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Rural Minds and Diverse Minds Programmes

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received regarding the funding of the rural minds and diverse minds programmes. [7244]

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Jacqui Smith: The Department, through the section 64 General Scheme under the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968, has funded both rural minds and diverse minds for the three years up to end of March 2000. The total amount was £225,960. There have been no further applications to fund these projects.

Civil Servants (Retirement Age)

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the compulsory retirement ages which apply to employees of his Department and of executive agencies and other public sector bodies for which it is responsible, broken down by grade or job title. [7234]

Ms Blears: Information on the normal retirement age and on compulsory early retirement or severance for the Department and for the executive agencies and public sector bodies for which it is responsible is as follows:

Regardless of grade or job title the normal age of retirement for all staff is age 60. Some staff who transferred into the Department from the national health service retained the right to retire on NHS terms at age of 65.

Hospital Waiting Times (Essex)

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the most recent figures for the last three months on the total number of people waiting for in-patient treatment in the Mid Essex hospital trust area; and what the most recent figures are for the last two available quarters for out-patient treatment in Mid Essex. [7166]

Mr. Hutton: The information requested is given in the tables.

Total number of patients waiting for hospital in-patient treatment at Mid Essex hospital services national health service trust in:

Month	Number
June 2001	8,850
July 2001	8,898
August 2001	8,917

Source:

KH07 quarterly return/monthly waiting times collection

Total number of patients waiting 13 weeks or more for an out-patient appointment at Mid Essex hospital services national health service trust in

	Number
Quarter 4 2000–01 (March 2001)	2,125
Quarter 1 2001–02 (June 2001)	2,146

Source:

QM08 quarterly return

Patient Security (Medical Devices)

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures are being taken in (a) Middlesex and (b) the rest of England to tighten up procedures and security to prevent accidents or sabotage from objects being placed in tubes used in the conduct of operations and to protect patients. [7161]

Mr. Hutton: The incident at Broomfield hospital, and others of a similar nature in other hospitals, are being investigated by the Essex police force. Once the findings

15 Oct 2001 : Column: 1029W

of those investigations are available, procedures will be reviewed and, if appropriate, additional measures will be implemented.

In the meantime the following actions have been taken:

On 17 August 2001 advice was sent to chief executives of all national health service trusts (England) and chief executives of health authorities (England) reminding them of:

the Medical Devices Agency Hazard Notice MD HN 2001(02) on the risk of blockages on anaesthetic breathing system components;

to follow already established pre-employment personnel checks in existing guidance documents HSG(94)51 and strengthened and expanded in HSG(97)064;

to review security arrangements, particularly operating theatres and intensive care units, with reference to the guidance in the NHS Security Manual.

A further Hazard Notice HN 2001 (03) re-emphasising the above has been issued by the MDA in September.

Spinal Injuries

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people attended out-patient clinics at spinal injuries units in (a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999 and (d) 2000. [6752]

Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not collected centrally. We do, however, have some data on the incidence of spinal injury consultations for the national health service as a whole, as shown in the table.

Finished consultant episodes (FCEs)⁽⁷⁸⁾ by main diagnosis NHS hospitals England 1995–96 to 1999–2000

Year	Spinal cord injuries(78)
1995–96	11,578
1996–97	11,490
1997–98	11,433
1998–99	10,900
1999–2000	11,071

⁽⁷⁸⁾ An FCE is defined as a period of patient care under one consultant in one health care provider.

Notes:

Data in this table are grossed for both coverage and unknown/invalid clinical data, except for 1998–99 and 1999–2000 which are ungrossed.

The figures do not represent the number of patients, as one person may have several episodes within a year.

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

Whittington Hospital

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the costs have been of preparing PFI bids for the Whittington hospital redevelopment. [6947]

Mr. Hutton: The costs of preparing the private finance initiative bids for the Whittington hospital redevelopment, have so far been £545,000 of which £252,000 were in-house costs.

Eating Disorders

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines his Department has issued in respect of the treatment of eating disorders. [7798]

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Jacqui Smith: We embarked on a radical programme of modernisation to improve access to effective treatment and care, reduce unfair variation, raise standards, and provide quicker and more convenient services. The mental health National Service Framework published in 1998 draws attention to the needs of people with eating disorders in Standards two and three.

The NSF implementation plan demands that health authorities have protocols for referral in place for those needing psychological therapies, and in February the Department published an evidence-based guideline to assist them. It includes coverage of eating disorders www.doh.gov.uk/mentalhealth/treatmentguideline.

