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6 Feb 2003 : Column 437W—continued
Clothing Provision (NHS Trusts)
Mr. Laxton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment has been made of the effect on the self-esteem and recovery of long-term patients of being reliant on the NHS trust for clothing, with particular reference to those with mental health problems; [95300]
- (2) what the scope is of the National Institute of Mental Health's evidence-gathering exercise regarding the provision of clothing for long-term patients by NHS trusts; and how and when good practice in this area will be disseminated. [95299]
Jacqui Smith: The Government has made no assessment of the effect on the self-esteem and recovery of long term patients in mental health in-patient units being reliant on the National Health Service for clothing. However, empowering patients to take an active role in their own care is a key theme in the NHS Plan. In addition, the National Institute for Mental Health for England (NIMHE) is in the process of gathering examples of positive practice in the provision of clothing needs for long term patients in mental health in-patient units. We hope to make such examples of positive practice available on the NIMHE website in the spring.
Coronary Heart Disease
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which primary care trusts provide drug eluting stents for the treatment of coronary heart disease. [95684]
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Ms Blears: This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Crisis Management
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of whether staff from health protection organisations managing organisational change will have the surge capacity to cope with a major crisis. [95865]
Ms Blears: The organisational change is being managed by the Health Protection Agency implementation team, through the change management protocols.
The human resources departments of the health protection organisations are closely involved. The capability and capacity to respond to major incidents embedded within the health protection organisations will continue to be delivered and as always in any major incident a reprioritisation of tasks is undertaken by senior managers in order to deliver the surge capacity that is required.
Dementia
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the impact of the health service Ombudsman's ruling on the Squires case on the Government's policy on those suffering from (a) dementia and (b) Alzheimer's. [95211]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 4 February 2003]: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is aware of the Ombudsman's report on continuing care, which includes the Squires case. However, the report has not yet been published.
The Government will consider their response once the report has been published.
Doctor Recruitment
Mr. Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what negotiations his Department has had with the Italian Government on the possibilities of recruiting doctors. [95127]
Mr. Hutton: Officials from the Department will be meeting with officials from the Italian Ministries of Health and Labour later this month. The purpose of the meeting will be to progress the recruitment of doctors to work in the National Health Service.
Employers' National Insurance Contributions
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the cost to each NHS provider in the Thames Valley area of meeting the planned increase in employers' national insurance contributions. [95603]
Ms Blears: The increases in National Insurance, announced by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 17 April 2002, will come in to effect in April 2003. A table is attached showing the percentage increase on the provider's total cost base. As the NI increase is 1 per cent., on pay, and pay is two thirds or more of costs, this averages about 0.7 per cent. increase on total costs.
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Exact figures are not available as individual National Health Service staff members' pay and deductions are not collected centrally.
| Acute Trusts | National Insurance |
|---|---|
| Oxford Radcliffe | 0.69 |
| Nuffield Orthopaedic | 0.68 |
| Royal Berks & Battle Hospitals | 0.77 |
| Heatherwood & Wexham | 0.78 |
| South Bucks | 0.62 |
| Stoke Mandeville | 0.68 |
| Milton Keynes | 0.51 |
| Other Trusts | |
| Oxford Mental Health | 0.72 |
| Oxford Learning Disability | 0.65 |
| Oxford Ambulance | 0.70 |
| Berkshire Healthcare | 0.71 |
| Royal Berks Ambulance | 0.70 |
| Bucks Mental Health | 0.81 |
| Two Shire Ambulance | 0.70 |
External Consultants
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent on external advisers or consultants by the Department of Health in 2002–03; and what is budgeted to be spent on external consultants and advisers in (a) 2003–04, (b) 2004–05 and (c) 2005–06. [94584]
Mr. Lammy: Expenditure by the Department on external advisers or consultants in 2002–03 is £2.943 million. This figure represents expenditure as at December 2002.
The Department does not centrally report or record what expenditure on consultants may be required for future years, so this information is not available.
Fair Trade
Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 14 January 2003, Official Report, column 523W, on fair trade, if his Department will establish rules to support the Government's position on fair trade. [94558]
Mr. Lammy: Existing procurement procedures within the Department already allow consideration of a wide range of criteria in the evaluation of tenders within the framework of the Government's value for money policies and the European Community procurement rules. These include assessment of company policies on a range of issues including purchasing and the environment to ensure compliance with the appropriate Government policy in these areas, including fair trade.
Within the Department, our approved catering supplier is committed to supporting fair trade and requires all its suppliers to comply with this policy.
Gender Reassignment Surgery
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what recent information he has collated on waiting lists for gender reassignment surgery; [93435]
6 Feb 2003 : Column 440W
- (2) how many tertiary level consultants and sessions were devoted to (a) male to female psychiatric assessment, (b) female to male psychiatric assessment, (c) male to female gender confirmation surgery and (d) female to male gender confirmation surgery, in respect of each specialist centre providing medical treatment of gender dysphoria, including transsexualism, within the national health service, in the most recent week for which figures are available and in the same week in each of the previous three years; how many patients there were to whom treatment was provided in each category listed above during the preceding 12 months; and how many patients were on the waiting list for each category of such treatment; [93721]
(3) if he will list the locations of providers of gender reassignment surgery that have done NHS commissioned work in each of the last five years; and how many FTE staff, broken down by category, worked at each facility in each year. [93436]
Mr. Hutton: Gender reassignment surgery consists of a series of different surgical procedures, for example, female to male gender reassignment may require a mastectomy and a hysterectomy and a series of operations to construct a phallus. The Department collects Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) from national health service trusts on operations specifically for sexual transformation, but those procedures such as mastectomies or hysterectomies are collected separately and it is not possible to identify if these were carried out as part of a gender reassignment operation. Details of the NHS trusts who have undertaken any operations for sexual transformation in the past five years are listed in the table.
The HES data shows that 89 operations were undertaken for male to female gender reassignment surgery in 2001–02. No operations for female to male gender reassignment were recorded during this period.
Information on the numbers of psychiatric assessments undertaken for gender dysphoria are currently not collected centrally. The mental health minimum dataset will collect data for the first time on psychiatric assessments from April 2003.
Information on waiting lists and the number of full time equivalent staff and sessions per week devoted to treating patients with gender dysphoria and those working in gender dysphoria clinics is not collected centrally.
Havering (GP Statistics)
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on General Practitioner numbers in the London borough of Havering; and what plans he has to increase their number. [90298]
Mr. Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the response I gave my hon. Friend, the Member for Hornchurch (John Cryer) on 28 January 2003, Official Report, column 807W.
6 Feb 2003 : Column 441W
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