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NHS Chief Executives

Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what rules and guidance govern disclosure of the salaries of NHS chief executives. [98959]

Mr. Hutton: The guidance issued to National Health Service bodies with regard to the disclosure of the remuneration of chief executives and other senior managers is contained within manuals for accounts. These documents detail the format of annual accounts and reports that NHS bodies are required to present to public meetings. Individuals may decline to give their consent to have this information published relying on the Data Protection Act 1998. In this case, their decision to withhold the information should be disclosed in the published accounts. The current guidance for the accounting period 2002–03 is being placed in the Library.

NHS Direct

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average length of call was to NHS Direct between (a) 15 October 2001 and 10 February 2002 and (b) 15 October 2002 and 10 February 2003. [97820]

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Mr. Lammy: NHS Direct did not consistently start collecting call length data until April 2002. The average length of call to NHS Direct from April 2002 is shown in the table.

NHS Direct–national average nurse call length in seconds

	Average call length
April 2002	835
May 2002	834
June 2002	829
July 2002	813
August 2002	796
September 2002	794
October 2002	767
November 2002	744
December 2002	693
January 2003	685

NHS Estates (PFI)

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what contact his Department has had with the public sector team of the fraud squad concerning the NHS estates PFI scheme; and if he will make a statement. [97531]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 12 February 2003]: Allegations of fraud which are brought to the Department's attention are investigated by the National Health Service Counter Fraud Service (CFS). For obvious reasons, it is not our practice to comment one way or the other on the detail of investigations which may or may not be taking place or on the conduct of any investigation or on contacts with other agencies with whom the CFS routinely works.

NHS Operations

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate how many instruments were retained after NHS operations in each of the last six years. [98919]

Mr. Lammy [holding answer 27 February 2003]: At the present time, we do not know how many medical errors of this kind affect national health service patients each year.

However, retained instruments and in particular swabs, are a recognised patient safety issue, both nationally and internationally.

The Government have established the National Patient Safety Agency to improve the safety of NHS patient care by promoting an open and fair culture and by introducing a national reporting and learning system for adverse events. It is planned for the system to be rolled out across the NSH from summer 2003. The reporting and learning system will, in time, enable us to understand the nature and extent of adverse events in the NHS, including material retained within patients, and take action to prevent them being repeated.

Orthopaedic Surgery (Leeds)

Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time for orthopaedic surgery in Leeds was over the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [98416]

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Jacqui Smith: Information on waiting times is published quarterly on the Department of Health website. This is broken down into both in-patient and out-patient waiting times by national health service trusts by consultant specialty. This information can be accessed at http://www.doh.gov.uk/waitingtimes/index.htm

Parliamentary Question

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the hon. Member for West Chelmsford will receive an answer to his question of 4 February 2003, ref 95210; and if he will make a statement on the reason for the delay in answering. [100132]

Mr. Hutton: I have replied to the hon. Member today. I apologise for the delay in answering.

Patient Choice

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who will determine whether a patient in West Yorkshire needing an eye operation is eligible to choose an alternative hospital. [99106]

Mr. Hutton: Approval has recently been given by the Department of Health to the establishment of a national health service based Choice pilot scheme. This is to be based at Westwood Park Diagnostic and Treatment Centre (DTC), Bradford, and will be managed by Bradford South and West Primary Care Trust to deliver day surgery cataract extraction. When fully up and running in April 2004, the pilot proposes that the NHS will offer all patients registered with a general practitioner in West Yorkshire the choice of either referral directly to Westwood Park DTC or to attend for treatment at their local hospital.

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what additional resources he has made available to NHS trusts in London to implement the London pilot scheme extending choice for patients. [97378]

Mr. Hutton: The approved funding for the London Patient Choice Pilot project during the financial year 2002–03 is £75 million.

Primary Care Trusts

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what salary is paid to each primary care trust chief executive in England; and what the average salary for chief executives of primary care groups in England was in the year to 31 October 2002. [95210]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 4 February 2003]: Information on the salaries of individual primary care trust and primary care group chief executives is not available centrally. I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 24 October 2002, Official Report, column 509W.

Primary care trusts are required to disclose in their published accounts details of the remuneration of senior managers, including the chief executive. Individuals may decline to give their consent to have this information published, relying on the Data Protection

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Act 1998. In this case, their decision to withhold the information should be disclosed in the published accounts.

Salaries of primary care trust chief executives range from £78,625 to £107,500. However, in exceptional cases, the figures paid may be lower or higher. A copy of the framework used to determine the salaries for primary care trust chief executives in 2002–03 has been placed in the Library.

Remuneration for primary care group chief executives was decided in line with Health Service Circular (HSC) 1998/017 by the PCG Board, and overseen by the health authority Remuneration Committee, who considered the weight of the post against other health authority senior managers when setting the level of remuneration. There was local flexibility to remunerate at a higher (or lower) band where appropriate. Salaries of primary care group chief executives ranged from £26,000 to £50,000. A copy of HSC 1998/017 has been placed in the Library.

Prison Doctors

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors work in prisons in England and Wales; and how many of these are qualified to general practitioner level. [99534]

Jacqui Smith: There are 543 doctors working in prisons in England and Wales as at January 2003, providing primary care and specialist services.

Of the 109 directly employed by the Prison Service to provide primary care services, 26 are not qualified to general practitioner level. They are either engaging in training towards GP or psychiatric qualification, or arrangements are being made for them to work under appropriate supervision.

Private Businesses (Forms)

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the forms that his Department requires private sector businesses to complete and return. [98092]

Mr. Hutton: Under the Government's arrangements for managing the collection of information from private sector businesses, the Department of Health collected information from private nursing homes, hospitals and clinics only up to 31 March 2001. Responsibility for collecting similar data now rests with the National Care Standards Commission.

Private Healthcare Companies

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many operations were carried out in each of the last five years by private healthcare companies using national health service facilities; [97186]

(2) what total revenue was generated in each of the last five years from the use of national health service facilities by private healthcare companies. [97169]

Mr. Hutton: The Department of Health does not hold information centrally on the use by private healthcare companies of national health service facilities, nor on the revenue generated as a result.

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