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Neurology Treatment

Mr. Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to recruit more neurologists and neurology specialist nurses; and if he will make a statement. [104580]

Mr. Denham: At local level, it is for National Health Service trusts and health authorities, who are accountable for the quality of the services they provide, to determine how their services are configured and delivered, in the

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light of local circumstances, in order to provide quality services to patients. This includes deciding on the number and grades of posts in neurology in their locality.

Extra money has been made available to enable the NHS to take on up to 7,000 doctors and 15,000 more nurses by March 2002. The precise increases between specialties in the Hospital and Community Health Services and the General Medical Services will depend on the recruitment choices of NHS trusts and health authorities locally.

From the Department of Health Medical and Dental Workforce on 30 September 1998, there were around 300 consultants in neurology. Currently, there are sufficient higher specialist trainees in the speciality for there to be around 100 extra qualifying for consultant posts by 2006.

Health Authority Mergers

Mr. Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proposals he has for health authority mergers. [105507]

Mr. Denham: There has been only one health authority merger since May 1997 when North West Anglia, East Norfolk and Cambridge and Huntingdon Health Authorities merged to become Norfolk and Cambridge Health Authorities on 1 April 1999.

There are no current plans for further health authority mergers, and any future proposals will be subject to full local consultation and will be based on the needs of the NHS and its patients. We will need to have clear evidence that any plans will deliver real health, service and clinical benefits.

Thalassaemia

Ms Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to raise awareness amongst health professionals of sickle cell and thalassaemia; and what training health professionals receive on this subject. [106196]

Mr. Denham: The Department is considering a proposal from the Haemoglobinopathy Societies to launch a campaign to raise awareness of sickle cell and thalassaemia, principally among black and minority ethnic groups.

Responsibility for the content and standards of medical education is shared between the regulatory bodies (e.g. The General Medical Council and Specialist Training Authority), professional bodies (notably the medical Royal Colleges) and universities. It is neither practicable nor desirable for the Government to prescribe the exact training that any individual doctor will receive.

All general practitioners currently receive appropriate training to help them meet the needs of their patients. A modernised system will be introduced early next year which will ensure that all new trainee general practitioners receive an educational needs assessment. This will enable a range of appropriate training to be better tailored and targeted.

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The National Boards for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting approve courses enabling registration with the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (UKCC). As part of the training programme the UKCC ensures that participants recognise common factors that adversely affect the physical, mental and social well-being of patients and take appropriate action. The English National Board approves a post-registration study programme, "The Care and Management of Adults and Children with Sickle Cell, Thalassaemia and Related Disorders (Haemoglobinopathies)" for nurses.

Ms Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were treated in the NHS for sickle cell and thalassaemia in each of the last 10 years. [106199]

Mr. Denham: The table shows the number of finished consultant episodes in National Health Service hospitals in England for the years 1989-90 to 1997-98, where the main diagnosis was Thalassaemia or Sickle Cell Disorders.

	Sickle cell disorders	Thalassaemia	Total
1989-90	3,695	3,831	7,527
1990-91	4,010	4,018	8,028
1991-92	5,408	5,244	10,652
1992-93	6,344	6,508	12,853
1993-94	7,256	6,732	13,988
1994-95	7,349	6,944	14,293
1995-96	8,671	7,475	16,146
1996-97	9,221	7,680	16,902
1997-98	9,270	7,761	17,031
Total	61,224	56,193	117,420

Source:

Hospital Episode Statistics

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These figures are for in-patient activity only. They include the regular transfusion treatment of thalassaemic patients, which takes place on a day case basis. They do not reflect the number of patients receiving treatment from general practitioners or as hospital outpatients as statistics on such activity are not collected.

Information Technology Projects

Dr. Brand: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the information technology projects that are being undertaken by his Department and agencies responsible to his Department, stating in each case (a) the start date, (b) the originally planned completion date, (c) the expected completion date, (d) the originally planned cost and (e) the estimated actual cost; and if he will make a statement. [106746]

Ms Stuart: The information requested is shown in the table.

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Project name	Start date	Planned competition date	Expected completion date	Planned cost (£000)	Estimated cost (£000)
Computer Aided Facilities Management System	March 1999	October 1999	March 2000	98	107
Forms on the Departmental Intranet	December 1998	November 1999	August 2000	98	193
General Medical Services 99	April 1999	March 2000	February 2000	149	128
Management of Electronic Documents Strategy (Basic Module 1)	February 1999	March 2000	March 2000	218	213
Memphis on the Web	November 1998	July 1999	June 2000	60	98
Non-Executive Appointments System	July 1998	March 2000	April 2000	248	291
Computerisation of Medical Benefits System	April 1998	July 1999	May 2000	344	348
Personnel and Related Systems	July 1997	July 1998	January 2000	580	725
Regional Office Data Sharing Project	May 1997	April 1999	February 2000	160	183
Regional Office Historic Data Project	December 1998	March 2000	June 2000	235	249
Year 2000 Programme including Compliance and Business Continuity	October 1996	March 2000	March 2000	6,100	6,200
Foods Standards Agency (FSA) (IT Infrastructure)	May 1998	August 2000	November 2000	1,440	1,514
FSA (Payroll system set-up)	September 1999	April 2000	April 2000	108	96
FSA (Personnel System)	September 1999	April 2000	April 2000	108	95
FSA (Press Office System)	September 1999	March 2000	March 2000	102	71
FSA Financial and Research Management Systems	November 1998	April 2000	April 2000	1,134	1,134
Commissioning for Health Improvement	October 1999	April 2001	April 2001	1,496	1,496
Medical Devices Agency Integrated System for Information sharing	January 1999	January 2000	March 2000	159	189
National Health Service Pensions Agency five Yearly Scheme Validation Data Extract	December 1998	September 2000	September 2000	650	200
Medicines Control Agency (MCA) General Practice Research Database	September 1999	October 2000	October 2000	2,353	2,353
MCA Structured Cabling for IT/Telecoms	January 1999	December 1999	March 2000	378	378
Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) LabBase 2 Implementation	October 1999	August 2000	August 2000	1,200	1,200
PHLS CoSurv/lab-link deployment	June 1999	March 2000	March 2000	112	112
National Institute of Biological Standards and Control Replacement of Finance System	January 1999	August 1999	January 2000	116	115

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There are many smaller projects where the total project costs are less than £100,000. A full list of these could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

NHS Direct

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on progress in expanding NHS Direct nationwide and its extension to the Wirral. [106809]

Ms Stuart: The White paper "The New NHS; Modern, and Dependable" announced the Government's commitment to NHS Direct. At present, NHS Direct covers 65 per cent. of the population. By the end of October this year, the whole of England, including the Wirral, will be covered.

Wansbeck Hospital

Mr. Ronnie Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the current number of beds in the Wansbeck General Hospital; and what projections he has made of future bed numbers. [107155]

Mr. Denham: The Northumbria Healthcare National Health Service Trust has indicated that there are currently 308 beds at Wansbeck General Hospital. The trust is pursuing a private finance initiative solution to rationalise all beds at the Wansbeck General Hospital and Ashington Hospital on the Wansbeck site.

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