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NHS Land

Mr. Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the NHS trusts and health authorities that have sold or leased land in 1995-96, indicating the amount of money received in each case, the purchaser and the total amount of money received in England from the sale and leasing of NHS land. [4083]

Mr. Horam: Information about total land sales in-year is not available centrally from national health service trusts. The information requested would be available only from the published accounts of each trust and health authority following their end of year. The name of the purchaser, and the amount of each sale and rental information is not available centrally.

Influenza

Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what contingency plans his Department has considered for dealing with a flu epidemic; and to what conclusion they have come. [4182]

7 Dec 1995 : Column: 380

Mr. Horam: Heavy demand on the national health service, whether from natural causes or man-made, is always a possibility and the NHS is required to have contingency plans in place to deal with such incidents and to exercise plans regularly. The weekly rate of influenza infection is monitored by the Royal College of General Practitioners clinical research unit and, if needed, an alert can be issued to public health doctors via the Epinet system.

The Department of Health regularly takes steps to protect those most at risk from influenza by the provision of advice about who is most at risk from serious complications arising from the disease and who should therefore receive influenza vaccine. This year doctors were reminded during the summer of the need to plan their influenza vaccination campaign, which was launched in October.

The Department has also produced a leaflet called "What should I do about flu?" which provides information on how to cope with the disease. Copies were sent to all GPs and made available through Post Offices and copies are available in the Library. We have also produced a video advert about the leaflet, which was shown in post offices.

Hospital Discharges

Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 27 November, Official Report, column 522, on hospital discharges if he will provide comparable figures for (a) 1990-91, (b) 1991-92 and (c) 1992-93. [4287]

Mr. Bowis: The information requested is shown in the table.

Destination of discharge of patients treated by consultants in geriatric medicine in NHS hospitals in England Percentage

	1990-91	1991-92	1992-93
Usual residence	68.79	67.60	68.78
Deaths	19.35	17.69	17.52
NHS hospital outside district-- general ward/younger physically disabled	1.36	4.90	5.20
Non-NHS institution	4.29	4.66	4.57
Local authority residential home	1.85	1.68	1.59
Temporary residence e.g. hotels, residential educational institutions	1.73	1.56	1.43
NHS hospital outside district-- mentally ill/handicapped ward	0.06	0.26	0.30
NHS nursing home	0.00	0.05	0.22
Not known	2.47	1.42	0.25
Special hospital	0.09	0.15	0.12

Figures do not total 100 due to rounding.

7 Dec 1995 : Column: 381

Mental Illness

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many beds were available for the treatment of all forms of acute mental illness but excluding beds involving learning disabilities, in each year since 1988-89; what was the number of finished consultant episodes in acute mental illnesses for the same years; and how many patients with acute mental illness were treated in those years. [4314]

Mr. Bowis: The number of beds available for the treatment of acute mental illness in each year since 1988- 89 is shown in the table.

Average daily number of available beds for acute mental illness for all ages England

Year	Number
1988-89	22,505
1989-90	22,754
1990-91	22,427
1991-92	22,159
1992-93	21,652
1993-94	21,447
1994-95	22,101

Notes: 1. Information held centrally on the number of National Health Service mental illness beds does not include the classification "acute". It does, however, differentiate between "long-stay" and "short-stay". "Acute mental illness" has therefore been interpreted as "short-stay" mental illness. 2. Date is collected by broad ward classification rather than by clinical specialty and returns are made on a financial year, ie April to March, basis. Source: Department of Health KH03 returns.

The number of finished consultant episodes in mental illness in each year since 1988-89 is shown in the table.

Finished consultant episodes for mental illness--ordinary admissions and day cases combined: England

Year	Number (thousands)
1988-89	216.3
1989-90	215.9
1990-91	219.9
1991-92	221.3
1992-93	234.1
1993-94	237.3
1994-95	239.0

Notes: 1. Information held centrally on finished consultant episodes does not include the classification "acute mental illness". It does, however, include the classification "mental illness". 2. The definition of a "consultant episode" is the period that a patient spends under the continuous care of a specific consultant in a specific health care provider (which may be in more than one hospital within that health care provider). A hospital provider spell can comprise one or more consultant episodes. For example, a patient may be admitted under the care of a general physician and then be transferred to the care of a surgeon. This would count as two consultant episodes within a single hospital provider spell. Source: Department of Health KP70 returns.

Information of the number of patients is not available centrally.

7 Dec 1995 : Column: 382

Nursing Homes

Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 27 November, Official Report, column 521, on nursing homes, what information his Department maintains on trust-run registered nursing homes. [4288]

Mr. Bowis: None.

Sterilisation

Mrs. Bridget Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) men and (b) women in England are sterilised annually, by standard census age group. [4104]

Mr. Horam: The information available in respect to national health service hospital admissions is shown in the table.

Estimated number of ordinary and day case admissions, principal operation--male and female sterlisation--in NHS hospitals in England--1993-94

Ages	Male	Female
0-4	8	4
5-14	12	0
15-44	33,774	52,141
45-64	2,663	1,119
65-74	16	0
75-84	4	4
85 and over	12	0
Not known	59	19
All Ages	36,548	53,287

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics.

Private Finance Initiative

Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for each scheme so far agreed under the private finance initiative the revenue commitment entered into by the Government for each year until the commitment ceases. [3393]

Mr. Horam: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I him on 6 December, column 224.

Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the policy changes which will arise from the final agreement in respect of each scheme agreed under the private finance initiative. [3394]

Mr. Horam: This Government's policy is that high-quality health care should be available to those who need it on the basis of their clinical need without regard to their ability to pay. The private finance initiative in the national health service is concerned with the provision of modern and efficient facilities for the delivery of NHS health care. There have been no policy changes arising from the agreement of PFI schemes.

Mobile Telephones

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many times mobile telephones used by Ministers in his Department have been cloned during (a) the last six months, (b) the last 12 months and (c) the last 18 months; and which Ministers within his Department have had their mobile telephones cloned. [4269]

7 Dec 1995 : Column: 383

Mr. Horam: During the past 12 months, there have been two instances of cloned telephone numbers affecting the mobile telephone of the then Under-Secretary of State for Health. The Department is not liable for any payment of charges arising from cloned telephone numbers.

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many mobile telephones there are available in his Department for the use of Ministers. [4270]

Mr. Horam: There are 25 mobile telephones available to departmental private office for the use of Ministers and staff including four telephones fitted in ministerial cars.

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