Chamber and committees

The multiple sclerosis risk-sharing scheme has allowed around 12,000 across the UK to be treated under the scheme. Over 5,500 patients are routinely monitored to assess their progress on treatment. The first two-year analysis of scheme data has been undertaken and has been published on the British Medical Journal website. This information can be accessed at:

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/339/dec02_1/b4677.

The multiple sclerosis risk-sharing scheme applies across the UK. Since the scheme began in May 2002 it is estimated that the total UK costs incurred have been around £350 million. The costs associated with the scheme are comprised of drug costs, administration costs and the UK health departments'' share of the costs of running the contract. Drug costs, which are the main component of overall costs, are estimated to be in the region of £50 million per year.

The UK multiple sclerosis risk-sharing scheme monitors outcomes of treatment with the disease-modifying therapies Avonex, Betaferon, Rebif and Copaxone for a cohort of over 5,500 patients. The monitoring data for the scheme are collected by MS centres across the UK and analysed by a scheme coordinator. The first two-year analysis of the scheme data has been completed and the results published in the British Medical Journal on 2 December 2009. This information can be accessed on the British Medical Journal website. This first analysis shows that it is too early to reach conclusions about the cost effectiveness of the drugs.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/339/dec02_1/b4677.

The three-year HAI (healthcare associated infection) task force delivery plan has a specific action (action 1.10) to tackle infections associated with the community healthcare setting. The delivery plan is at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/03/07110818/0.

Work to-date includes the publication of Infection Prevention and Control Guidance for NHS and non-NHS Community and Primary Care Settings, which was published on the Health Protection Scotland (HPS) website in July 2009, and a poster detailing the standard infection control precautions that should be followed in community and primary care settings.

The link to the guidance is:

http://www.documents.hps.scot.nhs.uk/hai/infection-control/publications/chp-g-2009-07-31.pdf.

The link to the poster is:

http://www.documents.hps.scot.nhs.uk/hai/infection-control/publications/community-sicp-poster.pdf.

It is also the case that the revised NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) healthcare associated infection standards are applied to all health care settings to assess both organisational structures and the delivery of HAI policies.

The link to the HAI Standards is http://www.nhshealthquality.org/nhsqis/4099.html.

The Scottish Government also provides funding to the care commission to support a nurse consultant for healthcare associated infection in day care for children''s services and care homes for older people in Scotland.

We will publish our most recent analysis of the cost of obesity to the NHS including treating obesity-related illness in the next few weeks.

We will publish our most recent analysis of the cost of obesity to the NHS in the next few weeks.

This information is not available.

Natalizumab (Tysabri®) therapy should be initiated and supervised by specialist physicians experienced in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological conditions, in centres with timely access to MRI. It is administered by intravenous infusion in an outpatient clinic setting with resources for the management of hypersensitivity reactions.

Prescription data collected centrally relate to prescribed items dispensed in the community by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors.

The number of babies born in the Inverclyde Royal Hospital is set out in the following table:

2006	2007	2008
73	102	96

As in other statistics published by the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS), each birth is counted on the basis of the year in which it was registered, which may not be the same as the year in which it occurred.

Provisional figures for 2009 will not be available until March 2010

The number of babies born between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm in the Inverclyde Royal Hospital is set out in the following table:

2006	2007	2008
27	32	33

As in other statistics published by the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS), each birth is counted on the basis of the year in which it was registered, which may not be the same as the year in which it occurred.

Provisional figures for 2009 will not be available until March 2010.

No extra funding has been provided to NHS boards for additional staff.

However, the Scottish Government has offered to meet the re-registration costs of nurses returning to the NHS during this pandemic to support the delivery of services.