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5 Mar 2003 : Column 1109W—continued
Paediatric Continence Services
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has conducted an audit of paediatric continence services in the United Kingdom. [100417]
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Jacqui Smith: No. The provision of these services in England is a matter for primary care trusts, which are responsible for determining the level of services required to meet the needs of their local population. Common childhood conditions, including enuresis and paediatric continence, will be considered under the forthcoming national service framework for children, young people and maternity services, which is currently developing national standards.
Hospital Waiting Lists
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in England have been waiting (a) up to 12, (b) between 12 and 15 and (c) between 15 and 18 months for in-patient treatment in each of the last 12 months. [97841]
Mr. Hutton: The table shows the number of patients awaiting elective inpatient admission by the time-bands requested.
| Patients waiting for admission by months waiting | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Less than12 months | 12–14 months | 15–17 months |
| January 2002 | 1,014,841 | 26,400 | 3,156 |
| February 2002 | 1,010,704 | 23,873 | 1,942 |
| March 2002 | 999,735 | 21,645 | 224 |
| June 2002 | 1,016,516 | 20,425 | 23 |
| July 2002 | 1,019,403 | 18,899 | 12 |
| August 2002 | 1,021,189 | 18,202 | 10 |
| September 2002 | 1,014,355 | 16,669 | 14 |
| October 2002 | 1,016,895 | 15,490 | 9 |
| November 2002 | 1,012,623 | 12,509 | 6 |
| December 2002 | 1,027,564 | 10,897 | 5 |
Note:Data for April and May 2002 was not published due to data quality issues post Shifting the Balance of Power.Source:
Department of Health form QF01 and monthly monitoring
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in Greater London have been waiting (a) up to six months, (b) between six and 12 months, (c) between 12 and 15 months and (d) between 15 and 18 months for hospital treatment in each month since October 2001. [97823]
Mr. Hutton: The information requested is shown in the table.
Note:Data for April and May 2002 was not published due to data quality issues post Shifting the Balance of Power.Source:
Department of Health form QF01 and monthly monitoring
5 Mar 2003 : Column 1111W
Neurology Services
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on (a) medical, (b) social and (c) applied research into (i) causes, (ii) treatment and (iii) management of neurological conditions in the last year for which figures are available. [99377]
Jacqui Smith: The main Government agency for research into the causes of and treatments for disease is the Medical Research Council (MRC) which receives its funding via the Department of Trade and Industry. The MRC spent an estimated £24.6 million in 2001–02 on its neurological disorders portfolio; this covers all the areas of research referred to in the question.
The Department of Health funds research to support policy and the delivery of effective practice in the national health service. The Department spent an estimated £2 million in 2001–02 on directly commissioned research projects on the treatment and management of neurological conditions. In addition to specific projects, the Department also provides support for research commissioned by charities and the research councils that takes place in the NHS. Management of much of the research supported by NHS research and development funding is devolved and expenditure at project level is not held centrally by the Department. The total investment is therefore considerably greater than just the spend on directly commissioned projects.
Nursing Homes
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the national ratio is of care workers to residents in state nursing homes. [99623]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not available because it is not collected centrally: much of the provision of care homes providing nursing is commissioned by local authorities from the private sector. The National Care Standards Commission (NCSC) does not collect information about the numbers of care workers or nurses in care homes providing nursing. Rather, it inspects staffing levels to see that they are appropriate at all times to the assessed needs of service users, the size, layout and purpose of the home. The NCSC will make information available later in the year to the public and Government about registered services.
Elderly People
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what he estimates to be the cost of (a) all injuries as a result
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of a fall, (b) hip fractures and (c) osteoporosis to the national health service in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [100115]
Jacqui Smith: Standard Six of the national service framework for older people estimated that hip fractures cost the national health service in England around £1.7 billion per year. No estimate has been made of the cost to the NHS of all injuries resulting from a fall, or the cost of osteoporosis.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much is spent on the funding of falls co-ordinator posts in 2002–3. [100116]
Ms Blears: The information requested is not available centrally.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many designated falls co-ordinators are in post in England. [100117]
Ms Blears: The information requested is not available centrally.
Public Health Laboratory Service
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 4 February 2003, Official Report, column 226W, on PHLS laboratories, whether he will instruct PCTs to maintain funding levels to NHS laboratories beyond one year after the laboratories are subsumed into local trusts. [99071]
Ms Blears: National health service trust boards are being encouraged to ensure that the level of funding available for routine diagnostic microbiology services from 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2005 is not less than contracted with the Public Health Laboratory Service during 2002–03.
