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19 May 2003 : Column 605W—continued
Health Authority Chair (Powers)
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what powers the chair of a health authority has to initiate legal action arising from or relating to duties as chair. [112305]
Mr. Hutton: A chair has no authority to take legal action in his or her own right. This can only occur following a decision by the strategic health authority board.
Home Adaptations
Mrs. Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what recent assessment he has made of the unmet need for level-access showers in (a) England, (b) Staffordshire and (c) East Staffordshire; [113155]
- (2) what assessment he has made of the number of individuals who are unable to have baths or showers in their own homes because of the need for a level-access shower in (a) England, (b) Staffordshire and (c) East Staffordshire. [113156]
Mr. McNulty: I have been asked to reply.
I announced on 10 February this year a substantial increase in Government funding for the disabled facilities grant budget for England. The increase to £99 million will be for each of the next three years. This was in response to requests from local authorities for additional resources to deal with an increasing demand for housing adaptations from disabled people and their families, (including the need for level-access showers).
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The Government do not, however, monitor in detail the level of outstanding work under this programme, or the unmet need for level-access showers, either at national or local authority level.
Hospital Food
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the amount of hospital food wasted in terms of returned meals in the NHS in England in each year since 1997. [110821]
Mr. Hutton: Information on returned meals is not collected centrally.
Intermediate Care
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what spending was allocated to each region for intermediate care provision in 2002–03; and what sums have been spent. [113068]
Jacqui Smith: Of the additional investment for intermediate care and related services to promote independence announced in the NHS Plan, £120 million was made available for national health service investment in intermediate care in 2002–03. This is in addition to £150 million made available recurrently from 2000–01. Full details are in the intermediate care circular HSC 2001/01:LAC (2001)1, published in January 2001, which is available in the Library. This additional investment is included in general allocations. It is not identified separately.
As part of the additional funding for intermediate care announced in the NHS Plan, new NHS capital investment of £66 million was made available over the two years 2002–03 and 2003–04 (£33 million each year) to support the development of intermediate care and, in particular, a growth in bed numbers. Of the £33 million allocated in 2002–03, around £15 million has been spent on new intermediate care schemes. The remainder has been deferred to 2003–04.
Information on expenditure on intermediate care is not identified separately in published NHS accounts or financial returns.
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether spending allocations for new intermediate care projects will be available in 2003–04; what the total sums in each (a) government office region and (b) strategic health authority are for 2003–04; and whether new bids will be invited. [113069]
Jacqui Smith: As part of the additional funding for intermediate care announced in the NHS Plan, new national health service capital investment of £66 million was made available over the two years 2002–03 and 2003–04 (£33 million each year) to support the development of intermediate care and, in particular, a growth in bed numbers. All of this funding has been allocated. No further capital funding for intermediate care schemes is to be made available. Allocations agreed for 2003–04 by Directorate of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Strategic Health Authority (SHA) are shown in the table.
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| DHSC | SHA | 2003–04 allocation |
|---|---|---|
| London | North East London | 1,008 |
| London | North West London | 1,545 |
| Total | 2,553 | |
| Midlands and Eastern | Birmingham and the Black Country | 3,457 |
| Midlands and Eastern | Essex | 2,103 |
| Midlands and Eastern | Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire | 250 |
| Midlands and Eastern | Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland | 620 |
| Midlands and Eastern | Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire | 1,151 |
| Midlands and Eastern | Shropshire and Staffordshire | 30 |
| Midlands and Eastern | Southern West Midlands South | 1,663 |
| Midlands and Eastern | Trent | 859 |
| Total | 10,133 | |
| North | Cheshire and Merseyside | 3,200 |
| North | Co. Durham and Tees Valley | 330 |
| North | Cumbria and Lancashire | 850 |
| North | Greater Manchester | 2,149 |
| North | North East Yorkshire and North Lines | 1,000 |
| North | Northumberland and Tyne and Wear | 2,200 |
| North | West Yorkshire | 1,183 |
| Total | 10,912 | |
| South | Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire | 1,963 |
| South | Hampshire and Isle of Wight | 450 |
| South | Kent and Medway | 2,100 |
| South | South West Peninsula | 90 |
| South | Surrey and Sussex | 4,450 |
| South | Thames Valley | 350 |
| Total | 9,403 |
IT Systems (GPs)
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many different IT systems are being used by GPs; and what plans he has to harmonise them. [111752]
Mr. Hutton: There are 11 system suppliers who have a range of systems tested and accredited against Requirement for Accreditation (RFA) 99 (ver 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2) for use by general practitioners. Full details of each of these systems are available from the NHS Information Authority (NHSIA) website at: http://www.nhsia.nhs.uk/napps/rfatest/pages/temp.asp. The list does not include systems accredited against earlier versions of RFA, many of which are still being used by some primary care organisations.
