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Sick Leave
Mr. Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many days off work have been taken by NHS employees each year since 1990 owing to sickness; how much this time off has cost the NHS; how many days off work have been taken by NHS employees each year since 1990 owing to stress; how much this time off has cost the NHS; what assessment he has made of stress levels among staff in the NHS; what proposals he has to reduce stress levels among NHS staff; and if he will make a statement. [97116]
Mr. Denham: According to a survey conducted by the Department in 1998-99 the average sickness absence rate for staff directly employed by National Health Service trusts was 4.6 per cent. This is equivalent to approximately 8 million out of the 176 million days worked each year by National Health Service staff. Details of the survey can be found in Health Service Circular 1999/229: 'Managing Violence, Accidents and Sickness Absence in the NHS' copies of which are available in the Library. Similar information for earlier years, and information about the overall cost and causes of sick leave, is not collected centrally, but may be held locally by individual National Health Service employers. We have agreed improvement targets for health authorities and NHS trusts to 'achieve year on year improvement in sickness absence rates' of 20 per cent. by 2001 and 30 per cent. by 2003.
The management of sickness absence in the National Health Service is being monitored by the Department's Public Sector Productivity Panel. The aim is to identify the most efficient and effective ways to secure a successful approach to improving attendance in the NHS. The project will report in February 2000.
The report of the Partnership for the Health of the National Health Service Workforce, chaired by the Nuffield Trust, identified that 10,000 working days are lost each year through medically certified mental illness, including stress related illness, in the NHS. The NHS
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Executive has issued a range of guidance aimed at improving the quality of working life for staff, including tackling violence, the provision of counselling services, improved health and safety and access to occupational health services.
Mr. Peter Bottomley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the correspondence between his predecessor and the former Chief Secretary during the last six months on the adequacy of the resources for the NHS. [97223]
Mr. Hutton:
All correspondence between Cabinet Ministers is confidential, as is made clear in the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
Mrs. Brinton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in England are receiving services under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983. [97289]
Mr. Hutton:
27,100 people were formally admitted to hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983 in 1998-99. Information on after-care services provided under section 117 of the Act is not held centrally. This is a matter for local and health authorities.
Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to reject NICE recommendations for further commercially sponsored clinical trials in circumstances where his Department has already ruled out such trials as uneconomic. [97309]
Mr. Denham:
The decision to fund, or not to fund a piece of research should continue to be taken case by case, but ultimately by the research funding body in question in accordance with their particular remit.
Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many food poisoning cases in each of the last five years have been attributed to cheese made from (a) pasteurised and (b) unpasteurised milk; and what proportion of the total number of cases they represent. [97310]
Ms Stuart:
Most cases of food poisoning are sporadic and in such cases it is usually impossible to identify a source for the infection. Even in the case of outbreaks, it is sometimes not possible to identify the source. Details of cases of food poisoning and the likely sources of infection identified are collected by the Public Health Laboratory Service and published in CDR Weekly.
The number of cases of food poisoning where the sole vehicle identified has been cheese made from pasteurised and unpasteurised milk (the latter representing less than 1 per cent. of all cheeses manufactured) is set out in the table. Since these figures are based on laboratory reports they cannot be related to food poisoning figures based on statutory notifications. Data for 1994 and 1995 are unavailable.
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| 1996 | 1997 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheese made with pasteurised milk identified as the source of infection | 91 | -- |
| Cheese made with unpasteurised milk identified as the source of infection | -- | 5 |
Note:
Figures for 1998 are not yet available
Mental Health Spending
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish his Department's criteria for distributing the additional funds recently announced for increasing spending on mental health. [97257]
Mr. Hutton: Three main principles were used to guide the allocation of funds for the first tranche of new investment in 1999-2000:
An assessment of need, assessed partly by the weighted population score for each health authority (based on population, size, deprivation indices and other factors)
Evidence concerning the gaps in services gathered during a review of mental health services in 1996-97
The vision for safe, sound and supportive services described in the Government's strategy "Modernising Mental Health Services".
Criteria to be used for allocating funds in the next two years have yet to be decided.
Patient Eligibility (Criteria)
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria his Department uses to decide whether a patient is ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom and thus entitled to free treatment on the NHS. [97262]
Mr. Denham: Eligibility for free hospital treatment depends mainly on residence in the United Kingdom. With some exceptions, for example in accident and emergency departments, all new patients are asked if they have been living in the United Kingdom for the previous 12 months. Patients who have done so, with up to no more than three months absence during that time, will be eligible. Patients who have not lived in the United Kingdom for 12 months may still be eligible if either they are exempt from charges by virtue of the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 1989 or, following a House of Lords ruling, if they can demonstrate that they are lawfully in the United Kingdom for a settled, identifiable purpose. It is unlikely that anyone intending to stay for less than six months would fulfil this criteria.
General practitioners are encouraged to consider residency before accepting a patient for National Health Service treatment but are not bound by the same regulations. Under the National Health Service (General Medical Services) Regulations 1992 a GP does not have to accept any patient for NHS treatment unless specifically allocated by a health authority. The GP's decision does not automatically exempt the patient from charges for hospital treatment they may subsequently need.
Departmental Assets
Dr. Fox:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the assets sold by his Department together with
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their values in each year from 1991-92 to 1998-99; and if he will estimate the value of assets planned to be sold in 1999-2000 and 2000-01. [96274]
Mr. Denham:
Although information on individual sales of assets disposed of by the Department is not held centrally, the following information is available and relates to assets owned directly by the department:
(a) The total income from disposal of NHS assets between 1991-92 and 1998-99 is in the table.
| Year | £ million |
|---|---|
| 1991-92 | 169 |
| 1992-93 | 115 |
| 1993-94 | 213 |
| 1994-95 | 208 |
| 1995-96 | 282 |
| 1996-97 | 393 |
| 1997-98 | 471 |
| 1998-99 | 500 |
| Year | £ million |
|---|---|
| 1999-2000 | 337 |
| 2000-01 | 363 |
Note:
In this period, there were, and are expected to be, no significant disposals of non-National Health Service assets and information on minor or routine disposals could be ascertained only at disproportionate cost.
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