Chamber and committees

Better Cancer Care: an Action Plan was published in 2008 and includes, as a component of the commitments outlined in the plan, targets relating to GP access to diagnostics.

The Scottish Government Cancer Performance Support Team has been supporting NHS boards to achieve these targets and this support has included patient pathway management work to ensure rapid diagnosis and staging as part of the 62-day target.

NHS boards make local decisions regarding arrangements to provide GPs with open access to diagnostic investigations such as imaging and endoscopy. These decisions also take account of local circumstances.

The Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation unit (CEEu) of the Royal College of Physicians was commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership to perform a National Falls and Bone Health in Older People three year programme of work. This is a Department of Health, England-led initiative and therefore Scotland will not be involved in this work.

In Scotland, as part of the implementation of the Rehabilitation Framework, we are developing a National Falls Programme with the aim of significant service re-design to improve the delivery of falls services.

The Scottish Government does not hold any information relating to the socioeconomic history of those individuals who currently reside within the two lowest socioeconomic groups. To obtain this information would require longitudinal data that tracks individuals, their consumption and whether they have been admitted to hospital due to their alcohol use. There is currently no such data available in Scotland.

We know that too many Scots across all socioeconomic groups are drinking too much, putting the health and well-being of themselves and their families at risk. That is why we are committed to providing preventative and specialist services for all those with alcohol problems, no matter what their socio-economic status.

The Scottish Government recognises that there is no single measure which will help change Scotland''s relationship with alcohol. That is why we have placed a whole population approach at the heart of our Alcohol Framework - an approach that can make a genuine cultural and attitudinal shift in the way all socioeconomic groups view, and consume alcohol in Scotland. Policies targeted at the population as a whole can have a protective effect on vulnerable populations whilst also reducing alcohol misuse across the whole population.

This is why the Scottish Government remains committed to minimum pricing, as we believe that it would be an effective, efficient, targeted and proportionate measure that would make a real impact on consumption and harm across society.

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) provides an independent and impartial service for handling complaints about public services in Scotland and no direct discussions have been held about specific complaints. Where the SPSO upholds a complaint, the complaints reviewer will issue a decision letter and follow up with the organisation to make sure that any recommendations made are carried out.

NHS boards are expected to implement the recommendations made in the ombudsman''s monthly reports and to take all necessary steps to ensure that similar circumstances do not recur.

The ombudsman''s reports and boards'' responses are considered by the Scottish Government to ensure that all necessary action and learning takes place at local and national level.

The Scottish Government fully recognises the importance of good quality care for patients in all clinical settings. Ensuring the quality of care for individual patients is the responsibility of NHS boards. There are a number of national initiatives to support NHS boards to improve the quality of care patients receive.

Scottish Government is aware of the work being undertaken by the Department of Health regarding cancer awareness and early diagnosis. The Scottish Cancer Taskforce, which oversees the commitments outlined in Better Cancer Care: an Action Plan, is already undertaking some work to increase early awareness of signs and symptoms of all cancers amongst both members of the public and the medical community, for example, through the early referral guidelines for general practitioners.

However, the Better Cancer Care Progress Report published online in December 2010 recognised that this is an area where further detailed work is required.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/health/cancer/progressreport.

The Scottish Cancer Taskforce is currently updating its work plan and this is an area that will have a greater focus in the future.

Information on the volume of incidents relating to patient falls in hospital is not collected centrally.

We are always willing to consider proposals for providing pump-priming funding for Managed Clinical Networks.

Effective management of lupus relies on the expertise of many specialists, including rheumatologists, nephrologists, dermatologists, neurologists, gastroenterologists, respiratory physicians and cardiologists, and their respective supporting investigative and administrative teams. Clinicians from across Scotland have therefore formed the Scottish Lupus Exchange (SLEx). It brings together the clinicians in the various disciplines to ensure that, through working collaboratively, people living with lupus receive the care and support they need as close to home as possible. The SLEx could well form the core of a lupus Managed Clinical Network, with suitable third sector representation.

We have provided pump priming funding to support the development of a rheumatology Managed Clinical Network in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. While its initial focus will be on Rheumatoid Arthritis, we expect that, over time, its work will extend to other conditions, including lupus.

This information requested is not available centrally.

A cost template report, developed by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, has been made available as a companion document to Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) Guideline 116 on the management of diabetes. The template provides estimates of the costs and resources required to provide insulin pump therapy, including the associated structured education, as well as estimates of the costs and associated resources required to provide insulin by multiple daily injection.

The template is available at http://www.sign.ac.uk/guidelines/fulltext/116/index.html.

In response to research call one of the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI), seven applications were submitted from Scotland out of a total of 49 (14%). There were 10 successful applications, two of which were from Scotland (20%).

The Chief Scientist Office (CSO), of the Scottish Government''s Health and Social Care Directorates, has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health and health care needs in Scotland. The CSO has contributed £240,000 towards the funds being made available through the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative for research in awareness and early diagnosis of cancer. This contribution ensures that researchers from Scottish universities are eligible to submit research proposals to this UK-wide initiative being led by Cancer Research UK.