For the same period, the proposed Health Protection Agency (HPA) will ensure that the level of funding to HPA laboratories for specialist services they provide and which they commission from transferred laboratories are at least at the same level as for 2002–03.
Smoking Cessation Services
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans the Government have for the expansion of smoking cessation services. [100069]
Ms Blears: We have plans for a substantial expansion in National Health Service smoking cessation services, and have allocated £138 million to the NHS over the three years from April 2003 for this purpose.
We have set the NHS a target of 800,000 smokers to have quit at the four week follow-up stage between 2003 and 2006. We have also set a target to reduce by one percentage point a year the smoking prevalence rate for women who continue to smoke throughout pregnancy and a target to update practice based registers so that patients with coronary heart disease continue to receive appropriate advice and treatment.
Social Services
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which statements he has made concerning social services
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where service developments and extra spending are to be met from the 6 per cent. real terms increase in the personal social services spending. [100672]
Jacqui Smith: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made a number of general statements referring to service improvements that should be possible with the 6 per cent. annual average real terms increase for personal social services for each of the next three years, 2003–04 to 2005–06. It is of course for local councils to decide on their relative spending priorities taking account of local needs and priorities.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received from overseas governments regarding the recruitment of social workers. [100143]
Jacqui Smith: The Department has not received representations from overseas governments regarding the recruitment of social workers. Local authorities are responsible for managing their own recruitment policies and practices, whether recruiting in this country or from overseas.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with local authority leaders regarding the recruitment of social workers (a) in general and (b) from abroad. [100489]
Jacqui Smith: The Department is working closely with local authorities to reduce vacancies across the social care workforce and has committed funding of £1.5 million to the national social work recruitment campaign, which aims to increase the number of applications to social work. We have worked closely with key stakeholders to develop a resource pack to provide material which can be used by authorities for their own recruitment initiatives. Local authorities are responsible for managing their own recruitment from abroad.
Mr. Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to provide opportunities for home care workers and health care assistants to train to become (a) social workers and (b) nurses; and if he will make a statement. [100588]
Jacqui Smith: At the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) conference in October 2000, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, announced funding for a three year student support scheme for those studying for first level professional social work qualifications.
The funds for this scheme were put into a ring-fenced sub-programme of the training support programme (TSP) grant and local councils have been invited to apply for funds to support both their own experienced care staff and those staff of voluntary and private organisations that are contracted to provide social services, who wished to undertake the Diploma in Social Work (DipSW). For the coming year these funds may also be used to support staff who wish to undertake programmes for the new social work degree, which commences in September 2003.
The funds available in this TSP sub-programme are shown in the table.
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| Year | Amount (£ million) |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 3 |
| 2002–03 | 13 |
| 2003–04 | 13 |
A new social care training grant, the national training strategy grant, starts in April 2003. The conditions surrounding the use of this grant will be out for consultation by the end of March. There is £6 million ring-fenced within this new grant for a trainee social worker scheme which is to be used to support social care workers who wish to undertake either the DipSW or the new social work degree. Although this grant is to be paid to local councils, it has been suggested that 50 per cent. of the amount that is allocated to each local council is offered to those voluntary and private organisations that are contracted to councils to provide services. This will include organisations providing home care.
Health care assistants have been able to prepare for nurse training through a cadet scheme or by undertaking a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) at level 3. The Department is taking forward a number of steps to support and facilitate the expansion and coverage of cadet schemes. We are also nearing the end of the second year of an ongoing major investment programme, £60 million in 2002–03, to enable health staff without work related professional qualifications access a national health service learning account or dedicated NVQ training. Between April 2001 and September 2002, over 21,000 undertook NVQ training to levels 2 or 3.
Additionally, we are aiming to increase health care assistant secondments to nurse training from 15 per cent. of the overall national training population in 2003–04 to 24 per cent. of the population in 2005–06. This approach to nurse training has proved to be very popular and there are now some 2,300 new health care assistants and other NHS employees supported each year under the initiative.
Mr. Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the level of vacancies is for social workers in (a) elderly care, (b) children care and (c) mental health in (i) London, broken down by borough and (ii) England. [100589]
Jacqui Smith: We do not hold information centrally on social worker vacancies in each local authority or London borough. A survey undertaken by the Employers Organisation found that across all local authority social services in England as at 30 September 2001, around 10 per cent. of all field social worker posts were vacant.
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