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Bed Shortages

Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has held with (a) senior health service officials, (b) senior clinicians and (c) patient groups on the possibility of bed shortages in hospitals (i) in London and (ii) elsewhere in the United Kingdom this winter. [13114]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 7 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.

Ministers hold regular discussions with key groups of health service officials, clinicians and patient groups. Health service circular 2001/014/local authority circular (2001)17 published in July 2001 gave guidance to the national health service in England on planning capacity. Under this guidance all health authorities established local capacity planning groups to plan capacity for winter 2001–02. As a result the NHS went into winter with 1,225 more general and acute and 198 critical care beds than the same time in 2000–01. The results of the bed census which was carried out at the end of November 2001 were published in "NHS Emergency Pressures—Making Progress" which was placed in the Library in December 2001.

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Hearing Aids

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answers to the hon. Member for North Devon (Nick Harvey) of 24 April 2001, Official Report, columns 171–72W, on digital hearing aids, whether first wave sites will receive funding for the continued provision of digital hearing aids throughout the financial year 2002–03; and if the allocated money for national roll-out will cover two years. [14568]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 13 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.

The first wave trusts will receive funding to allow them to continue providing digital hearing aids throughout 2002–03. The £20 million announced on 24 December 2001 will also allow another 30 sites to be providing digital hearing aids by the end of 2002–03.

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients have been given (a) digital hearing aids and (b) analogue aids at each of the designated pilot sites since the instigation of each trust's pilot status. [16852]

Jacqui Smith: 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 Royal National Institute for Deaf People manages the project on behalf of the Department. The project team has provided information showing that by the end of January 2002, 21,347 adults had been assessed for digital aids by the 20 trusts involved in the pilot project. 16,352 of these had been fitted with 22,346 digital hearing aids. In addition some 400 other patients had received analogue aids. It is not possible to break down these figures by site.

Private Finance Initiative

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the anticipated savings to public funds from the private finance initiative schemes for mental health and community services. [15248]

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.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 22 November 2001, Official Report, columns 411W, and 413W) in which I listed all major private finance initiative contracts which have reached financial close since May 1997 with figures for projected savings on each.

The table includes two mental health and community services schemes: the West Berkshire priority care NHS trust (now Berkshire Healthcare NHS trust) and the Leeds community and mental health services NHS trust.

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Value for money in private finance is assessed on a case by case basis upon presentation of the full business case. None of the other 60 major and medium sized hospital schemes comprising the NHS plan target have yet to reach this stage so it is not possible to anticipate the savings to public funds for these schemes.

Value for money figures are not held centrally for schemes with a capital value below £20 million.

Private Health Care Provision

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 November 2001, Official Report, column 112W, on private health care provision, how the money being made available to the NHS to buy treatment for NHS patients in the private sector will be spent on different medical specialties; how much money he estimates will be saved compared with carrying out the same treatments in the NHS itself; and if he will make a statement. [14027]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 14 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.

£40 million has been allocated to buy additional elective cases in the private sector this year. It was targeted to those health authorities most in need of short term support.

The funding will be used to free up national health service capacity but the exact number of cases purchased, the specialties which the money will be spent on, and the prices of the different procedures is not yet known. This will depend on the final details of contracts negotiated with the private sector. We will make the final figures available after the end of the financial year.

Suicides

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what key indicators are used to assess whether a person is actively contemplating suicide; and what plans he has to raise awareness of them among (a) health professionals and (b) the public. [13968]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 15 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.

Information about the factors associated with suicide, including the social, economic and clinical indicators for vulnerable individuals and groups is provided in the National Service Framework for Mental Health, along with the action needed to achieve the target in "Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation" to reduce the death rate from suicide by at least one fifth by 2010. We are also in the process of developing a national suicide prevention strategy which we will launch for public consultation in spring 2002.

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The Department continues to work in partnership with mental health service users, voluntary sector charities and professional organisations to provide better information about mental health issues, to challenge the stigma and discrimination that is often associated with mental ill health and to contribute to a reduction in suicide rates.

Fair Trade Goods

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department's policy is in relation to departmental spending for supplies concerning the purchase of fair trade goods. [15207]

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.

I refer the hon. member to the reply given to him by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development on 16 November 2001, Official Report, column 931W.

Service Delivery

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health to what extent the NHS has met its targets for service delivery since 1997. [20267]

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the extent to which the NHS has improved in terms of delivery since 1997. [19967]

Mr. Hutton: I apologise to the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South (Mr. Hancock) and to the hon. Member for Truro and St. Austell (Matthew Taylor) for the delay in responding to these questions. I refer both hon. Members 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.

Progress made to date is outlined in both the Department of Health's annual departmental report and the Modernisation Board's annual report ("The NHS Plan—a Progress Report"); both of which are available through the Library. These documents clearly show that, thanks to the hard work of frontline staff and managers, the NHS is making good progress towards its targets for service delivery. Our on-going monitoring includes these examples of good progress:

The Q3 access survey shows the NHS is on target to meet the 2004 primary care access milestones.


Since May 1997, 68 major hospital developments (64 PFI and four public) worth over £7.6 billion have been approved to proceed. 10 of these (eight PFI and two public) are already operational and are treating patients.


Since 1997 the number of nurses has increased by 31,520. Between September 1999 and September 2001 the number of nurses increased by 20,740 or 9.9 per cent. This means the NHS

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plan target has been reached well in advance of the 2004 target. We are now focusing on achieving the manifesto commitment and on retaining existing staff.


There are now 20 per cent. (4,320) more consultants than there were in 1997. The number of consultants increased by 10.6 per cent. (2,460) between the NHS plan baseline (September 1999) and September 2001.


668 new critical care beds since January 2000 represents a 28 per cent. increase, putting us on course to achieve the target of a 30 per cent. increase by January 2003.


714 new beds in general and acute wards puts us over a third of the way towards the target of 2,100 by April 2004.


163 rapid access chest pain clinics were open by the end of quarter 3. The plan target was 100 clinics by April 2002.


The target of 6,000 extra heart operations by April 2003 should be achieved this year.


91.3 per cent. (67,650) of patients referred urgently with suspected cancer were seen within two weeks during Q2 2001–02.


By the end of March 2002 no patients should have to wait more than 15 months from the time of being placed on an in-patient waiting list. Latest figures show that, at the end of January 2002, 72 per cent. of trusts are already meeting this target.


In the last 22 months, 97 per cent. of GP surgeries have been connected to "NHSnet", providing desktop email, access to the internet and a communications infrastructure for general practice across the NHS.

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