| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Child Support Departures Scheme
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he intends to carry out the planned pilot exercise referred to during the passage of the Child Support Bill to test arrangements for the new child support departures scheme. [20528]
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: I have today laid before parliament a statutory instrument containing the regulations which will underpin the trial of the child support departures scheme. The pilot exercise will begin on Tuesday 9 April and will involve cases covered by the Hastings Child Support Agency centre. Invitations to participate in this pilot scheme will be issued from today onwards.
HEALTH
Locum Budget
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the locum budget for (a) doctors and (b) nurses in each of the last five years. [17940]
Mr. Malone: There is no national budget for locum doctors or nurses.
Message Handling Services
Mr. Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has undertaken of the benefits for emergency and immediate notifications of the use of a uniform electronic messaging system at all levels of the NHS. [18787]
11 Mar 1996 : Column: 482
Mr. Horam: A system for the electronic transmission of emergency communications between the Chief Medical Officer and the national health service is currently being piloted in Kent and Birmingham. The benefits to the NHS will be assessed once the pilot is complete.
Mr. Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the BT Syntegra system became generally available within the NHS in October 1995. [18791]
Mr. Horam: After extensive testing in several health authorities, involving a range of users in the national health service, Syntegra launched its message handling service for use in the NHS at the Exchanging Healthcare Information conference in October 1995. So far, 222 connections have been made and this number is expected to grow over time.
Mr. Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if trusts are obliged to have regard to the contract awarded by his Department by competitive procurement to BT Syntegra in 1994 when making decisions concerning message handling services. [18789]
Mr. Horam: The use of Syntegra's message handling service is not mandatory in the national health service. Each NHS organisation will decide on the basis of value for money whether or not to use the Syntegra message handling service. The large corporate discounts obtained from Syntegra mean that alternatives are unlikely to be cost effective.
Mr. Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his current estimate of the cost savings to the NHS accruing from use of Syntegra's message handling service. [18793]
Mr. Horam: It is too early to make realistic estimates of cost savings to the national health service due to the use of Syntegra's message handling service.
Mr. Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the current number, in actual and percentage terms, of subscribers to the BT Syntegra NHS message handling system; and what was the number in October 1995 among (a) health authorities, (b) family health services authorities (c) hospital trusts, (d) other trusts and (e) general practitioners. [18792]
Mr. Horam: The number of subscribers to Syntegra's message handling system are as follows:
| October 1995 | February 1996 | |
|---|---|---|
| Organisationally based systems--e.g. health authorities and trusts where there would be many individual users | 44 | 86 |
| Personal systems--e.g. a GP. | 29 | 136 |
| October 1995 | February 1996 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Per cent. | Number | Per cent. | |
| Health authorities | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Family health services authorities | 4 | 5 | 29 | 13 |
| Hospital trusts | 20 | 27 | 32 | 14 |
| Other trusts | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| General practitioners | 0 | 0 | 20 | 9 |
| Others--e.g. Department of Health, NHS Executive | 45 | 62 | 135 | 61 |
11 Mar 1996 : Column: 483
11 Mar 1996 : Column: 483
Mr. Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he has issued to trusts regarding the take-up and use of each of the message handling services available within the NHS. [18790]
Mr. Horam: General guidance about NHS-wide networking services, which includes message handling, has been issued to all NHS organisations, including NHS trusts. It is planned that this guidance will be supplemented by Syntegra's marketing activities, and other networking suppliers wishing to sell their services to the NHS.
Computers
Mr. Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many separate local area networks and wide area networks are currently in operation within the NHS.[18796]
Mr. Horam: This information is not available centrally.
Mr. Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list all cases since 1987 where his Department has bought computer capacity from (a) other Departments and (b) the private sector, giving the value of each contract and the name of the private sector contractors. [19457]
Mr. Horam: During 1995-96 the Department rented computer capacity from:
Hoskyns Group plc: £112,300
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys: £14,000
Pharmacists
Mr. Pearson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to review the 80 per cent.-20 per cent. payment schedule for pharmacists; and if he will make a statement. [19208]
Mr. Malone: We continue to discuss the pharmacists' concerns about the present payment arrangements.
