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Regional Organisations

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which of the agencies and NDPBs sponsored by his Department have a regional organisation; and if he will list the counties and unitary authorities in each region in (a) 1997 and (b) 2002. [58943]

Mr. Lammy: The information is provided in the table which is in the Library. Of the Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies, only the National Health Service Estates Agency had a regional structure in 1997. Currently only the National Care Standards Commission, which was established in 2002, has a regional structure.

Hospital Discharges

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2002, Official Report, column 740W, on hospital discharges, (1) where and when the target for a reduction in the number of people experiencing delayed discharge by 20 per cent. between March 2002 and March 2003 was published; [65186]

(2) what his target is for the reduction in the number of bed days lost through people experiencing delayed discharge from hospital. [65185]

Jacqui Smith: The 20 per cent. target figure was published in the Department's "Priorities and Planning Framework 2002–03" in December 2001, which is available on the Department's website. There is no target for bed days lost. We expect that there will be an increase in the number of available bed days as a consequence of the reduction in numbers of patients delayed, in line with that seen over the last two quarters of 2001–02.

Carers

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when his Department last reviewed guidance on hospital discharge with respect to carers' needs; and what arrangements are in place to monitor compliance with the guidance; [65104]

(2) if he will undertake an evaluation of the appropriateness of support offered to carers as part of strategies to reduce the number of delayed discharges from hospital. [65103]

Jacqui Smith: Carer support and strength of caring arrangements are two of the areas assessed when putting together a care plan for the patient leaving hospital. The written care plan which the patient is given includes the support carers are willing and able to offer.

The Hospital Discharge Workbook, issued in 1994, gives guidance to the national health service, social services and other agencies on hospital discharge procedures. The Workbook emphasises that the patient

22 Jul 2002 : Column 868W

and carer should be made fully aware of arrangements for discharge and understand fully what is going to happen. The chief executive of the hospital trust is responsible for ensuring that discharges take place appropriately. We are revising the workbook and will incorporate the needs of carers.

Psycho-surgery

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has undertaken into psycho- surgery in the last five years. [67610]

Jacqui Smith: The main Government agency for research into the causes of and treatments for disease is the Medical Research Council (MRC), which is funded via the Department of Trade and Industry. The MRC has not supported any research in this area in the last five years. The MRC always welcomes high quality applications for support into any aspect of human health and these are judged in open competition with other demands on funding. Awards are made according to their scientific quality and importance to human health.

The Department directly funds research into policy and the delivery of effective practice in health and social care, and provides national health service support funding for research commissioned by the research councils and charities in the NHS. The Department has not supported any work in this area in the last five years.

Management of much of the research supported by NHS research and development funding is devolved and expenditure at project level is not held centrally by the Department. Details of research projects funded by, or of interest to, the national health service are available on the National Research Register at www.doh.gov.uk/research/ nrr.htm

Consultant Psychiatrists

Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the vacancy rate was for consultant psychiatrists in (a) England and (b) each region in each of the last six years. [67710]

Mr. Hutton: The number of consultants in post in the psychiatry group has increased from 2,808 in September 1999 to 3,030 in March 2002. This is an increase of 8 per cent.

The national health service vacancy survey has only been conducted in March each year since 1999. The survey collects information on the number of posts which trusts are actively trying to fill which have been vacant for three months or more.

There are six specialities within the psychiatry group. In 2001, the vacancy survey focused on specialties that were considered particularly problematic. For this reason, only four of the six specialties were collected.

Increased vacancies are to be expected at a time when we are trying to dramatically increase the size of the workforce. New investment enables NHS trusts to create new posts; however, there can be a delay in providing sufficient staff for all the posts.

Available information is shown in the tables.

22 Jul 2002 : Column 869W

Department of Health Vacancies Survey, March 1999Vacancies in NHS trusts by region, psychiatry group, 3 month vacancy rates^(45),(46) and numbers⁽⁴⁷⁾

	Psychiatry group (consultant)
	3 month vacancy rates (percentage)	3 month vacancies	Staff in post (wte)	Staff in post (hc)
England	6.7	170	2,360	2,630
Northern and Yorkshire	7.3	20	290	320
Trent	4.0	10	230	250
West Midlands	9.0	20	220	240
North West	10.5	30	280	310
Eastern	4.4	10	210	230
London	5.5	30	510	600
South East	6.2	20	370	420
South West	7.5	20	200	230
Special HAs	0.0	0	40	50

⁽⁴⁵⁾ Three month vacancies are vacancies as at 31 March 1999 which trusts are actively trying to fill, which had lasted for three months or more (whole time equivalents).

⁽⁴⁶⁾ Three month vacancy rates are three month vacancies expressed as a percentage of three month vacancies plus staff in post from the September 1998 medical and dental census (whole time equivalent).

⁽⁴⁷⁾ Vacancy and staff in post numbers are rounded to the nearest 10.

Notes:

1. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.

2. Totals may not equal sum of component parts due to rounding.

3. Due to rounding, calculating the vacancy rates using the above data may not equal the actual vacancy rates.

4. Figures may not match previously published data due to a different method of rounding used on the staff in post data.

Source:

Department of Health Vacancies Survey 1999.

Department of Health Medical and Dental Workforce Census 1998.

