This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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NHS National Services annual review
09/08/2005
The NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) Board's Annual
Review will be held today.
NHS NSS was established to support excellence in health
and health care through partnerships and expertise. They
play an active and crucial role in the delivery of
effective health care in Scotland.
They manage and provide vital services such as
organising blood transfusions, vaccination programmes,
cancer screening, contractual payments to GPs and legal
advice to NHS Boards in Scotland.
Their aim is to deliver services that are responsive to
the NHS's needs, ensuring not just value for money but the
highest professional standards.
Health Minister Andy Kerr will chair the meeting. He
said:
"The services that NHS NSS provide are absolutely
crucial and cover almost every area of health service
activity.
"Though they are all different, one thing they do all
have in common is that without any of them the NHS could
not function. A perfect example is The Scottish National
Blood Transfusion Service. Every day they deliver life
saving blood and tissue to patients throughout
Scotland.
"The annual reviews will highlight success and give
credit where credit is due. But I also want to use these
reviews to scrutinise performance, challenge where
necessary, and drive forward further improvement.
"I want to see an NHS which is better, quicker, closer
and safer and I am confident that these reviews will help
us deliver that."
The annual reviews will cover key areas such as activity
and efficiency, and future plans.
The following services are delivered
by the NSS through the following Divisions:
- Scottish National Blood
Transfusion Service - Providing blood transfusion
services, transfusion medicine, diagnostic products,
tissue and bone
- Central Legal Office - Provide
NHS Scotland with legal advice and assistance on every
area of law relevant to the Health Service
- Counter Fraud Services -
Deters, detects and investigates fraud and other
irregularities against NHS Scotland bodies
- Information Services formerly
Information and Statistics Division - Provides
analytical services to NHS Scotland, with the aim of
assisting improvements in healthcare and facilitating
policy and decision-making
- National Services Division -
Ensures the provision of high quality, effective
specialist health care and screening services to meet
the needs of the population of Scotland
- Practitioner Services -
Maintains the register of patients with GP practices
and dentists, and makes payments to doctors, dentists,
community pharmacists and optometrists
- Scottish Centre for Infection and
Environmental Health - provides practitioners and
policymakers with expert information and support on
infectious and environmental hazards
- Scottish Healthcare Supplies -
Provides value for money contracting and specialist
commercial and technical services
- Scottish Health Service Centre
- provides professional support to NHS Scotland
through its secretariat, library and information
services, conference venue and convention management
services
- NSS headquarters - all of our
divisions are supported by the NSS Headquarters Unit
which provides leadership, governance and support
services to NSS and other NHS Scotland bodies