Chamber and committees

There are no financial incentives in addition to the present fees that optometrists may claim for carrying out free NHS eye examinations in their practices.

Free NHS eye examinations are universal and available to the whole population which is reflected in the current fee structure.

Although we don’t provide any additional incentives to optometrists in order to improve uptake of NHS eye examinations by such groups we do recognise the additional needs of some groups. For this reason optometrists can visit certain approved day centres to provide NHS eye examinations for patients who would have difficulty in obtaining services from practice premises because of their particular needs. The types of patients who could be seen include, those whose first language is not English who are new to the UK and require the service of an interpreter.

In addition, optometrists may undertake domiciliary visits to patient’s homes or residential homes in order to provide NHS eye examinations where the patient cannot leave home unaccompanied because of their particular needs, such as people with dementia or other disability. An additional fee is payable for undertaking domiciliary visits.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) undertook a review of the BCG vaccination programme in 2005 and recommended an improved targeted programme directed towards those most at risk of tuberculosis.

The Scottish Government’s TB Action Plan for Scotland, published in 2011, contains four recommendations in respect of BCG vaccination. One of these requires NHS boards to review BCG neonatal immunisation in their locality to re-examine current operational plans. In preparation for the 2013 annual report of the action plan, boards were asked to confirm their implementation status for each recommendation and thirteen reported that this had either been completed or that a review was underway. A further update on progress will be sought from boards in preparation for the 2014 annual report.

In addition, the action plan requires Health Protection Scotland to undertake a more detailed review of NHS Board BCG audit activities so that best practice can be shared across Scotland. The results of the review are awaited, but are expected to confirm that NHS boards are delivering the BCG vaccination programme in line with the recommendations set out by the JCVI and in line with the Green Book chapter publication. This can be accessed at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/148511/Green-Book-Chapter-32-dh_128356.pdf.

Information showing bed days occupied by patients categorised as code 9 is available on the Information Services Division website from April 2012 to December 2013 at Scotland and NHS board level. Information is only available from April 2012 as this was the first time this data was collected.

The information can be found in Table 1 at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Health-and-Social-Community-Care/Publications/2014-02-25/BedDays_Occupied_Tables_To_December_2013.xls

Trauma is the leading cause of death for people under 40. Each year in Scotland, around 5000 people are seriously injured, with around 1100-1200 cases being defined as ‘major trauma’. The four specialist major trauma centres, which will be operational from 2016, will be located at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Ninewells Hospital in Dundee and the new Southern General Hospital in Glasgow.

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary: A helicopter landing site is on the campus and a land ambulance then transfers patients from the landing site to the hospital building. The fixed wing air ambulance can land at Edinburgh airport and a land ambulance then transfers patients to the hospital.

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary: A helicopter landing site is adjacent to the A&E Department and a land ambulance then transfers patients from the landing site to the hospital building. The fixed wing air ambulance can land at Aberdeen airport and a land ambulance then transfers patients to the hospital.

Ninewells Hospital, Dundee: A helicopter landing site is adjacent to the A&E Department and a land ambulance then transfers patients from the landing site to the hospital building. The fixed wing air ambulance can land at Dundee airport or the base at RAF Leuchars and a land ambulance then transfers patients to the hospital.

Southern General, Glasgow: A helicopter landing site is currently adjacent to the hospital entrance and a land ambulance then transfers patients from the landing site to the hospital building. The fixed wing air ambulance can land at Glasgow airport and a land ambulance then transfers patients to the hospital. The design for the new Southern General includes provision for a rooftop helicopter landing pad.

The interim evaluation helped inform our consideration of the pilot and future options for the NHSScotland Confidential Alert Line service. It was published alongside the announcement of the enhanced continued service, which it helped inform.

Public Concern at Work (PCaW), the independent whistleblowing charity contracted to run the alert line pilot and provide evaluation, has expertise in advising on whistleblowing across different sectors in the UK. They are clear that, in their experience, it is not helpful to seek feedback from clients until there has been a reasonable time lapse. This allows cases, where appropriate, to be investigated and hopefully concluded and allows people time to consolidate their thoughts and emotions leading to more measured and constructive feedback on users satisfaction of the service. PCaW is currently undertaking this exercise where contact details are available and clients are willing to provide this feedback.

It is important to continue to recognise and respect the confidential nature of this service, however, a mechanism to record feedback from users of the service, where possible, is included as a requirement in tenders for provision of the enhanced continued service.

The Scottish Patient Safety Programme places a focus on supporting NHS boards to test and implement evidence based interventions to improve outcomes for patients. Early warning scoring is a key intervention in the general ward work stream to improve reliable detection and escalation of deteriorating patients. Early warning scoring was identified as one of the 10 essentials of safety which sets an expectation that it will be delivered to all patients, in acute health care, who can benefit from it. The Scottish Patient Safety Programme continues building on this progress and working with NHS boards to further improve the reliable response to a raised early warning score to provide appropriate escalation and care planning for patients who deteriorate in acute hospitals.

The NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) formula was first used to inform the allocation of health funds in 2009-10. When accepting the recommendations of the committee, the then Secretary for Health and Wellbeing noted that she placed “high importance on the need to avoid turbulence in NHS board funding and can confirm that no board will receive less funding than it does at present and any changes will be phased in over a number of years, as has been the practice under both the previous SHARE and Arbuthnott formulae.” For that reason, though the pattern of actual funding received by health boards is informed by the target shares derived using the NRAC formula, it is not identical to them.

The following tables set out information on actual allocations and target shares of NRAC-related funds for the years 2009-10 to 2013-14. Table 1 sets out the actual funds provided to health boards and Table 2 sets out the NRAC target shares.

Table 1: NRAC-Related Health Board Actual Funding, 2009-10 to 2014-15, £m

Table 2: NRAC Target Shares, 2009-10 to 2014-15, %

Note: * the 2014-15 data is shown on the old health board boundaries, consistent with the rest of the data.

The information requested is not centrally held.

The Scottish Government is aware of the review by the European Medicines Agency evaluating the impact of new data, and will take the necessary action upon the outcome of that review.