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24 Feb 2003 : Column 41W—continued
Mental Health (Older People)
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the provision of mental health services for older people for the treatment of manic depression. [96635]
Jacqui Smith: The national service framework (NSF) for older people has a standard, a service model and milestones to monitor progress against for the provision of health and social care services for older people with mental health problems.
Implementation of the NSF will ensure that older people with mental health problems, including those with manic depression, will receive the care and treatment they need.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been diagnosed with pre-senile dementia in each of the last five years, broken down by age at diagnosis. [96637]
Jacqui Smith: The Department does not routinely collect such information.
Hospital Waiting Lists/Times
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in the Mid-Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust area were waiting for in-patient treatment on the latest available date. [97827]
Mr. Lammy: There were 9,527 patients waiting for in-patient treatment at Mid-Essex Hospital Services National Health Service Trust at the end of December 2002.
- Source:
- KH07 return.
Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the current average waiting time is in England for operations on children to remove tonsils. [97105]
Jacqui Smith: Inpatient waiting time data is collected by specialty. The average waiting time for ear, nose and throat is 3.3 months. There is no data available centrally at procedure level or by age group.
NHS Trusts (Financial Performance)
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether it is the Government's policy that strategic health authorities should (a) monitor the financial performance of trusts within their area and (b) collate estimates of the end-of-year financial outturn for each trust. [97945]
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Jacqui Smith [holding answer 13 February 2003]: It is the Government's policy that strategic health authorities should monitor the financial performance of national health service trusts within their area and collate estimates of the full year financial outturn for each NHS trust.
Online Sales/Purchases
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (a) products, (b) goods and (c) services were (i) bought and (ii) sold online by his Department in each of the last five years. [97443]
Mr. Lammy: The Department has ordered its catering requirements online since 1998 and its travel arrangements online starting this financial year using its own Intranet.
The Department also uses web-enabled systems to place the advertisements under the European Union purchasing regulations and has pilot tested online tendering systems in collaboration with the Office of Government Commerce. It also uses the Government Procurement Card for low value purchases.
The Department has not used the Internet for any sales activity.
This answer does not include the national health service.
Operations
Mr. Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) inpatients and (b) outpatient operations were cancelled in (i) Pilgrim hospital, Boston, Lincolnshire, (ii) Trent Regional Health Authority and (iii) England and Wales in 2002, expressed in a percentage of total operations and in numbers. [96582]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 11 February 2003]: Quarterly data are collected on the number of operations cancelled by the hospital for non-clinical reasons, for example, at the last minute (that is, on the day patients are due to arrive or after arrival in hospital or on the day of their operation) and on the day of surgery.
These data are available in the Library and on the Department's website at www.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity/data requests.htm.
Information about cancellations in Pilgrim Hospital, Trent Regional Health Authority and England are shown in the table. Currently, figures are available for the first nine months of 2002 only.
| Number of last minute cancellationsfor non-clinical reasons | Number of cancellations as apercentage of elective admissions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4 2001–02 | Ql 2002–03 | Q2 2002–03 | Q4 2001–02 | Ql 2002–03 | Q2 2002–03 | |||
| United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust(7) | 159 | 170 | 179 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.2 | ||
| Trent Strategic Health Authority(8) | n/a | 607 | 568 | n/a | 1.0 | 0.9 | ||
| England(9) | 19,973 | 14,808 | 14,826 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 1.1 | ||
(7) Data is not published on the basis of individual hospitals. The figures are therefore provided for United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which manages the Pilgrim hospital.
(8) Trent Strategic Health Authority was created in April 2002. The former Trent Regional Office covered a different geographical area.
(9) For data on hospitals in Wales, please refer to the Welsh Assembly.
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Data are not collected on the number of patients whose outpatient appointment has been cancelled by the hospital.
Overview and Scrutiny Committees
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Department of Health will be publishing guidelines for the establishment of overview and scrutiny committees. [96721]
Mr. Lammy: The Department will be publishing guidance shortly for local authority overview and scrutiny committees to assist them in scrutinising the national health service. The guidance is also to enable the NHS to meet its duties under the NHS scrutiny arrangements.
Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the final guidance from his Department for local authority scrutiny committees on health issues will be published; and if he will make a statement. [97607]
Mr. Lammy: The Department will shortly be publishing guidance to assist local authority overview and scrutiny committees in scrutinising health.
Patient Forums
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the new patient forums to be established in all areas. [96722]
Mr. Lammy: The Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health is responsible for recruiting members, appointing staff and putting in place the infrastructure for patients' forums. This process will be well under way by the time Community Health Councils are abolished in September.
The Commission will be working towards the achievement of full coverage of forums by the end of the year.
Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements he has made to cover the period between the abolition of community health councils and the formation of primary care trust patient forums. [96776]
Mr. Lammy: The Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health has said that it will be working towards achieving full coverage of patients' forums by the end of the year. Arrangements will be in place to ensure there is continuous support for patients through the transition.
The new system for patient and public involvement goes beyond patients' forums. For example, independent complaints advocacy support for patients wanting to complain against the national health service will be available, patient advice and liaison services in trusts and primary care trusts routinely feed up patients views to trust boards, overview and scrutiny committees (OSCs) have to be consulted where
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substantial variation and developments are planned and individuals or patient groups can approach their OSC directly where they have concerns.
In addition, the Commission will set up a national telephone help-line, which will help people access local support arrangements.
Community Pharmacies
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the impact of the deregulation of pharmacy contracts on smaller, non-supermarket pharmacies. [97399]
Mr. Lammy: We are considering the report from the Director General of Fair Trading and its findings and recommendation carefully.
Community pharmacists have an important part to play in our plans to drive up the quality of national health service services overall and to make the best use of skills of everybody working in the NHS. We are therefore considering the implications the report has for patients, for the profession and for the NHS as a whole.
We have invited views on the report and are meeting key interests to hear their reactions, in order to help inform the Government response, which my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, is co-ordinating.
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