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NHS Direct

Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his Answer of 6th May, Official Report, column 662W, on NHS Direct, what reference is made in the review to past (a) successes and (b) failures of NHS Direct. [113344]

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Mr. Lammy: Paragraph 58 of the NHS Direct strategy document highlights the key issues identified by the NHS Direct organisational review as needing to be addressed in developing a future organisation model for the service.

Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 12 May 2003, Official Report, column 107W, on NHS Direct, when the National Patients Database will be established; and if he will make a statement on patient confidentiality in relation to this database. [115511]

Mr. Lammy: A NHS Direct national patient database will be created for the service by summer 2004 and will permit nurses to handle calls seamlessly from other parts of the country. NHS Direct aims to meet the best standards of patient confidentiality concurrent with promoting continuity and safety of care for the caller. Everyone working for the national health service is under a legal duty of confidence. Information concerning users and their families given to professionals in confidence for a particular purpose should not be used for other purposes or disclosed to a third party without the consent of the individual(s) concerned.

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of calls to NHS Direct were answered (a) within one minute, (b) within two minutes and (c) within four minutes in the most recent quarter for which figures are available; and what the target is for response times at the end of 2003. [114291]

Mr. Lammy: Information is not collected centrally in the form requested. NHS Direct is working towards answering 90 per cent. of calls within 30 seconds. The table sets out performance for the past six months:

Month	Percentage of calls answered in less than 30 seconds
October	63
November	60
December	62
January	70
February	61
March	57

NHS Employees (Gulf)

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS (a) doctors and (b) nurses are serving with the Territorial Army in the Gulf. [114557]

Mr. Hutton: As at 20 May, there were some 195 national health service nurses and 45 NHS doctors serving with the Territorial Army in the Gulf.

Obesity

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of levels of (a) obesity and (b) youth obesity; and what research he has evaluated on levels in other European countries. [114805]

Ms Blears: Trends in overweight and obesity in England are measured yearly through the Health Survey for England. The latest figures for 2001 showed that

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21 per cent. of men and 23.5 per cent. of women are obese. The survey also showed that 8.5 per cent. of six year olds and 15 per cent. of 15 year olds are obese.

A European Union survey by the Institute of European Food Studies, 1999, showed that the United Kingdom has the highest rate of self-reported obesity in the EU, but measurement-based sources, such as the Danish MONICA studies, show the prevalence of obesity in the UK to be below the EU average.

Osteopaths

Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of conditionally registered osteopaths awaiting confirmation of full registration on 9 May 2003. [115758]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 3 June 2003]: There were no conditionally registered osteopaths awaiting confirmation of full registration on 9 May 2003. Since the opening of the General Osteopathic Council's register in 1998, 1,142 osteopaths have been converted from conditional to full registration.

Overseas Treatment

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS patients have been treated in continental Europe so far this year; what the treatment was for; and at what cost. [114723]

Mr. Hutton: To date, a total of 209 patients have been treated abroad in 2003 as part of the overseas treatment and cardiac choice programmes. Of these, 207 patients were referred to France for orthopaedic procedures and two patients were referred to Belgium for cardiac procedures.

A procurement process identifying spare capacity abroad is currently active, so the costs of specific procedures abroad are commercially sensitive. However, prices are comparable to spot purchasing in the United Kingdom private sector.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what occasions private planes were chartered to transport NHS patients for treatment in continental European hospitals; and at what cost. [114724]

Mr. Hutton: Since the pilot, 247 patients have been referred abroad as part of the overseas treatment programme. Patients have travelled using a number of different modes of transport, including ambulance, Eurostar and air charter. Air charter is only used where the numbers to be transported make the option cost effective. Air charter has been used on five occasions to transport 122 patients from Plymouth National Health Service Trust and the Royal United Hospital in Bath to hospitals in St. Etienne, France. Spare capacity was made available to the patient's relatives, at no cost to the NHS. The precise costs of the air charter are subject to commercial confidentiality; the cost per patient for the air charter compared well with the cost of the equivalent commercial flights.

Physiotherapy Training

Tom Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people completed their training as a physiotherapist in each of the last three years. [116741]

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Mr. Hutton: The information requested is not collected centrally. The Department of Health holds information on the number of training places for physiotherapy, but not the number who complete training. Information on the number of training places for physiotherapists in each of the last six years is shown in the table.

Training Commissions for Physiotherapy

	Headcount
1996–97	1,093
1997–98	1,204
1998–99	1,344
1999–2000	1,346
2000–01	1,473
2001–02	1,780

Between 1997–98 and 2001–02, the number of training places for physiotherapists has increased by 580. This represents a 48 per cent. increase.

Prescription Pricing Authority

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the cost was to the NHS in 1990 values of the Prescription Pricing Authority in each year from 1990–91 to 2002–03; [115693]

(2) how much was paid to the Prescription Pricing Authority for each prescription dispensed in each year since 1990–91, in 1990 values. [115692]

Mr. Lammy: The cost to the national health service in 1990–91 values of the Prescription Pricing Authority (PPA) and the cost of dispensing each prescription is shown in the table.

	Cost of the PPA in 1990–91 values (£000s)	Cost of dispensing each prescription item in 1990–91 values (£s)
2002–03	46,626	0.07
2001–02	45,777	0.08
2000–01	43,438	0.08
1999–00	36,969	0.07
1998–99	34,488	0.06
1997–98	32,295	0.06
1996–97	33,912	0.07
1995–96	34,946	0.07
1994–95	39,709	0.08
1993–94	38,992	0.09
1992–93	35,169	0.08
1991–92	27,631	0.07
1990–91	37,772	0.09

Notes:

The figures in column 1 represent the joint revenue and capital cost and vary according to what is required of the PPA in any year.

The figures in column 2 have been calculated on the basis that the entire cost of the PPA has been used for processing prescriptions.

Primary Care Trusts

Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which primary care trusts have been the subject of non-routine review carried out by a strategic health authority since they were established. [115907]

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Mr. Hutton: This information is not centrally collected.

Public Service Agreements

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Department has taken to publicise its Public Service Agreement targets; and at what cost to public funds. [114453]

Mr. Lammy: Information on public service agreement targets is published on the Department's website and included in routine publications such as departmental reports, which involves no significant extra cost.

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