Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31208 on 8 February 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.

In light of the European Council Recommendation on an action in the field of Rare Diseases, officials from each of the four UK Health Departments are liaising to explore areas of possible collaboration and progress in the provision of services for people with rare diseases, including in the field of specialist commissioning.

In November 2009, the General Register Office for Scotland consulted a group of family historians including representatives of the Scottish Association of Family History Societies, the Association of Scottish Genealogists and Researchers in Archives and the Scottish Genealogy Society, as well as regular customers of the ScotlandsPeople Centre. The consultation proposed six options, including the removal of access to the microfiche of the statutory (birth, marriage, death etc) registers and to the microfilm of the pre-1855 parish registers and the Victorian censuses. The consultation ended in January 2010 and the result was published on the ScotlandsPeople Centre website at http://www.scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk/pdf/Fiche%20letter-Customer.pdf.

As a result of the consultation, GROS amended its proposals to ensure continued access to the microfilm of the pre-1855 parish registers and the Victorian censuses. Alternative arrangements were put in place for access to the indexes of the statutory (birth, marriage, death etc) registers. These arrangements were put in place on 1 February 2010 and have met with customer satisfaction.

If an image in the digital format now provided by the General Register Office for Scotland is considered unreadable, that only becomes apparent when a member of staff, registrar or customer reports it. I understand about 30 poor quality images are reported each day and that less than one third of these are considered illegible. This compares to a dataset of some 18 million records. Poor quality images, once reported, are re-digitised from the original record and substituted for the image on the database.

The main conclusion of the cited paper was that an independent survey that directly investigates patients'' experience of access, coupled to a financial incentive, may be a more effective means of promoting improved access and continuity.

The paper describes analysis of information from before the indicators on patient experience of access (PE7 and PE8) were added to the Quality & Outcomes Framework (QOF), and its conclusion supports the inclusion of such indicators since 2008-09.

We are working with the profession and NHS boards to understand and improve access to general practice, and to discuss how the QOF can best reward good access in future.

The Scottish Government recently issued guidance - Informing, Engaging and Consulting People in Developing Health and Community Care Services “ to assist NHS boards with their engagement with patients and the public on the delivery of local healthcare services. The guidance states that NHS boards should keep the Scottish Health Council informed about proposed service changes, including primary care services, so that it can provide the NHS board with advice and support in involving potentially affected people in the consultation process. For those changes considered to be major, the Scottish Health Council has a more formal role in quality assuring the consultation process as it develops. A copy of the guidance can be found on the SHOW website via the following link http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/publications/publication.asp?offset=20.

The Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland Administration is seeking to sign-off agreed memoranda of understanding with all local authorities in Scotland by the end of April 2010.

The Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland Administration is expected to come in on budget at £9.75 million in 2009-10 and £9.5 million in 2010-11. These levels of expenditure represent savings of 7% and 9.5% respectively using expenditure in 2008-09 of £10.5 million as a base. Key measures for tracking savings include the number of hearing days when more than one case is considered by the tribunal and the numbers of hearings per case.

The deficit incurred by the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland Administration during 2008-09 was met by transferring underspend from elsewhere in Health Directorate General''s budget that year to the administration. Through a programme of efficiencies and savings the administration is projected to meet its budget allocation for 2009-10.

The total budget allocated to the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland is £9.75 million for 2009-10 and £9.5 million for 2010-11.