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Nurses
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of staff shortages in areas of care formerly undertaken by state enrolled nurses; and what plans he has to create a replacement position to that of state enrolled nurse. [17212]
- (2) if he will make a statement on the impact on health services of ending the position of state enrolled nurse. [17211]
Mr. Milburn:
The professional status of the second level (enrolled) nurse remains unchanged. There are currently 332,660 (whole time equivalent) nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff employed by the National Health Service Hospital and Community Services of which some 10 per cent. are second level
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(enrolled) nurses. Second level (enrolled) nurses continue to make an important contribution to the NHS and their skills and experience have been fully recognised by the clinical grading structure, which rewards nurses for the jobs they do.
Mr. Flight:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what system is used by ambulance services in England and Wales to eliminate hoax and unnecessary calls for emergency assistance; what plans he has to review these mechanisms; in what circumstances ambulance services may decide not to attend calls considered to be hoax or unnecessary; and if he will make a statement. [17214]
Mr. Boateng:
Measures are being taken to reduce the number of hoax calls in a joint initiative between emergency services and telephone operating companies. Ambulance services are also introducing priority dispatch systems which will help identify unnecessary calls. If hoax calls are a particular problem, ambulance services may develop local policies and protocols for not attending in such cases. These must be agreed with local clinicians.
Mr. Hunter:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many women have been diagnosed as suffering injury or other adverse effects as a result of radiotherapy for breast cancer in each year since 1970; [17405]
(3) what information his Department collates centrally from regional radiotherapy centres. [17406]
Mr. Boateng:
The most recent central information on numbers of radiotherapy exposures is for the financial year 1992-93 but this did not record the site of the cancer treated. Since then information has not been collected from radiotherapy departments. The number of women receiving radiotherapy for breast cancer includes women who receive it as part of the primary treatment to the breast and surrounding areas and those who receive it for treatment of recurrent breast cancer in the breast or other parts of the body, particularly the bones. In 1992 in England (latest year for which Office for National Statistic figures are available) 30,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer and it is estimated that around half of these would have received radiotherapy as part of primary treatment. Statistics are not routinely collected on the adverse effects of treatments in any medical discipline although this is done in clinical trials.
Dr. Starkey:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what Technology Foresight priorities are being taken into account in the forward planning of the Department's scientific research programme. [17463]
Ms Jowell:
The scope of the Department's scientific research programmes is sufficiently broad to encompass many of the recommendations made by the Foresight Programme in general and by the Health and Life Sciences Panel in particular. Foresight principles have been incorporated into the forward planning processes used by the Clinical Horizons Scanning Group. A corporate
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knowledge base on health trends and related information has been developed and is available to provide support for the forward planning of the Department's scientific research programmes.
Dr. Starkey:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health in what way the Department's research priorities have been modified in response to Technology Foresight. [17464]
Ms Jowell:
The Central Research and Development Committee has recently recommended that the structure of the centrally funded R and D programmes of the National Health Service should be reconfigured around three broad themes--Health Technology Assessment, Service Delivery and Organisation and New and Emerging Technologies. The latter theme is Foresight related; the full scope of the projects to be included in this new theme has yet to be agreed.
Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will list the programme of work of the Ministerial Task Force on Child Care and the dates on which it will report; [17537]
Mr. Boateng:
We shall be announcing the terms of reference and membership of the Ministerial Task Force shortly.
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to implement the recommendations of the BMA's report on the therapeutic use of cannabis. [17416]
Mr. Boateng:
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has no plans to do so at present.
Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to review the legal framework of community care to take account of the recent Gloucestershire judgment. [17555]
Mr. Boateng:
The judgment given on appeal from the Court of Appeal in the House of Lords on 20 March in the case of R versus Gloucestershire County Council and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health, ex parte Barry (the "Gloucestershire Judgment"), confirmed the law as the Department of Health has always understood it and we have no plans to review the legal framework of community care in the light of that judgment.
Mr. Jack:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will provide a breakdown of the foods accounting for the notified bacterial food poisoning cases in 1996. [17534]
Ms Jowell:
The information requested is not collected centrally. The great majority of food poising notifications are sporadic cases notified on the basis of clinical symptoms in which it is seldom possible to establish the vehicle of infection.
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Mr. Prior:
To ask the Secretary of state for Health (1) if he will make a statement on his policy on the selection of (a) chairmen and (b) board members of NHS trusts; [17382]
(3) if he will make a statement on the re-appointment of (a) the chairman and (b) other board members of the Norfolk and Norwich Health Care NHS Trust. [17384]
Mr. Milburn:
All National Health Service appointments are made on merit, and in accordance with guidance from the Commissioner for Public Appointments and the Government's criteria on the qualities required for chairmen and non-executives. Outstanding appointments to the boards of the Norfolk and Norwich Health Care Trust and the Norfolk Mental Health Care Trust will be made as soon as possible.
Mr. Simon Hughes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list, separately by Minister, and by date, each (a) meeting attended by and (b) visit undertaken by Ministers (i) in London and (ii) with people working for the National Health Service in London since 1 May, other than meetings with, or visits to, civil servants working for his Department centrally or for the South Thames or North Thames NHS regional offices. [17831]
Mr. Milburn:
The table shows all Ministerial visits to National Health Service trusts, health authorities and primary care sites in London since 1 May 1997.
(2) how many women have received radiotherapy treatment for breast cancer in each year since 1970; [17404]
(2) what are the (a) terms of reference and (b) membership of the Ministerial Task Force on Child Care. [17539]
(2) when he expects to announce (a) the next chairman of the Norfolk and Norwich Health Care NHS Trust and (b) the next chairman of the Norfolk Mental Health Care NHS Trust; [17383]
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