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Data Treatment

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 26 November 2001, Official Report, column 737W, if he will establish standards to facilitate data quality maintenance, data transfer and data sharing. [25351]

Ms Blears: The National Health Service Information Authority is responsible for the development of NHS data standards, and supports the independent Information Standards Boards that approve data standards for use by the NHS.

The NHS Information Authority has also been commissioned to maintain and develop data quality standards for use by NHS hospital trusts in the collection of data required for management purposes. The process enables a trust to demonstrate that it has systems in place that meet pre-defined standards of data quality to fulfil its own management information requirements, and those of the commissioners of the trust's services.

In addition, the NHS is to adopt standards for the transfer and sharing of data compliant with the electronic Government interoperability framework (e-GIF). Implementing the e-GIF within the NHS will be managed as an integral part of the NHS Information for Health strategy. The e-GIF standards are mandated on all new systems. The NHS Information Authority is leading work on migrating existing legacy systems to comply with e-GIF standards.

Parliamentary Questions

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many answers to parliamentary questions

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have not been answered by his Department under exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information in each year since 1994. [29421]

Ms Blears [holding answer 22 January 2002]: The information requested is not available centrally.

Departmental Expenditure (Publications)

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his estimate is of the expenditure of his Department on newspapers, magazines and periodicals in each of the last four years. [30085]

Ms Blears: Estimates of expenditure on newspapers, magazines and periodicals in the Department in the last four years are as follows:

	£
1997–98	415,890
1998–99	423,560
1999–2000	419,490
2000–01	423,160

This expenditure covers central purchasing through the Department's library, the regional offices and direct purchasing by individual units. Expenditure of agencies has been excluded.

Musculoskeletal Injuries

Mr. Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were diagnosed with musculoskeletal injuries in the last year for which figures are available; and how many (a) GP consultations, (b) physiotherapy sessions and (c) hospital beds were taken up in that year with those injuries. [30190]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 25 January 2002]: Information on general practitioner consultations and physiotherapy sessions are not collected centrally. Figures for musculoskeletal injuries and bed days are shown in the table.

Admissions and bed days where main diagnosis may be related to musculoskeletal injuries—NHS Hospitals, England 2000–01

	Admissions	Bed days
S02 Fracture of skull and facial bones	26,970	46,500
S03 Dislocation sprain and strain of joints and ligaments of head	302	344
S07 Crushing injury of head	4	2
S08 Traumatic amputation of part of head	118	282
S09 Other and unspecified injuries of head	37,466	66,600
S12 Fracture of neck	1,686	24,078
S13 Dislocation sprain and strain of joints and ligaments at neck level	1,163	4,739
S14 Injury of nerves and spinal cord at neck level	443	6,873
S15 Injury of blood vessels at neck level	47	275
S16 Injury of muscle and tendon at neck level	55	103
S17 Crushing injury of neck	20	33
S19 Other and unspecified injuries of neck	1,084	2,649
S22 Fracture of rib(s), sternum and thoracic spine	7,718	54,913
S23 Dislocation sprain/strain of joints and ligaments of thorax	71	470
S24 Injury of nerves and spinal cord at thorax level	52	1,244
S28 Crush injury thorax and traumatic amputation part of thorax	37	251
S29 Other and unspecified injuries of thorax	490	1,813
S32 Fracture of lumbar spine and pelvis	11,504	150,123
S33 Dislocation sprain and strain joint ligaments lumbar spine and pelvis	161	1,012
S34 Injury nerves lumbar spinal cord abdomen low back and pelvis	61	828
S38 Crushing injury/trauma amputation of part of abdomen lower back and pelvis	55	230
S39 Other and unspecified injuries of abdomen lower back and pelvis	2,725	9,964
S42 Fracture of shoulder and upper arm	18,450	122,002
S43 Dislocation sprain and strain of joints and ligaments of shoulder girdle	2,995	11,893
S46 Injury of muscle and tendon at shoulder and upper arm level	378	1,101
S47 Crushing injury of shoulder and upper arm	3	9
S48 Traumatic amputation of shoulder and upper arm	10	164
S49 Other and unspecified injuries of shoulder and upper arm	456	1,966
S52 Fracture of forearm	48,698	134,031
S53 Dislocation sprain and strain of joints and ligaments elbow	1,036	1,630
S56 Injury of muscle and tendon at forearm level	1,925	2,891
S57 Crushing injury of forearm	52	283
S58 Traumatic amputation of forearm	16	220
S59 Other and unspecified injuries of forearm	283	952
S62 Fracture at wrist and hand level	17,337	30,837
S63 Dislocation sprain strain joint and ligaments at wrist and hand level	2,299	3,125
S66 Injury of muscle and tendon at wrist and hand level	9,592	12,098
S67 Crushing injury of wrist and hand	1,505	1,943
S68 Traumatic amputation of wrist and hand	3,347	5,066
S69 Other and unspecified injuries of wrist and hand	1,281	2,141
S72 Fracture of femur	63,385	1,117,498
S73 Dislocation, sprain and strain of joint and ligaments	745	6,799
S76 Injury of muscle and tendon at hip and thigh level	756	4,254
S77 Crushing injury of hip and thigh	17	129
S78 Traumatic amputation of hip and thigh	3	180
S79 Other and specified injuries of hip and thigh	2,065	15,888
S82 Fracture of lower leg, including ankle	42,930	338,010
S83 Dislocation sprain and strain of joints and ligaments of knee	4,837	9,399
S84 Injury of nerves at lower leg level	44	164
S87 Crushing injury of lower leg	73	344
S88 Traumatic amputation of lower leg	36	1,630
S89 Other and unspecified injuries of lower leg	1,377	6,986
S92 Fracture of foot, except ankle	5,288	32,747
S93 Dislocation sprain and strain joints and ligaments at ankle and foot level	1,034	4,325
S96 Injury of muscle and tendon at ankle and foot level	356	793
S97 Crushing injury of ankle and foot	216	1,323
S98 Traumatic amputation of ankle and foot	91	576
S99 Other and unspecified injuries of ankle and foot	502	2,177
T02 Fractures involving multiple body regions	516	6,820
T03 Dislocations sprains and strains involving multiple body regions	27	92
T04 Crushing injuries involving multiple body regions	39	325
T05 Traumatic amputations involving multiple body regions	10	213
T06 Other injuries involving multiple body regions NEC	29	352
T07 Unspecified multiple injuries	24	67
T08 Fracture of spine, level unspecified	112	1,572
T09 Other injuries of spine and trunk, level unspecified	421	2,530
T10 Fracture of upper limb, level unspecified	28	187
T11 Other injuries of upper limb, level unspecified	555	1,878
T12 Fracture of lower limb, level unspecified	23	276
T13 Other injuries of lower limb, level unspecified	850	5,066
T14 Injury of unspecified body region	2,624	10,701

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These figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may be admitted more than once within the 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. Figures in this table have not yet been adjusted for shortfalls in data.

NHS Dentists

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding is to be made available to the review of NHS dentistry in Shropshire and Staffordshire; when the review is due to be completed; and if it is his policy to follow up the recommendations of the review. [30386]

Ms Blears: West Midlands North National Health Service Workforce Confederation is currently undertaking a review of NHS Dentistry in Shropshire and Staffordshire on behalf of Shropshire health authority, South Staffordshire health authority and North Staffordshire

11 Feb 2002 : Column 130W

health authority. This work will enable the health authorities to quantify recruitment and retention issues and identify possible local solutions.

In keeping with our determination to decentralise decision-making in the NHS, and as this is a local review, all decisions with regard to funding and implementation will be a matter for the health authorities involved.

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