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28 Apr 2003 : Column 276W—continued
Matrons
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what procedures have been put in place to ensure that the funding allocated for modern matrons cannot be used for other purposes; [109075]
- (2) to which budget holders the additional funding allocated to modern matrons will be distributed; [109072]
(3) when modern matrons will receive the additional funding announced by the Government; [109074]
(4) for how many financial years the new payments to modern matrons will be paid. [109073]
Mr. Lammy: The details of the fund are currently being finalised. We will issue the funding shortly and it will be accompanied by clear guidance setting out the options of how to spend the money on improving the patient experience in accident and emergency. Modern matrons will take the lead in deciding, in consultation with colleagues and patients, on which option to choose.
Medical Records
Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps have been taken to ensure that medical practitioners in the UK have speedy access to medical records of new patients who are from overseas outside the UK, but within the EU; and what discussions have been held with the Home Office to minimise delay in obtaining such records, particularly in cases where there are serious mental health problems and illnesses. [108634]
Mr. Lammy: Under European Data Protection legislation, United Kingdom medical practitioners have
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no right to request access to medical records from non-UK administrations. Where treating clinicians are aware of a previous medical history, they can only request it with the patient's authorisation.
There have been no discussions with the Home Office on this subject.
Mental Health Services
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when mental health service improvements announced in the National Service Framework for Mental Health and the NHS plan in respect of (a) crisis teams, (b) assertive outreach programmes, (c) home treatment, (d) early intervention in psychosis and (e) primary care mental health teams will be launched in Shrewsbury and Atcham. [109373]
Mr. Lammy: Shropshire County Primary Care Trust is developing crisis resolution, early interventions in psychosis and home treatment services in 2003. The Shrewsbury and Atcham constituency already has an assertive outreach team and several primary care teams locally have specific mental health services, such as psychologists, counsellors and cognitive behavioural therapists. Primary care also has access to specialist counselling agencies such as Confide and Axis.
Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time to see a consultant psychiatrist was in (a) England and Wales, (b) each county, (c) each primary care trust and (d) each health authority in each of the last three years. [108633]
Mr. Hutton: Information is collected centrally on waiting times to see a consultant psychiatrist. The information is collected by consultant's main specialty and includes the specialties mental handicap, mental illness, child and adolescent psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, psychotherapy and old age psychiatry. Information is collected for England only and can be broken down by health authority and primary care trust, but not by county. These data are available at www.doh.gov.uk/waitingtimes/ and give a breakdown of waiting time-bands.
The table shows the median waiting time for patients waiting to see a consultant as an out-patient first attendance or an elective in-patient admission. Data for England was sufficiently large enough to give a reliable estimate, but the numbers for health authorities and primary care trusts were too small to give reliable estimates of the median for these levels of organisations.
Between March 2001 and March 2002, the number of people waiting over 26 weeks for their first out-patient appointment for the above specialties fell from 400 at end March 2002 to less than 20 at end March 2002 and less than 10 at end December 2002.
Over the same period and for the same specialties, the number of people waiting over six months for in-patient admission has fallen to less than 10 at end December 2002.
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| 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-patients | |||
| England at 31 December | 7.9 | 8.9 | 8.7 |
| Out-patients | |||
| England: Financial year | 3.7 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
Note:
2002–3 for out-patients is only for three Quarters
Sources:
In-patients: Department of Health form QF01
Out-patients: Department of Health form QM08R
Neonatal Care
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many neonatal nurses there are; how many are nearing retirement; and what is being done to tackle staff shortage. [108226]
Mr. Hutton: The Department's workforce census collects data about numbers of paediatric nurses and this includes neonatal nurses and other nurses involved in the care of children. As at 30 September 2001, there were 17,640 paediatric nurses working in the national health service in England, of which 1,924 were aged 50 years or over. Separate information is not collected centrally on the number of neonatal nurses employed in the NHS, nor is information on the number nearing retirement.
The Government are committed to increasing the overall nursing workforce, from which neonatal nurses can be drawn, as at March 2002 there were an estimated 28,740 more nurses employed in the NHS than in 1999.
The "Review of Neonatal Intensive Care Services", published for consultation on 10 April 2003, offers a blueprint for moving to a modernised service through the formation of clinical networks and addressing recruitment, retention and skills issues.
The Department recognises the need to focus on developing the neonatal nursing workforce. We have in place successful initiatives to recruit and retain the nursing workforce and a professional lead has recently been appointed to work on the recruitment and retention strategy for neonatal nurses.
NHS Car Parks
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what central guidance is issued for the level of car parking charges at NHS hospitals. [108984]
Mr. Hutton: Central guidance on car parking charges was issued to national health service hospitals in March 1996. It is a matter for individual hospitals to decide whether or not to charge for car parking and the cost of such charges in the light of local circumstances. Where charges are introduced, patients who are eligible to claim reimbursement of travelling expenses under the Hospital Travel Costs Scheme may have the charges reimbursed.
NHS Complaints
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has published the results of his review on the NHS complaints procedure; and if he will make a statement. [109994]
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Mr. Lammy: We published "NHS complaints reform—Making things right", on Friday 28 March. It describes reforms to the national health service complaints procedure and sets out a programme to improve management of the whole complaints system, elements of which will be subject to the passage of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill.
The programme builds on the existing NHS complaint procedure, as well as wider initiatives, to introduce operational improvements focused on:
- Making the system more flexible so that there are a range of ways in which people can express concerns about the services they have received
Improving the local resolution stage so that formal complaints are more likely to be resolved, reducing the need for them to escalate unnecessarily
Radical reform to the independent review stage, subject to primary legislation—by placing responsibility for it with the new Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection
Making sure information about complaints and their causes are an integral part of the system that assures safe, high quality care, which is constantly improving.
NHS Inspection Staff
Mr. Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) staff and (b) staff engaged in inspection work have been employed by (i) the Commission for Health Improvement, (ii) the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, (iii) the National Care Standards Commission and (iv) the Social Services Inspectorate in each year since 1997. [105868]
Mr. Hutton: The information requested is as follows:
The Commission for Health Improvement (CHD):
The CHI came into being on 1 November 1999 and began to conduct a rolling programme of clinical governance reviews in 2001. The number of staff and number of staff engaged in inspection work in each year since 1999 is shown in the table.
| Year | Staff employed | Staff engaged in inspection work |
|---|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 111 | 15 |
| 2000–01 | 248 | 44 |
| 2001–02 | 330 | 50 |
| 2002–03 | 334 | 51 |
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE):
The NICE was established in April 1999. It is a special health authority, set up to give advice on best clinical practice to National Health Service clinicians, to those commissioning NHS services and to patients and carers. None of NICE's staff are involved in inspection work. The number of staff is shown in the table.
| Year | Staff employed | Staff engaged in inspection work |
|---|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 17 | Not applicable |
| 2000–01 | 32 | Not applicable |
| 2001–02 | 40 | Not applicable |
| 2002–03 | 59 | Not applicable |
The National Care Standards Commission (NCSO):
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The NCSC became fully operational on 1 April 2002. It is responsible for registration and inspection of health and social care services in England. The number of staff and number of staff engaged in inspection work in each year since 2002 is shown in the table.
| 2002–03 | Number |
|---|---|
| Staff employed | 2,285 |
| Staff engaged in inspection work | 1,350 |
The Social Services Inspectorate (SSI):
The SSI is a division of the Department of Health. The structure and functions of both the Department and the SSI have changed over the period covered in the following table. The SSI inspects councils with social services responsibilities in England and from this and other evidence, it assesses and reports on councils' performance, and where necessary makes recommendations for improvement. The number of staff and the number of staff engaged in inspection work, in each year is shown in the table.
| Year | Staff employed | Staff engaged in inspection work |
|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 156 | 92 |
| 1998–99 | 156 | 91 |
| 1999–2000 | 156 | 91 |
| 2000–01 | 198 | 108 |
| 2001–02 | 229 | 127 |
| 2002–03 | 236 | 120 |
The number of SSI staff involved with inspection reduced in 2002–03 because inspections of voluntary children's homes transferred from the SSI to the NCSC. SSI took on additional non-inspection work relating to the star ratings of local councils with social services responsibilities and contributing to the comprehensive performance assessments of councils. The SSI continued its programme of children's service inspections during 2002–03. The additional work following the publication of the Victoria Climbie Inquiry report at the end of January 2003 will impact on the SSI's workload in 2003–04.
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