Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-1735 on 22 August 2003. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility forcan be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

All NHS boards are expectedto meet the costs of the newborn hearing screening programme from within theirexisting resources.

I announced on Friday 29August that the UK Government has agreed that the Scottish Executive does havethe necessary powers to establish our proposed scheme. In a parallelannouncement, the Department of Health has decided to provide financialassistance to people in England.

The Executive will nowprogress the detailed business of establishing the scheme.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV), whichis carried in the white blood cells, is very common in most communities and istransmitted by airborne spread. The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Servicehas advised that the majority of patients who have evidence of CMV have notreceived transfusions and most will have had no symptoms. It is not possible tosay how many people will have been infected as a result of blood transfusion.

The CMV virus was describedmore than 30 years ago and will have been identified in Scotlandsoon after this. Details are not readily available of precisely when CMV wasfirst isolated in Scotland.

It has been standardpractice in the UK for many years to provide CMV antibody negativeblood for patients who are more likely than healthy individuals to become illif they are exposed to CMV. The introduction in 1998 of leucodepletion (removalof white cells) from all blood donations has reduced the risk of CMVtransmission from blood to a very low level.

There is already legislationin place to allow the courts to permit actions to proceed, albeit time-barred.

The time limitations forseeking redress in cases of medical negligence are regulated by thePrescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973. Actions arising out of personal injuryshould be raised within three years of the date of the alleged wrongdoingresulting in the personal injury or within three years of the date upon whichthe claimant became aware of the injury being due to negligence.

The 1973 act was amended bythe Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1984 and the Law Reform (MiscellaneousProvisions) (Scotland) Act 1985 to enable a claimant to seek to persuadethe court to exercise a discretionary power to allow the action to proceedoutwith the time bar.

This, however, is a matterfor the court’s discretion and there are numerous cases where the courts have,whilst considering fairness to both potential claimants and defenders, decidedboth in favour of and against waiving the time-bar.

The Registers of ScotlandExecutive Agency is responsible for maintaining registers relating to propertyand other legal documents, and in particular the two national registers oftitle and ownership of land, namely the Register of Sasines and the LandRegister. Options to have a right of first purchase in the event of land comingup for sale, in the form of rights of pre-emption and redemption, can beregistered in the appropriate register.

The Scottish Law Commissionis currently reviewing the operation of the Land Register, which was introducedby the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979. Scottish ministers will consider theoutcome of this review.

A new Register of CommunityInterests in Land will be introduced early in 2004. This register, which willbe maintained by the Registers of Scotland, will hold registrations of interestin acquiring rural land made by community bodies, in terms of part 2 of theLand Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. It will also hold registrations ofinterest in acquiring rented land which part 2 of the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland)Act 2003 permits certain agricultural tenants to make. Where a landownerproposes to sell land that is subject to a valid registration, the communitybody or tenant registering interest will have a pre-emptive right to purchasethe land.

The Executive is committedto reviewing NHS prescription charges for people with chronic health conditionsand young people in full-time education or training. The detailed remit of thereview and the associated consultation arrangements are still underconsideration.

The Executive is committedto reviewing NHS prescription charges for people with chronic health conditionsand young people in full-time education or training. The detailed remit of thereview is still under consideration and the consultation process has yet to bedetermined. Whatever the exact shape of the review, it is our firm intention toconsult widely with patient interest groups, NHS professionals and other keystakeholders. When the review process is completed, the Executive will considerwhether changes should be made to the current prescription charge exemption andremission arrangements.

As outlined in the White Paper Partnership for Care we undertook to discuss with the dental profession proposals for changes to the system for rewarding primary care dentistry. Following discussions with the profession, we have introduced a number of measures designed to promote prevention, improve access and improve recruitment and retention. We will continue to consider further measures.

The Public Health Institute of Scotland report, NHS Audiology Services in Scotland, recommends that NHS boards should develop and implement an early intervention programme to meet the treatment and support needs of children and their families affected by the early diagnosis of hearing loss through the screening programme.

I would also refer you to the answer given to S2W-1824 on 27 August 2003. All written answers are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

There are a number of factors that require to be taken into account when planning the future shape of the medical workforce including:

The balance between working and non-working life.

The gender split within the medical workforce with an increasing proportion of female staff.

The pattern and content of training which ensures that the individual is fit for purpose.

Issues which underpin the provision of medical services, including implications for training, are being considered by a short-life working group established to review medical career structures in Scotland. This group is being led by Professor Sir John Temple and is due to report its findings to Scottish ministers later this year. The report of this review will inform any subsequent work and work currently on-going in the specific area of medical workforce planning.

There needs to be a balance between sustaining service delivery and providing training which will benefit the organisation and the individual. This will vary from specialty to specialty and be taken into account when workforce plans are finalised.