Chamber and committees

This information is not held centrally. This is a matter for the Scottish Ambulance Service.

While recognising that post-traumatic hypopituitarism is an important topic, SIGN is unable to include it in the remit of this guideline. A proposal to develop a separate guideline on this topic has been received and it is currently being assessed for inclusion in the future Healthcare Improvement Scotland work programme.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-10339 on 1 November 2012. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

A number of meetings were held with the Management Task & Finishing Group on the development of the NHSScotland National Access Policy. This should have ensured that all boards across Scotland were taking a consistent approach in developing their local access policies.

An Equalities Impact Assessment (EQIA) was undertaken prior to the Patient Rights draft Bill being introduced to the Scottish Parliament in March 2010. A separate EQIA was also undertaken for the treatment time guarantee contained in the bill to ensure it complied with equality law.

In taking forward their own local access policy on acute hospital waiting times standards and targets including the legal guarantee we would expect boards to undertake their own equalities impact assessment.

The Scottish Government undertook a full consultation on the Patient Rights Bill before it was introduced to the Parliament in March 2010.

We expect most patients to be treated locally in the NHS, however, we recognise that, to address any short-term capacity issues which may arise, NHS boards may need to make use of the independent healthcare sector. The Scottish Government has made clear to boards that use of the independent healthcare sector will only be at the margins where it is demonstrably of benefit to NHS patients and represents value for money.

The meeting with the Thalidomide Trust was held in London on 17 July and was attended by a Scottish Government official. Members of the trust and National Advisory Council, along with a Scottish Thalidomider highlighted the benefits the grant had brought to Thalidomiders across the UK and how many were relying on its continuation to meet their long term healthcare needs and financial commitments.

The trust and advisory council agreed at that meeting to provide further evidence to strengthen their case, particularly in relation to the devolved administrations where health and social care systems differ from England. This report is due to be published in December.

The Scottish Government is working in partnership with the three neighbouring administrations to jointly agree the level of funding that will be provided to Thalidomiders across the UK.

We hope to make an announcement regarding future funding in the coming months.

Also as part of the charter a leaflet has been published on Communications and Participation. This leaflet clearly states that in communicating with patients, staff should ensure that any information provided to patients meets their needs.

This would include the need for boards to provide communications in another language other than English and/or by an interpreter. We would therefore expect boards to include in their local access policy access to interpreters and communication policy in relation to other languages. The leaflet is available at http://www.hris.org.uk/patient-information/information-about-health- rights/charter/communication-and-participation/what-can-i-expect-from-the-nhs/.

Officials from the four administrations have considered the second Firefly report and are now discussing options for future funding.

We are also awaiting completion of a further evaluation by Firefly which is looking in more detail at the impact of the health grant on Thalidomiders in Scotland. The results of this further evaluation will help to fully inform our thinking.