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HEALTH

Health Authorities (Finance)

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will announce the 1997-98 hospital and community health services revenue allocations for health authorities. [6590]

Mr. Dorrell: The 1997-98 hospital and community health services integrated revenue allocations for weighted populations are given, by health authority, in the table.

These reflect changes made to the national weighted capitation formula which introduce an interim needs weighting for community health services, a revised adjustment to take account of unavoidable geographical variations in the cost of providing services--market forces factor--and the introduction of specific formulae for certain special allocations.

1997-98 health authority integrated allocations

	£000s
Avon	429,896
Barking and Havering	189,282
Barnet	156,208
Barnsley	109,499
Bedfordshire	224,255
Berkshire	311,877
Bexley and Greenwich	223,868
Birmingham	504,039
Bradford	227,671
Brent and Harrow	240,417
Bromley	136,118
Buckinghamshire	265,389
Bury and Rochdale	182,992
Calderdale and Kirklees	271,159
Cambridge and Huntingdon	172,386
Camden and Islington	252,342
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly	228,492
County Durham	295,745
Coventry	141,671
Croydon	153,336
Doncaster	138,231
Dorset	329,683
Dudley	134,349
Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow	360,889
East and North Hertfordshire	206,396
East Kent	289,555
East Lancashire	251,028
East London and the City	365,401
East Norfolk	273,767
East Riding	260,454
East Surrey	184,238
East Sussex, Brighton and Hove	373,009
Enfield and Haringey	247,987
Gateshead and South Tyneside	186,073
Gloucestershire	245,080
Herefordshire	72,165
Hillingdon	117,829
Isle of Wight	67,969
Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster	212,352
Kingston and Richmond	157,747
Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham	441,011
Leeds	338,225
Leicestershire	377,913
Lincolnshire	279,186
Liverpool	253,812
Manchester	249,626
Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth	324,133
Morecambe Bay	152,022
Newcastle and North Tyneside	245,697
North and East Devon	223,273
North and Mid Hampshire	220,166
North Cheshire	151,744
North Cumbria	144,973
North Derbysbire	168,457
North Essex	370,276
North Nottinghamshire	173,509
North Staffordshire	220,256
North-West Anglia	180,083
North-West Lancashire	233,310
North Yorkshire	320,294
Northamptonshire	254,063
Northumberland	141,256
Nottingham	285,635
Oxfordshire	235,891
Portsmouth and South-East Hampshire	241,961
Redbridge and Waltham Forest	231,482
Rotherham	119,102
Salford and Trafford	223,551
Sandwell	145,602
Sefton	144,793
Sheffield	270,480
Shropshire	177,984
Solihull	84,643
Somerset	213,079
South and West Devon	281,747
South Cheshire	293,292
South Derbyshire	245,831
South Essex	301,832
South Humber	145,473
South Lancashire	138,607
South Staffordshire	239,546
Southampton and South-west Hampshire	234,720
St. Helen's and Knowsley	160,888
Stockport	125,475
Suffolk	285,450
Sunderland	146,274
Tees	266,775
Wakefield	151,933
Walsall	119,443
Warwickshire	219,586
West Hertfordshire	235,955
West Kent	409,273
West Pennine	224,126
West Surrey	276,836
West Sussex	342,957
Wigan and Bolton	270,343
Wiltshire	254,638
Wirral	162,272
Wolverhampton	117,523
Worcestershire	224,797
Total	22,903,923

Integrated health authority allocations comprise general allocations; General medical services (staff, premises improvements and computing cost);

Out of hours Development Fund;

Joint finance;

AIDS prevention;

Drug misuse.

28 Nov 1996 : Column: 368

NHS Executive

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arbitration over contracts between purchasers and providers has taken place in the NHS executive Trent since 1 April; which authorities and trusts were involved; when the arbitration guidance was issued, and to what financial year it related. [5145]

Mr. Malone: One formal contract arbitration has taken place in Trent region since 1 April 1996 between Central Sheffield University Hospitals national health service trust and Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Royal Hospital national health service trust.

For 1996-97, national health service executive Trent sent guidance on contract arbitration to all health authorities and trusts in the Trent region on 1 March 1996.

Mixed-sex Wards

Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the practice of mixed wards to end; and if he will make a statement. [5697]

Mr. Horam: It is for trusts and health authorities to manage priorities and strike a balance when deciding their local priorities. Under the patients charter, patients have the right, except in emergencies, to be told before admission if it is planned to care for them in a mixed-sex ward. Patients can expect their privacy and dignity to be respected and for there to be single-sex washing and toilet facilities. Single-sex accommodation can often be provided within mixed-sex wards. We are preparing guidance on the design of acute wards which will give examples of how this can be done.

Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his Department's definition of a mixed-sex ward. [5775]

Mr. Horam: A ward in which male and female patients are accommodated.

Health Visitors

Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the total number of health visitors in England in each of the last 10 years; and what has been the average case load carried in each of those years. [5288]

28 Nov 1996 : Column: 369

Mr. Horam: Information on health visitors' case load is not available centrally. The number of health visitors employed by the hospital and community health services each year up to and including 1994-95 is available from the Department of Health's annual publication, "Health and Personal Social Services Statistics for England", copies of which are available in the Library.

Information on the number of health visitors at September 1995--the latest available--which are not directly comparable with the information for earlier years, are available in the Department of Health's Statistical Bulletin, "NHS hospital and community health services non-medical staff in England: 1985-1995", copies of which are in the Library. Information on the total number of face-to-face contacts made by health visiting staff during the financial year 1995-96 will be available shortly; copies will be placed in the Library.

Elective Surgery

Ms Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the health authorities that have not met the patients charter standards relating to admission for elective surgery within 18 months of referral to a consultant surgeon for each year since 1994. [5381]

Mr. Horam: The patients charter guarantees that all patients will be treated within 18 months of a decision to admit to hospital, not within 18 months of being referred to a consultant. Information in the form requested is not available.

General Council for Social Services

Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many representations he has received in the past year in favour of a general council for social services. [5285]

Mr. Burns: Ministers and officials have received about 30 letters.

General Practitioners

Ms Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he plans to define the core general medical services that should be provided by general practitioners. [5378]

Mr. Malone: General practitioners' responsibilities are set out in their terms of service.

Medical Negligence Claims

Ms Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the total amount of money paid from NHS funds to claimants as a result of medical negligence claims in each year since 1990. [5382]

Mr. Horam: I refer the hon. Member to the figures that were given to the hon. Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn) on 6 March 1995, Official Report, column 41-42, and 17 May 1996 at column 586. As was made clear at the time, the figures for the earlier years were based on information which was not comprehensive and in particular did not include data from national health service trusts. The table shows the regional breakdowns based on latest estimates for 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1995-96, consistent with the national estimates for those years.

28 Nov 1996 : Column: 370

Costs to the NHS of clinical negligence settlements by region

Region	1993-94	1994-95	1995-96
	£ million (estimated)	£ million (estimated)	£ million (estimated)
Northern and Yorkshire	15.2	25.0	16.3
Trent	7.1	11.7	15.1
Anglia and Oxford	10.6	18.2	14.8
North Thames	21.4	30.4	37.2
South Thames	30.6	26.9	18.6
South and West	8.0	19.2	16.4
West Midlands	8.4	6.1	6.4
North West	16.6	22.5	24.3
Total	117.9	160.0	149.1

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