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As at 30 April 2005, 42 out of the 220 patients within the State Hospital had been assessed by State Hospital clinicians as being ready for transfer to a less secure environment, subject to agreement with clinicians in the receiving health board area. For 20 of the 42 patients, clinical agreement had been reached with the receiving clinicians. In these cases, the receiving clinical teams are expected to identify suitable care and treatment arrangements.

The length of time it takes to fill each consultancy vacancy within the health service in Scotland varies from post to post.

The average time taken to fill such a post is six months assuming that there is no recruitment from other areas of the United Kingdom or from overseas. This is due to the particular recruitment process that has to be undertaken by each NHSScotland board employer when such a post becomes available in the health service and also taking into account each individual consultant’s period of notice that has to be given to their own individual employer.

However, the department is aware of the difficulties that some NHSScotland boards are experiencing in securing some specialist professional staff to undertake the various duties within the health service across whole of Scotland. These workforce issues are being addressed rigorously and NHSScotland boards as employers are pursing several initiatives on behalf of the health service that will make the NHS in Scotland, as an exemplar employer, an attractive career option so to recruit and retain more staff.

Also, to assist NHSScotland board employers meet local health needs, the department has set up a national workforce planning exercise to address these issues and the impact of staff shortages across the whole of the NHSScotland workforce.

This activity is all taking placewithin a background of Scottish, United Kingdom and, indeed global, shortages in some specialties.

Within NHS Scotland, the consultant neurologist establishment has increased by 21% between September 2001 and September 2004.

Information on staff in post in NHS Scotland is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics, at www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

Section B gives details of medical staff employed in NHS Scotland. In particular, tables B8 and B9 show the whole-time equivalent (WTE) and headcount numbers of consultant neurologists currently in post. WTE adjusts headcount staff figures to take account of part-time staff.

Latest available figures are at 30 September 2004.

Information on temporary consultant neurologist posts in NHS Scotland is not collected centrally.

At 30 September 2004, within NHS Scotland, there were three whole-time equivalent vacant consultant neurologist posts, none of which had been vacant for more than six months.

Information on staff in post in NHS Scotland is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics at www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

Section B gives details of medical staff employed in NHS Scotland. In particular, tables B11 and B12 show the whole-time equivalent and headcount numbers of consultant neurologist vacancies.

Latest available figures are at 30 September 2004.

The Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Executive has taken a number of steps to support clinicians in this area. It has funded two conferences within the past year to allow clinical researchers to discuss the new regulatory requirements with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, participated in a joint project between the Health Department in England and the Medical Research Council to develop a website of practical help to assist researchers with the new requirements (www.ct-toolkit.ac.uk) and is currently discussing with NHS research and development officials the possible investment of new funds to provide dedicated professional support in trials design and management.

Yes, the Scottish Executive will study the research on the effectiveness of MRI scanners compared with x-rays in detecting breast cancer in women under 50 published in The Lancet on 16 May 2005.

The research presented in the paper published in The Lancet on 16 May 2005 will, together with other research, be studied and will help inform decisions around amendments to management of women who are at high risk of breast cancer. However, it is felt that no firm conclusions can yet be drawn form this piece of research and that further evidence is required.

The Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004 introduce new requirements in relation to the approval and management of clinical trials of medicinal products with a view to increasing patient safety. Introduced in May 2004 and coming fully into force this month, it is too early to assess the impact on the establishment rate or progress of non-commercial clinical trials.

Medical equipment replacement, including CT scanners, is a matter for NHS boards who receive capital allocations by Arbuthnott Formula adjusted for cross boundary flows and weighted for the provision of regional specialities. This means that NHS boards can determine, based on their local knowledge or the local needs of the local area how this money should be spent.

There has been no recent formal correspondence with management at NHS Greater Glasgow or with North Glasgow Hospitals Operating Division, which is responsible for the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, about the replacement of CT scanners within that hospital.