Chamber and committees

Cochlear implantation is designated and funded as a national specialist service provided at two sites in Scotland: Crosshouse Hospital in Ayrshire (adults and children) and Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (adults). The number of patients waiting at each site is set out in the table. The numbers have not been broken down by NHS board of residence because patient confidentiality could be compromised, given the small numbers involved.

Location	Number of Patients Waiting
	Initial Consultation	Implant Surgery
Crosshouse Hospital	8	6
Edinburgh Royal Infirmary	3	5

 

The number of cochlear implants carried out each year is expected to continue at around 50, split approximately equally between children and adults.

This information is not available centrally. Prescription of the anti-TNF drugs should be undertaken by consultant rheumatologists specialising in their use. Data on drugs dispensed in hospitals are not available centrally. Centrally collected data relate to prescribed items dispensed in the community by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors. These data are not patient specific.

Where NHS Quality Improvement Scotland or the Scottish Medicines Consortium has issued advice on the use of the anti-TNF drugs, NHSScotland should take account of the advice and ensure that these drugs are made available to meet clinical need.

The information requested is given in the table Average Available Staffed Beds by NHS Hospital and Specialty Group 1998 - 2005. A copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37985).

The table shows information on average available staffed beds. This indicates the average daily number of beds, which were staffed and were available for the reception of in-patients and day cases. Borrowed and temporary beds are included; beds in day bed units are excluded.

The Executive does not set target numbers for beds. These are local planning decisions taken by NHS boards who have the information necessary to make the correct judgements.

There are good reasons for reductions in bed numbers. These include:

Medical advances continue to reduce lengths of stay associated with many planned procedures, and some are now routinely carried out in a few hours without the need for any overnight stay.

Numbers of in-patient beds do not include beds in dedicated day surgery units. 64% of elective admissions are day cases where there is no need for an overnight bed.

NHSScotland is making better use of available beds. Average bed occupancy has risen from 78.5% in 1997-98 to 81.7% in 2004-05.

Information is not available at the level of detail requested.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Case Management Database records details of the charges against each accused in terms of the specific common law or statutory offence that is alleged to have been committed. In the case of illegal use or petrol or diesel in a motor vehicle, the relevant offence is usually the offence of evasion of duty under section 170(2)(a) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979. That offence also covers other offences relating to the evasion of duty (eg evasion of duty on cigarettes or alcohol) and it is not possible to determine from the information held on the database the nature of the goods involved in each case. The following table provides details of all charges since April 2002 which led to prosecutions for offences under section 170(2)(a) of the 1979 Act.

Charges Prosecuted under Section 170(2)(a) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979¹

Police Force Area	Disposal	2002-032	2003-04	2004-05
Lothian and Borders	No Further Proceedings	0	0	3
Strathclyde	Charge still “active”	0	0	1
	Guilty - Imprisonment	0	0	1
	Not Guilty	1	0	0
	No Further Proceedings	1	0	0

Notes:

1. The information in this table has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Case Management Database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies.

2. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service completed an upgrade of its electronic case management system in April 2002. Only case records created after that date contain complete data which is capable of electronic analysis. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency the database will record details only of the amended charge.

The information asked for is not collected centrally in the form requested. There is data available on violence and aggression related incidents available on the Scottish Health Statistics website under workforce statistics, www.isdscotland.org/workforce .

Section A gives details of the overall summary of workforce statistics in NHS Scotland. Table A8 has a breakdown of the number of occupational injuries by type of organisation and staff group which includes the number of incidents related to violence and aggression. Latest figures are at 31 March 2004.

Administrative and management staff make an invaluable contribution to the operation of the health service, organising services in a way which provides equitable access to the highest possible levels of sustainable quality care and ensuring that the patient’s journey through the system is made as smooth as possible, for example through effective management of patient records and efficient scheduling of appointments.

