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Specific capital allocations for medical equipment were not given for the years requested. Prior to 2002, NHS trusts had to bid for capital funding which was held centrally. 2002-03 saw a major change in the methodology for allocating the Health Department’s capital budget with the majority of the available budget allocated on the basis of the Arbuthnott formula adjusted for cross boundary patient flows and weighted for the provision of regional specialities. This means that NHS boards can prioritise their investment requirements within defined resources, including those on equipment, based on their local knowledge or the local needs of the local area how this money should be spent.

Following the publication of the Audit Scotland report Better Equipped to Care? – Follow Up Report on 26 February 2004 the Executive announced an additional £125 million over three years to support investment in new and replacement medical equipment.

Specific data on medical equipment expenditure is not collected separately but is included within the general equipment categories as per NHSScotland Accounting Manual guidance. For expenditure on capital equipment (in real terms), for the years stated I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-16390 on  26 May 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliaments website which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

The information requested is not held by local authority area. Information on average waiting times is collated and presented as a national average. The average waiting time, which covers the whole of Scotland, is five months.

The UK Government, through the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), is responsible for social security benefits and for campaigns to maximise their uptake. The Care 21 Report The future of unpaid care in Scotland calls, amongst other things, for a review of the benefit entitlements available to carers, and I have made DWP Ministers aware of this.

Under our Carers’ Strategy we are working with stakeholders to improve carer access to information and advice on sources of support, including financial assistance. An important strand here is the duties placed on local authorities and NHSScotland by the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002. The Care 21 report recognises that many of the necessary policy mechanisms are already in place, but that systematic implementation needs to happen Scotland-wide. We will be considering these matters further in our response to the report.

Local authorities have a duty under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 to assess the needs of people and decide, in the light of the assessment, whether they should arrange any services and, if so, which services. Any decision taken by the local authority’s social work department should be based on a detailed assessment of a person’s care needs taking his or her wishes into account. However, local authorities are also expected to ensure that the resources available are used in the most effective way to meet individual care needs.

Assistance to owners of private sector housing to make their houses suitable for the needs of disabled occupants is given mainly by local authorities through housing improvement grants, funded by Private Sector Housing Grant (PSHG) from the Scottish Executive. Adaptations for disabled people, along with improving houses which fall below the tolerable standard, are ministerial priorities which are taken into account in assessing local authorities’ proposals for PSHG expenditure. It is for local authorities to set local priorities, and information on the priority accorded to privately-rented and owner-occupied housing is not held centrally.

The Community Planning Implementation Group was set up in April 2003 for twelve months to take forward the recommendations of the Community Planning Task Force. The group completed its duties with the publication of its report, Making a Difference - Community Planning A Year On, in June 2004. Details of membership of the Group are given on page 15 of the report, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 33200) and on the Scottish Executive’s internet site (www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/finance/cpayo-00.asp).

The distribution of National Lottery funds is a matter for the Lottery Distribution Bodies: Scottish Arts Council, Scottish Screen, sportscotland, the Big Lottery Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund. The information requested is not held centrally by the Executive.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport maintains an electronic database of National Lottery awards. Details of the total awarded to each constituency area and each local authority area for each Lottery good cause can be obtained through the DCMS website at:

http://www.lottery.culture.gov.uk/search.asp.

Community Hospitals play a key role in treating patients who cannot be cared for at home but who do not require the specialist care provided by acute hospitals. Community hospitals remain a key resource in the delivery of care.

When considering possible closure of any hospitals in their areas, NHS boards are required to undertake public consultations to give as many people as possible the opportunity to be involved in shaping the future of health services in their areas.

Before I am invited to give formal approval to any such closures, the relevant board must provide evidence that the proposed closure will be to the benefit of the local community, and that suitable alternative arrangements are in place, in terms of providing a more efficient, more modern service that properly caters for the needs of patients and staff.

As far as we are aware, no research has been carried out into the impact of community hospital closures on the delivery of services.

