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9 Jun 2003 : Column 698W—continued

GPs

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) general practitioners and (b) other doctors aged more than 65 years are employed in Northern Ireland within the national health service. [116989]

Mr. Browne: The information is provided in the following table.

General practitioners and other doctors aged more than 65 years employed in Northern Ireland

	Number
General Practitioners(26)	8
Other Doctors (Consultants and Hospital Practitioners)(27)	9

⁽²⁶⁾ General Practitioners figures are as at May 2003–06–09

⁽²⁷⁾ Other Doctors figures are as at 31 March 2003

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time permanent general practice posts there are in Northern Ireland. [116985]

Mr. Browne: At May 2003 there were 1,079 general medical practitioners of which 866 were full time and 213 were part-time or job share. A more detailed breakdown is given in the table.

Number of general medical practitioners by employment status at May 2003

Employment status	Number
Full time	866
Three-quarter time	103
Job share	16
Half time	94
Total	1,079

Source:

Central Services Agency

9 Jun 2003 : Column 699W

Hospital Appointments

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) in-patient admissions, (b) out-patient and (c) other hospital attendances there were in the last 12 months at (i) Ulster, (ii) Downe, (iii) Lagan Valley, (iv) Whiteabbey, (v) Mid-Ulster, (vi) Tyrone County, (vii) Erne and (viii) Mater Hospitals. [116975]

Mr. Browne: The information the hon. Member requested on (a) in-patient admissions, (b) out-patient attendances and (c) other hospital attendances at specific hospitals in Northern Ireland is detailed in the following table. The data relates to the 2001–02 financial year.

		In-patient
Hospital	Normal in-patients	Day cases	Out-patient	A&E
Ulster	29,926	11,192	115,883	63,148
Downe	5,686	1,646	21,349	24,199
Lagan Valley	8,181	4,287	36,541	36,600
Whiteabbey	4,204	3,805	21,416	31,215
Mid Ulster	8,392	2,302	22,842	25,061
Tyrone County	6,953	3,235	26,641	20,421
Erne	11,044	2,525	21,913	18,378
Mater Infirmorum	12,563	4,812	55,336	44,568

Notes:

Part (a), Inpatient figures at the Ulster, Mid Ulster and Tyrone County include Ambulatory Care attendances; other hospitals classify these cases as Out-patients.

Part (c), the only other hospital attendances recorded centrally are attendances at A&E Departments.

Information for 2002–03 will be published in September in the Department's annual Hospital Statistics publication, this is available in the House of Commons Library and from the Department's website http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/stats&research/pubs. html.

Hospital Procedures

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many procedures were postponed at hospitals in Northern Ireland during the last 12 months. [116967]

Mr. Browne: The information requested is not available.

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) out-patient attendances, (b) accident and emergency assessments and (c) in-patient admissions there were during (i) the first quarter and (ii) 2002 at hospitals in Northern Ireland. [116971]

Mr. Browne: Information on hospital activity in Northern Ireland is detailed in the table.

Activity	1 January to 31 December 2002	1 January to 31 March 2003(28)
(a) Out-patient attendances—patients seen	1,463,464	375,343
(b) Accident and emergency attendances	659,825	157,214
(c) Normal in-patient admissions	325,138	81,407
(c) Day cases admissions	135,598	37,115
(c) Total in-patient activity (normal inpatient plus day case admissions)	460,736	118,522

⁽²⁸⁾ Data is provisional and may be subject to change.

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Hospital activity in Northern Ireland is published each September in the Department's annual Hospital Statistics publication, this is available in the House of Commons Library and from the Department's website http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/stats&research/pubs.html

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) inpatient admissions, (b) out-patient appointments and (c) other attendances at hospitals in Northern Ireland there were in the last year by citizens of the Republic of Ireland. [116973]

Mr. Browne: During 2002–03 the total number of inpatient admissions at hospitals in Northern Ireland where the patient was recorded as a resident in the Republic of Ireland was 2,322. Patients may have been admitted on more than one occasion.

Figures for the number of (b) out-patient appointments and (c) other attendances are not available.

Organ Donor Cards

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans there are to increase the number of individuals in Northern Ireland who carry organ donor cards; and if he will make a statement. [116991]

Mr. Browne: Over the past few years, organ donation rates in Northern Ireland have been among the highest in the UK and Ireland.

The Department currently provides funding to the NHS special health authority, 'UK Transplant', which widely promotes organ donation across the UK, including the carrying of donor cards and the joining of the UK Organ Donor Register. The Department also contributes to the funding of four local Organ Transplant Co-ordinators, who have an important role in promoting organ donation in Northern Ireland.

The Department continues to work with UK Transplant and local Organ Donation Co-ordinators to explore ways to further increase awareness of this important issue and promote organ donation.

Residential Care

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) nursing home, (b) sheltered housing and (c) other residential care places for the elderly there (a) are and (b) were five years ago in Northern Ireland. [116970]

Mr. Browne: The most recent available information for a five-year period is presented as follows:

	31 March 2002	31 March 1997
(a) Places in Nursing Homes (Total)	9,219	9,766
(b) Units of Sheltered Housing (Elderly)	8,889	7,612
(c) Places in Residential Homes (Elderly)	4,596	4,965

Urban Regeneration

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what financial resources were

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allocated for feasibility and economic appraisals in respect of urban regeneration projects in the Greater Belfast Area in each of the last 10 years. [116835]

Mr. Browne: The information the hon. Member requested is as follows:

Financial year	Number of feasibility/economic appraisals completed	Total cost of feasibility/economic appraisals
1993–94	4	16,382.46
1994–95	6	16,646.00
1995–96	13	36,405.72
1996–97	35	191,826.27
1997–98	26	73,232.03
1998–99	36	104,688.00
1999–2000	24	108,491.44
2000–01	15	111,846.30
2001–02	18	122,499.20
2002–03	28	143,040.79
2003–04 (to date)	2	7,110.00
Total	207	932,168.21

WORK AND PENSIONS

Benefits Payment

16. Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has for an exceptions service for elderly and disabled people who are unable to receive their benefits by direct payment. [117298]

Malcolm Wicks: We have always recognised that there will be a small group of people who we cannot pay directly into an account and the Department is committed to developing an alternative method to pay this group.

We have analysed a range of options and currently a cheque based solution accommodates most known requirements, however further research with Specific Interest Groups and customers will inform the final decision.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether benefits paid directly into and held in (a) Post Office card accounts, (b) basic bank accounts and (c) other bank accounts are disregarded for the purposes of calculating entitlement to benefits; and if he will make a statement. [117586]

Malcolm Wicks: In the context of income-related benefits, resources are either income or capital. In general, any benefit paid to a person is treated as income for the period to which the payment relates, and is therefore not subject at that time to the capital rules for income-related benefits. Any unspent income after that period would be treated as capital and subject to the normal capital rules. This applies regardless of the method of payment or type of bank account into which the benefit is paid.

Some payments of arrears of benefit are classed as capital but are subject to a full disregard for 52 weeks from the date they are received.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 3 June 2003, Official Report, column 50W, on benefit order books,

9 Jun 2003 : Column 702W

what criteria will be applied to determine whether a person will qualify for the exceptions service through being unable to open or manage an account; and if he will make a statement. [118186]

Malcolm Wicks: Our plan is to design the exceptions service to properly meet the needs of the small minority of our customers, who are unable to open or manage an account This will be based on an understanding of the problems such customers will face. We will closely monitor the way the new Direct Payment arrangements work in practice and work with customer representative groups to design a secure and efficient service which meets the needs of those customers who cannot manage accounts.

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