Administration

(a) The amount spent by each NHS board in each of the last five years on administration, expressed both as (i) a percentage of total budget, and (ii) per head of population was:

	2000-01			2001-02			2002-03
	(£000)	%	Cost Per Head (£)	(£000)	%	Cost Per Head (£)	(£000)	%	Cost Per Head (£)
Argyll and Clyde	4,317	1.02%	10.19	4,228	1.03%	9.98	4,388	1.01%	10.43
Ayrshire and Arran	3,185	0.88%	8.53	3,267	0.92%	8.75	2,257	0.59%	6.13
Borders	1,599	1.50%	14.96	1,636	1.61%	15.30	1,539	1.40%	14.39
Dumfries and Galloway	1,808	1.18%	12.40	1,844	1.24%	12.65	1,277	0.80%	8.64
Fife	2,862	0.92%	8.17	3,327	1.09%	9.49	2,583	0.80%	7.39
Forth Valley	2,514	0.96%	9.04	2,605	1.04%	9.37	1,888	0.70%	6.76
Grampian	4,217	0.88%	8.06	4,355	0.95%	8.32	3,456	0.69%	6.57
Glasgow	7,461	0.77%	8.25	8,043	0.85%	8.89	9,449	0.91%	10.88
Highland	2,827	1.34%	13.55	2,875	1.40%	13.78	2,824	1.27%	13.52
Lanarkshire	3,681	0.73%	6.55	3,919	0.76%	6.97	2,852	0.53%	5.16
Lothian	6,405	0.89%	8.17	6,747	0.94%	8.61	4,486	0.60%	5.76
Orkney	709	3.09%	36.40	765	3.50%	39.27	589	2.47%	30.65
Shetland	645	2.34%	28.74	619	2.29%	27.58	611	2.02%	27.82
Tayside	3,632	0.86%	9.42	4,683	1.11%	12.15	2,721	0.61%	7.00
Western Isles	1,313	3.29%	48.31	1,562	3.82%	57.47	1,446	3.23%	54.67
	47,175			50,475			42,366

 

	2003-04			2004-05
	(£000)	%	Cost Per Head (£)	(£000)	%	Cost Per Head (£)
Argyll and Clyde	4,913	1.04%	11.78	5,588	1.06%	n/a
Ayrshire and Arran	2,747	0.66%	7.48	2,938	0.58%	n/a
Borders	1,427	1.15%	13.18	1,592	1.08%	n/a
Dumfries and Galloway	1,777	0.99%	12.07	1,898	0.89%	n/a
Fife	3,738	1.03%	10.62	4,306	1.01%	n/a
Forth Valley	2,165	0.75%	7.74	2,619	0.77%	n/a
Grampian	4,140	0.78%	7.91	3,578	0.59%	n/a
Glasgow	12,410	1.13%	14.32	11,721	0.92%	n/a
Highland	3,065	1.25%	14.66	4,858	1.60%	n/a
Lanarkshire	4,028	0.71%	7.28	4,380	0.66%	n/a
Lothian	5,010	0.54%	6.42	4,168	0.44%	n/a
Orkney	626	2.44%	32.42	640	2.06%	n/a
Shetland	641	2.02%	29.31	736	2.04%	n/a
Tayside	3,909	0.83%	10.11	5,162	0.94%	n/a
Western Isles	1,522	3.24%	58.31	2,112	3.91%	n/a
	52,118			56,296

 

Administration

The boards’ spending on administration costs are taken from note 6 of the published annual accounts for each respective financial year.

The guidance issued on administration costs is based on the Code of Practice for Best Value Accounting for Local Authorities, which focuses on costs of the boards’ strategic functions that are not included in the cost of service provision. Expenditure will include the costs associated with the board’s responsibilities for the planning and commissioning of health care for its resident population (such as statutory reporting, strategic planning, commissioning of health care and financial projections), but not those costs associated with the provision of health care and other non-clinical services provided by the board.

Budgets

The total budget of each board is their Revenue Resource Limit (RRL) which is reported in their annual accounts.

In 2000-01, before resource budgeting was introduced to the Scottish Executive, boards did not have a RRL therefore for 2000-01 their budget has been assumed to be their Total Revenue Allocation which was also reported in their Annual Accounts.

Population

The figures for the population of each board area is taken from Report 086 of the Cost Book, no figures are yet available for 2004-05.

Management

(b) The amount spent by each NHS board in each of the last five years on management, expressed both as (i) a percentage of total budget, and (ii) per head of population was:

