§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland in the last year for which her Department had responsibility for health in Scotland, what funding was made available to health authorities which include populated islands to recognise and assist in meeting patients' costs of travel for mainland treatment; what assistance was made available by each health authority to patients travelling for treatment; and if she will list the 449W health authorities which included populated islands, showing their expenditure per person on those islands on assistance with travel for treatment. [75218]
§ Mrs. McGuireThis has been a devolved matter since 1 July 1999. Details of expenditure in 1998–99 by each health board on the two patient travelling expenses schemes are as follows:
Means Tested Scheme Highlands & Islands Scheme £ £ Argyll & Clyde 89,068 521,744 Ayrshire & Arran 28,095 3,383 Borders 22,694 0 Dumfries & Galloway 72,465 0 Fife 41,450 0 Forth Valley 92,796 0 Grampian 204,636 11,388 Greater Glasgow 260,987 0 Highland 239,430 284,599 Lanarkshire 37,812 0 Lothian 2,629 0 Orkney 952 538,420 Shetland 22,245 1,025,582 Tayside 0 0 Western Isles 16,187 992,612 Reimbursement made under the Highlands and Islands Scheme includes costs incurred by patients from populated islands travelling to mainland hospitals for treatment.
Health boards which include populated islands are Argyll & Clyde, Ayrshire & Arran, Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles.
Expenditure per person for assistance with travelling expenses is £27.19 in Orkney, £45.52 in Shetland and £35.72 in Western Isles. Separate figures are not available for the populations of the islands in Argyll & Clyde and Ayrshire & Arran.