| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Donepezil
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much public money has been spent on the AD2000 study of the effectiveness of donepezil in each of the years
19 Mar 2001 : Column: 101W
(a) 1998, (b) 1999, (c) 2000 and (d) 2001, broken down by (i) the amount spent by individual health authorities on the trial, (ii) the amount allocated to the trial from regional research and development budgets, (iii) the amount allocated from the national research and development extra treatment costs fund and (iv) other NHS costs incurred as a result of the trial. [154072]
Ms Stuart [holding answer 16 March 2001]: The information is not available in the format requested.
The Department has been sponsoring a trial on the long-term effectiveness of donepezil (ARICEPT). The table shows expenditure from the west midlands regional office of the national health service executive and the excess treatment costs budget for this trial.
| West midlands regional office | Excess treatment costs | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997-98 | 5,000 | -- |
| 1998-99 | 122,412 | -- |
| 1999-2000 | 245,870 | -- |
| 2000-01 | 225,723 | 145,000 |
| 2001-02 | 224,973 | (26)200,000 |
(26) Estimate
Primary Care Trusts
Mr. Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what process will be used to appoint non-executive directors to the boards of the new primary care trusts; and if he will make a statement. [153941]
Ms Stuart: Non-officer members of primary care trust boards are currently appointed by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. Candidates are identified through local recruitment exercises, and from those already serving on other national health service boards. The criteria applied when assessing candidates are listed in the Department of Health Public Appointments Annual Report, a copy of which is in the Library.
Regulations for the NHS Appointments Commission have been laid before Parliament and will come into force on 1 April 2001. The commission will be operational from that date and will be responsible for all chair and non-executive appointments to NHS trusts, health authorities and primary care trusts. The criteria for appointment will still be determined by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and the commission will be required to report annually on its performance and progress.
Overseas Recruitment
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) nurses and (b) doctors were recruited from overseas to work in the NHS during the last 12 months. [153759]
Mr. Denham: The figures requested are not collected centrally but may be held by individual national health service employers. The United Kingdom Central Council
19 Mar 2001 : Column: 102W
and the General Medical Council (GMC) do, however, collect figures on the number of international nurses and doctors registered in this country.
Between April 1999 and March 2000, 7,383 nurses, midwives and health visitors were admitted to the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting register from abroad, of whom 5,967 were from outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
In 2000, the GMC issued full registration to 1,185 doctors from within the EEA. Full registration was issued to 1,896 doctors from outside the EEA and 1,967 doctors from outside the EEA were issued limited registration. The GMC report that on average, 5,700 doctors who qualified abroad, are undertaking postgraduate training under limited registration.
Ski-related Accidents
Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many ski-related accidents have been recorded for the last year for which figures are available; and of those how many relate to accidents which occurred outside the UK. [154331]
Yvette Cooper: Figures published by the Department of Trade and Industry show that the number of reported ski-related injuries were 15,413 in 1997, 15,214 in 1998, and 8,249 in 1999. It is not known how many of these injuries were sustained outside the United Kingdom.
Haemophiliacs
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to grant special payments to haemophilia sufferers who have contracted the hepatitis C infection as a result of treatment with the human derived blood product factor 8. [154221]
Mr. Denham: We have reviewed the previous Government's decision not to offer financial assistance to haemophilia patients infected with hepatitis C through blood products. We concluded that an exception could not be made to the general rule that compensation or financial help is only given when the national health service, or individuals working in it, have been at fault.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to extend the provision of recombinant factor 8 to treat haemophilia patients of all ages. [154220]
Mr. Denham: We are continuing to give careful consideration to this issue and will make an announcement in due course.
Royal Shrewsbury Hospital
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the capital projects and their value at the Royal Shrewsbury hospital which have been authorised since 1 May 1997; and if he will make a statement. [154487]
Yvette Cooper: Information on all locally managed capital projects is not collected centrally. The trust receives an annual block capital allocation for this purpose. Major capital projects are approved by the
19 Mar 2001 : Column: 103W
Department through the regional capital programme. Since 1997, the following capital projects for the Royal Shrewsbury hospital have been approved:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Linear Accelerator (2001-02)(27) | 1,576,000 |
| Medical Assessment Unit (1999-2000)(28) | 1,1000,000 |
(27) Funded by the new opportunities funding initiative, regional office capital programme, Lingen Davies Cancer Relief and the Royal Shrewsbury trusts.
(28) Funded by the national accident and emergency modernisation initiative. This will enable the establishment of a medical assessment unit at both the Royal Shrewsbury hospital and the Princess Royal hospital, Telford.
Additionally, a strategic outline case to vacate the Copthorne South site at the Royal Shrewsbury hospital was approved by the west midlands regional office of the national health service executive in December 2000. The regional office has allocated £8 million of capital moneys in recognition of the priority to fund the reprovision of the ward accommodation on Copthorne South and for the development of education facilities. This now sets the framework for the health economy to develop detailed plans as part of the outline business case requirements.
MRSA Infections
Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the rates of MRSA infection are at (a) St. Peter's hospital, Chertsey and (b) Ashford (Middlesex) hospital; [153754]
- (2) if he will list the hospitals in England that carried out major clean orthopaedic operations, indicating (a) the number of such operations carried out, (b) the number of those treated who contracted MRSA infection while in hospital, (c) the percentage rate of infection and (d) the year to which the statistics relate-ranking the hospitals in descending order of infection rate for the last year for which statistics are available for each hospital; [153950]
19 Mar 2001 : Column: 104W
(3) what were the rates of MRSA infection for major clean orthopaedic operations at (a) St. Peter's Hospital, Chertsey and (b) Ashford (Middlesex) hospital in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [153949]
Mr. Denham [holding answer 15 March 2001]: At present the data requested are not available centrally. From April 2001 all acute trusts will be required to collate data on methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus blood stream infections and the information will be published from April 2002. Work is under way to develop a national surveillance system for surgical site infections focusing initially on orthopaedic surgery.
Aggregate data on numbers of incidents of MRSA voluntarily submitted by trusts for specialist microbiological tests and data for the last year are given in the table. These data are routinely available on a regional basis only. Data on Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemias (blood infections) showing the proportion resistant to methicillin in England and Wales are published quarterly by the Public Health Laboratory Service in the Communicable Disease Report, copies of which are available in the Library.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Eastern | 60 |
| London | 170 |
| Northern and Yorkshire | 70 |
| North West | 90 |
| South East | 100 |
| South West | 10 |
| Trent | 30 |
| West Midlands | 50 |
| Wales | 40 |
| Total | 620 |
Notes:
1. An incident is three or more patients infected or colonised by the same strain of MRSA in the same month from the same hospital.
2. Because of the criteria for reporting incidents to the PHSL these figures cannot be used as a reliable estimate of the total number of cases of MRSA.