Chamber and committees

The aim is for the ScotlandsPeoplecentre to open in autumn 2007, but this is subject to the detailed constructionplan from the new contractor which has yet to be delivered and agreed.

This information is not heldcentrally. The Scottish Executive has a Partnership Agreement commitment to ensurethat every newly qualified nurse and midwife who wishes to work in NHS Scotlandreceives a one year guarantee of employment if they are unable to find employmentthrough their own endeavours.

The ballots and results are asfollows:

Council	Ballot Result
Scottish Borders	82.4% for transfer, 17.6% against, turnout 76.8%
Dumfries and Galloway	65.8% for transfer, 34.2% against, turnout 71.9%
Glasgow	58.3% for transfer, 41.7% against, turnout 64.4%
Western Isles	69% for transfer, 31% against, turnout 66.3%
Argyll and Bute	89.6% for transfer, 10.4% against, turnout 62.8%
Edinburgh	47.3% for transfer, 52.7% against, turnout 60%
Stirling	31.9% for transfer, 68.1% against, turnout 67.2%
Renfrewshire	49.8% for transfer, 50.2% against, turnout 54.8%

 

This is a matter between landlordsand their tenant organisations and the information is not held by the Executive.It is for councils, as owners of the housing stock, to apply for the consent ofScottish ministers before transferring ownership of their housing to RegisteredSocial Landlords. In making such application, a council is required to submit theresult of the ballot it has conducted to establish whether or not the tenants wishthe transfer to proceed.

The number of graduates fromHealth Department funded pre-registration midwifery programmes is given in the followingtable.

Educational Institution	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Bell College	20	20	21
Glasgow Caledonian University	27	30	29
Napier University	54	36	39
The Robert Gordon University	8	23	19
University of Dundee	23	20	16
University of Paisley	35	34	42
University of Stirling	24	17	33
Total	191	180	199

Source: NES ComputerisedTraining Index, November 2006.

Note: 1. These people have successfullycompleted midwifery programmes of preparation and hence have become eligible toregister as midwives with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. NHS Education for Scotland(NES) has no knowledge of how many actually choose to register, or of where or whetherthey subsequently practise as midwives.

Personal health information isprotected by the common law duty of confidentiality and the Data Protection Act1998. Under that legal framework patients have the right to choose whether informationabout an episode of care can be disclosed to other clinical staff not directly responsiblefor that episode of care. Patients do, therefore, have rights to limit access totheir medical records stored on national NHS electronic databases such as the developingElectronic Health Record which is an expected outcome of Delivering for Health.

In order to enable patients tomake such a decision the clinician must ensure that the patient is given sufficientinformation not only to know what their options are, but also what the consequencesare of opting out of sharing their medical records with other clinical staff witha need to know.

The Emergency Care Summary, whichis an early component of the Electronic Health Record, enables patients to decidenot to have their record held on the database, and where they do decide their recordshould be held on the database their explicit consent is sought for each accessto that record. These rights have been set out clearly set out in the leaflet YourEmergency Care Summary: what does it mean for you recently delivered to Scottishhouseholds and GP practices.

An important outcome of Deliveringfor Health is to be a comprehensive health information system built around anElectronic Health Record. Deployment of such a system is expected to be completedin 2010.

The precise content of the nationalElectronic Health Record will evolve in consultation with patients and clinicians.Elements already in place and expected to contribute to the Electronic Health Recordinclude:

Digital images such as x-raysstored in Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) now in early stagesof roll out.

Emergency Care Summaries (ECS)with current medication and allergies now available for 4.4 million patients.

Modern information support systemsfor accident and emergency departments.

Electronic transmission of laboratorytest requests and results between primary and secondary care via SCIStore.

Security of electronic transmissionsunder SCIGateway.

We are building on this progressby scoping what needs to be procured to meet our eHealth requirements which include:

Patient access to the recordand a secure and managed facility to update it

Electronic prescribing and medicinesadministration.

Appointment scheduling and clinicmanagement

Primary care systems to meetthe full range of community and primary care needs.

Infrastructure projects suchas systems for patient and staff identification.

We have also established a ScottishCentre for Telehealth to provide practical help to NHS boards as they seek to realisethe potential of telehealth development projects.

Rights of access pertainingto the national forest estate, managed by Forestry Commission Scotland, areacquired by specific legal agreement to serve specific parts of the estate.These rights will include public access for recreation, such as walking orhorse riding. In addition, the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 gives thepublic statutory access rights for open-air recreation to most land and inlandwater in Scotland.

The Executive does notdirectly support organisations offering unpaid work placements to graduates. Thereare however other opportunities available to such organisations which the Executive indirectly supports. ScottishEnterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise both have programmesavailable to businesses and graduates throughout their areas. These programmes offerpaid work placements for graduates, and business support and consultancy toparticipating organisations.

Also, the Scottish Executivesupports Project Scotland which facilitates and supports high quality full timevolunteering opportunities for all 16 to 25-year-olds, including graduates.

Patients’ medical informationis protected by the common law duty of confidentiality and the Data Protection Act1998. Insurance companies have no right of access to patients medical records heldon national or local databases and no power of discretion exists to permit access.

The Access to Medical ReportsAct (1988) addresses the particular issue of requests from insurance companies (andemployers) for medical reports from medical practitioners. The act states that anapplicant, for example an insurance company, must not apply to a medical practitionerfor a medical report relating to an individual, until he has notified the individualthat he proposes to make the application and that the individual has notified theapplicant that he consents to the making of the application. The doctor must becontent that the individual has genuinely consented to the release of that information.This applies to local and national databases and discretionary powers do not apply.