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3 Feb 2003 : Column 109W—continued
NHS Direct
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how he intends to fund the expansion of NHS Direct to start handling out-of-hours calls for GPs throughout the country from 2004. [93513]
Mr. Lammy: NHS Direct is committed to achieving targets for integrating with out-of-hours providers. A strategy document detailing plans covering funding and capacity for the next three years will be published shortly.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to abolish double triage at NHS Direct. [93516]
Mr. Lammy: NHS Direct is keen to work with out-of-hours providers to ensure the seamless referral of patients needing out-of-hours medical care to the relevant provider.
In schemes in a number of parts of the country patients are referred with double triage directly to a home visit or primary care service appointments. NHS Direct will continue to work with out-of-hours providers to ensure this model is adopted more widely and the double triage is eliminated.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what feedback individual nurses employed by NHS Direct receive about their decision making. [93517]
Mr. Lammy: The NHS Direct performance framework requires that on their performance all nurses have one-to-one sessions on operational/clinical performance on a regular basis.
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Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how often NHS Direct has to call on GP cooperatives to assist when it gets busy; and what will be done in the event that GP cooperatives are no longer able to assist in this way. [93518]
Mr. Lammy: As part of integrated working, NHS Direct and providers of out-of-hours primary care have agreed a range of shared emergency arrangements for managing the total demand on the service. It is expected that these will evolve as part of the development of the integrated service.
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in which regions of the United Kingdom NHS Direct helplines are operating; and if he will make a statement. [93922]
Mr. Lammy: NHS Direct is operational throughout the whole of England and Wales. NHS 24 is operational in north and west Scotland, and offers similar services to NHS Direct.
NHS Modernisation Agency
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the annual budget of the NHS Modernisation Agency. [93635]
Ms Blears: The delegated revenue budget for the National Health Service Modernisation Agency for 2002–03 is £106.5 million.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many clinical staff are employed by the NHS Modernisation Agency. [93636]
Ms Blears: At 30 December 2002, there were 670 staff employed by the National Health Service Modernisation Agency, of which 216 have professional clinical qualifications. 371 of the agency staff are working directly with clinical teams and four retain a responsibility for the delivery of clinical care as part of their role with the agency.
Primary Care (Portsmouth)
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funds have been received by the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust from his Department other than those paid through primary care trusts. [93202]
Ms Blears [holding answer 27 January 2003]: No other funds have been provided to the Portsmouth National Health Service Trust from my Department other than those paid through primary care trusts (PCTs).
Capital is allocated directly to NHS trusts rather than via PCTs. To date, Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust has been allocated the following capital resources in 2002–03.
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Prisons
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what health provision his Department provides to prisons in Greater London; and if he will make a statement. [94320]
Jacqui Smith: The Department of Health and the Prison Service have been working together to bring about a significant improvement in standards of prison health care. Under partnership arrangements introduced in April 2000, the Prison Service meets the costs of providing primary health care services to prisoners, while the National Health Service meets the costs of any secondary or tertiary health services they may need. The London prisons have already benefited from this partnership approach, which has, for example, led to NHS-funded, mental health in-reach teams being introduced in the seven closed Prison Service establishments in London.
We shall continue to promote the reform of health services for prisoners, which, over the next few years, will become part of the NHS. Funding responsibility for prison health services in England is being transferred from the Home Office to the Department of Health with effect from 1 April 2003.
Public Health Laboratory Service
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the risk that those public health laboratories transferring to NHS trusts will lose accommodation currently used for public health purposes; and what action has been taken to minimise these risks. [90095]
Ms Blears: We do not anticipate any of the laboratories losing their accommodation, as the appropriate level of funding will be transferred with the laboratories.
The chief executive of the National Health Service has written to the chief executives of all the NHS trusts receiving Public Health Laboratory Service laboratories, saying that he is sure they will embrace the services into the pathology service organisation.
It has been made clear to the chief executives of the NHS trusts concerned or their nominated lead that all the current resources of the transferring laboratories are to be protected.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the media production operations of the Public Health Laboratory Service once legislation is passed to wind up the organisation. [93642]
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Ms Blears: The Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) will be wound up only when the necessary primary legislation is in place. We are aware of the importance of a continued supply of microbiological media, of an appropriate quality, to the protection of public health from communicable diseases.
During 2003, we will be carrying out a review of the media supply operations currently performed by PHLS to identify the most appropriate management option and will be taking suitable measures to ensure this supply following the outcome of the review.
Public Health Laboratory Service
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for health what the status will be of the PHLS's current liabilities after 1 April; and what proportion of the liabilities will be transferred to the HPA on 1 April. [90049]
Ms Blears: The precise accounting arrangements for the residual Public Health Laboratory Service have yet to be decided.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to create a replacement for the vaccine development programme conducted by the PHLS. [90077]
Ms Blears: We do not anticipate any changes to the Department's vaccine research and development programme, which includes activities of the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS), the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, the Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research, the Institute for Child Health and is presently co-ordinated by the PHLS.
Public Health Workers
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many public sector workers have in-house occupational health care. [93643]
Mr. Lammy: Statistics for the number of public sector workers who have access to in-house occupational health care are not held centrally. It is for individual public sector organisations to keep their own records. Research funded by the Department of Health in 1999, the last year for which figures are available, show that 96 per cent. of national health service staff have in-house occupational health care. The NHS is not, however, responsible for occupational health care of other public sector workers. The responsibility lies with individual employers.
Secure Hospitals
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) male and (b) female inmates are being held in Rampton and Broadmoor secure hospitals; and if he will make a statement. [94318]
Jacqui Smith: There are currently 280 male and 52 female patients in Broadmoor Hospital and 326 male and 46 female patients in Rampton Hospital.
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