Gender Identity Disorder
Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the number of diagnosed cases of gender
11 Mar 1996 : Column: 484
identity disorder in the United Kingdom in each of the last five years; and how many were (i) male-to-female and (ii) female-to-male. [19269]
Mr. Bowis: This information is not available centrally.
Dr. Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines his Department gives to practitioners and health authorities regarding the treatment of gender identity disorder. [19273]
Mr Bowis: Guidelines on specific medical treatments are a matter for the relevant professional body.
Dr. Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his Department's forecast for the future growth of numbers of diagnoses of gender identity disorder created by the backlog of previously untreated cases. [19270]
Mr. Horam: It is for individual health authorities to assess the health care needs of their local populations, working closely with clinicians.
Dr. Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what definition of the gender identity disorder syndrome is used by the NHS and by his Department. [19272]
Mr. Bowis: There are a variety of internationally recognised gender disorders classified within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and ICD-10 Classification of Mental Disorders.
North Staffordshire and South Cheshire Health Authorities
Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what were the five most common causes of death for women in the North Staffordshire and South Cheshire health authorities in the last year for which figures are available. [19556]
Mr. Horam: The information requested is shown in the table. Data are not at present available for the new South Cheshire health authority, which incorporates the former Chester district health authority, South and East Cheshire DHA, and small parts formerly within Wirral DHA and North Cheshire DHA. Chester DHA and South and East Cheshire DHA together constitute almost 95 per cent. of the new South Cheshire health authority.
| ICD | |
|---|---|
| North Staffordshire DHA | |
| 1. Ischaemic heart disease | 410-414 |
| 2. Cerebrovascular disease | 430-438 |
| 3. Pneumonia | 480-486 |
| 4. Breast cancer | 174 |
| 5. Malignant neoplasm of the trachea, bronchus and lung | 162 |
| Chester DHA | |
| 1. Ischaemic heart disease | 410-414 |
| 2. Cerebrovascular disease | 430-438 |
| 3. Pneumonia | 480-486 |
| 4. Malignant neoplasm of the trachea, bronchus and lung | 162 |
| 5. Breast cancer | 174 |
| South and East Cheshire DHA | |
| 1. Ischaemic heart disease | 410-414 |
| 2. Cerebrovascular disease | 430-438 |
| 3. Pneumonia | 480-486 |
| 4. Breast cancer | 174 |
| 5. Malignant neoplasm of the trachea, bronchus and lung | 162 |
11 Mar 1996 : Column: 485
Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pregnancies occurred in each of the last five years in the North Staffordshire and South Cheshire health authorities. [19557]
Mr. Horam: The information requested for the North Staffordshire health authority is shown in the table. Data are not at present available for the new South Cheshire HA, which incorporates the former Cheshire DHA, South and East Cheshire DHA, and small parts formerly within Wirral DHA and North Cheshire DHA. Estimates are provided for the former Cheshire DHA and the former South and East Cheshire DHA which together constitute almost 95 per cent. of the new South Cheshire HA.
| 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993(34) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Staffordshire HA | 6,295 | 7,599 | 7,118 | 6,882 | 6,542 |
| Chester DHA | 2,532 | 2,971 | 3,041 | 2,718 | 2,723 |
| South and East Cheshire DHA | 5,774 | 6,688 | 6,435 | 6,239 | 6,199 |
| 8,306 | 9,659 | 9,476 | 8,957 | 8,922 |
(33)Includes pregnancies which resulted in either a maternity or a termination of pregnancy by abortion under the 1967 Act. There is no reliable information about pregnancies which led to spontaneous abortions and these are not included.
(34)Analyses of data about conceptions in 1994, most of which resulted in births during 1995, will be completed later this year.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |