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1 May 2003 : Column 515W—continued
NHS Funding
Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money was not able to be used by the NHS by the end of the financial year 2002–03, has been handed back to the Treasury. [109413]
Mr. Hutton: None. Any underspends will be available for spending by the National Health Service in 2003–04 under Her Majesty's Treasury's end year flexibility arrangements.
NHS Litigation Costs
Ms Drown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much of the NHS litigation costs for 2002 as estimated by the National Audit Office is related to maternity cases. [109386]
Mr. Lammy: Information on the National Health Service litigation costs of maternity cases is not collected centrally.
Oldchurch Hospital, Havering
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on staffing levels for Ward C5 at Oldchurch Hospital in the London Borough of Havering; and what discussions he has had with (a) managers of the hospital and (b) Havering Primary Care Trust about the ward. [109503]
Mr. Hutton: Information on the staffing levels of individual wards is not held centrally.
I have had no discussions with Barking, Havering and Redbridge National Health Service Trust or Havering Primary Care Trust (PCT) about the ward.
However, the North East London Strategic Health Authority Directors, who now performance manage Barking, Havering & Redbridge NHS Trust and Havering PCT, regularly meet with trust management.
Overseas Nurse Advice Line
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many calls the overseas nurse advice line has received in the last month. [110152]
Mr. Hutton: The national health service international nurses advice line received 11 completed calls during March 2003.
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Parliamentary Questions
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham can expect answers to his questions, references: 100537 and 100499 of 26 February 2003. [109112]
Mr. Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave him on 29 April and to the reply I gave him on 14 April 2003, Official Report, column 612W.
Patient Referrals
Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS patients have been referred to (a) private hospitals and (b) hospitals in European countries for treatment in each year since 1997; and what the cost was to the NHS of these referrals. [105949]
Mr. Hutton: The Department of Health does not hold information centrally on the total number of national health service patients referred to private hospitals. No patients were referred for treatment abroad under the direct referral system before 2002. In 2002, 228 patients were treated abroad. To date, a further 204 patients have been treated abroad in 2003.
190 patients were referred abroad as part of a pilot project between January and April 2002. The project was funded centrally, and the overall cost was £1.1 million. Following on from the pilot, a further £2.1 million of central money has been spent to fund treatment abroad in five different health authority areas. The amount spent by NHS commissioners on purchasing treatment from private sector providers is not separately recorded.
Prison Nurses
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses there are with experience of professionally working in prisons in each primary care trust. [109696]
Mr. Hutton: The Department of Health does not collect information on the number of nurses employed by primary care trusts working professionally in prisons.
Private Hospitals (Buckinghamshire)
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many operations were carried out in private hospitals in Buckinghamshire at NHS expense broken down by (a) hospital and (b) PCT area in the past year. [110332]
Ms Blears: The information requested about the number of operations carried out in private hospitals in Buckinghamshire is not collected centrally.
Radiographers
Mr. Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many additional training places for radiographers have been created in each of the last six years; [110382]
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Mr. Hutton: Information on the number of training places for radiographers in the last six years is shown in the table.
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Between 1996–97 and 2001–02, the number of training places for radiographers has increased by 355 or 60 per cent., with a further increase of around 260 planned for the current financial year.
| Year | 1996–97 | 1997–98 | 1998–99 | 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revised | ||||||
| Source | BS | A/R | A/R | QMR Q4 | QMR Q4 | QMR Q4 |
| All radiographers | 593 | 582 | 646 | 685 | 761 | 948 |
| Diagnostic | 452 | 447 | 507 | 541 | 597 | 730 |
| Therapeutic | 141 | 135 | 139 | 144 | 164 | 218 |
BS = Balance sheet
A/R = NMET Accountability Report
QMR = NMET Quarerly Monitoring Reports
Information on the number of radiographers completing training is not collected centrally. The Health Professions Council holds information on the numbers of radiographers on its register, a prerequisite for employment in the United Kingdom. This information can be obtained through Claire Harkin at clair.harkin@pc.uk.org.
Mr. Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many vacant NHS posts for therapeutic and diagnostic radiographers there were in March in (a) England, (b) each NHS region and (c) each NHS trust. [110383]
Mr. Hutton: Information on the number of therapeutic and diagnostic radiographer posts that have been vacant for three months or more is collected in the National Health Service workforce vacancy survey. The information available for March 2002 has been placed in the Library.
Sheep (Spongiform Encephalopathies)
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the Food Standards Agency's policy on testing sheep for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies using the test developed by Professor Prusiner of the University of California. [109850]
Ms Blears: Testing of sheep for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies is the responsibility of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the rural affairs Departments of the Devolved Administrations. I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that its policy is that such testing should be carried out using the most appropriate European Union approved test.
Sustainable Policies (NHS)
Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advances have been made in producing a sustainable transport policy for the NHS. [108682]
Mr. Hutton: "NHS Environmental Strategy for the NHS", issued in April 2002 by NHS Estates, an Executive Agency of the Department of Health, requires the national health service to produce sustainable transport policies including healthy transport plans.
NHS Estates, the Department of Health and Sustrans have given recently a series of seminars around England for the NHS on the benefits of, and how to produce such plans.
The NHS will also be required to produce transport plans as part of local authority planning approval process for any new capital development scheme.
Teenage Cancer
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many teenagers with cancer have been treated in adult wards in the last year at (a) Worthing Hospital and (b) Sussex County Hospital, Brighton; [109924]
- (2) what steps are being taken by the Adur, Arun and Worthing Primary Care Trust to improve diagnosis of teenage cancers; [109925]
(3) what plans he has to introduce a teenager cancer trust unit in the East Worthing and Shoreham constituency. [109923]
Ms Blears: Information at ward level is not centrally collected. Hospital episode statistics only holds data for admitted patient care at the level of national health service hospitals trusts.
There are no current plans to introduce a teenage cancer trust unit in the East Worthing and Shoreham constituency. However, the Adur, Arun and Worthing Primary Care Trust is committed to working with other members of the Sussex Cancer Network to strengthen and further develop local services for teenage patients.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is in the process of updating the Department of Health's Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer, to help general practitioners identify those patients who are most likely to have cancer and therefore require urgent assessment by a specialist. NICE is also producing Improving Outcomes guidance for child and adolescent cancers to ensure services for these patients are capable of achieving consistently good outcomes.
In addition, we are providing funding through the national cancer research network to enable more teenage cancer patients to enter trials of the latest treatments.
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