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11 Mar 2003 : Column 229W—continued
Accident and Emergency Admissions
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS patients were admitted to wards from accident and emergency departments within (a) one hour, (b) two hours, (c) three hours, (d) four hours and (e) more than four hours after being seen by a doctor or consultant in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available. [97824]
Mr. Lammy: The Department collects data waiting times in accident and emergency post decision to admit.
The numbers of patients waiting two hours, between two and four hours and over four hours in the last four quarters are shown in the table.
| Patients placed in bed in a wardwithin 2 hours of a decision to admitwithin 2 to 4 hours of a decision to admit | Patients not placed in bed in a ward within 4 hours of a decision to admit | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Quarter 2, 2002–03 | 388,247 | 120,915 | 56,581 |
| Quarter 1, 2002–03 | 394,040 | 115,250 | 54,546 |
| Quarter 4, 2001–02 | 394,456 | 113,492 | 73,370 |
| Quarter 3, 2001–02 | 396,016 | 111,493 | 65,757 |
Accountancy Services
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total cost to his Department was for accountancy services in 2002. [101558]
Mr. Lammy: The Department's accounting system does not collect information in the form requested. However, during 2002 the Department paid £4,860,616.31 to the four largest accountancy firms.
Acute Hospital Trust Budgets
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many acute hospital trusts are in discussions with his Department about how to deal with projected overspends or budget deficits for the current financial year. [100142]
Mr. Hutton: In line with the Government's policy of shifting the balance of power, discussions about individual health organisations' financial positions are undertaken locally with relevant commissioners and if required the relevant strategic health authority.
Alcohol-related Illness
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS has spent on alcohol rehabilitation services in each of the past three years; what form these services take; and how these services will be funded and expanded to take account of the removal of exemptions in the Mental Health Act 1983. [100821]
Ms Blears [holding answer 4 March 2003]: Funding for alcohol treatment services is spent via the general budgets of primary care trusts and local social service departments, which is consistent with provision being determined following a local consideration of need. This method of funding means that it is not possible to give details of the amount spent on the prevention and treatment of alcohol misuse. However, latest estimates
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indicate that £95 million per year is spent on alcohol treatment in England on a variety of types of treatment, and that most of this funding is provided by the Government. This estimate does not cover the cost of psychiatric in-patient treatment, which may be the first destination for people who need compulsory treatment.
It is absolutely not our intention significantly to increase the numbers of people who are subject to compulsion by virtue of mental disorder. The definition of mental disorder in the draft Bill, coupled with the strict conditions that must be met before compulsory powers can be used, will ensure that only people for whom compulsory treatment is necessary can receive it. There should therefore be no need to make substantial provision for additional alcohol rehabilitation services.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer regarding the cost to the British economy of alcohol-related illnesses and deaths. [101067]
Ms Blears: The national alcohol harm reduction strategy is currently being developed by the Cabinet Office Strategy Unit, and will include an analysis of the costs that alcohol misuse incurs for the English economy. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has therefore had no recent discussions with my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer which touched on the cost to the British economy from alcohol related deaths and illnesses.
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many asylum seekers have used the NHS in Greater London in the last 12 months; and what the equivalent figures were in May 1997; [101300]
- (2) how many asylum seekers have, in the last 12 months, seen an NHS consultant; and how many had in May 1997. [101302]
Ms Blears: A patient's immigration status is not routinely recorded by health care staff. Therefore it is not possible to quantify the use of national health service services by persons applying for asylum.
Biological Attacks
Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what stocks of antibiotics have been made available for the treatment of infected populations in the event of a biological attack. [99352]
Mr. Hutton: The Department has stockpiled enough oral antibiotics to treat various bacterial infections including anthrax, plague and tularaemia. This stockpile exists in addition to national health service stocks in hospitals and pharmacies.
A proportion of the stock is packed into "pods", to allow rapid distribution in an emergency. These pods are held at secure sites across the country to allow rapid delivery to any location within the country.
Breast Screening
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the trend in the
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number of women accepting their invitations for breast screening; and what action his Department is taking to encourage women to attend. [101187]
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Ms Blears [holding answer 10 March 2003]: Coverage and uptake of the national health service breast screening programme in England for the last five years for which figures are available is shown in the table.
| 1997–98 | 1998–99 | 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coverage (women aged 50 to 64) | 66.4 | 67.7 | 69.3 | 70.2 | 69.8 |
| Uptake (women aged 50 to 64) | 75.4 | 76.2 | 75.6 | 75.3 | 75.6 |
Notes:
1. The coverage of the screening programme is the proportion of women resident who have had a test result at least once in the previous three years.
2. The uptake of the screening programme is the proportion of women invited for screening for whom a screening test is recorded.
Source:
Statistical Bulletin—Breast Screening Programme, England
Women invited to participate in the NHS breast screening programme need to understand the potential benefits and harm in doing so to be able to make an informed choice about whether or not they wish to participate. That is why we developed and launched new informed choice information leaflets in 2001, which are sent out with every invitation for breast screening.
The NHS Cancer Plan stated that all primary care trusts should review their screening coverage rates and draw up plans to improve accessibility of screening for women in socially excluded and minority ethnic groups.
Cancelled Operations
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many cancelled operations in Greater London were carried out within (a) 4 weeks, (b) 8 weeks, (c) 12 weeks, (d) 16 weeks and (e) over 16 weeks of their original cancellation; [101304]
- (2) how many operations in Greater London were (a) cancelled and (b) cancelled less than two days before the due date in each of the last 12 months. [101318]
Mr. Hutton: Quarterly data are collected on the number of operations cancelled by the hospital for non-clinical reasons at the last minute (for example on the day patients are due to arrive or after arrival in hospital or on the day of their operation), the number of operations cancelled by the hospital for non-clinical reasons on the day of surgery and the number of patients who have not been treated within 28 days of a cancellation on the day of surgery
Cancelled operations data at England level and by national health service trust and strategic health authority level are available in the Library and on the Department's website at: www.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivitv/data.htm.
Since 1 April 2002, the NHS Plan cancelled operations guarantee has been in place, which states that: if a patient's operation is cancelled by the hospital on the day of surgery for non-clinical reasons, the hospital will have to offer another binding date within a maximum of the next 28 days or fund the patient's treatment at the time and hospital of the patients choice.
Care Homes
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 24 February 2003, Official Report, column 26W, on care homes, if he will place in the Library an anonymised copy of the letter he sent to care homes who failed to pass on the free nursing care payment to residents. [99781]
Jacqui Smith: No. Further to my response to the hon. Member on 15 October 2002, Official Report, column 810W, that correspondence related specifically to the commercial or contractual activities of care homes.
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