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London

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what recent assessment he has made of the number of people living in London who do not feature in the official statistics on which funding for the NHS in London is based; [56189]

(2) what recent assessment he has made of the impact of the change in the population in London over the last 10 years on demands for the NHS in London. [56188]

Mr. Hutton: The allocation of resources to health authorities and primary care trusts is informed by weighted capitation targets which take account of the health need of local populations.

The populations used to calculate weighted capitation targets are based on Office for National Statistics population projections. These are updated to take account of trends in births, deaths, internal migration and international migration. The population projections used are the latest available at the time of allocations.

The Department has not made any separate assessment of the number of people living in London who do not feature in these official statistics.

Homeless People

Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information is collected on the (a) number and (b) proportion of homeless people committing suicide who are (a) rough sleepers and (b) living in temporary accommodation; and if he will make a statement. [56157]

Jacqui Smith: This information is not routinely collected. However, the Department funds the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People

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with Mental Illness. In March 2001, the National Confidential Inquiry team published its five-year report, "Safety First", building on the earlier report "Safer Services". It was based on a detailed study of 5,582 suicides and 186 homicides by psychiatric patients in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 2000. It found that there were 131 suicides among homeless people, 3 per cent. of the inquiry sample.

The Department is in the process of developing, under the direction of the National Director for Mental Health, Professor Louis Appleby, a coherent national suicide prevention strategy to ensure that we are doing all we can to prevent suicides. This strategy was launched for public consultation on 26 April 2002. Copies of the strategy are available in the Library.

Asthma

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on the Government's plans to develop a comprehensive service within the NHS to (a) research the causes and (b) treat the condition of asthma; [56444]

(2) what proposals his Department has for extending the provision of rehabilitation facilities in general hospitals and medical centres for asthma sufferers. [56445]

Jacqui Smith: Management of asthma mainly takes place in primary care. The chronic disease management programme (CDMP), introduced in July 1993, provides arrangements for health promotion under the GMS national contract for GPs. Participating GPs (93 per cent.) receive a fixed annual payment for running organised programmes of care for patients with asthma (and for those with diabetes).

People with asthma will benefit from the emerging Expert Patients Programme which will—via the national health service—provide training in self-management skills for people with long term chronic conditions. The first pilot phase has recently begun in selected primary care trust sites, with activity to take place both on a generic and a disease-specific basis.

The Medical Research Council always welcomes high quality applications from the scientific community for support into any aspect of biomedical research and these are judged in open competition with other demands on funding. The Department of Health spend on directly commissioned research projects on asthma since 1997 is an estimated £7.24 million.

Doctors

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average number of doctors is per 100 beds in NHS hospitals in (a) West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust, (b) Norfolk and Norwich Health Care NHS Trust, (c) James Paget Healthcare NHS Trust, (d) Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust and (e) Addenbrooke's NHS Trust. [56404]

Yvette Cooper: The information requested is given in the following table.

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Number of hospital medical staff within specified trusts(as at 30 September)

	2000(35)	Staff per 100 beds(36),(37)
West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust	200	29.4
Norfolk and Norwich Health Care NHS Trust	440	48.4
James Paget Healthcare NHS Trust	200	38.0
Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust	290	37.3
Addenbrooke's NHS Trust	720	57.0

⁽³⁵⁾ Data are rounded to the nearest ten.

⁽³⁶⁾ Staff per 100 beds were calculated using unrounded figures.

⁽³⁷⁾ Staff per 100 beds were calculated using average total daily number of available beds which includes beds in the following wards, Acute, Geriatric, Mental Illness, Patients with Learning Disabilities, and Maternity. The returns are made on a financial year basis and the latest year for which data are available is 2000–01. Figures are taken from the annual Korner return KH03—"Bed availability and occupancy".

Source:

Department of Health 2000 medical and dental workforce census

Immunisation (Portsmouth)

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent on respiratory syncytial virus infection immunisation in the last three years in Portsmouth primary care trust; and if he will make a statement. [56149]

Yvette Cooper: There is no licensed immunisation available for respiratory syncytial virus. Palivizumab, a monoconal antibody, is prescribed through hospital consultants to assist with the condition. Information on the cost to Portsmouth primary care trust of this treatment is not collected centrally.

Hospital Discharges

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the proposed charges will be to social services departments to cover the costs of beds needlessly blocked through delayed discharges, as set out in paragraph 8.10 of 'Delivering the NHS Plan'; [56620]

(2) what the proposed incentive charges will be to NHS trusts to cover the costs of emergency readmissions to ensure patients are not discharged prematurely as set out in paragraph 8.10 of 'Delivering the NHS Plan'; [56619]

(3) if he will place in the Library the evidence that he has collated that NHS hospitals are discharging patients prematurely as set out in paragraph 8.10 of 'Delivering the NHS Plan'. [56618]

Jacqui Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May) on 15 May 2002, Official Report, columns 734–35W.

On the issue of premature discharge from hospital, information on emergency readmissions is available in 'NHS Performance Indicators: Acute NHS Hospital Trusts' (ref 26829) and 'NHS Performance Indicators: Health Authorities' (ref 26830) which are available in the Library.

Hospital Treatment

John Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many out-patient referrals from general practitioners

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were made within the Barking and Havering health authority area in (a) each year from 1994 to date and (b) each month of the last year. [56526]

Mr. Hutton: The information requested is shown in the table.

Number of GP written referral requests for first out-patient appointments: Barking, Havering and Redbridge health authority

Year/quarter	GP written referral requests
1997–98
2	15,628
3	16,283
4	15,140
1998–99
1	16,847
2	17,217
3	17,290
4	17,430
1999–2000
1	18,165
2	15,540
3	14,279
4	17,881
2000–01
1	20,268
2	17,595
3	16,982
4	17,780
2001–02
1	18,255
2	17,337
3	17,185

Source:

Department of Health form QM08R

John Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many elective patients received in-patient treatment within the Barking and Havering health authority area in (a) each year from 1994 to date and (b) each of the past 12 months. [56519]

Mr. Hutton: The information requested is shown in the table.

Elective admissions by month—NHS hospitals in Barking, Havering and Redbridge health authority 1996–97 to 2000–01

Admission date	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01
April	2,627	2,783	2,307	2,405	2,310
May	2,579	2,376	2,178	2,315	2,770
June	2,511	2,342	2,513	2,752	2,726
July	2,780	2,792	2,870	2,584	2,832
August	2,125	1,977	2,551	2,510	2,893
September	2,592	2,713	2,857	2,530	2,583
October	3,013	2,943	2,878	2,597	2,779
November	2,723	2,684	2,957	2,818	2,667
December	1,938	2,252	2,258	2,022	1,886
January	2,076	1,932	2,302	2,126	2,280
February	2,466	2,159	2,818	2,579	2,300
March	2,380	2,368	3,048	2,752	2,500
Total	29,810	29,321	31,537	29,990	30,526

Source:

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health

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