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15 Oct 2002 : Column 811W—continued
Blood Transfusions
Mr. Havard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether NHS trusts are required to transfuse anaemic cancer patients at the haemoglobin levels recommended by the British Committee for Standards in Haematology, following the publication of the Health Service Circular 2002/009, Better Blood Transfusion; Appropriate Use of Blood. [73958]
Ms Blears: The Department published Health Service Circular 2002/009, Better Blood Transfusion—Appropriate Use of Blood on 4 July 2002, available on www.doh.gov.uk/publications/coinh.html. This circular recommends that National Health Service trusts adopt national guidelines for the appropriate use of blood and recommends a number of national guidelines and web sites, including guidelines from the British committee for standards in haematology published in 2001. These guidelines provide specific advice to clinicians. The type of treatment offered to anaemic cancer patients is a matter of individual clinical judgement and discussion with the patient concerned.
Mr. Havard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether NHS trusts are required to give patients information on (a) the alternatives to transfusion and (b) the standards of transfusion in advance of receiving treatment following the publication of the Health Service Circular 2002/009, Better Blood Transfusion—Appropriate Use of Blood. [73959]
Ms Blears: The Department published Health Service Circular 2002/009, Better Blood Transfusion—Appropriate Use of Blood, on 4 July 2002, available on www.doh.gov.uk/publications/coinh.html. This circular asks National Health Service trusts and primary care trusts to ensure that written information is made available to patients on transfusion and the alternatives by April 2003.
National Blood Authority
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much state subsidy the National Blood Authority has received over the past three years; if he will publish its full consolidated accounts in the future; and if he will make a statement. [74206]
Ms Blears: The table shows the central funding which the Government has provided to the National Blood Authority (NBA) between 1999–2000 and 2001–2002.
| Revenue (# million) | Capital (# million) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1999/2000 | 17.127 | 18.715 |
| 2000/2001 | 17.257 | 11.500 |
| 2001/2002 | 46.550 | 16.149 |
The published annual reports of the NBA contain financial statements in summary form. Each report states that a full set of Accounts can be provided by NBA on request.
A full set of NBA Accounts for 2000–01 have been placed in the Library.
15 Oct 2002 : Column 812W
Care Homes
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 15 July 2002, Official Report, column 121W, if he will make it his policy to collect this data. [73817]
Jacqui Smith: There are currently no plans to publish information on nursing and care home beds more frequently than annually. Information relating to the change in the number of homes between 2001 and 2002 will be available later this year. The National Care Standards Commission is developing its database to enable the production of information linked to its Royal Commission requirements. Within this context, information relating to the quality and capacity of residential and nursing care home beds will be available later this year.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 25 April 2002, Official Report, column 459W, on care homes, if he will place copies in the Library of the letters sent to national providers about the increases in fees experienced by residents. [56594]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 16 May 2002]: No, as the correspondence relates to the commercial or contractual activities of care homes.
NHS Clinical Governance Support Programmes
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total running cost has been of the NHS Clinical Governance Support programmes. [73344]
Mr. Lammy: The information requested is shown in the table.
| Programme | Cost 2001/2002 #000s |
|---|---|
| Clinical Governance Development Programme | 578 |
| Strategic Leadership of Board Development | |
| Programme | 235 |
| Protected Time Pilot Programme | 3241 |
| General Practitioner Appraisal Training | |
| Programme | 67 |
| Total | 1,204 |
Note:
1 plus #50,000 for each of the 19 NHS pilot sites to support them in the local delivery of the programme
Transplants
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when he plans to publish his consultation paper on organ transplantation; [74237]
- (2) what assessment he has made of the progress towards the United Kingdom's transplants target of 2,500 transplants per annum by 2005–06. [74236]
15 Oct 2002 : Column 813W
Mr. Lammy: At the first ever organ donation and transplantation summit in February 2001, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State launched a draft plan—Organ and Tissue Transplantation—a plan for the future. The plan issued for consultation included draft proposals aimed at increasing kidney donation rates to achieve 2500 renal transplants in England by 2005–6. We are considering the comments received. A final version of the plan is being developed and will be published in due course. UK transplant continually monitors transplant activity and the latest figures are available from their website (www.uktransplant.org.uk).
Clinical Governance
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the (a) background and (b) intentions of the strategic leadership of the Clinical Governance Board programme led by the NHS Governance Support Team. [73350]
Mr. Lammy: The NHS Plan for investment and reform identifies the need to put in place a robust management and support framework to deliver national standards of care. The strategic leadership of clinical governance board development programme was introduced in February 2001 to ensure top-level board commitment to deliver these national standards.
Currently the board development team is working with 100 National Health Service organisations to enable them to deliver safe, high quality healthcare. They enable boards strategically to factor in external drivers and future changes to create a clinically focused strategy and development plan that make a difference to the lives of patients and health professionals.
Blood Donors
Mr. Havard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of blood donors who will be removed from the blood donor base if recipients of blood are banned from donating blood. [73931]
Ms Blears: The National Blood Service estimates that approximately 135,000, or 7.7 per cent., to 255,000, or 14.5 per cent. of blood donors would be removed from the donor base if it was decided to exclude donors who had previously received a blood transfusion, as a precautionary measure to minimise the theoretical risk of transmitting vCJD through blood. The Government's expert advisory committee on the microbiological safety of blood and tissues for transplantation is currently considering this along with other possible vCJD risk reduction measures.
Neo-Natal Services
Mr. Havard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reason there has been a delay in publishing the report on the future of neo-natal services in England; and when it will be published. [73935]
15 Oct 2002 : Column 814W
Jacqui Smith: The report on the future of neonatal services in England was delayed so as to allow for the implications of its recommendations to be more fully assessed. It is anticipated that the report will now be published for consultation later this year.
Surgical Instruments
Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many NHS hospitals have received delivery of new surgical instrument decontamination equipment as a result of the commitment of the #200 million at the start of 2001; [73979]
- (2) what progress has been made with regard to spending the money announced at the start of 2001 to upgrade hospital decontamination facilities. [73977]
Mr. Lammy: At the end of August, #85 million had been allocated to 101 schemes proposed by National Health Service trusts for improving their decontamination facilities. These schemes included purchasing new equipment, upgrading the buildings used for reprocessing and purchasing new surgical instruments to facilitate the centralisation of reprocessing. This, together with contributions from the NHS trusts themselves, amounted to an investment of some #107 million. Similar bids worth another #10 million were still being considered.
In order to get the best value for money, the tendering process for equipment has been undertaken by the NHS purchasing and supply agency. Individual contracts are awarded by the NHS trusts themselves, taking into account local issues such as the expected completion of essential building work. The installation of equipment will follow these necessary preparations.
Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in the procurement rounds organised by the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency for new surgical instrument decontamination equipment since the commitment of #200 million at the start of 2001. [73978]
Mr. Lammy: The NHS purchasing and supply agency tendered for all the sterilizers and washer-disinfector requirements that were identified as part of the immediate investment process to upgrade existing decontamination facilities within the National Health Service in England.
This major investment covers in excess of 70 NHS trusts across the country for 115 sterilizers, 171 washer-disinfectors and a large amount of associated equipment and accessories to the approximate value of #28 million.
A number of suitable sites have recently been identified for intermediate investment and the NHS purchasing and supply agency is in the process of procuring this additional equipment.
A significant proportion of the #200 million is being spent on building work to improve segregation and the purchase of surgical instruments to enable centralisation of the service.
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