| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
General Practitioners
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish an evaluation of the NHS Executive North West's recruitment of foreign general practitioners. [24601]
Mr. Hutton: I apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in responding to this question. I refer the hon. Member to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 192W.
The Department is working with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges to establish a suitable evaluation process for the international recruitment programme including the recruitment of general practitioners from abroad in the north-west.
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of GPs in (a) Pendle and (b) East Lancashire are due to retire before 2004; what steps he is taking to attract young doctors to the area; and if he will make a statement. [12046]
Ms Abbott: I apologise to my hon. Friend for the delay in responding to this question. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002 Official Report, column 192W.
Figures are not available centrally in the format requested. However, during 2002–03, 14 (5.1 per cent.) general practitioners (GPs) in the East Lancashire Health Authority area are expected to retire. A further 8 (2.9 per cent.) GPs are due to retire during 2003–04.
18 GPs currently within the Pendle Primary Care Group are aged over 55.
East Lancashire Health Authority is pursuing a number of initiatives both in the long and short term to help address the problems in recruiting and retaining GPs.
- These figures have been extracted from a study by Lancashire University in 1998 relating to workforce planning for general medical and other primary care staff.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many GPs are expected to be recruited to carry out GP appraisals; if these GPs will be expected to continue in general practice; what remuneration they will receive for
11 Mar 2002 : Column 806W
performing appraisals; and what estimate has been made of the amount of time a GP appraiser would be expected to spend on appraisals in a calendar year. [12711]
Mr. Hutton: [holding answer 6 November 2001]: I apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in responding to this question. I refer the hon. Member to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 192W.
General practitioners (GPs) who are to be GP appraisers should be practising general practitioners. To date, primary care trusts and groups have identified over 900 such GPs to participate in the initial appraiser training programme, which starts this month.
This programme is intended to provide an initial cohort of trained GP appraisers. It is, however, for Primary Care Trusts themselves, working with their local GPs, to decide how many GP appraisers they each need, the level of commitment required and the remuneration to offer. These decisions may be informed by the work commissioned by my Department from the School of Health and Related Research at the University of Sheffield which suggests it is reasonable to expect a GP appraiser to undertake between 10 and 25 appraisals annually.
Information for Health Strategy
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 26 November 2001, Official Report, column 737W, when his Department expects to receive the assessment by Professor Protti of the Information for Health Strategy. [25350]
Mr. Hutton: I apologise to my hon. Friend for the delay in responding to this question. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 192W.
The report commissioned from Prof. Protti by the Information Policy Unit and the NHS Information Authority to inform internal thinking about policy and development issues in implementing "Information for Health" has now been received and is being considered.
PFI Contracts
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in how many current NHS private finance initiative contracts a preferred bidder was designated; and in respect of how many of these the preferred bidder did not get the contract. [33282]
Mr. Hutton: I apologise to my hon. Friend for the delay in responding to this question. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 192W.
53 private finance initiative (PFI) schemes with a capital value of over £10 million appointed preferred bidders of which 42 have proceeded to sign contracts and 11 are still in negotiations.
11 Mar 2002 : Column 807W
A further seven (PFI) schemes with a capital value of over £10 million appointed preferred bidders, but did not proceed on to sign contracts.
Detailed information is not held centrally for schemes with a capital value below £10 million.
NHS Waiting Lists
Ms Drown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of a correlation between NHS waiting lists and consultants' income from private patients. [34664]
Mr. Hutton: I apologise to my hon. Friend for the delay in responding to this question. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 192W.
From the small number of studies related to this issue no conclusions either way can be drawn from the current evidence on any correlation between NHS waiting lists and consultants' income from private patients.
Speech Therapists
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the allocation of speech and language therapists for children with (a) severe learning difficulty and (b) moderate learning difficulty. [38437]
Jacqui Smith: Speech and language therapists have a broad range of responsibilities and children with severe and moderate learning difficulties are one of many important groups they can help. The proportion of their time devoted to the treatment of people with severe and moderate learning difficulties varies according to local needs assessment.
Children's Refuges
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children's refuges there are; where they are located; and how much his Department contributes to funding their operation. [4089]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 17 July 2001]: I apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in responding to this question. I refer the hon. Member to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 192W.
There is one children's refuge, which is located in London. Funding for the refuge is provided by the Department of Health and by the Greater London Association of Directors of Social Services (GLADSS). For the financial years 2001–02 and 2002–03, each member of GLADSS has contributed 0.9 per cent. of their Quality Protects grant towards the refuge's costs. The Department acts as a conduit for this funding as well as making its own financial contribution. The approximate funding required for the coming financial year (2002–03) will be in the region of £390,000.
11 Mar 2002 : Column 808W
Whittington Hospital
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will commence a programme for the refurbishment of the Whittington hospital; and if he will state (a) the total cost, (b) the cost of financing by the public sector and (c) the cost of funds from private sources. [7550]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 15 October 2001]: I apologise to my hon. Friend for the delay in responding to this question. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 192W.
The first stage of development, which is mainly new build, at the Whittington is expected to commence in April 2002 with a total building cost of around £28 million. £3.9 million is being funded publicly and is currently under way. £24.1 million is expected to be provided by the private sector. Future planned works are currently in the earliest planning stages and capital costs for these are not currently available.
Residential Homes
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many residential homes (a) in the private sector and (b) owned by local authorities have closed since 1 May 1997. [8922]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 15 October 2001]: I apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in responding to this question. I refer the hon. Member to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 192W.
The table shows the number of residential care homes by sector, in England on 31 March in each of the last five years. These figures take account of new homes, those that closed and those that made changes to their registration status or extended their existing facilities. It is not possible to determine the precise number of homes that have closed from this information.
| Residential care homes(57) | (a) Private sector residential care homes(58) | (b) Local authority staffed homes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 24,500 | 22,200 | 2,300 |
| 1998 | 24,900 | 22,700 | 2,200 |
| 1999 | 24,800 | 22,700 | 2,100 |
| 2000 | 24,800 | 22,700 | 2,000 |
| 2001 | 24,100 | 22,200 | 1,900 |
(57) Includes dual registered homes.
(58) Consists of voluntary, private, small homes and dual registered homes.
Note:
Figures may not add to totals because of rounding.
Source:
Department of Health annual returns.
11 Mar 2002 : Column 809W
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |