§ Mr. KynochTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will announce his decision on the fourth wave of NHS trust applications; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LangFollowing public consultation on the eight fourth wave trust applications, reports have been submitted to me by Argyll and Clyde, Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Greater Glasgow, and Lanarkshire health boards and by the Common Services Agency. These reports did not identify any serious flaws in the proposals for trust status.
As with all trust applications, these have been considered against the published criteria of benefits for patients, management competence, the involvement of 430W clinicians and other healthcare professionals in management, and financial viability.
The proposed trust arrangements meet these criteria and therefore I have decided to give my approval to the trust applications from Argyll and Bute unit, Borders Community Health Services, Borders General hospital, Dumfries and Galloway community services unit, Glasgow dental hospital and school, Lanarkshire Healthcare, Dumbarton unit which will become Lomond Healthcare NHS trust, and the Scottish Ambulance Service. These trusts will become operational from 1 April 1995.
I have also approved the proposal by Greater Glasgow health board that its care for the elderly unit should be integrated with the existing acute trusts in the city.
The result of my decisions is that all units on the mainland of Scotland will be operating as NHS trusts from 1 April 1995. There are no plans for the units managed by the three islands health boards, the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service and the state hospital to become NHS trusts at the present time.
The trusts are achieving considerable success and are quickly demonstrating greater benefits to the public with record numbers of patients being treated, waiting lists and waiting times coming down and new services being developed in hospitals and in the community.