- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will carry out a comprehensive review of all the procedures pertaining to the appointment of GPs to ensure fairness and accountability and to improve the information flow to, and involvement of, patients and their representatives.
Answer
The arrangements for the appointment of GPs under the new general medical services contract came into effect on 1 April 2004. There are no plans to review them at this time.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the procedure was to enable a single GP practice to become a multi-GP practice between 1995 and 2004 and what the current procedure is.
Answer
Under the NHS (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 it was a matter for each GP on the medical list to decide whether to practise on their own or in a group practice. Any change to the arrangement had to be notified to the NHS board and patients.
The NHS (General Medical Services Contracts) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 provide that any variation to the contract held by a doctor or doctors must be notified to the NHS board and agreed in writing before it can take effect.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reinstate the right of appeal for unsuccessful applicants for a GP vacancy into its new rules and regulations for the appointment of GPs and, if so, whether this right will be backdated to the date of the introduction of the new rules and regulations.
Answer
There are no plans to do so at present.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is legally competent to disallow a right of appeal against a decision by an NHS board in respect of an application for a single GP practice vacancy which was held under the National Health Service (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 where the filling of the vacancy has been rerun.
Answer
The NHS (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 were revoked on 1 April 2004. The General Medical Services (Transitional and Other Ancillary Provisions) (Scotland) Order 2004 kept in force certain provisions of the 1995 regulations dealing with vacancies for GPs so that cases which started before that date could be concluded. The right of appeal in cases which had been reconsidered was not one of the saved provisions.
The order was approved by the Parliament and is held to be legally competent.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures were in place for ministers to approve the advertisement, recruitment, selection and appointment of GPs between 1995 and 2004 and what the current procedures are for GP appointments.
Answer
Between 1995 and 2004 ministers had no role in any aspect of the appointment of GPs in individual cases unless an appeal was submitted by an unsuccessful applicant. If an appeal revealed a defect in any aspect of a case the NHS (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 enabled ministers to give a NHS board any directions they considered desirable to ensure the proper determination of an application. Generally similar provisions are contained in the NHS (Primary Medical Services Performers Lists) (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether ministers personally approved appointments of GPs between 1995 and 2004 and whether such appointments are currently personally approved by ministers or delegated to officials within the Executive and, if so, to whom.
Answer
The appointments of GPs between 1995 and 2004 was for the Scottish Medical Practices Committee and did not require the approval of ministers. Nor do ministers or officials of the Executive approve such appointments at present.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines it has issued about the organisation of meetings held by officials from its health department with patient groups or representatives of the general public.
Answer
There are no specific guidelines relating to the organisation of meetings with Health Department officials and the public, but there are a number of materials which have been issued to support consultation and engagement with the public.
The Scottish Executive has produced Good Practice Guidance on Consultations which stresses the importance of engaging with the public and provides support and guidance in doing so. The Scottish Executive Equalities Unit has complemented this with Good Practice Guidance – Consultation with Equalities Groups.
Changing to Deliver was launched in January 2003 and is the Scottish Executive's corporate culture change programme. Key amongst its aims isto promote the outward focus of the Executive and its ability to inform, engageand consult meaningfully with the public in the development of policy and services. Guidance and support is available from the Changing to Deliver Team.
Within the Patient Focus and Public Involvement programme of work, a toolkit to support the involvement of people Building Strong Foundations (Bib. number 34489) has been issued to the NHS and the Health Department. This includes practical examples of methods of involving people, including meetings. In addition, the Partners in Change initiative produced a Checklist of Meetings (Bib. number 34490) which are intended as a practical resource for people who set up or are involved in meetings with the public. Guidance will shortly be issued to the NHS and the Health Department on “Informing, Engagingand Consulting the Public in the Development of Health and Community Care Policiesand Services”.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many single GP practices have been (a) advertised and (b) filled in each year since 1995, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer
The information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is legally competent to remove the provision for an appeal procedure from the regulations which replaced the National Health Service (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 governing the appointment of a GP to a single practice and whether this is consistent with human rights legislation.
Answer
The NHS (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 were revoked by the NHS (Primary Medical Services Performers Lists) (Scotland) Regulations 2004. The 2004 Regulations were approved by the Parliament and are held to be legally competent and consistent with human rights legislation.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the procedure for filling the vacancy for a single GP practice at the Rowallan Medical Centre in Blantyre was governed by the National Health Service (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 and whether these regulations applied to the rerun of that appointment.
Answer
The provisions in the NHS (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 which dealt with vacancies for GPs contained various stages. Where more than one application was received a NHS board was required to select a candidate and report to the Scottish Medical Practices Committee which would approve the addition of the candidate’s name to the NHS board’s medical list. By the time the selection process was rerun for the Blantyre vacancy that committee had been abolished, the 1995 regulations were revoked and the new GMS contact was in place. It was not therefore possible to complete the process under the 1995 Regulations. To deal with such a situation the General Medical Services(Transitional and Other Ancillary Provisions) (Scotland) Order 2004 came into effect on 1 April 2004. It provides that the provisions in the 1995 regulationsup to and including the selection stage remain in force to deal with outstandingcases. It makes clear that once a NHS board has selected a candidate that doctoris offered a contract to provide general medical services under the new arrangements.
