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NHS Lanarkshire have stated that they do not, and have never, removed patient information from monitoring screens.

NHS Lanarkshire have stated that they have not closed any orthopaedic beds at Monklands Hospital.

NHS Lanarkshire has a comprehensive system-wide winter plan. All hospitals operate as an emergency clinical network during periods of peak activity. In December, Monklands achieved 98% against the four hour accident and emergency target with a performance of 97% in January.

Previously, there were a total of 16 surge beds in Monklands used between December and March. Four of these were in renal with another 12 in Ward 11. However, only eight of these were used. Over the years it became clear that surge capacity was required for patients requiring enhanced discharge support rather than acute care on a hospital site. NHS Lanarkshire therefore took the decision to allied health professions staffing and now use up to 12 beds in this facility for this group of patients.

NHS Lanarkshire have stated that these arrangements provide adequate capacity through the winter period.

It is for NHS boards to determine the staff required in their local areas. However, we expect NHS boards to take account of local population needs and changes in service provision to ensure a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency approach to the provision of care for this vulnerable group of women.

The Nursing and Midwifery Workload and Workforce Planning Programme has been assisting NHS boards to support the implementation of Birthrate Plus and Professional Judgement tools. Following a review of this process a new tool for Maternity Services in Scotland will be developed, taking account of the experience gained from Birthrate Plus and Professional Judgement tools, and taking into account the Midwifery 2020 Programme which NHS Scotland is leading on behalf of the UK.

The costs of awarding the contract for the National Sexual Health System (NaSH) to AxSys Technology Ltd are set out in the following table:

Development and Implementation	£557,000 ex VAT
Annual Support Charge	£100,260 ex VAT

 

Table 1 shows, by NHS board, the number of whole-time equivalent (WTE) midwives, the number of births in Scottish hospitals, and the ratio of births to midwives. Latest available complete information for births in Scottish hospitals is for year ending 31 March 2007 and, for comparison purposes, midwife numbers at 30 September 2007 have been used. Information on births is based on hospital of treatment (rather than residence) to allow comparison with the workforce figures which capture where staff are based.

Centrally held workforce information captures the NHS board where staff are employed but does not allow a breakdown by Community Health Partnership.

Table 1: Ratio of Midwives (Whole-Time Equivalent) to Births^1,2 for 2007³ by NHS Board

	BirthsP	Midwives	Ratio
Scotland	55,389	2,796.9	19.8
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	3,752	267.5	14.0
NHS Borders	1,111	57.4	19.4
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	1,448	123.4	11.7
NHS Fife	3,532	165.3	21.4
NHS Forth Valley	3,226	173.5	18.6
NHS Grampian	5,986	340.8	17.6
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	15,234	677.3	22.5
NHS Highland	2,273	178.5	12.7
NHS Lanarkshire	4,917	226.8	21.7
NHS Lothian	8,964	301.5	29.7
NHS Orkney	140	13.1	10.7
NHS Shetland	163	13.3	12.3
NHS Tayside	4,383	238.6	18.4
NHS Western Isles	243	19.8	12.3

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS) - Midwives.

SMR02 - Births.

^PProvisional data.

Notes:

1. Excludes home births and births at non-NHS hospitals.

2. Where four or more babies are involved in a pregnancy, birth details are recorded only for the first three babies delivered.

3. The latest available data for births is at 31 March 2007. The ratio of midwives to births was calculated using Midwifery data as at 30 September 2007.

4. NHS Health board of treatment is used for birth data.

Further information on the statistics, including information on how the data are collected and notes to aid interpretation, is given in the Background section of the Workforce Statistics website at www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

Information on the number of prescribed items for antibiotics prescribed by secondary care units and dispensed by community pharmacists is given in the table Antibacterial Items by secondary care unit 2005-06 to 2007-08 a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 47475).

The data in the table refers to antibacterial items prescribed by secondary care units and dispensed by community pharmacists. It does not include the direct supply of medicines to patients from hospitals or hospital-based clinics.

Specific information about the numbers of supervisors of midwives about to retire is not held centrally. However, we expect Local Supervising Authority Midwifery Officers to succession plan to ensure the appropriate number of supervisors are in place if, and when, staff choose to retire. We are also committed to maximising the skills and expertise of all staff in NHS Scotland, including those in the ageing workforce. We are currently jointly funding with NHS Education for Scotland and the South East (NHS) Education Forum, research on the ageing workforce to determine what NHS Scotland can do to recruit and retain those in this section of the workforce.

The NHS boards currently using the National Sexual Health (NaSH) system are:

Ayrshire and Arran

Borders

Dumfries and Galloway

Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Lanarkshire

Lothian.

Tayside and Grampian NHS Boards will be live by the end of March 2009 and all remaining boards will implement NaSH by December 2009 when the Implementation Programme is scheduled to finish.

Seven NHS boards in Scotland do not meet the Nursing and Midwifery Council requirement. They are: NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Dumfries and Galloway, NHS Fife, NHS Forth Valley, NHS Grampian, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Lanarkshire.

All potential supervisors of midwives must successfully complete a supervisor of midwives course and these boards are putting in place plans to increase the number of supervisors in order to meet the required standards.

In relation to the Emergency Department Information System (EDIS) only EDIS administrators are able to delete information. EDIS administrators are normally senior clinicians or senior members of staff or members of the IT department and there would be an audit trail if any information was deleted.