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Pathology Services (Kent)

Dr. Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made by the Kent and Canterbury Hospitals NHS Trust to achieve Good Laboratory Practice accreditation in respect of pathology services. [17788]

Mr. Boateng: We understand from the Kent and Canterbury Hospitals National Health Service Trust that the departments of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, Clinical Biochemistry, Microbiology and Haemophilia applied for Clinical Pathology Accreditation in February 1997. Provisional approval was granted and a formal inspection is scheduled for January 1998. The Trust is also striving towards the attainment of the Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) standard.

Clinical laboratories generally seek accreditation by Clinical Pathology Accreditation (UK) Limited (CPA) rather than GLP accreditation. The former was developed specifically for clinical laboratories, whereas the latter is much more relevant to laboratories involved in clinical trials work.

Dr. Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made by the Kent and Canterbury Hospitals NHS Trust to address the recommendations of the 1995 report Review of Pathology Services at Kent and Canterbury Hospitals NHS Trust. [17787]

Mr. Boateng: We understand from Kent and Canterbury Hospitals National Health Service Trust that the report highlighted a number of specific departmental issues to be addressed:

Of the 17 general issues, 12 have been fully implemented, five partially implemented.

Of the seven Haematology issues, four have been fully implemented and three partially implemented.

Of the five Chemistry issues, two have been fully implemented and three not implemented (these require further dialogue with neighbouring Trusts).

Of the six Microbiology issues two have been fully implemented and four not implemented (these require further dialogue with neighbouring Trusts).

Of the seven Histology issues, two have been fully implemented, four partially implemented and one not implemented (this requires further work by SKHT).

The overall recommendations (options) were as follows:

1. The options of doing nothing or of sending the work out to an external agency were rejected by the trust as being impractical and not in the best interests of the trust.

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This was accepted by the trust.

2. Although refurbishment of the current Pathology facility would be possible we believe that this exercise would only lead to a moderate and intermediate term improvement in Pathology services, at relatively high cost. It is also clear that it would not be possible to perform all those Pathology functions that ought to be carried out on site in the refurbished structure.

This was not implemented by the trust, as refurbishment was not a cost effective long term solution.

3. The most appropriate way of improving Pathology services is to plan and construct a new Pathology facility on site. This ensures the provision of an essential service and this development would have the potential of attracting technical and medical staff of the highest calibre. There would also be significant opportunities in marketing Pathology services externally as the development, once established, would be exceptionally competitive.

This was not implemented by the trust, for reasons outlined under 2, and demonstrated ability to recruit staff at high calibre.

4. A new development would incorporate the latest technologies in term of automated equipment and robotics, which would significantly reduce day to day costs. This would also enable a full assessment of staff functions and skill mix to be performed.

This was not implemented by the trust, for reasons outlined under 2 and 3.

The refurbishment was completed in April 1997. Refurbishment addressed outstanding Health and Safety issues and enabled the Pathology laboratories to apply for Clinical Pathology Accreditation (CPA). CPA was then considered desirable by the local purchaser and became a requirement from April 1998.

Dr. Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research has been published by the Pathology Services of the Kent and Canterbury Hospitals NHS Trust, other than the Haemophilia Centre, since 1995. [17790]

Mr. Boateng: We understand from Kent and Canterbury Hospitals National Health Service Trust that Medical and Scientific staff employed by the Trust Pathology Directorate have published in a variety of national and international journals since 1995.

In addition, presentations at national meetings by staff employed within the Pathology Directorate have been published in abstract form. My hon. Friend is advised to contact the Kent Postgraduate Centre at Canterbury for a complete list of current and forthcoming publications.

A full list of the recent publications will also be available in the Trust's Research and Development Annual Report, 1997.

London Strategic Review

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what period for consultation there will be between the publication of the report by the independent advisory panel of the London Strategic Review, and the publication of the Government's response to this report. [17737]

Mr. Milburn: We will be announcing details of the publication in due course.

Worthing and Southlands NHS Trust

Mr. Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will name the non-executives serving the

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Worthing and Southlands National Health Service Trust in September and November, listing their occupations; when he intends to announce re-appointments or appointments; and for what reasons he did not make his decisions earlier. [18119]

Mr. Milburn: The non-executive members of the board in September were as follows:

Member	Occupation
Mr. Geoffrey Withrington (Chair)	Managing Director
Miss Thrine Hely	Project Manager and Business Consultant
Mr. Graham Hill	Former Policeman
Ms Barbara Myers	Media Specialist
Mr. Paul Savage	Retired Chartered Accountant
Professor Michael Whiting	Consultant Chiropodist and University Dean

The terms of office of Mr. Hely, Ms Myers, Mr. Savage and Professor Whiting came to an end on 31 October. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State subsequently wrote on 25 November inviting four candidates to serve on the board for terms of three and four years. All four have now accepted the invitations to serve, as a result of which the new board is as follows:

Member	Occupation
Mr. Geoffrey Withrington (Chair)	Managing Director
Mr. Graham Hill	Former Policeman
Mr. Paul Savage	Retired Chartered Accountant
Mrs. Lindy Stannard	Teacher
Mrs. Nicola Thompson	Financial Services Officer
Professor Michael Whiting	Consultant Chiropodist and University Dean

As a consequence of our commitment to introduce new criteria for appointments and to widen the pool of candidates, some appointments have unfortunately been delayed. We recognise the importance of giving serving and newly appointed board members advance notice of appointments and we expect to be able to achieve this in future appointment rounds.

Anaesthetists

Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what changes are proposed in the regulations governing entry to the Specialist Register for Anaesthetists to conform with the European Specialist Medical Qualifications Order 1995; and if he will make a statement. [17951]

Mr. Milburn: Entry to the Specialists Register is governed by the European Specialist Medical Qualifications Order 1995. There are no specific or separate arrangements for Anaesthetists.

The Government are considering amendments to the Order to introduce greater flexibility in the transitional provisions for assessing doctors for entry to the Specialist Register. The proposed amendments to the Order would apply to all medical specialities.

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Leukaemia

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action the Government plan in response to the report from the Independent Advisory Committee on the Medical Aspects of Radiation concerning the incidence of leukaemia among children whose fathers have been exposed to radiation at work. [17891]

Ms Jowell: The study to consider any possible effects on the health of the offspring of parents occupationally exposed to radiation was funded by the Department of Health and the Health and Safety Executive in response to recommendations from the Government's independent advisory Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE). The findings of the study were referred to COMARE and their statement has been placed in the Library. COMARE agree with the authors that there is no evidence of a link between radiation dose in parents prior to conception and the incidence of leukaemia or non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in their children. COMARE will reserve further comment until the results of a further study, which is investigating the health of all the children born to workers in a large part of the nuclear industry, is completed. The study is expected to be published early next year.

The Government are committed to investigating the causes of leukaemia and will continue the programme of radiation protection research and seek guidance from COMARE about the direction of any additional future research. They will also continue to require employers to keep radiation exposures as low as reasonably practicable.

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