Chamber and committees

Arrangements have been put in place to monitor a range of factors including:

Trends in prescriptions that are exempt and paid for,

Volume of prescriptions dispensed,

Prescription pre-payment certificate sales,

Prescribing expenditure and

Trends in prescribing of specific drugs.

The data collected will allow assessment of the impact of the policy.

We are not planning to extend the Minor Ailments Service to all patients when prescription charges are abolished, but do intend to ensure that the patient groups that currently qualify (e.g. children, the elderly and those currently exempt on low income grounds) continue to do so. We will also take the opportunity of the abolition of prescription charges in 2011 to consider whether there are any other modifications to the Minor Ailments Service that might be appropriate in the wider context of Better Health Better Care.

Progress against each of the commitments in the concordat will be reported annually by COSLA. The commitment only covers arrangements made for kinship carers of children who are Looked After as defined in the answer to question S3W-15325 on 19 August 2008.

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/webapp/wa.search.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-15325 on 19 August 2008 which refers to the criteria for payment of an allowance to approved kinship carers of Looked After Children and for whom the local authority has a statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child and to the response to question S3W-15326 on 18 August 2008, which refers to the wider support of the Scottish Government for all kinship carers.

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/webapp/wa.search.

The intention of extended hours is to increase the availability of routine GP appointments outside of normal office hours, regardless of the patient''s background or circumstance. We are, therefore, not undertaking research on the health needs of patients accessing GP appointments during extended hours.

The intention of extended hours is to increase the availability of routine GP appointments outside of normal office hours, regardless of the patient''s background or circumstance. There is in principle no restriction on who may book an extended hours appointment although they will be of most benefit to patients who are unable to attend during normal office hours and GP practices may encourage other patients to make use of existing in-hours appointments whenever possible. We are, therefore, not undertaking research on the health needs of patients accessing GP appointments during extended hours.

We are monitoring the take up of extended hours in GP surgeries through NHS boards. As of 1 August, over half of GP practices in Scotland have indicated that they intend to provide extended opening.

The Antimicrobial Prescribing Policy and Practice 2005, and Scottish Management of Antimicrobial Resistance Action Plan 2008 guidance documents called for all NHS boards to establish an Antimicrobial Management Team (AMT), which would include an antimicrobial pharmacist, to cover both primary and secondary prescribing activities.

The Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group (SAPG), advised that not all NHS boards have an established AMT, and therefore the HAI Task Force has announced in CEL30 2008 on 8 July 2008, funding of £40,000 for each mainland NHS board and £20,000 for Island Boards for 2009-10 and 20010-11, with two thirds for the current financial year, to enable each NHS board to rapidly appoint an antimicrobial pharmacist.

The commitment within the concordat is to pay approved kinship carers of Looked After Children a weekly allowance at the equivalent rate as paid by the local authority to its foster carers.

We continue to support the payment of allowances based on TFN''s recommended rate of allowance. It is however up to individual local authorities to decide on an appropriate rate of allowance based on their local need and priorities.

Looked After children are those who are children subject to:

A supervision requirement made by a children''s hearing under section 70 of the 1995 act.

A child accommodated by the local authority under section 25 of the 1995 act.

An order made or authorisation or warrant granted by virtue of chapter 2, 3 or 4 of Part II of the 1995 act.

A placement made by a local authority which has taken parental responsibility under section 86 of the 1995 act (to be repealed shortly under the Adoption and Children Act 2007).

The following table shows a breakdown by NHS board of extended hours participation in general practice.

As at 18 July 2008, 458 GPs in Scotland have contractually signed up to provide extended hours. Three hundred and fifty-seven have declined to offer the service and the remainder are undecided.

NHS Board	Number of Practices Opted In to Provide Extended Hours	Number of practices Opted Out of Providing Extended Hours
Ayrshire and Arran	43	8
Borders	10	15
Dumfries and Galloway	15	3
Fife	15	42
Forth Valley	48	8
Glasgow	113	92
Grampian	34	14
Highland	49	26
Lanarkshire	31	58
Lothian	64	54
Orkney	3	0
Shetland	4	1
Tayside	20	34
Western Isles	9	2
Total for Scotland	458	357

 

We do not have equivalent information by community health partnership.