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West Country Ambulance Service
Paddy Ashdown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the extent to which the West Country Ambulance Service has met its response times targets in each of the last 10 years; if he will provide a statistical breakdown in relation to response times in (a) Somerset, (b) South Somerset and (c) the Yeovil constituency in this period; and if he will make a statement. [153377]
Ms Stuart [holding answer 14 March 2001]: Information about ambulance response times for each National Health Service ambulance trust and nationally for 1991-92 is contained in the Department's statistical bulletin "Patient Transport Services 1981 to 1991-92, Summary Information from Forms KA32 and KA34". Information for 1994-95 is contained in the Department's statistical bulletin "Ambulance Services, England 1994-95". Information for the period 1995-96 to 1999-2000 is contained in the Department's statistical bulletin "Ambulance Services, England 1999-2000". Copies are in the Library.
Our policy is to save more lives by providing faster, more responsive and effective emergency ambulance services. In July 1996, we announced revised standards for ambulance service responses to immediately life- threatening incidents where more rapid intervention would have a significant impact on saving lives.
Clinical evidence indicates that 1,800 lives could be saved each year in people under 75 years of age suffering heart attacks through the achievement of the standard that immediately life-threatening emergency calls (Category A calls) should be responded to 75 per cent. of the time within eight minutes irrespective of location. We are determined that every NHS ambulance trust must achieve the 75 per cent. milestone as quickly as possible.
North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust
Mr. Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were invited for interview for chair of the North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust; how
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many of those invited for interview lived in Runcorn and Widnes; and if the acting chair of Halton Hospital NHS Trust was invited for interview. [153771]
Mr. Denham: Five people were invited for interview for the post of chair at the new North Cheshire Hospitals National Health Service Trust, two of whom lived in the Runcorn and Widnes areas. The names of the candidates involved are held in confidence. The Department always attempts to ensure that the non-executives appointed to NHS boards represent the communities they serve. This will remain a prime consideration in the appointments made to the board of the newly merged North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
Correspondence
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will investigate the reasons for the delay in responding to letters from the right hon. Member for South-West Surrey relating to constituents; and if he will make a statement. [153965]
Mr. Denham: The delay in replying to the right hon. Member's letters of both 29 February 2000 and 14 June 2000 resulted from both administrative problems and the original correspondence being lost within the Department.
The delay in reply to the right hon. Member's correspondence of 29 February concerning Mrs. Clay was due to administrative problems within the Department. The delay to the correspondence of 14 June 2000 concerning constituent Mrs. Clay was due to the original correspondence being lost within the Department. Replies to both letters have been sent. I know that the Permanent Secretary/Chief Executive of the National Health Service has written to the right hon. Member to apologise for the unacceptable delay involved in both these cases. New operational procedures have been introduced in the Department to ensure that this sort of delay should not happen again.
Mr. Wilkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will reply to the question tabled by the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood, for answer on 26 February 2001, relating to proposed hospital development in Paddington. [154842]
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Mr. Denham: I replied to the hon. Member's questions today.
Respiratory Problems (Doctors)
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) registrar and (b) consultant physicians practising in respiratory problems there are in England; and if he will make a statement. [154191]
Mr. Denham: The information is in the table.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Consultant | 440 |
| Registrar group | 240 |
Note:
Figures are rounded to the nearest ten
Source:
Department of Health medical and dental workforce census
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Nurses
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the setting of staffing levels in nursing, with particular reference to the DRAGON method. [153792]
Mr. Denham [holding answer 16 March 2001]: Staffing levels in nursing are a matter for local determination. The Department has not made an assessment of the DRAGON method.
NHS (Liverpool)
Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much new (a) capital, (b) revenue and (c) total funding has been invested in the National Health Service in Liverpool since May 1997. [154465]
Mr. Denham: The data available, which are provided in the table, are in complete financial years which start from 1 April 1997.
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| Revenue | Capital | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £000 | Percentage | £000 | Percentage | £000 | Percentage | |
| 1997-98 | 25,670 | 6.79 | 16,071 | 133.93 | 41,741 | 10.69 |
| 1998-99 | 32,920 | 8.15 | 15,498 | 55.21 | 48,418 | 11.21 |
| 1999-2000 | 39,393 | 9.02 | 17,319 | 39.75 | 56,712 | 11.80 |
| 2000-01 | 23,699 | 4.98 | 33,445 | 54.93 | 57,144 | 10.64 |
| 2001-02 | 121,682 | 32.17 | 82,333 | 686.11 | 204,015 | 52.27 |
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Total capital and revenue resources
Capital and revenue sources taken together provide an analysis of total resources invested in Liverpool over the period 1996-97 to 2000-01.
The table shows the annual increases in NHS income by value and in percentage terms taken from the published accounts of the individual trusts in Liverpool. The 2000-01 figure is based on the most recent forecasts produced by the individual organisations. Non NHS income has been excluded from the information provided.
- Note:
- The health authority increase over the same period, excluding secondary care which is already included above, is £2.2 million which is an increase of 33.32 per cent. between 1997-98 and 2000-01. The trust increments do not all relate to investment by Liverpool health authority or services specifically for Liverpool residents, particularly in the case of tertiary centres and specialist services in acute hospitals where services are provided for a much larger catchment area.
- The table shows the annual increases in capital investment in Liverpool trusts since 1996-97.
- Note:
- Percentage relative to block capital issued to Liverpool trusts in 1996-97 of £12 million.
Wigan and Bolton Health Authority
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was allocated to the Wigan and Bolton health authority in each of the last 10 years; and if he will indicate the distance from target for health expenditure that each annual allocation represents. [154543]
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Mr. Denham: The allocations to the Wigan and Bolton health authority since 1996-97 have been listed. Wigan and Bolton were represented by separate health authorities prior to 1996-97.
| Allocation | Target | Distance from target | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £000 | £000 | £000 | Percentage | |
| 1996-97 | 247,380 | 256,701 | 09,321 | 3.63 |
| 1997-98 | 258,518 | 267,613 | 09,095 | 3.40 |
| 1998-99 | 273,219 | 287,141 | 13,922 | 4.85 |
| 1999-2000 | 373,322 | 385,390 | 12,068 | 3.13 |
| 2000-01 | 401,902 | 414,252 | 12,350 | 2.98 |
| 2001-01 | 441,616 | 454,575 | 12,959 | 2.85 |
Waiting Lists
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (a) the status is and (b) how many patients are on, each of (i) live waiting lists, (ii) planned waiting lists and (iii) suspended waiting lists; and if he will make a statement. [154566]
Mr. Denham: At January 2001 there were 1.039 million people waiting for admission to hospital, 119,000 fewer than at March 1997. The published waiting list only includes those who are ready for treatment. Patients who are planned admissions will initially be admitted from the waiting list, but will also require subsequent planned episodes of care. Patients are only "suspended" if they are unfit for treatment. The number of patients suspended at end December was 76,660 1 .
Information is not collected centrally on the numbers of patients awaiting planned sequences of care.
- 1 This figure is the Trust based total
- Source:
- KH07A quarterly return
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