We have commissioned the National Institute for Clinical Excellence to develop a guideline on eating disorders. It will cover primary and secondary care and children as well as adults. Information about this work is available on the NICE website at www.nice.org.uk.

Correspondence

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average response time has been for him to respond to letters from hon. Members in the last two months. [6729]

Ms Blears: During the period of 23 May to 23 July 2001 the Department replied to 1,679 letters in an average of 15.01 days per case.

Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will reply to the letter of the hon. Member for West Derbyshire dated 25 July about the proposed closure of Staunton Harold hall. [7354]

Jacqui Smith: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 8 October 2001.

Nursing Staff

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) qualified and (b) unqualified nursing staff were working in the NHS in each year between 1990 and 2000 who were aged (i) under 25, (ii) 25 to 29, (iii) 30 to 34, (iv) 35 to 39, (v) 40 to 44, (vi) 45 to 49, (vii) 50 to 54, (viii) 55 to 59, (ix) 60 to 64, (x) 65 years plus and (xi) unknown. [7975]

Mr. Hutton: Data showing the number of qualified and unqualified nursing staff working in the national health service in each year between 1990 and 2000, by age-band, are shown in the table.

Age breakdowns for practice nurses are not available.

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NHS hospital and community health service (HCHS): nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff by age band in England as at 30 September each year

												Headcount
	All ages	Up to 25	25 to 29	30 to 34	35 to 39	40 to 44	45 to 49	50 to 54	55 to 59	60 to 64	65 and over	Unknown
	Qualified
1990	285,360	22,360	54,790	46,820	37,490	38,730	30,640	25,540	15,270	4,310	200	9,220
1991	293,770	20,610	55,420	49,160	38,910	38,360	32,080	24,670	15,290	4,420	250	14,590
1992	297,350	17,910	54,590	52,320	40,930	37,680	34,660	24,870	15,550	4,620	250	13,970
1993	293,380	14,830	49,670	52,920	41,340	35,980	34,580	24,070	14,810	4,370	190	20,620
1994	289,280	14,570	46,050	54,150	43,500	35,740	34,420	23,850	14,290	4,110	190	18,420
1995	298,650	15,660	42,650	55,600	46,240	36,830	35,520	24,720	14,380	4,230	310	22,510
1996	301,250	15,130	40,480	56,100	48,440	38,050	35,050	25,640	13,720	4,000	130	24,520
1997	300,470	13,630	36,910	53,230	50,100	39,600	33,830	27,450	13,830	4,420	170	27,300
1998	304,560	12,220	35,420	51,630	53,410	42,540	34,580	29,090	14,140	4,070	180	27,280
1999	310,140	11,340	34,110	48,540	55,520	46,340	35,820	30,560	15,310	4,330	240	28,040
2000	316,750	11,020	34,150	45,770	57,500	50,010	37,720	32,190	16,290	4,530	190	27,380
	Unqualified
1990	119,350	15,020	11,750	10,860	11,860	17,190	17,820	15,960	11,180	4,200	110	3,410
1991	131,720	16,740	12,820	12,060	12,540	16,960	18,450	15,860	11,420	4,600	180	10,100
1992	126,610	13,160	12,560	12,520	12,360	15,650	19,280	16,140	11,820	4,780	210	8,150
1993	130,430	11,690	12,450	12,810	12,650	14,950	19,100	16,240	11,880	4,870	210	13,600
1994	130,690	11,470	12,790	13,600	13,400	14,760	18,830	16,520	12,060	4,850	190	12,230
1995	113,190	8,500	9,770	11,440	11,450	11,680	15,180	13,820	10,010	4,140	220	16,990
1996	114,500	7,610	9,360	11,370	11,680	11,620	14,490	13,940	10,010	4,110	110	20,180
1997	117,110	7,310	9,120	11,260	12,210	11,830	13,400	14,620	10,010	4,360	140	22,860
1998	117,190	6,840	8,730	11,190	12,670	11,980	12,930	14,840	10,420	4,400	140	23,060
1999	120,960	6,700	8,750	11,160	13,260	12,950	13,010	15,050	10,890	4,600	170	24,430
2000	124,060	6,580	8,930	10,980	13,860	13,740	13,130	15,030	11,510	4,780	170	25,340

Notes:

A new classification of the non-medical workforce was introduced in 1995. Information based on this classification is not directly comparable with earlier years.

Unqualified figures include 'other' nurses.

Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.

Owing to rounding totals may not equal the sum of component parts.

Figures exclude learners and agency staff.

Source:

Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census

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