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NHS Pay and Pensions Enhancements
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if it is consistent with national guidance for NHS trusts to award pay and pension enhancements (a) on the authority of the Chair and (b) without presenting minutes or reports of remuneration committees to full trust boards. [76131]
Mr. Denham:
When dealing with issues of corporate governance, National Health Service trusts should comply with the national guidance contained in the Codes of Conduct and Accountability, which was issued on 28 April 1994, under cover of Executive Letter (94)40, copies of which are available in the Library.
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Trust boards are obliged to establish remuneration committees to advise the Board about the appropriate remuneration of the chief executive and other executive directors. However, approval of the remuneration of such key staff would be a decision of the Board.
Mr. Andy King:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the incidence of tampering with patients' records by general practitioners; and if he will make a statement. [75922]
Mr. Denham:
Allegations that general practitioners have tampered with patients' records are dealt with locally. There is no evidence that tampering occurs to an extent that would warrant a national assessment.
Miss Widdecombe:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans his Department has to supply copies of the British National Formulary to all essential users in Norfolk; [75910]
(3) what guidelines his Department lays down for the distribution of the British National Formulary to health care professionals. [75909]
Mr. Denham:
Copies of the British National Formulary are distributed twice yearly free of charge to all health authorities and trusts. They are responsible for ensuring that it is passed to all essential users.
The Department recommends that all general practitioners, community pharmacists, hospital doctors, hospital pharmacists and health authority medical and pharmaceutical advisers should receive the formulary. In addition, where possible, there should also be a reference copy on each hospital ward and in each paramedic ambulance. The Department has no reason to believe these recommendations are not being followed.
Mr. Sanders:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the impact on the private sector care industry of the national minimum wage; and if he will make a statement. [75934]
Mr. Hutton:
It is not possible to estimate with precision the overall impact of the national minimum wage on the private sector industry. Subject to statutory requirements, terms of employment are a matter for employer and employees.
Mr. Syms:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money, in real terms, has been spent on front-line care in the NHS in each year since 1979. [76035]
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Mr. Denham
[holding answer 11 March 1999]: Information in the form requested is not available. However, information on expenditure by programme of care within hospital and community health services is provided each year to the Health Select Committee's Public Expenditure Inquiry (HC959), copies of which are available in the Library.
Mr. Win Griffiths:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health after the publication of the Poswillo Inquiry, how many general dental practitioners underwent training in anaesthesia and equipped their practices to meet the appropriate recommended safety levels; and what contribution his Department made towards this training. [75429]
Mr. Denham
[holding answer 15 March 1999]: Following publication of the Poswillo Report the Department allocated £20.4 million to regional health authorities over the three years 1992-95. We do not have a breakdown of the usage of this money to include numbers trained and the amount spent on equipment.
Mr. Simon Hughes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the levels of abuse of elderly people in care; if he will publish this assessment; and if he will make a statement. [76484]
Mr. Hutton
[holding answer 15 March 1999]: The Department does not keep data on incidents of abuse in adult care homes. However, the Department has provided funding to Action on Elder Abuse for its national helpline service. Furthermore, we are funding an analysis of the first one thousand calls which that helpline has received. National guidelines for dealing with incidents of abuse to vulnerable adults are currently being developed, and this work is financed and led by the Department.
Mr. Austin:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list his Department's expenditure on grants to voluntary bodies working on incontinence. [76767]
Mr. Hutton:
In 1998-99 the Department has funded the following voluntary organisations for continence projects:
(2) what assessment his Department has made of the (a) economic and (b) safety implications of general practitioners prescribing without access to an up-to-date copy of the British National Formulary; [75911]
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Continence Foundation | 35,000 |
| Disabled Living | 24,750 |
| InContact | 6,250 |
Mr. Austin:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has (a) completed, (b) published and (c) commissioned on incontinence. [76768]
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Mr. Hutton:
The Department funds research and development to support its work on policy development and evaluation in health and social care. The Department also manages the National Health Service research and development levy, which is used to support research and development of relevance to the National Health Service in hospitals, general practice and other health care settings, and to fund the NHS research and development programme. In addition, the Medical Research Council (MRC), which receives most of its income via grant-in-aid from the Office of Science and Technology in the Department of Trade and Industry, funds medical research as part of the Government's funding of the science and engineering base.
The NHS research and development programme is currently supporting the following two projects on incontinence:
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Mr. Hutton:
The information requested is not available centrally. Local health authorities are responsible for commissioning continence services to meet the needs of their local population. The National Health Service Executive is currently reviewing continence services policy with a view to issuing updated guidance in the spring.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what was the last date on which human vaccines containing bovine material prohibited for use in human food were used on humans; [76508]
Ms Jowell:
No human vaccines for use in the United Kingdom contain or ever have contained in the finished product bovine material prohibited for use in the human food chain. Therefore, no vaccines have ever been disposed of for the reason that they contained bovine material prohibited for use in the human food chain.
Cost-effective night-time management of heavily incontinent adults (Dr. Cottenden, University College London); and
The Department's policy research programme supported the following research projects:
The treatment of urinary incontinence in stroke patients (Professor Castledon, University of Leicester).
The development of methodologies to identify urinary incontinence and set targets for health gain (Professor Pearson, University of Liverpool, completed September, 1995); and
The MRC spent £953,000 in 1997-98 on the following three ongoing projects in the general area of incontinence:
DH Post Doctoral Fellowship, Dr. Brenda Hilary Roe, University of Oxford, completed March, 1996. (Dr. Roe's research project evaluated health interventions by primary health care teams and continence advisory services related to incontinence.)
A randomised trial of open versus laparoscopic colposuspension for genuine stress incontinence, (Professor Kitchener, St. Mary's Hospital);
In addition, the MRC also made grants during the mid 1990s for the following projects:
Incontinence: a population laboratory approach to the epidemiology and evaluation of care, (Dr. McGrother, University of Leicester); and
Ion channels in myoctes from human and pig urethra/ bladder-modulation by drugs and role in tissue contractile behaviour, (Dr. Brading, University of Oxford).
Can the lower urinary tract be controlled by sacral root stimulation? (Dr. Baxendale, University of Glasgow);
Mr. Austin:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list his Department's budget and planned expenditure relating to incontinence for each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [76766]
Oestrogen replacement therapy on urinary tract dysfunction and urogenital collagens in postmenopausal women with stress, (Mr. Jackson, Bristol Urological Institute);
Determining the outcome of surgery for stress incontinence in women (Professor Black, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine).
(2) pursuant to his answer of 8 March 1999, Official Report, column 85, on human vaccines, for what reason he is unable to state how those human vaccines which contain bovine material prohibited for use in the human food chain were disposed of; and if he will make a statement. [76500]
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