§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what further plans he has to extend prescribing powers to district nurses and health visitors in the two demonstration sites to the whole of Scotland; and what further expenditure has been planned in order to facilitate this process. [42570]
§ Mr. GalbraithThere is a commitment to continue with the phased roll-out of the nurse prescribing scheme across Scotland.
We have been proactively extending the scheme from the original two demonstration sites in May 1997, and by the end of May 1998 there will be 550 nurse prescribers in Scotland.
§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list(a) the number of (i) district nurses and (ii) health visitors who are currently able to prescribe from the nurse formulary in Scotland, (b) the locations in which they are currently working, (c) the total public expenditure involved to date and (d) the level of public expenditure per location. [42571]
§ Mr. Galbraith(a) By the end of May 1998, there will be 550 nurse prescribers in Scotland. A breakdown of this figure into district nurses and health visitors is not held centrally.
(b) The locations currently covered by those nurse prescribers are:
Location Number Ayrshire and Arran 80 Borders 30 Grampian 90 Glasgow 100 Highland 40 Lanarkshire 40 Lothian 90 Tayside 80 Total 550
Table 1: Education authority school pupils receiving free transport 1992–97; number of pupils by sector Year (at September) 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 19972 Number: Total1 153,114 155,949 156,976 156,953 145,107 147,133 Primary 46,529 47,834 48,003 47,505 44,499 46,458 Secondary 94,569 95,729 97,910 98,136 89,001 88,040 1 Includes pupils in special schools and departments and self-governing schools 2 Provisional 468W
Table 2: Education authority school pupils receiving free transport 1992–97; number of pupil journeys by type of transport Year (at September) 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 19972 Number:1,3 Total 153,692 156,587 157,609 157,921 145,543 148,687 Bus: Public 45,314 45,239 39,857 40,022 25,822 39,835 EA 6,017 4,932 5,130 5,217 4,714 4,848 A further 25 nurses each from Argyll and Clyde, Dumfries and Galloway, Fife and Forth Valley Health Boards began training in April 1998 with an anticipated completion date of September 1998. Training for the 100 nurses eligible to prescribe in the three Island Boards will begin in June with an anticipated completion date of December 1998/January 1999.
(c) The expenditure to end of March 1998 is £123,601.
(d) Each health board is allocated £100 per capita to help support the cost of staff replacement for nurses undertaking nurse prescribing training. The academic institutions providing the training are paid £85 per capita.