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10 Jun 2003 : Column 838W—continued
Meningitis
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research is being undertaken on vaccination strategy and its possible impact on meningitis. [117549]
Ms Blears: Clinical trials are currently being carried out to examine the suitability of including pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in the childhood immunisation programme. Research is also being undertaken to decide whether a routine Hib booster will be needed in future.
Following the success of the Meningitis C campaign, Meningococcal B vaccines are in development and will be considered for inclusion in the childhood programme as soon as they become available.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on links between HiB vaccines and strains of meningitis. [117600]
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Ms Blears: Hib vaccine prevents infection from Haemophilus influenzae type B (HiB) disease. Wherever the vaccine has been introduced, there has been no evidence of any effect on non-type B Haemophilus strains, nor has it been thought that there was any effect on other infections causing meningitis.
Mental Health
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the pilot scheme in Lambeth to raise awareness of and treatment for young men suffering from depression. [115095]
Mr. Hutton: I am informed that there is no specific scheme in Lambeth, which particularly targets young men with depression. However, I understand that there are a number of projects and services which contain elements of such a scheme but all can be accessed by both genders. Some of these services include:
- A Health Promotion Team based at South London and Maudsley National Health Service Trust which, as part of its programme, offers training in mental health awareness aimed at reducing stigma and increasing willingness to access services.
Access to practice-based counselling services by most Lambeth general practitioners to which they can refer people with mild—moderate depression.
The Lambeth Early Onset (LEO) service aimed at reaching people in the early stagesof a psychotic illness such as schizophrenia to help prevent deterioration in their mental health. The service is for young people aged 18–35.
24 hour access to mental health services through the accident and emergency based psychiatric liaison service and home treatment team, both located at St.Thomas' Hospital.
Jacqui Smith: With the publication of the mental heath national service framework (NSF) a local structure was developed to support delivery, the local implementation teams. There are 166 of these across England, and they are teams who represent the whole of the local mental heath community.
Since the mental health NSF was published, there has been an annual assessment of progress. That assessment has developed and now contains the following elements:
- self assessment of progress by local services;
service mapping; and
financial mapping.
Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many additional (a) crisis resolution teams, (b) assertive outreach teams, (c) community gateway staff, (d) staff to give breaks to carers and strengthen carer support, (e) court assessment schemes and (f) medium secure services have been established in the South Wiltshire area of the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust in 2003–04; whether there is now a full community mental health team in South Wiltshire; and by how much the mental health budget will change in South Wiltshire this year. [114671]
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Ms Blears: The information requested is not collected centrally. Advice from the Avon Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority (SHA) is that in the South Wiltshire area of the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership National Health Service Trust in 2003–04:
- there have been no additional crisis resolution teams although plans are in place to develop this service;
there has been one additional assertive outreach team;
there has been no additional community gateway staff, although this element of the service is subject to review;
there have been no additional court assessment schemes as the SHA believes the current court assessment scheme meets the need in the area;
there have been no additional medium secure services as the SHA believes there are already sufficient medium secure beds in the South Wiltshire area;
the primary care trust and local authority fund a carers support organisation in South Wiltshire through direct grant support and use of the carers grant; and
the South Wiltshire area has a full community mental health team in place.
Nanotechnology
Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if his Department has recently made an assessment of the possible uses of nanotechnology in the national health service. [117007]
Ms Blears: The Department of Health funds the National Horizon Scanning Centre (NHSC) at the University of Birmingham to provide advance notice of new and emerging technologies that might require urgent evaluation, consideration of clinical and cost impact, or modification of clinical guidance. The NHSC is monitoring progress in nanotechnology and clinical applications in this field, which will be considered alongside other emerging technologies for future published NHSC briefings.
NHS Boards (Nurses)
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what his policy is on the election of nurses to the management boards of NHS hospitals; [111762]
- (2) if he will make a statement on proposals that nurses be elected to NHS boards to participate more actively in the running of local hospitals. [112694]
Mr. Hutton: Subject to parliamentary approval, the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill will provide for applicants for national health service foundation trust status to determine the detail of their constitutional arrangements within the parameters set out in Schedule 1. It will be for each applicant to decide whether to include an executive nurse on the Board of Directors, taking account of its local circumstances and any responses to consultation on the proposals set out in its application.
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NHS Dentistry
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the likely timescale before all the residents within the Portsmouth Primary Care Trust have access to an NHS dentist; [118108]
- (2) pursuant to his answer of 22 May 2003, Official Report, column 966W, how many residents within the areas of (a) the Portsmouth Primary Care Trust, (b) the Fareham and Gosport Primary Care Trust and (c) the Southampton City Primary Care Trust have been unable to register with an NHS dentist. [118115]
Ms Blears: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 9 June 2003.
NHS Management Training Scheme
Mr. Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many entrants were recruited on to the NHS Management Training Scheme in each of the last six years, broken down by (a) the number and percentage of university graduates, (b) the number and percentage who are graduates of Oxford and Cambridge Universities, (c) the number and percentage with HND or an equivalent qualification and (d) region; [115983]
- (2) how many in-service professionals from nursing and other clinical or health-related backgrounds were recruited on to the NHS Management Training Scheme in each of the last six years; and, within these totals, (a) how many and what percentage were graduates, (b) how many and what percentage were non-graduates and (c) how many and what percentage hold a nationally recognised managerial qualification; [115981]
(3) what the overall costs were of the NHS Management Training Scheme in each of the last six years. [115982]
Mr. Hutton: The Management Training Scheme is a post graduate development programme which leads to a Diploma in Health Service Management and Certificate in Managing Health Services.
The entry criteria appropriate for these programmes are a degree, or equivalent professional qualification.
Over the last six years, 22 per cent., or 87 of those recruited were from a clinical or health related background and all will have had either a first level degree or equivalent professional qualification. Since we do not distinguish between these criteria on entry, we do not have a breakdown of the numbers. Increasingly, in-service candidates have a post graduate or second degree. A management qualification will not be regarded as required or necessary for entrance to the programme, so again figures are not kept.
The cost of the scheme last year was £5 million, of which 74 per cent., relates to salaries for trainees and schemes staff. The remainder of the costs relate to the education programme costs, marketing, recruitment and selection. This represents a 6 per cent., decrease on the previous year's costs. Costs for the previous four years remained stable.
All participants on the scheme will have a degree or equivalent post graduate qualification. A Higher National Diploma does not qualify applicants for the scheme. Of all trainees over the last six years, 10 per cent.,
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have been Oxbridge graduates—40 out of 392 total. We offered eight or nine places per year in each of the old eight national health service regional offices. Applicants, however, are drawn from across the country and can choose which region they would prefer to be placed in. Choice of region will not effect the application process—many students apply during their third year of their degree and will therefore be living away from home, or in a different location from where they ultimately want to be based.
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