Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31307 on 1 March 2010 which specifies the number of managers not included on Agenda for Change. The reasons for not including certain posts under Agenda for Change contractual arrangements is set out in the circular HDL(2006)59 (http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/HDL2006_59.pdf). There was an independently chaired review of the executive and senior management pay arrangements which is published on the SHOW website and the link is http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/publications/DC20100315Pay.pdf.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S3W-31307 and S3W-32005 on 1 March 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

We are currently considering the future options for the cardiovascular assessment of young athletes programme with our partners in the project, the University of Glasgow and the Scottish Football Association.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-36491 on 30 September 2010. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The Scottish Government notes that this is an opinion and it will be the judgement of the EU Court of Justice that specifies what the law is on this matter.

The Scottish Government does not have concerns over the legality, on grounds of proportionality or otherwise, of the measures in section two of the Alcohol etc. (Scotland) Bill.

A total off-trade discount ban on its own was modelled by the University of Sheffield, however this does not produce the same estimated level of benefits as a minimum price of 45p per unit.

The Scottish Government does not have concerns over the legality, on grounds of proportionality or otherwise, in relation to minimum pricing and banning discounts.

The Scottish Government is aware of the opinion of Advocate-General Mengozzi of the EU Court of Justice in Case 108/09 Ker-Optika of 15 June 2010, has considered it and is watching developments in the case.

The funding provided for Choose Life each year since May 2007 is as follows:

	2007- 08	2008- 09	2009-10	2010-11
National	£962,000	£920,000	£964,000	£813,619
Local	£3.198 million*	**	**	**

Notes:

*£3.198 million was allocated by Scottish Government to local authorities for suicide prevention action, with associated guidance on priorities for the use of funds.

**Under the concordat between the Scottish Government and COSLA, funding for local suicide prevention action in 2008-11 is wrapped up in general allocations to local authorities. It is for local authorities to determine, on the basis of local circumstances and needs, how to prioritise this funding.

Funding provided for the Choose Life programme in 2010-11 is less than that provided in 2009-10, due to Choose Life now being situated within NHS Health Scotland and having access to their internal resources to help support Choose Life programme objectives. Choose Life now have the practical and professional support of the larger organisation, as well as drawing on their knowledge, expertise and development skills at no extra cost. Effectively the programme objectives are being supported at the same level at a reduced cost to the Scottish Government.

Other Scottish Government funding is also provided to support a range of actions on improving mental health and wellbeing, such as the development of a Confidential Suicide Register for Scotland aimed at improving future knowledge on suicide prevention, and other programmes of work designed to tackle depression and anxiety.

The number of calls (a) received and (b) answered by Breathing Space, in each month since January 2010 is as follows:

Month	Received	Answered
January 2010	6,246	5,804
February 2010	5,364	4,903
March 2010	6,413	5,854
April 2010	5,881	5,541
May 2010	6,102	5,690
June 2010	5,398	4,890
July 2010	6,354	5,885
August 2010	6,523	6,066

Note: It is normal to expect a level of abandoned calls in any contact centre and this can vary depending on the nature of the business.

The average number of calls received and answered in 2006-07 to 2010-11 is as follows:

Year	Received	Answered
2006-07	2,984	2,869
2007-08	3,486	3,329
2008-09	4,357	4,186
2009-10	4,541	4,257
2010-11	6,052	5,614

 

The figures show a consistent and significant rise in calls received since 2006.

No. Waiting an hour for a call to be answered by Breathing Space is exceptional. For example, the average time for a call to be answered since January 2010 is 21 seconds.

The following table shows the number of hospital stays where cardiac arrest is recorded as the main, or secondary diagnosis, in any episode within the hospital stay, combined with the number of out-of-hospital registered deaths where cardiac arrest is recorded as the underlying or a contributing cause of death, and the estimated number and percentage of patients discharged alive at the end of an acute continuous inpatient hospital stay. Data are shown for Scotland over the past 10 years. No comparable data are available centrally for other European countries.

Year Ending 31 March	Number of Cardiac Arrests	Number of Cardiac Arrest Patients Admitted to Hospital	Estimated Number of Cardiac Arrest Survivors Discharged Alive from Hospital	Estimated % of Cardiac Arrests Discharged Alive from Hospital
2001	2,802	1,812	442	15.8%
2002	2,557	1,687	413	16.2%
2003	2,637	1,728	401	15.2%
2004	2,353	1,532	362	15.4%
2005	2,328	1,556	360	15.5%
2006	2,128	1,394	356	16.7%
2007	2,004	1,232	331	16.5%
2008	1,974	1,307	361	18.3%
2009	1,744	1,151	335	19.2%
2010P	1,652	1,117	349	21.1%

^PProvisional

Source: ISD Scotland.

Deaths occurring in the community, in the ambulance or on arrival in the accident and emergency department and recorded as myocardial infarction may have been from a cardiac arrest. It is important to note that data on out-of-hospital deaths from cardiac arrest are probably under estimates and hence the survival rates are likely to be overestimates.

Notes:

1. The basic unit of analysis for these figures is the number of cardiac arrests recorded either in a continuous stay (CIS) in hospital or on a death registration. Probability matching methods have been used to link together death registrations from the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) and individual SMR01 hospital episodes for each patient, thereby creating linked patient histories. Within these patient histories, SMR01 episodes are grouped according to whether they form part of a continuous spell of treatment (whether or not this involves transfer between hospitals or even NHS Boards).

2. All discharges (hospital stays) with a main or secondary diagnosis of cardiac arrest in addition to all deaths where cardiac arrest is recorded as the underlying or one of 10 secondary causes of death are included in the analysis. Death registrations corresponding to linked hospital discharges are excluded. The discharge code from the last SMR01 episode within the CIS determines whether the patient was discharged from the continuous stay alive or dead.

3. These statistics are based on the linked data set of SMR01 (Scottish Morbidity Record 01) and death records held by ISD Scotland. SMR01 collects information on inpatient and day case discharges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals in Scotland. The linkage and use of the death records is by permission of the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS).

4. Up to six diagnoses (one main and five secondary) may be recorded on an SMR01 record. Up to 10 causes of death (underlying and secondary) may be recorded on the GROS death registration. All diagnoses position on any SMR01 record of a hospital stay and all causes of death have been used to identify cardiac arrest admissions or out of hospital deaths. Cardiac arrest has been defined using ICD10 code I46.

5. There will be some cases of myocardial infarction (MI) where a cardiac arrest occurred during the hospital stay but was not mentioned on the discharge summary.