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Hospital Admissions

Mr. Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital admissions there were in the (a) Bromley and (b) North Cumbria Health Authority area in each month for the last five years that figures are available. [122365]

Mr. Denham: The figures shown in the table are a count of admissions per month to National Health Service Hospitals in England for the years 1994-95 to 1998-99 where the patient's health authority of residence was Bromley Health Authority or North Cumbria Health Authority.

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Admissions by month and health authority of residence NHS hospitals, England 1994-95 to 1998-99

	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December	January	February	March
1994-95
Bromley HA	4,199	4,421	4,536	4,703	4,483	4,436	4,539	4,813	4,086	4,593	4,387	4,430
North Cumbria	5,004	5,353	5,446	5,276	5,029	5,426	5,352	5,498	5,003	5,762	5,275	5,108
1995-96
Bromley HA	4,457	4,841	4,894	4,444	4,564	4,513	4,821	4,919	3,979	4,729	4,541	4,014
North Cumbria	4,937	5,699	5,552	5,625	5,418	5,542	5,798	5,856	5,198	5,907	5,145	4,938
1996-97
Bromley HA	4,573	4,939	4,476	5,269	4,671	4,814	5,232	4,963	4,444	4,768	4,393	4,088
North Cumbria	5,691	5,525	5,507	5,863	5,220	5,607	5,994	5,622	5,266	5,954	5,401	4,859
1997-98
Bromley HA	5,123	4,798	4,733	5,178	4,441	4,683	4,949	4,631	4,371	5,830	5,750	4,579
North Cumbria	5,693	5,469	5,705	5,874	5,220	5,713	5,963	5,784	5,461	5,870	5,305	5,479
1998-99
Bromley HA	4,851	4,758	5,235	5,371	4,857	5,365	5,443	5,386	4,763	5,115	4,981	5,100
North Cumbria	5,521	5,570	6,106	5,979	5,547	5,996	6,069	6,093	5,804	6,022	5,676	5,838

Note:

Data in this table has not been adjusted for shortfalls in collection (ie it is ungrossed)

Source:

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health

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Graduates

Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the role of the Royal Colleges in determining the number of students graduating as doctors. [122806]

Mr. Denham: The Royal Colleges do not have any formal role in determining the number of students entering undergraduates medical education, or graduating as doctors.

Lymington Community Hospital

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will make an announcement on the New Lymington Community Hospital private finance initiative. [122831]

Mr. Denham: [holding answer 19 May 2000]: Negotiations between Southampton Community Health Services National Health Service Trust and its private sector partner on the proposed private finance initiative scheme for a new community hospital for Lymington are continuing. We expect these to be completed as soon as possible, allowing an announcement to be made soon after.

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Euro

Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which (a) health trusts, (b) health authorities and (c) other bodies within the NHS (i) have set up and (ii) are setting up projects to prepare for the UK adopting the euro; what these projects are costing each organisation; what the total cost to the Department is; and from which budget sums already spent have come. [122813]

Ms Stuart: An update on changeover planning in the public sector was given in the second Outline National Changeover Plan published on 9 March.

Cold-related Illnesses

Mr. Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the percentage increase in hospital admissions for cold-related illnesses from December to March above the average for the rest of the year in (a) Bromley and (b) North Cumbria health authority area in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [122368]

Mr. Denham: The figures in the table show a count of admissions to National Health Service hospitals in England by selected diagnoses, where the patient's health authority of residence was Bromley or North Cumbria, for the years 1994-95 to 1998-99.

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Admissions by selected diagnoses and percentage increase of average admissions per month between April-November and December-March for Bromley and North Cumbria HA of residence, NHS hospitals, 1994-95 to 1998-99

	1994-95		1995-96		1996-97		1997-98		1998-99
Admission date--months	Bromley HA	North Cumbria HA	Bromley HA	North Cumbria HA	Bromley HA	North Cumbria HA	Bromley HA	North Cumbria HA	Bromley HA	North Cumbria HA
April	35	26	36	30	42	33	46	36	42	50
May	35	38	44	34	40	35	34	34	40	25
June	33	19	42	42	26	25	28	24	64	39
July	29	22	33	28	38	22	31	21	45	22
August	35	23	29	25	37	18	37	16	30	20
September	34	25	25	26	31	18	31	20	32	38
October	37	26	42	36	36	25	55	37	55	27
November	54	30	53	46	39	42	46	31	50	37
April-November average admissions per month	37	26	38	33	36	27	39	27	45	32
December	77	41	71	81	67	57	61	40	100	58
January	55	54	57	53	103	56	75	41	97	74
February	32	38	43	44	32	44	74	30	60	32
March(10)	24	27	19	19	36	25	55	29	46	28
December-March average admissions per month	47	40	48	49	60	46	66	35	76	48
Percentage increase in average admissions per month between April-November and December-March	29	53	25	48	65	67	72	28	69	49

(10) Admissions which had not finished by the end of the financial year (ie 31 March) are not included in the figures as they do not hold any diagnostic data

Notes:

1. The diagnosis codes used were as follows:

ICD10 (1995-96 to 1998-99)

JOO--Acute nasopharyngitis (common cold)

J10-J18--Influenza and pneumonia

T68--Hypothermia

T69--Other effects of reduced temperature

ICD9 (1994-95)

460--Acute nasopharyngitis (common cold)

480-487--Influenza and pneumonia

991--Effects of reduced temperature (including hypothermia)

2. The main diagnosis is the first of seven diagnosis fields in the HES data set, and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.

3. Data in this table has not been adjusted for shortfalls in collection (ie it is ungrossed).

Source:

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health

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Physicians

Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will discuss with the General Medical Council their plans for making it a requirement for any physician applying for a new appointment to divulge legal action which he or she may be facing in relation to their medical work. [122753]

Ms Stuart: It is not the responsibility of the General Medical Council to require physicians applying for new appointments to divulge legal action which they may be facing in relation to their medical work. The GMC is an independent statutory body, which licenses doctors to practise medicine in the United Kingdom, following an examination of their qualifications. It is their job to ensure that the doctors registered are capable of good medical practice within the scope of their registration, which includes being honest and trustworthy.

It is the responsibility of all employers to take all possible action to ensure that doctors they appoint are fit to practise. The Department has issued guidance reinforcing the need for pre employment checks for doctors in the "Good Practice Guidance" issued with the "Appointment of Consultants Regulations 1996". Additionally the Department has also issued HSG(98)64, "The Management of Health, Safety and Welfare Issues of NHS Staff", and HSC 1998/212 "Children's Safeguard Review: Choosing with Care", which cover all NHS staff, and advises NHS employers to ensure proper pre-employment checks are made so that employees do not represent a risk to patients.

The Department also plans to issue a Direction shortly which will require NHS employers to include a declaration in their application forms for hospital and community medical and dental posts, stating whether or not the applicant has been or is the subject of disciplinary action by the police, or a regulatory body in this country or overseas.

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