The national programme for information technology in the National Health Service is currently developing an output based specification for the integrated care records service (ICRS), which will be made available to system suppliers to develop the next range of systems to support the needs of the NHS. This will include the requirements of primary care organisations. The purpose of the ICRS is to support the provision of high quality care across whole health communities. Ensuring the interoperability of applications and systems is a fundamental part of the specification for the ICRS and the supporting work of the National Design Authority.
Medical Assistants
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what administrative support he envisages will be provided by medical assistants. [111022]
Mr. Hutton: A wide range of jobs have the title of medical assistant. Each post is designed to meet local service needs and is tailored to ensure the delivery of
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efficient, high quality care to patients. Since the content of each medical assistant post reflects the skills and expertise required locally, some posts will have an administrative element while others will not.
Mental Health
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are taken by mental health professionals to ensure a full assessment of personality and character disorders are included in the diagnostic procedure. [114323]
Jacqui Smith: Mental health professionals take great care to assess all aspects of an individual, including their personality and character, when arriving at a diagnosis. They are assisted in this, not just by their clinical judgment, but by a large number of standardised and validated measures of various aspects of personality.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what targets he has to increase awareness of myalgic encephalomyelitis; and if he will make a statement; [113044]
- (2) if he will make a statement on regional variations in the incidence of myalgic encephalomyelitis. [113045]
Jacqui Smith: We helped raise awareness of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), which is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), by publishing the report of the Independent Working Group in January 2002. In October 2002, we made the national health service aware, through the "Chief Executive's Bulletin" and the "GP Bulletin", of the guidance produced by Action for ME called "Guidance on the Management of CFS/ME".
On 12 May 2003, I announced that £8.5 million would be made available for services specifically designed for people with CFS/ME. The funding will be used to develop services for people with CFS/ME. In July, health organisations will be invited to bid for development funds to set up centres of expertise to develop clinical care, support clinical research and expand education and training programmes for health care professionals and to establish satellite community multidisciplinary teams. The first phase of development will commence in April 2004.
Information on the prevalence of individual conditions is not collected centrally. The report of the independent CFS/ME working group, published in January 2002, estimated a population prevalence of around 0.2–0.4 per cent. in adults and around 0.07 per cent. in children. They made no analysis of regional variations.
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will commission a research project into myalgic encephalomyelitis and the (a) suspected causes, (b) the scale of the problem, (c) the treatments available and (d) the number of specialists employed by the NHS to whom GPs can refer patients with ME-like symptoms. [113800]
Jacqui Smith: The main Government agency for research into the causes and treatment of disease is the Medical Research Council (MRC), which receives its
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funding from the Department of Trade and Industry via the Office of Science and Technology. The MRC published a research strategy for chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) on 1 May.
The strategy will enable researchers and funders to develop research proposals on all aspects of this illness. It was developed by an independent research advisory group in response to a request from the Chief Medical Officer, and was informed by contributions from pstients, carers, charities, researchers and clincians via a consultation exercise in summer 2002.
The MRC has announced two initiatives in response to the strategy. One is a notice to the research community welcoming high quality proposals across the entire spectrum of CFS/ME research. The other is a scientific meeting to discuss the potential to use existing UK resources and infrastructures to undertake epidemiological studies in this country. In addition, the MRC has just announced funding for two trials that will look at the effectiveness of various treatments for CFS/ME. The results of these trials will help patients and their doctors to choose the best treatment. These complementary trials will assess a variety of treatments and in doing so will both help address important issues for those with CFS/ME.
The first trial known as PACE (Pacing, Activity and Cognitive behaviour therapy: a randomised Evaluation) will make the first assessment of a treatment choice popular with patients called 'Pacing'. The second trial, known as FINE, (Fatigue Intervention by Nurses Evaluation) will test two different treatments that are particularly suited to helping reach those who are too ill to attend a specialist clinic as patients will be treated by nurses in their own homes.
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