For those aged 65 and over the provisional vaccine uptake figure by the end of November 2005 NHS board is as follows:

NHS Board	Uptake	% Total Uptake
Ayrshire and Arran	38,150	52.5
Argyll and Clyde	43,804	69.2
Borders	12,396	72.7
Dumfries and Galloway	19,590	73.3
Fife	43,389	74.4
Forth Valley	29,500	71.8
Greater Glasgow	93,122	69.2
Grampian	57,679	71.4
Highland	24,656	67.8
Lanarkshire	53,678	69.3
Lothian	80,227	75.2
Orkney	1,923	77.1
Shetland	2,290	69.1
Tayside	50,693	71.4
Western Isles	3,328	58.6
Scotland	554,425	69.5

 

Please note that this is an early stage in the vaccination programme and uptake will increase over time.

As stated in the Chief Medical Officer’s letter CMO (2005)7 to NHSScotland, Health Protection Scotland requests general practices to provide an estimation of vaccine uptake in the under 65 year at risk categories, as a once only exercise. However, this information will not be requested until the end of December and will be available mid January.

The number of home care clients that received a service in the last week of March each year, by local authority area, for each of the last five years is in the following table:

Local Authority	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Aberdeen City	3,001	2,779	2,514	2,904	2,862
Aberdeenshire	1,828	1,867	1,874	1,939	2,107
Angus	1,804	1,740	1,778	1,810	1,839
Argyll and Bute	927	957	965	1,060	1,078
Clackmannanshire	656	648	680	700	814
Dumfries and Galloway	2,015	1,755	2,048	2,050	2,047
Dundee City	2,445	2,166	1,886	1,870	2,115
East Ayrshire	1,311	1,361	1,444	1,706	1,750
East Dunbartonshire	986	1,013	1,029	1,172	1,128
East Lothian	1,195	1,267	1,128	1,423	1,553
East Renfrewshire	765	939	884	965	1,050
Edinburgh, City of	5,969	5,958	6,084	5,963	5,672
Eilean Siar	779	768	765	765	744
Falkirk	2,281	2,098	2,010	2,006	2,169
Fife	5,858	5,629	6,082	6,875	7,294
Glasgow City	8,802	8,789	9,040	9,102	9,223
Highland	2,748	2,670	3,055	2,957	2,764
Inverclyde	1,146	1,255	1,104	1,137	1,298
Midlothian	1,256	1,113	1,084	1,201	1,168
Moray	1,063	1,119	1,205	1,360	1,430
North Ayrshire	1,490	1,301	1,491	1,692	1,503
North Lanarkshire	2,895	3,408	4,370	4,394	4,371
Orkney Islands	442	516	428	511	505
Perth and Kinross	1,477	1,532	1,618	1,559	1,187
Renfrewshire	2,542	2,098	2,169	1,814	1,947
Scottish Borders	1,491	1,553	1,686	1,724	1,604
Shetland Islands	722	553	545	529	555
South Ayrshire	1,203	1,298	1,471	1,723	1,735
South Lanarkshire	2,445	2,326	2,568	2,709	3,158
Stirling	881	1,015	848	982	944
West Dunbartonshire	1,558	1,647	1,834	2,065	2,108
West Lothian	1,552	1,408	1,579	1,319	1,372
Scotland	65,533	64,546	67,266	69,986	71,094

 

These figures are taken from the H1 Home Care Survey, carried out by the Scottish Executive Health Department, Analytical Services Division each year.

The Executive does not hold detailed information on the use of local produce by local authorities. However, a recent informal survey of Hungry for Success coordinators found that 60% of local authorities had sourced products locally, and a further 31% were considering this.

In addition, a number of Scottish schools have been involved in the Food for Life initiative, which promotes the use of local and organic produce. One of the first schools in Scotland to become a Food for Life school was Hurlford Primary School in East Ayrshire, which recently won the Soil Association Food for Life School of the Year Award.