Department of Health Vacancies Survey, March 2000Vacancies in NHS trusts by region, psychiatry group, 3 month vacancy rates^(48),(49) and numbers⁽⁵⁰⁾

	Psychiatry group (consultant)
	3 month vacancy rates (percentage)	3 month vacancies	Staff in post (wte)	Staff in post (hc)
England	6.9	190	2,520	2,810
Northern and Yorkshire	7.7	30	310	340
Trent	5.0	10	240	260
West Midlands	11.4	30	240	260
North West	7.9	30	290	330
Eastern	6.0	10	210	240
London	7.4	40	550	640
South East	4.7	20	400	460
South West	2.2	10	220	250
Special HAs	15.6	10	50	50

⁽⁴⁸⁾ Three month vacancies are vacancies as at 31 March 2000 which trusts are actively trying to fill, which had lasted for three months or more (whole time equivalents).

⁽⁴⁹⁾ Three month vacancy rates are three month vacancies expressed as a percentage of three months vacancies plus staff in post from the September 1999 medical and dental workforce census (whole time equivalent).

⁽⁵⁰⁾ Vacancy and staff in post number are rounded to the nearest 10.

Notes:

1. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.

2. Totals may not equal sum of component parts due to rounding.

3. Due to rounding, calculating the vacancy rates using the above data may not equal the actual vacancy rates.

4. Figures may not match previously published data due to a different method of rounding used on the staff in post data.

Source:

Department of Health Vacancies Survey 2000.

Department of Health Medical and Dental Workforce Census 1999.

22 Jul 2002 : Column 870W

Department of Health Vacancies Survey, March 2001Vacancies in NHS trusts by region, consultants in the specified areas of work, 3 month vacancy rates^(51),(52) and numbers⁽⁵³⁾

	3 month vacancy rates (percentage)	3 month vacancies	Staff in post (wte)	Staff in post (hc)
	Forensic psychiatry (consultants)
England	5.2	10	150	160
Northern and Yorkshire	0.0	0	10	10
Trent	0.0	0	10	10
West Midlands	0.0	0	10	10
North West	18.2	0	10	10
Eastern	0.0	0	10	10
London	8.5	0	40	50
South East	7.7	0	10	20
South West	(54)—	(54)—	(54)—	(54)—
Special HAs	2.7	0	40	40
	General psychiatry (consultants)
England	7.8	130	1,490	1,650
Northern and Yorkshire	8.2	20	170	180
Trent	4.0	10	140	160
West Midlands	11.0	20	130	140
North West	12.2	30	180	190
Eastern	5.8	10	110	120
London	7.5	30	380	430
South East	10.2	30	230	260
South West	1.3	0	150	170
Special HAs	(54)—	(54)—	(54)—	(54)—
	Learning disabilities (consultants)
England	13.3	30	170	180
Northern and Yorkshire	13.5	10	30	30
Trent	26.3	10	10	20
West Midlands	8.3	0	20	20
North West	21.7	10	20	20
Eastern	10.3	0	30	30
London	12.2	0	20	20
South East	11.1	0	20	30
South West	6.7	0	10	10
Special HAs	(54)—	(54)—	(54)—	(54)—
	Old age psychiatry (consultants)
England	9.3	30	310	330
Northern and Yorkshire	10.0	10	60	60
Trent	11.4	0	30	30
West Midlands	7.9	0	30	40
North West	14.6	10	40	40
Eastern	16.1	10	30	30
London	2.3	0	40	50
South East	8.5	10	50	60
South West	0.0	0	20	20
Special HAs	(54)—	(54)—	(54)—	(54)—

⁽⁵¹⁾ 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).

⁽⁵²⁾ 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).

⁽⁵³⁾ Vacancy and staff in post numbers are rounded to the nearest 10.

⁽⁵⁴⁾ Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.

⁽⁵⁵⁾ Figures where sum of staff in post and vacancies is less than 10.

Notes:

1. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.

2. Totals may not equal sum of component parts due to rounding.

3. Due to rounding, calculating the vacancy rates using the above data may not equal the actual vacancy rates.

4. Figures may not match previously published data due to a different method of rounding used on the staff in post data.

Source:

Department of Health Vacancies Survey 2001.

Department of Health Medical and Dental Workforce Census 2000.

22 Jul 2002 : Column 871W

Department of Health Vacancies Survey, March 2002Vacancies in NHS trusts by region, total psychiatry group of consultants, 3 month vacancy rates^(56),(57) and numbers

	Psychiatry group (consultants)
	3 month vacancy rates (percentage)	3 month vacancies	Staff in post (wte)	Staff in post (hc)
England	8.5	250	2710	3,030
Northern and Yorkshire	10.8	40	330	350
Trent	6.1	20	280	300
West Midlands	9.3	30	280	290
North West	12.2	40	300	330
Eastern	8.6	20	250	280
London	6.8	50	620	730
South East	7.5	30	390	480
South West	7.7	20	250	260
Special HAs	7.7	0	10	10

⁽⁵⁶⁾ Three month vacancies are vacancies as at 31 March 2002 which trusts are actively trying to fill, which had lasted for three months or more (whole time equivalents).

⁽⁵⁷⁾ Three month vacancy rates are three month vacancies expressed as a percentage of three month vacancies plus staff in post form this survey.

Notes:

1. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.

2. Totals may not equal sum of component parts due to rounding.

3. Due to rounding, calculating the vacancy rates using the above data may not equal the actual vacancy rates.

4. Figures may not match previously published data due to a different method of rounding used on the staff in post data.

Source:

Department of Health Vacancies Survey 2001.

Department of Health Medical and Dental Mini Census 2002.

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