Palliative Care

S3W-30378: To ask the Scottish Executive what the average NHS expenditure is on a person in receipt of specialist palliative care services.

Answered by Shona Robison (15/01/2010): Information on average NHS expenditure on a person in receipt of specialist palliative care services is not held centrally.

NHS boards are responsible for the planning and provision of NHS services for their populations and it is for NHS boards to agree appropriate funding of care providers within their board geographical area.

A wide range of health professionals are needed to care for patients in palliative care and this care can be provided in a variety of settings, including patients'' homes, hospitals, care homes and in the independent healthcare sector via hospices, which are partly funded by the NHS.

S3W-30379: To ask the Scottish Executive what the average NHS expenditure is on a person in receipt of generalist palliative care services.

Answered by Shona Robison (15/01/2010): Information on average NHS expenditure on a person in receipt of generalist palliative care services is not held centrally.

NHS boards are responsible for the planning and provision of NHS services for their populations and it is for NHS boards to agree appropriate funding of care providers within their board geographical area.

A wide range of health professionals are needed to care for patients in palliative care and this care can be provided in a variety of settings, including patient''s homes, hospitals, care homes and in the independent sector via hospices, which are partly funded by the NHS.

S3W-30380: To ask the Scottish Executive how many practising palliative care specialists there are.

Answered by Shona Robison (15/01/2010): The information requested is not held centrally. However, information showing NHS staff employed by specialty, including palliative medicine, is published annually as part of the workforce census at 30 September each year.

This data for 2009 is available at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5896.html for medical staff and http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5352.html#cns for clinical nurse specialists.

A wide range of health professionals, which includes medical staff and clinical nurse specialists are needed to care for patients in palliative care and this can be provided in a variety of settings including patient''s own homes, hospitals, care homes and in the independent healthcare sector via hospices.

S3W-30381: To ask the Scottish Executive how many palliative care specialist posts there are.

Answered by Shona Robison (15/01/2010): The information requested is not held centrally. However, information showing NHS staff employed by specialty, including palliative medicine, is published annually as part of the workforce census at 30 September each year.

This data for 2009 is available at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5896.html for medical staff and http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5352.html#cns for clinical nurse specialists.

Information about consultant vacancies is available athttp://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5899.html. There is no vacancy data available for other relevant grades of staff.

A wide range of health professionals, which includes medical staff and clinical nurse specialists are needed to care for patients in palliative care and this can be provided in a variety of settings including patient''s own homes, hospitals, care homes and in the independent healthcare sector via hospices.

S3W-30382: To ask the Scottish Executive what the average annual number is of people receiving either generalist or specialist palliative care.

Answered by Shona Robison (15/01/2010): The information requested is not held centrally. Palliative care can be provided in a variety of settings, including patient''s homes, hospitals, care homes and in the independent healthcare sector via hospices.


S3W-30383: To ask the Scottish Executive how much it costs to train a palliative care generalist.

Answered by Shona Robison (15/01/2010): The information requested is not held centrally. A wide range of health professionals are needed to care for patients in palliative care and this care can be provided in a variety of settings including patient''s homes, hospitals, care homes and in the independent health care sector via hospices.

S3W-30384: To ask the Scottish Executive how much it costs to train a palliative care specialist.

Answered by Shona Robison (15/01/2010): The information requested is not held centrally. A wide range of health professionals are needed to care for patients in palliative care and this care can be provided in a variety of settings including patient''s homes, hospitals, care homes and in the independent healthcare sector via hospices.

S3W-30385: To ask the Scottish Executive what costs are associated with delivering Living and Dying Well: A national action plan for palliative and end of life care in Scotland.

Answered by Shona Robison (15/01/2010): NHS boards are responsible for the planning and provision of NHS services for their populations and it is for NHS boards to agree appropriate funding of care providers within their board geographical area.

Funding of £3 million per year has been made available for the implementation of Living and Dying Well to fund a Directed Enhanced Service to support improvements in generalist palliative care. The funding is focussed on general practices with the aim of improving generalist palliative care for all, regardless of age, diagnosis or location.

In addition to this, £500,000 development funding was provided in 2008-09 for use centrally and to support NHS boards in the development of delivery plans. Further additional funding of £120,000 in 2008-09 and £500,000 in 2009-10 was made available to support implementation of the plan, to ensure that generalist palliative care was supported and to ensure the development of care in community based settings.