| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Agency Nurses
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether he intends to exempt existing agency nurses from the requirement to obtain a GP health report; [41714]
- (2) what his policy is on commercial nurses' agencies (a) providing both nursing and domiciliary services to customers, (b) maintaining combined records in respect of both services and (c) both services being managed in one business; and if he will make a statement. [41726]
Jacqui Smith: The Government have recently consulted on the "Nurses Agency National Minimum Standards and Regulations" under the Care Standards Act 2000. The consultation document is available on the Department's website at www.doh.gov.uk/ncsc.
We will be considering any revisions to the standards and regulations in the light of responses to the consultation.
Consultant Vacancies
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many consultant vacancies there were by specialty in (a) 1997 and (b) 2001. [41716]
Mr. Hutton: The NHS vacancy survey has been conducted in March each year since 1999 and information is not available for 1997. Information for 2001 is shown in the table.
| 3 month vacancy | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| rates | numbers (wte) | Staff in post (wte) | |
| Total consultants | 3.0 | 670 | 21,630 |
| Specific specialties | |||
| Accident and emergency | 7.9 | 40 | 440 |
| Anaesthetics (including intensive care) | 1.7 | 60 | 3,170 |
| General surgery | 1.7 | 20 | 1,260 |
| Obstetrics and gynaecology | 1.5 | 20 | 1,050 |
| Ophthalmology | 0.8 | 10 | 610 |
| Oral and Maxillo Facial Surgery | 5.6 | 10 | 210 |
| Otolaryngology | 2.9 | 10 | 420 |
| Paediatric surgery | 5.7 | 10 | 100 |
| Plastic surgery | 2.9 | 10 | 170 |
| Trauma and orthopaedic surgery | 2.2 | 30 | 1,150 |
| Urology | 2.7 | 10 | 370 |
| Cardiology | 2.6 | 10 | 480 |
| Cardiothoracic surgery | 1.6 | 0 | 180 |
| Clinical oncology | 3.8 | 10 | 280 |
| Clinical radiology | 4.6 | 70 | 1,460 |
| Haematology | 2.1 | 10 | 430 |
| Histopathology | 6.0 | 50 | 780 |
| Medical oncology | 3.8 | 0 | 100 |
| Palliative medicine | 7.4 | 10 | 90 |
| Forensic psychiatry | 5.2 | 10 | 150 |
| General psychiatry | 7.8 | 130 | 1,490 |
| Learning Disabilities | 13.3 | 30 | 170 |
| Geriatric medicine | 3.0 | 20 | 730 |
| Old Age Psychiatry | 9.3 | 30 | 310 |
| Diabetes medicine | 2.7 | 10 | 360 |
(44) Three month vacancies are vacancies as at 31 March 2001 which trusts are actively trying to fill, which had lasted for three months or more (whole time equivalents).
(45) Three month vacancy rates are three month vacancies expressed as a percentage of three month vacancies plus staff in post from the September 2000 medical and dental workforce census (whole time equivalent)
(46) Excludes staff working within HA
Notes:
1. Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten
2. Percentages rounded to one decimal place
3. * = figures where staff in post and number of vacancies are less than 10
4. England totals include staff from special health authorities
5. Totals may not equal sum of component parts due to rounding.
6. Staff in post figures as at 30 September 2000
Source:
Department of Health Vacancies Survey March 2001
Department of Health 2000 medical and dental workforce census
25 Mar 2002 : Column 762W
Women GPs
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many GPs in England and Wales are women. [39206]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 28 February 2002]: At 30 September 2001 there were 12,092 women general practitioners (GPs) in England. The number of women GPs in Wales is a matter for the Welsh Assembly.
St. Bartholomew's
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received concerning the possible re-opening of the accident and emergency department at St Bartholomew's hospital; and what response he has given. [36614]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 25 February 2002]: Since 1997 there have been approximately 250 pieces of correspondence concerning the accident and emergency department at St Bartholomew's hospital and ten parliamentary questions.
My right hon. Friend, the Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr. Denham), was presented with an 8, 000 signature petition by the Islington Gazette in March 2001. I met with the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster on 23 October 2001.
The Tomlinson and the Turnberg reports confirmed that there was insufficient demand to justify supporting two full service A and E departments at both the St. Bartholomew's and the Royal London sites. There are currently no plans to return A and E services to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. St. Bartholomew's does however, run a minor injuries unit.
Podiatric Care
Mr. Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent changes in the level of podiatric care there have been in the Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Health Authority area. [31853]
Ms Blears: 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.
25 Mar 2002 : Column 763W
Increasing demand for podiatry care has placed intense pressure on the local chiropody service. As a result service provision was reviewed in order to ensure that care was provided safely and within available resources. Clearer admissions criteria have been introduced, designed to address the needs of those patients with high and medium clinical need across the current caseload of approximately 35,000 patients.
NHS (East Lancashire)
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost of re-configuring the structure of the NHS in East Lancashire; and if he will make a statement. [27148]
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.
A number of simultaneous reconfigurations are taking place, both across and beyond East Lancashire. The cost of these reconfigurations will be met from within NHS allocations and is intended to result in a higher share of resources reaching frontline patient care.
Transplant Centres
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether reducing the number of transplant centres in the United Kingdom is expected to lead to a reduction in the number of retrieval teams available; [4516]
- (2) what financial savings would be made by reducing the number of heart and lung transplant centres to (a) four and (b) five; [4517]
(3) what policies are being put in place to increase the level of transplants and organ donation, per head of population; [4519]
(4) if the study relating to the number of transplant units undertaken by Finnamore management consultants for the national specialist commissioning advisory group will be made available for public study. [4518]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 19 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.
Our long term goal for the cardiothoracic service is to increase the number of patients who receive successful heart and lung transplants, to ensure that today's high quality service is sustained in the future and to improve the working lives of the professionals who provide this crucial service.
To meet this goal, we issued a discussion document on 21 September 2001. It announces that all six cardiothoracic transplant units will continue to provide a service to NHS patients. To do so, they will need to meet the clear and explicit requirements set out in the new monitoring framework proposed in the discussion document. These requirements include staffing levels and
25 Mar 2002 : Column 764W
qualifications, arrangements for retrieval of organs, the number of transplants carried out or the number of patients seen in follow-up clinics and survival and rejection rates. All six units will be inspected against these requirements.
The new service standards and effective monitoring will help ensure continued improvement to the quality of cardiothoracic transplant services, and provide patients with a national service of the highest possible quality. A copy of the discussion document, which invites comments on the standards and specification for the service, is in the Library.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |