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26 Feb 2003 : Column 617W—continued
General Practitioners (Derbyshire)
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to meet patient demand for GPs in Derbyshire. [98889]
Mr. Lammy: Provision of access to general practitioner services is a matter for primary care trusts (PCTs). A number of initiatives are being taken by PCTs across Derbyshire to improve access to GPs.
For example a £1.1 million public finance initiative build project has been approved by Chesterfield PCT to provide a GP practice in Staveley. Greater Derby PCT is using local investment finance trust funding to develop three new primary care resource centres and to enable Greater Derby practices to upgrade and extend their services in line with the NHSPlan.
GP Vacancies
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many GP vacancies there are at the latest available date; and how many there were in February (a) 2002 and (b) 2001. [97840]
Mr. Hutton: In the 2002 general practitioner recruitment retention and vacancy survey, health authorities (HAs) reported 2,615 GP vacancies outstanding at any time during the period March 2001 to February 2002, compared with 2,464 in the period April 2000 to March 2001. There were four non-responding HAs in 2001–02 and two in 2000–01.
Health Employees
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 12 February to
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questions refs. 96102 and 93640, what proportion of these employees are (a) administrators or managers and (b) clinical staff. [99136]
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 12 February to question ref. 93640, if he will break down the posts by grade, indicating whether they are (a) clinical and (b) managerial. [99137]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 25February 2003]: The information available centrally has been placed in the Library. These figures cannot be broken down by grade.
Health Services (Nottingham)
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what improvements have been made to local health services available to people in Nottingham North since June 1997. [98324]
Mr. Lammy: In March 1997 there were 3,653 patients at acute trusts in Nottingham waiting over 26 weeks for outpatients appointments. In December 2002 there were none. Similarly, there were 1,718 patients waiting over 12 months for inpatient appointments. In December 2002, there were only 28.
At Queen's Medical Centre, £5.5 million of capital expenditure has been invested in modernising accident and emergency services. Meanwhile, the primary care trusts covering Nottingham will each receive increases in funding of over 28 per cent. over the next three years, to help further increase life expectancy at birth and reduce premature deaths from cancer. This is just a small sample of investment in local modernisation.
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Health Staff
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) general practitioners, (b) nurses and (c) consultants are employed in (i) Derbyshire and (ii) England and Wales. [98890]
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Mr. Hutton: The available data is shown in the table. Information relating to Wales is a matter for the devolved administration.
| Numbers (headcount) of which: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| England | North Derbyshire HA | South Derbyshire HA | |
| All General Medical Practitioners (27) | 31,835 | 234 | 347 |
| of which: | |||
| Unrestricted Principals and Equivalents (UPEs) (28) | 27,843 | 192 | 315 |
| Qualified Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting staff (29) | 330,535 | 1,859 | 3,035 |
| Practice Nurses | 19,846 | 128 | 223 |
| Consultants | 25,690 | 110 | 188 |
| Notes: | |||
Notes:
(27) All practitioners includes: GMS unrestricted principals, PMS contracted GPs, PMS salaried GPs, restricted principals, assistants, GP Registrars, GP retainers, salaried doctors (Para 52 SFA) and PMS others
(28) Unrestricted principals and equivalents (UPEs) includes GMS unrestricted principals, PMS contracted GPs and PMS salaried GPs.
(29) Excludes learners
Source:
Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census
Department of Health Medical and Dental Workforce Census
Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics
Healthy Start Scheme
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the healthy start scheme will reduce the value of benefit to mothers who bottle feed their babies. [99017]
Ms Blears: Decisions on the future of the Welfare Food Scheme will not be taken until the results of the public consultation on the proposed reforms have been assessed.
A report on the outcome of the "Healthy Start" consultation will be published in March 2003. The Department of Health's response to the consultation will follow in the spring.
Hospital Accommodation
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance on the provision of hospital accommodation his Department has issued since December 2000. [98925]
Mr. Hutton: The Department of Health has issued no further guidance on hospital accommodation for doctors in training since the issue of Health Service Circular 2000/036 in December 2000.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what types of hospital accommodation are covered by the guidelines issued by his Department in December 2000. [98926]
Mr. Hutton: The December 2000 guidelines cover accommodation provided to doctors, either because of statutory or contractual requirements or where doctors are voluntarily resident and are required to provide an on-call service from their accommodation. Other accommodation is covered by the Houses in Multiple Occupancy Regulations and other local authority standards to ensure basic habitability.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the Government spent on improving (a) residential and (b) on-call hospital accommodation in England and Wales in 2002. [98927]
Mr. Hutton: Improvement of residential accommodation in hospitals is the responsibility of the individual trust concerned and no details are held centrally on expenditure. However, in addition to that spent by trusts, the Department provides a further £2 million annually to support capital improvements to junior doctors' living and working conditions, much of which is used to improve accommodation.
We are unable to provide information for Wales, as healthcare there is the responsibility of the National Assembly for Wales.
Hospital Hygiene
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Mr. Burstow) of 22 January 2003, Official Report, column 392W, on hospital hygiene, how many cases of gastro-enteritis were reported by NHS hospital trusts in each year since 1999. [96045]
Mr. Lammy: There are no definitive data sources for cases of gastro-enteritis in hospitals but the information available is shown in the table.
The Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) has voluntary reporting systems for a range of pathogenic organisms but as these systems do not distinguish between cases acquired in hospital and those acquired elsewhere the requested data are not available.
In addition the PHLS also has a voluntary reporting system for outbreaks (these involve two or more related cases) of infectious intestinal disease and a report "General outbreaks of infectious intestinal disease (IID)
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in hospitals, England and Wales, 1992–2000" was published in the Journal of Hospital Infection (2003) 53:1–5.
Hospital Episode Statistics has the following information which includes cases where the patient was admitted with gastro-enteritis.
| Year | Number |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 13,498 |
| 2000–01 | 11,812 |
| 2001–02 | 11,257 |
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Mr. Burstow) of 28 January 2003, Official Report, column 810W, on hospital hygiene, what the recommendations on the number of wash-hand basins for specific situations are; and if he will make a statement on infection controls teams. [96082]
Ms Blears: Infection control teams play a vital role in promoting good infection control. They will be actively involved in auditing key policies such as hand washing and will help develop trust policy on building services such as hand basins.
Frequency of hand decontamination is governed by many factors, of which sufficient wash hand basins is only one. For new buildings, NHS Estates has made recommendations on hand basins.
The exact number of hand-wash basins in a particular situation depends on the design and configuration of the room.
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