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Asthma
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice his Department is giving to health authorities and primary care groups on their strategies and expenditure with regard to asthma alleviation. [152542]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 8 March 2001]: Management of asthma takes place mainly in primary care. In addition to the general health promotion, general practitioners offer their patients more targeted care which is also provided for specific conditions through chronic disease management programmes (CDMP's). The asthma CDMP, introduced in 1993, is designed to support GPs in setting up and overseeing organised programmes of care for patients with asthma.
NHS Trusts
Mr. Hope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what financial arrangements are being made in respect of (a) NHS trusts dissolved and (b) new NHS trusts and primary care trusts established in 2000-01. [153615]
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Mr. Milburn: Pursuant to the dissolution of 26 National Health Service trusts on 1 April 2000 and 1 October 2000, and their reconfiguration through the establishment of 10 new NHS trusts, I propose to create originating capital for the new NHS trusts equal to the net assets transferred to them and therefore to remit the outstanding debt of the dissolved trusts.
A number of primary care trusts were also established during the year. Public Dividend Capital is not required for the establishment of new primary care trusts as they are subject to a different financial regime. Net assets transferred from dissolving NHS trusts to primary care trusts are reflected in the general fund of the primary care trust.
These operations will involve no overall loss to the Exchequer. Her Majesty's Treasury has today presented a minute to the House giving particulars and circumstances of the proposed remission which it has approved in principle.
Capital Health Projects (Islington)
Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list capital health projects in Islington financed by his Department since 1 May 1997 . [153114]
Mr. Denham: The information is as follows:
- Whittington Hospital--Replace Waterlow Unit (Acute Mental Health Unit)
City Road Health Centre relocation
Goodinge Road Health Centre major upgrade
- Newington Green general practitioner surgery relocation
- Royal Northern Primary Care Centre development
- Margery Street GP surgery relocation
- Improvement grants provided to GP's for: Bains and Greenough Practice, Rahaman Practice, St. Johns Way Practice, Tibble Practice, Jacobs Practice and Flinders Practice.
NHS Reporting System
Mr. David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the reasons are for the delay in implementing the recommendation that the NHS should set up a mandatory reporting system for logging all failures, mistakes, errors and near misses in healthcare contained in the report "An Organisation with a Memory". [152896]
Mr. Denham: Work on setting up a mandatory reporting system is being very actively progressed. The original recommended timetable was reviewed as part of setting targets within the NHS Plan and a more realistic target of December 2001 was agreed and published as part of the plan in July 2000. The new system will be established by the end of 2001 and details of the implementation plan will be published in due course.
Prescription Season Tickets
Mrs. Fyfe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to allow prepayment season tickets for prescriptions to be spread over the year. [152835]
Ms Stuart: In England, we have no plans to do so. However, we recognise that some people may have difficulty in finding the fee for an annual prepayment
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certificate (PPC) in one payment, which is why we have also made PPCs available for four-monthly periods. For Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, these matters are for the devolved Administrations to consider.
Low Frequency Radio Transmissions
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what investigations he has made into the effects on health of extremely low frequency radio transmissions; and if he will made a statement. [153044]
Yvette Cooper: The Department obtains advice on potential health effects risks associated with extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) from the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB). A report published on 6 March by the NRPB's Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation was a review of all available published work to date and provides an assessment of the potential risks of cancer from electromagnetic fields (Documents of the NRPB Volume 12, Number 1,2001). Copies are available in the Library. The board of the NRPB also published a response statement which can be found on the NRPB website: www.nrpb.org.uk.
The report states that any possible risk of childhood leukaemia relates to those exposed at relatively high levels of domestic exposure but that these are not necessarily associated with proximity to pylons or overhead power transmission lines. The conclusions indicate that the question whether exposure to electromagnetic fields can influence the development of cancer cannot at present be completely resolved. The report made a number of specific research recommendations. The NRPB consider that the report provides no additional scientific evidence to require a change in the guidelines to limit exposure to extremely low frequency EMF.
The Department will consider carefully the recommendations of the NRPB and commission appropriate research in the light of that which is already under way. Current research includes a number of Government-funded studies in this country and support for the multinational electromagnetic fields project set up and co-ordinated by the World Health Organisation.
National Bidding Process
Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much additional capital has been allocated to the
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Trent region as part of the national bidding process; and how much each NHS trust has obtained through that process for each national priority scheme in the current financial year. [149993]
Mr. Denham: Trent region has been allocated £23,446 million in 2000-01 from earmarked funds to support investment in Government priorities. The amount allocated to each National Health Service trust in the Trent region through the process is shown in Table A. Allocations were also made to health authorities and some primary care groups and primary care trusts.
Details of the allocations for the individual priority areas are in table B.
| Table A | |
|---|---|
| NHS trust | Total earmarked capital £000 |
| Barnsley Community and Priority Services | 0 |
| Barnsley District General Hospital | 755 |
| Bassetlaw Hospital and Community Health Services | 547 |
| Central Nottinghamshire Healthcare | 47 |
| Central Sheffield University Hospitals | 1,692 |
| Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Royal Hospital | 879 |
| Community Healthcare Services, North Derbyshire | 10 |
| Community Health Services, Southern Derbyshire | 397 |
| Community Health Sheffield | 0 |
| Doncaster and South Humber Healthcare | 0 |
| Doncaster Royal Infirmary and Montagu Hospital | 1,104 |
| East Midlands Ambulance Service | 266 |
| King's Mill Centre for Health Care Services | 675 |
| Leicestershire and Rutland Healthcare | 62 |
| Lincoln District Healthcare | 50 |
| Lincolnshire Ambulance and Health Transport Service | 41 |
| North East Lincolnshire | 534 |
| Northern General Hospital | 1,952 |
| Nottingham City Hospital | 1,487 |
| Nottingham Community Health | 0 |
| Nottingham Healthcare | 8 |
| Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham University Hospital | 3,718 |
| Rotherham General Hospitals | 929 |
| Rotherham Priority Health Services | 0 |
| Scunthorpe and Goole Hospitals | 448 |
| Sheffield Children's Hospital | 854 |
| South Lincolnshire Healthcare | 0 |
| South Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service | 82 |
| Southern Derbyshire Acute Hospitals | 1,509 |
| Southern Derbyshire Mental Health | 0 |
| University Hospitals of Leicester | 2,836 |
| United Lincolnshire Hospitals | 2,016 |
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