Chamber and committees

In the UK the European Working Time Directive has been implemented as the working time regulations (WTR).

All junior doctor rotas in Scotland are designed in a system which measures compliance with all aspects of the working time regulations. This system (doctors rostering system) measures hours and working patterns against the required limits, and ensures that hours fully comply. All rotas are sent to the Scottish Government’s medical workforce adviser for approval, who also ensures that rotas comply fully with the WTR. The Scottish Government funds this system for NHS boards.

NHS boards will also use New Deal monitoring returns to assess on-going compliance with the WTR. Although WTR hours are measured over 26 weeks, the two week New Deal monitoring snapshot allows NHS boards to determine day to day hours over this representative period. They will use this data, along with other datasets such as the template rota, daily roster and activity records to assess the compliance of junior doctors.

Prior to the 2009 implementation date of the 48 hour working week for Junior Doctors, CEL 14 2009 Working Time Regulations was issued which provides NHS boards with advice on how compliance should be measured.

This information is not held centrally.

This is a matter for individual health boards. The information sought is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Information on the number of transvaginal meshes purchased by NHS Boards is not held centrally and is for those NHS Boards to manage.

In addition, I refer the member to the answer to: question S4W-14315 on 30 April 2013; and questions S4W-14626 and S4W-14627 on 17 May 2013. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Information Services Division (ISD) publish NHS Workforce data on a quarterly bases, with the most recent publication date being 31 March 2013. Information as at April 2013 is therefore not available.

Information on how many whole time equivalent staff were employed at the Vale of Leven Hospital broken down by job family as at 31 March 2012 and 31 March 2013 is shown in the following table.

Source-ISD Scotland

The Scottish Government has no plans to place copies of correspondence with UK Ministers in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

The clinical standards for heart disease, which were published in April 2010 state that individuals who are relatives of patients with familial hypercholesterolaemia should be identified through cascade testing and managed in line with current national guidelines.

We expect NHS boards to provide services that meet these standards, which will ensure that all family members of someone diagnosed with familial hypercholesterolaemia are screened.

The National Advisory Committee on Heart Disease (NACHD) will review the issue of familial hypercholesterolaemia at its next meeting.

We want people with familial hypercholesterolaemia to get swiftly diagnosed and access to appropriate treatment as quickly as possible. Significant reductions in morbidity and mortality associated with the disease can be achieved through simple changes in lifestyle and the use of statins to lower cholesterol.

People receiving treatment for Familial Hypercholesterolaemia will benefit from a better quality of life as well as well as an increased life expectancy.

We recognise that treatment and management of the condition through lifestyle changes and statins is potentially less expensive when compared to the potential costs of hospital admission, disabilities arising from complications and social care costs.

The data available does not allow a direct comparison between the proportion of people diagnosed with familial hypercholesterolaemia in Scotland with those in the Netherlands. There is no central register of patients with familial hypercholesterolaemia in Scotland.

Alcohol Brief Interventions (ABIs) are part of our wider strategic approach to tackling alcohol. Our record investments are helping to fund early intervention services so we can address hazardous or harmful drinking habits before serious health problems, or other problems, develop.

The HEAT standard for 2012-13 states that NHS boards and Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) will sustain and embed ABIs in the three priority settings (primary care, accident and emergency, antenatal). In addition, they will continue to develop delivery of ABIs in wider settings. The majority of ABIs are delivered in Primary Care settings through Local Enhanced Service arrangements with GP Practices.