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Information on the cost of voluntary redundancies is not held centrally and would have to be requested from individual NHS boards in Scotland.

The data requested in respect of 2008-09 and 2009-10 is already published on the archived web site of the Information and Statistics Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland. The website can be reached at:

http://www.isdscotlandarchive.scot.nhs.uk/isd/2241.html.

Data for 2010-11 will be added in due course to the new ISD website which can be reached at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Prescribing-and-Medicines/Publications/.

Information regarding the total number of civil servants taking voluntary redundancy in these years is not held centrally.

The following table shows the number of staff who have taken early retirement/severance in 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 and whose costs will be paid for by the core Scottish Government. This may include some staff employed by Scottish Government agencies.

The costs do not represent the cash amounts actually paid out in the financial years specified as the Scottish Government is invoiced on an ongoing basis for staff who have retired in previous years. However all costs from the date of leaving the organisation to the normal retirement age are accounted for in the year the individual accepts an offer to retire. It should also be recognised that the cost does not represent what individuals actually receive by way of pension and lump sum as there are costs borne by the Scottish Government in relation to the costs of bringing forward the payment of early retirement/severance benefits which do not relate to payments made to individuals.

Scottish Government Funded Early Retirements/Severances

No. This is an interim move phased over the next 12 to 18 months prior to the opening of the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children on the new south Glasgow hospital site in 2015. The decision is based on the explicit recommendation of an independent expert clinical body and it is important to note that, this interim move aside, the service would always have been located at the New Southern General site from 2015.

This means that we will work with NHS employers in Scotland to fulfil our manifesto commitment to guarantee there will be no compulsory redundancies in the NHS. In this way security and certainty will be provided for thousands of households across Scotland who are already dealing with pressures on family budgets caused by rising prices and higher UK taxes such as VAT.

In 2010, 163 patients required revision for an elective primary hip that had been replaced within the previous five years, and 184 patients required revision for an elective primary knee that had been replaced within the previous five years. A five-year timescale was chosen because revision of a hip or knee replacement within five years generally indicates some problem or failure of the implant ahead of the usual 10+ years lifespan of the implant. These figures exclude repeat revisions of an implant in the same joint.

As well as revision of failed implants, revision arthroplasty surgery also occurs in order to replace implants that have worn out over time (10+ years implant lifespan), and to revise implants that are already themselves revisions. In 2010 the total number of hip and knee arthroplasty revisions from all sources was 832 and 530 respectively.

Data for the financial year 2010-11 are not yet available.

The National Scrutiny Group last met on 15 March 2011 and discussed some issues raised in correspondence from the Royal College of Nursing and the future of the group within a wider landscape of groups supporting the implementation of the Healthcare Quality Strategy. A copy of the minutes has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 51640).

NHS boards continue to ensure that local arrangements are in place so that people with severe aortic stenosis get access to appropriate clinical treatment. As part of those arrangements, where it is considered clinically appropriate by their doctors, patients can get access to transcatheter aortic valve implantation treatment through consideration by an individual case panel.

It should be noted that conventional aortic valve replacement surgery in appropriate cases remains a clinically proven and cost effective treatment for aortic stenosis.

The approach of the Scottish Government and individual territorial health boards is to contain reimbursement costs for prescribed items, to encourage best practice, and to develop, in conjunction with the clinicians concerned, local prescribing budgets, which support evidence based prescribing and thus deliver optimal patient care and value for money.

The savings achieved since 2007-08 attributable respectively to improved prescribing in primary care and more effective drug purchasing in primary care are detailed in the efficiency outturn reports for 2008-09 and 2009-10. These can be accessed at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/11/Outturn2008-09/Q/EditMode/on/ForceUpdate/on/Page/11, and

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/10/Outturn2009-10/Q/EditMode/on/ForceUpdate/on/Page/8.

A report for 2010-11 will be published in due course.

The Scottish Arthroplasty Project was set up to provide anonymised individual consultant and aggregated service outcome data on patients undergoing elective joint replacement surgery throughout Scotland.