	2000-01			2001-02
	(£000)	%	Cost Per Head (£)	(£000)	%	Cost Per Head (£)
Argyll and Clyde	22,884	5.41%	54.04	23,896	5.80%	56.43
Ayrshire and Arran	18,632	5.17%	49.90	20,259	5.73%	54.26
Borders	6,753	6.34%	63.17	7,241	7.11%	67.74
Dumfries and Galloway	8,662	5.67%	59.41	8,939	5.99%	61.31
Fife	16,066	5.14%	45.85	19,397	6.37%	55.36
Forth Valley	11,828	4.52%	42.55	12,637	5.04%	45.46
Grampian	29,609	6.19%	56.57	31,862	6.93%	60.88
Glasgow	72,357	7.45%	80.01	74,003	7.78%	81.83
Highland	10,263	4.86%	49.20	12,041	5.88%	57.72
Lanarkshire	33,315	6.61%	59.28	35,659	6.96%	63.45
Lothian	48,099	6.65%	61.38	47,758	6.65%	60.95
Orkney	885	3.85%	45.43	1,076	4.92%	55.24
Shetland	872	3.16%	38.86	1,152	4.25%	51.34
Tayside	35,005	8.29%	90.80	30,434	7.19%	78.95
Western Isles	1,947	4.88%	71.63	1,992	4.87%	73.29
	317,177			328,346

 

	2002-03			2003-04
	(£000)	%	Cost per head (£)	(£000)	%	Cost per head (£)
Argyll and Clyde	25,680	5.90%	61.04	25,548	5.42%	61.27
Ayrshire and Arran	22,454	5.89%	60.97	24,387	5.86%	66.42
Borders	7,882	7.18%	73.70	7,790	6.26%	71.94
Dumfries and Galloway	9,212	5.77%	62.34	7,438	4.13%	50.53
Fife	19,142	5.93%	54.74	22,823	6.31%	64.85
Forth Valley	15,764	5.85%	56.45	17,285	5.97%	61.80
Grampian	34,923	6.98%	66.41	35,849	6.78%	68.49
Glasgow	81,850	7.91%	94.28	92,369	8.38%	106.62
Highland	12,663	5.70%	60.61	13,775	5.63%	65.88
Lanarkshire	36,903	6.82%	66.70	40,907	7.22%	73.91
Lothian	57,599	7.70%	73.94	58,732	6.36%	75.30
Orkney	1,260	5.29%	65.56	1,245	4.85%	64.48
Shetland	1,280	4.24%	58.29	1,556	4.90%	71.13
Tayside	33,260	7.50%	85.56	34,813	7.36%	90.06
Western Isles	2,037	4.56%	77.01	2,355	5.01%	90.21
	361,909			386,871

 

Management

The figures for Management costs are taken from Scottish Financial Return (SFR) 5.2, which is completed by each hospital and submitted to the NHS National Service Scotland Information and Statistics Division for publication in the Cost Book.

The above costs report the administrative and management costs of running all hospitals in NHSScotland. The range of support services in a hospital which are considered management and administrative include:

Hospital Medical/Paramedical Administrative Support;

Senior Nursing and Hospital Administrative Support;

Medical Records;

Hospital administration, including senior management, and

Administrative agency staff and agency services.

The figures for 2004-05 have not been published.

Information is not held centrally in the form requested.

In June this year, I announced a maximum nine-weeks waiting time for eight key diagnostic tests, including MRI and CT scans. This commitment will come into effect from the end of 2007.

Meantime, NHS boards are working to reduce diagnostic waiting times for patients through service redesign, investment in capacity and more efficient working to ensure that the target is met. Many NHS boards are making use of the MRI and CT scanning services provided by the Golden Jubilee National Hospital.

This information is not available. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Case Management Database records details of the charges against each accused in terms of the specific common law or statutory offence that is alleged to have been committed. Conduct of the type referred to in the question could be charged as rape or assault where the victim did not consent to sexual intercourse or culpable and reckless conduct where the victim consented. However, these charges are also used to cover a wide range of other conduct and cases involving reckless or deliberate transmission of sexually transmitted diseases cannot be separately identified in the database.

There are 268 DNA profiles held on the Scottish DNA Database that people provided voluntarily, so these were provided without anyone being cautioned or charged. The people who provided these samples can withdraw their permission for the database to hold them in writing at any time. Three of these profiles are from people aged under 18.

Other than those 268 profiles, the Database does not store any DNA profiles from people who have not been charged or cautioned. All other profiles held by the database were taken from suspects following arrest or detention for specific offences, and caution and charging is undertaken as part of the arrest and detention procedures.

Figures are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Table 1 (Bib. number 37917) shows the combined figures for alcohol-related discharges from general acute and psychiatric hospitals during 1997-98 to 2001-02. Table 2 (Bib. number 37918) provides data for discharges from general acute hospitals only from 1997-98 to 2004-05. Psychiatric discharges are unavailable for 2002-03 to 2004-05.