider additional factors such as whether the medicine substantially increases life expectancy and/or quality of life; can reverse, rather than stabilise the condition, or bridges a gap to definitive therapy. The SMC can also apply the modifiers to consider additional factors.