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The Scottish Government is broadly supportive of proposals to introduce an independent and transparent process for reviewing and establishing new Quality and Outcomes Framework indicators. Much of the detail of the new process remains to be worked through, including how to best reflect Scottish health needs and priorities within the UK framework, but it is our intention that NHS Quality Improvement Scotland should play a role in the revised independent process.

There are currently no plans to copy GP referral letters and letters to GPs from consultants or other specialist staff. Patients can exercise their rights under the Data Protection Act 1998 and request copies of correspondence about them.

The information requested has been provided by NHS Education for Scotland (NES):

Foundation Doctors - Breakdown by NHS Board

NHS Board	FY1	FY2	Total %, by Deanery, who Have Contract in Two or More Boards in Two years
West Deanery
Ayrshire and Arran	38	46
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	231	229
Lanarkshire	61	67
Dumfries and Galloway	18	18
Forth Valley	42	30
			87%
North Deanery
Grampian	102	30
Highland	30	34
Shetland	1	2
Western Isles	2	4
			78%
South East Deanery
Lothian	134	156
Borders	15	8
Fife	37	22
			48%
East Deanery
Tayside	93	93	None - all employed by Tayside throughout their training

 

As a result of an approach by the British Medical Association, the issue of free accommodation for FY1 doctors in Scotland was looked at. It was noted that there are recruitment and retention issues for this group of staff in Wales and that this provision had been retained as an interim arrangement. It was concluded that there are currently no significant recruitment and retention issues affecting this group of staff in Scotland which would require the reinstatement of this provision. However, it is open to individual NHS boards to make decisions in relation to the provision of free accommodation in the best interests of the service.

Prior to determining the most suitable method of dealing with an offender, under current legislation the court may make further enquiry into the offender''s physical or mental condition and background circumstances. Any reports furnished to court for these purposes are copied to the prison to coincide with the offender''s admission.

Prisoners who are suffering from mental illness who cannot be managed in a prison setting may be transferred to hospital for treatment. Following transfer, prisoners may remain in hospital and be rehabilitated through the mental health system if appropriate If a prisoner is returned from hospital to prison, a Care Programme Approach meeting will be held prior to return to prison, which includes representatives from the Prison Health Centre, to develop a package of care for monitoring and managing the patient on return to prison.

On occasions where prison health officials identify a potential gap in a medical history, contact may be made directly with the offender''s general practitioner.

I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-18592 on 16 December 2008. 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 issuing of contracts and employment checks for new staff form part of the routine work of NHS board human resource departments. Medical staff are generally dealt with by medical staffing departments within human resources and the issuing of contracts, occupational health and disclosure checks is part of their core business. As such, it is not possible to give an accurate breakdown of the proportion of budget that is allocated to this activity. It is for boards to ensure that human resource departments are adequately resourced to meet these requirements. This applies to foundation, specialty registrars and all other grades of staff.

The issuing of contracts and employment checks for new staff form part of the routine work of NHS board human resource departments. Medical staff are generally dealt with by medical staffing departments within human resources and the issuing of contracts, occupational health and disclosure checks is part of their core business. As such, it is not possible to give an accurate breakdown of the proportion of budget that is allocated to this activity. It is for boards to ensure that human resource departments are adequately resourced to meet these requirements. This applies to foundation, specialty registrars and all other grades of staff.

Public procurement legislation places an obligation on local authorities to ensure that contracts for the provision of social care services are subject to a degree of advertising which is sufficient to enable open competition and to meet the requirements of the EC Treaty principles of equal treatment, non-discrimination and transparency. The Scottish Procurement Directorate (SPD) issued guidance in August 2008 to help local authorities to determine what this means in the context of social care services: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/116601/0065310.pdf.

The guidance, which has been well received by both local authorities and service providers, recognises that a range of competitive procurement methods can be used for the procurement of social care services. We are developing additional guidance which will set out in more detail the options available to local authorities and identify best practice, particularly in relation to consultation with service users. We aim to publish this additional guidance in the summer of 2009.

The Scottish Procurement Directorate have held discussions with the Association of Directors of Social Work, COSLA and Scotland Excel, the centre of procurement expertise for local authorities, on the conduct of tendering exercises for social care services. These discussions will inform the development of guidance for local authorities which establishes best practice in consulting service users