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Blood Product Screening
Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the (a) total national cost, (b) the average cost to health authorities and (c) the cost to Redbridge and Waltham Forest health authority for the screening of blood products for CJD infection; if he will make a supplementary allocation from central health funds available to cover these costs; and if he will make a statement. [89016]
Mr. Hutton: There is no test available at present for screening blood or blood products for Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease infection. However, the Government have instructed the National Blood Authority to leucodeplete (ie remove white blood cells) from blood for transfusion and not to use United Kingdom-sourced plasma in the manufacture of blood products for the time being. The estimated cost nationally to health authorities of these measures in 1999-2000 is £73.5 million. The cost to individual health authorities will vary depending on their usage of blood throughout the year, and information on the average cost to health authorities and to Redbridge and Waltham Forest health authority is therefore not available centrally. Account was taken of this additional cost pressure when allocating additional resources to health authorities in 1999-2000.
Patient Nutritional Screening
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital trusts in England and Wales have in place a system of nutritional screening for newly admitted patients; and what advice his Department has given on the introduction of such systems. [88867]
Mr. Hutton:
There are no data available on the number of hospital trusts which have in place a system of nutritional screening for newly admitted patients as this information is not collected centrally. The Department commissioned a resource pack from the University of
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Newcastle-upon-Tyne which was published in 1997 and a copy was issued to all trusts. It is intended to help trusts to develop and implement a system for nutritional screening.
Ms Drown:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that good-quality food is provided for people in NHS care. [88247]
Mr. Denham:
Guidance on delivering a good quality catering service and improving nutrition standards has been issued to the National Health Service in recent years. All NHS trusts have been asked to adopt a recommended framework for auditing and monitoring performance to ensure consistent standards.
Laura Moffatt:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what data his Department has collated on the change in morbidity en route to hospital when the journey is greater than eight miles. [88932]
Mr. Hutton:
The information requested is not available centrally. Recent work suggests that mortality may be greatest for total journey distances between three and six miles, and significantly less for shorter or longer total journeys. However a significant body of published research has established a causative link between the length of time from incident to treatment and morbidity/mortality. This is the measure used to set national performance standards for National Health Service ambulance services. Regardless of distance all ambulance services will be required to meet the response time targets set out in Health Circular 1999/091 "Modernisation of Ambulance Services" in 2001, copies of which are available in the Library.
Laura Moffatt:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average mileage by ambulance from collection of the patient to the nearest accident department. [88931]
Mr. Hutton:
The average round trip mileage for emergency ambulance journeys in England is 11.2 miles for urban services and 21.2 miles for rural services.
Laura Moffatt:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital trusts are reconfiguring acute services in England where they occupy more than one site, with particular reference to (a) maternity services, (b) intensive care and (c) accident and emergency services. [88933]
Mr. Hutton:
The information requested cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate costs.
Mrs. Brinton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to (a) publish and (b) implement the national standards for care homes developed for his Department by the Centre for Policy on Ageing. [89079]
Mr. Hutton:
We are currently considering the Centre for Policy on Ageing's report setting out their proposals for national regulatory standards for older people in care
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homes. We will be issuing the CPA's proposed standards to a wide range of organisations and individuals for consultation nationally in the summer.
We will carefully consider all the comments we receive on the CPA's report before finalising the standards and the arrangements for implementing them.
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what qualifications and experience are required to be demonstrated by a person wishing to offer domiciliary care services. [89285]
Mr. Hutton:
There are currently no requirements outside local contractual arrangements, but new standards are being developed as part of the new regulatory framework for domiciliary care which was outlined in the Social Services White Paper. These will address issues such as fit person criteria, references, checks and training for people offering domiciliary care services.
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the Government's consultation on the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Long-term Care to be concluded; and if he will make a statement. [89299]
Mr. Hutton:
As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State outlined in his statement to Parliament, the Royal Commission has produced a very detailed report in which the Commissioners themselves call for an informed debate on their recommendations. We expect that debate, which has already begun, to be an on-going one and to inform decisions we take on the Commission's recommendations.
Dr. Naysmith:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will ensure that sight-testing remains confined to medical practitioners and optometrists. [89465]
Mr. Denham:
We have no plans to amend Section 24 of the Opticians Act 1989 which reserves the testing of sight to registered medical practitioners and ophthalmic opticians (optometrists).
Dr. Tonge:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken to ensure that doctors who have been struck off the medical register abroad are not employed by NHS trusts and private hospitals in the UK. [89527]
Mr. Denham:
The National Health Service issued guidance "The Management of Health, Safety and Welfare Issues for NHS Staff" to all NHS employers in April 1998. This emphasised the need to ensure that references are thoroughly checked and career histories explored when recruiting staff. Private employers would be expected to carry out appropriate checks before recruiting medical staff. The National Health Service Executive is working on a proposed change to application forms for medical staff to include a declaration that a doctor has not been subject to disciplinary action by appropriate regulatory bodies anywhere in the world.
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Mr. Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the review of services at Eastbourne District General Hospital. [88262]
Mr. Denham:
The review of nursing care at Eastbourne Hospitals National Health Service Trust is being carried out by the South East Regional Office of the NHS Executive.
With strong independent membership, it will provide an objective assessment of the current position and provide recommendations which will form the basis of an agreed action plan for the trust. The review group's report will be published.
The review group have now met and are presently collecting evidence from all parties concerned.
Mr. Winnick:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the hon. Member for Walsall, North will receive a reply to his letter of 24 May regarding a constituent (ref: POH(6)5608/25). [90065]
Mr. Denham:
I replied to my hon. Friend on 5 July.
Mr. Matthew Taylor:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on how many occasions Ministers in his Department have held meetings with Ministers and officials of the Irish Government since 1 January 1998, indicating the dates and locations, the Ministers involved and the names of the Irish Ministers and officials in each case. [87432]
Mr. Nick Brown:
Since 1 January 1998, Ministers in my Department have held meetings with Ministers of the Irish Government on four occasions.
The then Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Copeland (Mr. Cunningham) met Mr. Joe Walsh the Irish Minister of Agriculture on 18 June 1998 in London and I met him on 13 November 1998 in Dublin.
Lord Donoughue met Joe Walsh on 17-19 April 1998 in Dublin and on 17 June 1999 in London.
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