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1 Jul 2003 : Column 231W—continued
Health and Safety Training
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to develop a system to ensure that contractors have appropriate arrangements in place (a) to train their staff in health and safety and risk management and (b) to record and monitor contractors' health and safety performance. [120628]
Mr. Hutton: The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 places a duty on all employers to train their staff in health and safety and risk management procedures. In order to comply with this, national health service trusts must satisfy themselves that training has been provided by their contractors to those contractors' staff.
Enforcement is legally the responsibility of the Health and Safety Executive. The Department will also be reminding NHS trusts of their duties in this area and the value that good relationships with contractors can have in new guidance to be produced in the autumn of 2003.
Hospital-acquired Infections
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on recent measures to (a) record and (b) combat infections acquired in hospitals. [122433]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Since April 2001 all acute trusts in England have had to report methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) blood stream infections. This was the first phase of a mandatory surveillance scheme for healthcare associated infection and the first two years' results are available at the Public Health Laboratory service website: www.phls.org.uk/publications/cdr/PDFfiles/2020/cdr2502.pdf and http://www.phls.org.uk/publications/cdr/index.html
These data have enabled the introduction of an MRSA improvement score into the national health service performance management system this year.
The second phase of the mandatory scheme will be introduced this September when trusts will have to report blood stream infections due to glycopeptide resistant enterococci and serious untoward incidents associated with infection.
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The Chief Medical Officer is spearheading a new Government drive to tackle healthcare associated infections, especially those acquired in hospitals. A long-term strategy to prevent and reduce infections in the NHS will be published in the autumn.
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many full-time equivalent staff were employed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority in each year from 1999; and what the salary costs were in each of those years; [121360]
- (2) how many Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority staff members there were with media responsibilities in each year since 1999; and what their salary costs have been in each year. [121361]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 24 June 2003]: The information requested is shown in the tables.
| Tax Year | Number of staff | (2)Salary cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 34 | 690,625 |
| 2000–01 | 35 | 721,229 |
| 2001–02 | 38 | 835,784 |
| 2002–03 | 77 | 1,587,136 |
(2) Salary costs include National Insurance Contributions, Pension and Gross Salary
| Tax Year | Number of staff | (3)Salary cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 1 | 28,057 |
| 2000–01 | 1 | 34,996 |
| 2001–02 | 2 | (4)28,314 |
| 2002–03 | 2 | 85,759 |
(3) Salary costs include National Insurance Contributions, Pension and Gross Salary.
(4) One post was vacant for part of the year
Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his Answer of 18 June 2003, Official Report, column 280W, what categories of statistics are held by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. [121451]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has a statutory duty to collect information about licensed treatments and their outcomes, and maintains a register of information compiled from data provided by licensed clinics. Information on the current dataset has been placed in the Library.
Knee and Hip Joints
Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how NHS hospitals, carrying out private treatment for the replacement of knee and hip joints, account for the parts used for (a) private treatment and (b) NHS treatment. [121645]
Mr. Hutton: National health service trusts purchase their hip and knee prostheses direct from suppliers. Consultants will make a clinical decision on the actual
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implant required for each patient, and some will have a preference on the make of implant they use. The implants for both NHS and private patients would come from the stock the trust has in store. Private patients or their insurers will be invoiced by the NHS trust for the care that they have received.
Details of the hip replacement operation for both NHS and private patients should then be entered on the National Joint Registry. This will assist NHS trusts to identify the any patients with a particular make of hip or knee if there is concern about the performance of the implant.
Learning Disability Services
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what action he plans to take concerning strategic health authorities which do not use allocation from the Learning Disability Development Fund for learning disability services; [121802]
- (2) what guidance he has issued to strategic health authorities concerning the ring fencing of allocation from the Learning Disability Development Fund. [121803]
Dr. Ladyman [holding answer 26 June 2003]: The Learning Disability Development Fund (LDDF) is part of a national programme to support the delivery of the Government White Paper, "Valuing People—A New Strategy for the 21st Century". For 2003–04, it consists of £21 million revenue and £20 million capital.
The revenue element was distributed direct to primary care trusts on a pro-rata basis with a letter explaining its purpose. The capital element of the LDDF was allocated to strategic health authorities (SHAs) as part of their strategic capital allocations notified in Annex D of HSC 2003/004. A note was included in the Chief Executive Bulletin confirming that the LDDF capital was included in the strategic capital allocations and drawing attention to an entry on the Department of Health's learning disability website at www.doh.gov.uk/learningdisabilities about the priorities for its use.
The capital is not ring-fenced. It is for SHAs to decide how best to use the money to support the needs of the people in their area.
Lung Patients
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans he has to provide secure funding for pulmonary rehabilitation programmes in NHS hospitals; and when he expects that such programmes will be universally available in the NHS; [122119]
- (2) if he will make a statement on (a) regional and (b) local variations in the provision by the NHS of pulmonary rehabilitation to lung patients. [122120]
Dr. Ladyman: Substantial new investment in both health and social care services was announced in the 2002 Budget. This amounts to the largest sustained increase in funding of any five-year period in the history of the national health service. Over the years 2003–04 to 2007–08, these plans mean that expenditure on the NHS in England will increase on average by 7.4 per cent. a year over and above inflation—a total increase over the
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period of 43 per cent. in real terms. This means that, over the same five-year period, there will be an increase of £34 billion.
It is the role of strategic health authorities, in partnership with primary care trusts (PCTs), to decide what services to provide for their populations including those with respiratory conditions. They are best placed to understand local health needs and commission services to meet them.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is currently developing a guideline on the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in primary and secondary care. NICE is due to publish the guideline in 2004. In January 2003, the Respiratory Alliance published their guidance, "Bridging the Gap", which aims to help PCTs to commission and deliver high quality allergy and respiratory care. Local British Lung Foundation Breathe Easy groups often reinforce pulmonary rehabilitation programmes.
Information is not held centrally regarding the proportion of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who can access pulmonary rehabilitation locally or nationally. However, a recent survey by the British Lung Foundation and the British Thoracic Society found that 160 out of 266 hospitals across the country provide some form of pulmonary rehabilitation to lung patients.
Mental Health
Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment has been made of the risks from Seroxat to adults suffering from depression. [121263]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the responses given to her by my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Dr. Ladyman) on Friday 20 June 2003, Official Report, column 488–89W.
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