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NHS Foundation Hospitals
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what date the first NHS foundation hospitals will be identified. [61443]
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Mr. Lammy: The first wave of foundation trusts will be selected from among the cohort of national health service acute trusts that achieve three-stars in the performance ratings to be published in July. At this time we will publish a prospectus setting out how NHS trusts can apply for foundation status and the criteria that will be used to assess applications. Decisions on the first NHS Foundation Trusts will be made in the autumn, although their establishment will be subject to legislation.
Social Service Departments
Mr. Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will amend the terms of the capacity grant paid to social service departments so that social services departments that perform well do not receive less than those with an average or poor performance; and if he will extend the time covered by the capacity grant; [63095]
- (2) if he will review the terms of the capacity grant paid to social service departments to ease the situation with regard to delayed discharges from hospital; and if he will extend the present capacity grant from one year only. [63482]
Jacqui Smith: All local councils with social services responsibilities have received a share of this grant to improve services for those discharged from hospital. In 2001–2 and 2002–3 we have targeted extra resources on those councils with particularly severe problems in providing the range of services needed, and they have had more challenging targets for reducing delayed discharge. This approach has delivered over 1,000 hospital beds no longer occupied by people awaiting discharge by March 2002.
For the future we intend to legislate to make councils responsible for meeting the costs to the national health service of delayed discharges where councils' intervention could prevent the delay, drawing on the experience of similar approaches in Scandinavia. Local councils that meet their responsibilities in reducing delayed discharges will not be disadvantaged. They will have the money to pay for patients in the NHS if they are delayed inappropriately or in the community if they are discharged appropriately.
Intermediate Health Care Services
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent developments have taken place in the Greater London area in intermediate healthcare services. [63591]
Mr. Hutton: The thirty-two primary care trusts in London along with their social services departments and partner agencies are responsible for planning and commissioning intermediate care services. The local implementation teams for the older peoples national service framework are overseeing this process. Each care community in London has an intermediate care co-ordinator and most have a wide range of Intermediate care services, both beds and community places which they are working to ensure are co-ordinated to meet their local needs. A London wide network for these co-ordinators facilitates the sharing of good practise across London.
Twelve capital projects in London have between them been allocated £10 million as part of the £66 million capital funding for intermediate care in 2002–3 and 2003–4. These schemes will be developed over the next
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two years and will by April 2004 have significantly increased the number of intermediate care beds available across London.
NHS (Surveys)
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he plans to introduce surveys similar to the NHS inpatients' surveys conducted this year for (a) outpatients and (b) other NHS organisations; and if he will make a statement. [64482]
Mr. Lammy: The first inpatient survey, as announced in the NHS Plan, has been completed. It is anticipated that the roll-out programme presently being established, will be extended to cover outpatients. The programme will also provide information about the patient experience across primary care and within areas covered by national service frameworks.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital trusts have conducted NHS in-patients' surveys this year as part of the national programme outlined in the NHS Plan; what the total cost of this exercise has been; and if he will make a statement. [64483]
Mr. Lammy: 176 hospital trusts undertook the first national health service in-patients' survey earlier this year to directly inform local service development and improvement. In line with the policy on devolution, individual trusts were responsible for running and funding their own surveys and cost of the survey will vary from trust to trust. This was a local exercise and we do not have information on the total cost of the surveys nationally.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the results of the NHS in-patients' surveys conducted this year will be made available to the public; in what format they will be available; if patients will be able to compare ratings for their local hospital with other hospitals; and if he will make a statement. [64484]
Mr. Lammy: The in-patient survey results will be made available to the public over the summer. The Department is also publishing the next set of hospital performance ratings in the summer and this will enable patients to compare the performance of national health service trusts.
The in-patient survey results will be published locally by trusts and will be one of the features covered within the new patient prospectus, which will be published by primary care trusts in the autumn and delivered to every household.
NHS Employees
Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money was received by health authorities in each year since 1988 as a consequence of agreements with financial services companies to market their products to NHS employees. [64312]
Mr. Hutton: This information is not held centrally.
National Service Framework
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will set out his proposals for the national service framework for eyes, ears, teeth and feet. [64513]
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Jacqui Smith: The national service framework (NSF) programme currently includes frameworks for mental health (1999), coronary heart disease (2000) the (national) cancer plan (2000), older people (2001) and diabetes standards (2001). The diabetes NSF delivery strategy is due to be published in 2002 and work is in hand on NSF for renal services, children's services and long-term conditions.
These frameworks amount to a significant programme of quality improvement across the national health service. We have no plans to amend the programme at present.
Ashworth Hospital
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the terms of reference are for the education service within rehabilitation at Ashworth Hospital; and what targets have been established for the service. [64621]
Jacqui Smith: The terms of reference for the patients education department are:
- to develop a needs led service with regular curriculum reviews focusing on content and methods of delivery
to ensure the clinical agenda is met in education activities by strengthening its interface with the care services.
- Integration of the rehabilitation service with the clinical service
Extension of on-ward rehabilitation service to meet individual patient needs.
All rehabilitation services, including the education service, to become an integral part of the care programme approach.
Jacqui Smith: The number of lecturers retained by the hospital and numbers of patients in the hospital's care in each year for the last five years is shown in the tables. The data provided for the current year reflects the change in the lecturers' contracts, in line with National Health Service terms and conditions.
| Year | Full time Lecturers | Sessional Lecturers | Patients |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 9 | 11 | 440 |
| 1998–99 | 7 | 13 | 419 |
| 1999–2000 | 7 | 10 | 417 |
| 2000–01 | 5 | 7 | 408 |
| Year | Full Time Lecturers | Part Time Lecturers | Patients |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 5 | 5 | 402 |
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Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the timescale is of the rehabilitation service review at Ashworth Hospital. [64620]
Jacqui Smith: The rehabilitation service review was completed in November 2000 and its recommendations have been implemented in stages. The final stage, which brought the terms and conditions of the lecturers in the patient education department into line with the National Health Service, was implemented in December 2001.
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