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The anticipated cost of retaining the current eligibility and exclusions in the minor ailment service (MAS) when the prescription charge is reduced to zero in April 2011, will be in line with current costs.

For the most recent cost of MAS, I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-37442 on 23 November 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 information requested is as follows:

New Distinction Awards Broken Down by Age

Age Group	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	Total
56 to 59	14	19	11	5	8	62
60 and Over	0	4	4	2	6	15
Total	14	23	15	7	14	77

Further information relating to the distinction awards can be found in the Scottish Advisory Committee on Distinction Awards (SACDA) annual reports at:

www.shsc.scot.nhs.uk/shsc/default.asp?p=71.

I announced on 16 November 2010 my decision to freeze the distinction awards scheme for 2011-12. That means no new or recycled awards will be made in 2011-12.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of allowing NHS boards time to fully develop their policies and put them in place before asking them to demonstrate their effectiveness. NHS boards have been asked to provide written assurance, by 30 December 2010, that substantive progress has been reached in the development of policies about access to newly licensed medicines in accordance with the framework contained in CEL 17 (2010).

NHS boards have further been asked to confirm that these policies are in place by 1 April 2011.

In addition, active consideration is being given to monitoring arrangements which will underpin this guidance.

The following table contains a breakdown of funds allocated to tobacco control activities.

Tobacco Control Activities “ 2007-08 to 2010-11

	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
	£	£	£	£
Overall Budget Available	13,545,000	19,996,230	20,358,046	20,295,596
1. Smoking Cessation-Related Activity	9,160,500	12,711,230	13,128,096	13,013,096
2. Voluntary Sector Activity	1,005,112	983,950	983,950	971,500
3. Smoke-Free Laws	2,596,000	2,550,000	2,550,000	2,500,000
4. Smoking Prevention	148,125	3,165,000	3,098,000	3,065,000
5. Tobacco Communications	550,000	521,000	550,000	300,000
6. Surveys	70,000	62,000	33,000	18,000
7.Miscellaneous/Contingency	15,263	3,050	15,000	3,000
8.Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 - Implementation				425,000

Notes:

1. Smoking cessation figures do not include the £2 million per annum contained within NHS boards'' unified budgets.

2. The above figures do include the budget for enforcing the smoke-free legislation and is provided by means of a block grant.

The Scottish Government has been working with the Scottish Cot Death Trust to update the Reduce the risk of cot death leaflet, which will be published early in 2011. A copy of the leaflet is given to all new parents. This leaflet emphasises that a parent should never fall asleep with a baby on a couch or armchair and contains information on avoiding bed sharing if either parent smokes, has recently drunk any alcohol or has taken medication or drugs which would make it difficult for them to respond to their baby.

We recognise that policies on bed sharing while women are in hospital vary between maternity units. We know that many units including baby friendly hospitals provide additional information to breastfeeding mums such as UNICEF''s leaflet Sharing a bed with your baby “ A guide for breastfeeding mothers at:

www.babyfriendly.org.uk/pdfs/sharingbedleaflet.pdf.

The Scottish Government continues to monitor the supply of prescription medicines and is in regular contact about supply issues with the Department of Health, pharmaceutical companies and others, including Community Pharmacy Scotland and NHS National Services Scotland.

On 13 November 2009 guidance was issued by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and other key organisations entitled Trading Medicines for Human Use: Shortages and Supply Chain Obligations. This guidance, which remains extant, has been drawn to the attention of the NHS in Scotland under cover of a letter from the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer and can be found at:

http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/publications/DC20091118trading.pdf

In Scotland, the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2010 (SSI 2010/128) introduced on 1 May 2010 place an obligation upon pharmacists who dispense NHS prescriptions to use all reasonable endeavours to provide prescribed drugs and appliances with reasonable promptness and not to engage in activity which might delay or prevent the dispensing of prescribed drugs and appliances to NHS patients. The amendment regulations also place on pharmacists an obligation to contact the prescriber to discuss alternative arrangements where there is likely to be, in that pharmacist''s opinion, a clinically significant delay to the dispensing of prescribed drugs or appliances. A copy of the amendment regulations can be found on the Office of Public Sector Information website at:

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/ssi2010/pdf/ssi_20100128_en.pdf.

The information requested for 2007 is not available centrally.

The Scottish Stroke Care Audit 2010 National Report, published on 29 June 2010, indicates that in 2008, 260 (3%) people received thrombolysis and in 2009 the number was 411 (5%). The report is available at the following website:

http://www.strokeaudit.scot.nhs.uk/Downloads/2010%20report/SSCAReport0610.pdf.

The percentages given above are calculated from the total number of acute strokes discharged from hospital. These figures include people who had a haemorrhagic stroke and who were therefore not eligible for thrombolytic therapy.

The NHS Quality Improvement Scotland clinical standard for stroke thrombolysis is a treatment rate of 5 per 100,000 population each year in Scotland. The number of people treated in 2008 equates to 5 per 100,000 population and in 2009 8 per 100,000 population.

The cost of the Public Health Service (PHS) in the last three financial years was as follows:

Year	(a) PHS Smoking  Cessation Remuneration and Gross Ingredient Cost	(b)  PHS Emergency Hormonal Contraception Remuneration and Gross Ingredient Cost	Total Cost of PHS Remuneration and Gross Ingredient Cost
2009-10	£7.105 million	£2.254 million	£20.838 million
2008-09	£4.464 million	£1.756 million (includes remuneration for Chlamydia testing/treatment)	£18.389 million
2007-08	N/A*	N/A*	£1.237 million

*Note: The PHS smoking cessation and emergency hormonal contraception services began in August 2008, therefore there were no associated costs in the 2007-08 financial year.

No decision has been taken by the Scottish Government in respect of the introduction of generic substitution. At present, officials are in discussion with key stakeholders to examine ways to maximise the use of generic medicines in Scotland.

The level of screening carried out by the Scottish Diabetic Retinopathy Screening (DRS) Programme over the past two years is set out in the following table.

	2008-09	2009-10
Percentage of People Eligible for DRS Successfully Screened1	83%	80.3%
Number of People Eligible for DRS Successfully Screened	156,312	157,937

Notes:

1. People may be suspended from the Screening Programme for one of the following reasons:

Informed choice to opt out;

Under the age of 12 years;

No perception of light;

Terminal illness;

A physical or mental disability preventing either screening or treatment;

Currently under the care of an ophthalmologist for the treatment and follow-up management of diabetic retinopathy; and

Temporarily unavailable.

Source: DRS Collaborative annual reports.

On the basis of activity so far this year, the DRS programme expects to reach screening levels of 85% by the end of the 2010-11. The NHS Quality Improvement Scotland target is that 80% of those eligible should be screened within each 12 month period.

 

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