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Littlemore Hospital
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many (a) assessment beds, (b) rehabilitation beds and (c) beds in pre-discharge flats there are in the medium secure unit at the Littlemore Hospital in Oxfordshire; [56951]
- (2) how many staff accommodation units there are at the Littlemore Hospital in Oxfordshire. [56950]
Ms Blears: Information on the average daily number of beds in each national health service trust is available from the Department website. Information by individual hospital site is not collected.
Information on the number of staff accommodation units is not available centrally.
Funeral Arrangements
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 7 March 2002, Official Report, column 545W, what the Department's definition of a permanent memorial or marker is. [56992]
Ms Blears: A permanent marker or memorial for a grave would be regarded as being formed from a non-perishable material, for example stone. A permanent marker in respect of a cremation would depend on whether ashes had been interred or scattered. This would
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take the form either of a marker for a grave, an entry in the book of remembrance, or a permanent memorial plaque.
Pharmacies
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pharmacies were covered by the essential small pharmacies scheme in each of the last five years. [57026]
Ms Blears: The information requested and shown in the table is an extract from Table 6 of the Department's Statistical Bulletin "General Pharmaceutical Services in England and Wales 1991–92 to 2000–01".
| Year ending 31 March | Number of pharmacies which received Essential Small Pharmacy Scheme payments (England only) |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 256 |
| 1998 | 255 |
| 1999 | 255 |
| 2000 | 262 |
| 2001 | 243 |
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pharmacies there were in rural areas in each of the past five years. [57022]
Ms Blears: The information requested is not held centrally.
Wheelchairs
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many NHS wheelchairs were in use in each of the last five years; [56947]
- (2) what the average proportion of the cost of a wheelchair covered by a voucher was in each of the last five years. [56948]
Ms Blears: Figures on the number of national health service wheelchairs in use are not collected centrally, nor are figures for the average cost of a wheelchair covered by a voucher.
Intensive Treatment Units
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many intensive treatment units there are in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland. [56916]
Ms Blears: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Traditional and Alternative Medicines
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has spent on evaluating (a) traditional and (b) alternative medicines in each of the past five years. [56960]
Ms Blears: In relation to the regulation of medicines, there are no existing regulatory categories defined as traditional or alternative medicines and it is not possible to estimate expenditure on the evaluation of such products. The Medicines Control Agency undertakes a wide range of evaluative activity in relation to herbal and homeopathic medicines, many of which have a basis in
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tradition. These activities include determining whether a product should be classified as a medicine, assessing applications for marketing authorisations for herbal medicines, assessing applications under the homeopathic registration scheme, and assessing safety and compliance issues affecting licensed and unlicensed herbal and homeopathic medicines.
The Department has directly funded a number of research projects which fall within the broad definition of traditional and alternative medicine, most of which are on-going, at a total cost of about £600,000.
In addition, the Cochrane collaboration in the United Kingdom receives substantial support from the NHS research and development levy, and has contributed a large number of systematic reviews of alternative therapies to the Cochrane database of systematic reviews. The website of the Cochrane complementary field (http://www.compmed.umm.edu/Compmed/Cochrane/ Cochrane.htm) lists the titles of those Cochrane reviews.
Health Action Zones
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many homes in Tyne and Wear have been insulated as a result of health action zone campaigns. [56932]
Ms Blears: Thirty-eight homes have been insulated and a further 188 have benefited from energy efficiency grants.
Staff Numbers
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff were employed in the National Patient Safety Agency at 1 April; and what proportion of those staff have clinical contact with NHS patients. [56858]
Ms Blears: The National Patient Safety Agency employed eleven staff at 1 April 2002, none of whom have clinical contact with national health service patients.
This does not include the National Patient Safety Agency's Chair and 12 non-executive board members—of these, three are practising clinicians.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff were employed in his Department at 1 April; and what proportion of those staff have clinical contact with NHS patients. [56863]
Ms Blears: The Department employed 5,288 staff at 1 April 2002.
We cannot give a proportion of these staff who have clinical contact with national health service patients as we do not collect this data.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff were employed in the National Institute for Clinical Excellence at 1 April; and what proportion of those staff have clinical contact with NHS patients. [56864]
Ms Blears: I understand that the number of staff employed by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) on 1 April 2002 was 40.
It is not part of NICE's role to provide direct clinical care to patients. In the preparation of its guidance NICE receives advice from individuals and organisations in the national health service who provide such care on a day to day basis.
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Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff were employed in the National Health Service Litigation Authority at 1 April; and what proportion of those staff have clinical contact with NHS patients. [56862]
Ms Blears: At 1 April the NHS Litigation Authority employed a total of 145 staff. None of the Authority's staff have any clinical involvement with national health service patients.
Cane Hill, Coulsdon
Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which agency in his Department owns Cane Hill, Coulsdon. [56907]
Ms Blears: The Cane Hill site is owned by the Secretary of State for Health as part of the retained estate.
Speech Therapy Service (Southampton)
Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement about the nature and effect of staff shortages at the speech and language therapy service based at the Central Health Clinic in Southampton. [57086]
Ms Blears: The speech and language therapy service is managed by Southampton City Primary Care Trust (PCT) on behalf of several local PCTs including New Forest. The recruitment difficulties affecting the service are mirrored at a national level. The PCT is actively involved in "Improving Working Lives", a national initiative to attract people back to work and other initiatives to do everything possible to improve the recruitment and retention of therapists.
In view of the shortages, the PCT is focusing attention on priority areas such as in-patients, particularly those patients with swallowing problems, which could be potentially life threatening.
Juvenile Sex Abusers
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many meetings he has had with ministerial colleagues in the last two years with regard to children and young people who sexually abuse. [57200]
Jacqui Smith: I have had no meetings with ministerial colleagues specifically regarding children and young people who sexually abuse.
Hospital Beds
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average cost of a (a) hospital intensive care bed and (b) hospital surgical bed was in the last 12 months, broken down by trust. [57154]
Ms Blears: Information on the 2000–01 average unit costs (per bed day) for each NHS Trust in England for (a) intensive care unit beds and (b) paediatric intensive care unit beds has been placed in the Library.
Average unit costs for other types of intensive care unit, for example, cardiac intensive care are available, in the Library.
No data are currently available for the average cost of a hospital surgical bed.
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