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Neurological Nurses

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many specialist neurological nurses there were in each NHS region for (a) TIA, (b) epilepsy, (c) multiple sclerosis, (d) movement disorder, (e) head injury, (f) Parkinson's and (g) Alzheimer's in (i) 1997–98 and (ii) the most recent year for which figures are available. [121621]

Mr. Hutton: The information requested is not collected centrally. The non-medical workforce census collects information annually on the number of nurses employed in the national health service as at 30 September each year, but can not distinguish those who are specialist neurological nurses.

Neurologists

Rachel Squire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to tackle the shortage of qualified neurologists; and what targets he has set to reduce waiting times in neurology. [121464]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 26 June 2003]: There have been significant increases in neurologist numbers in recent years and there are more planned. The overall expansion in consultant numbers set out in the NHS Plan should have positive implications for neurology recruitment.

As at 31 March 2002, there were 372 consultants in neurology, which means that since September 1997, numbers increased by 34 per cent. We are working towards increasing these numbers further.

The long-term conditions care group workforce team covers the national service frameworks (NSFs) for diabetes, renal and long-term conditions, including neurological conditions. It brings together, in relevant workforce groups, key stakeholders, including patients, to lead on strategies for building a flexible workforce to deliver the NSFs. It is the first time that workforce planning has been carried out in this manner. This approach will support the development of the workforce and enable the national health service to grow the right number of workers, with the right skills, in the right place at the right time. Membership of the long-term conditions workforce group includes representatives of the Neurological Alliance and the North West Clinical Neuroscience Partnership.

Targets were set to reduce out-patients waits to 21 weeks by April 2003 and there are further targets to reduce waits to 16 weeks by 1 April 2004. People with neurological conditions stand to benefit from these reductions in waiting times.

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NHS Recruitment

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent by the NHS on advertising employment opportunities in each of the last five years. [122401]

Mr. Hutton: The last time that national information on national health service recruitment advertising costs was collected was in 1998, when expenditure was estimated to be £30 million. However, this is likely to have risen over the last five years in line with the major expansion of staff numbers in the NHS.

The Department of Health is currently commissioning a national electronic recruitment service for the NHS. It will link with NHS Careers to provide a web-based service advertising posts, providing information about careers, jobs and NHS employers, and an electronic application process, supported by a call centre service to provide flexible, interactive access to information and job and training opportunities. The new service will enable the NHS to reduce its recruitment and advertising costs.

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average number of applications per job advertisement in the NHS was in each of the last five years. [122402]

Mr. Hutton: The Department of Health does not hold this information centrally, although it may be available from individual national health service employing organisations.

NHS Services (Gloucestershire)

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the use of (a) temporary nurses and (b) locum doctors in the NHS in Gloucestershire. [121875]

Dr. Ladyman: A range of initiatives is under way to get better value for temporary staff in the national health service. Along with the roll-out of NHS Professionals, the aim is to reduce agency costs and to improve the quality of staff through agency framework

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agreements. Agency framework agreements fix the cost of agency staff, which can only increase in line with the recommendations of the pay review body.

NHS trusts are using the National Medical Locum Agency contract, with the contract value in the first quarter being £15 million. This is expected to show an average saving of 6 per cent. per trust on medical locum expenditure per annum.

The aim is to roll-out agency agreements and NHS Professionals to cover all aspects of the temporary healthcare labour market. This means covering not just nurses and doctors, but also the allied health professions and other healthcare professionals.

Medical locums are already covered by a national agency framework agreement, and a NHS Professionals service for doctors is being developed.

By ensuring that all temporary staffing demand is handled through NHS Professionals, the savings and outcomes from the agency project will be maximised. The new NHS Professionals special health authority will enable better strategic management of the healthcare temporary staffing labour market and ensure that all NHS trusts are using NHS Professionals by April 2005.

Avon Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority has advised that trusts in Gloucestershire are working towards using NHS Professionals by the target date of April 2005 and are using, or working towards using, the National Medical Locum Agency contract.

NHS Staff

Mrs. Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the proportion of nurses employed by the NHS who are from the black and ethnic minority community; and if he will list the percentage for each nursing grade. [121312]

Mr. Hutton: The information requested is shown in the table.

As at September 2001, an estimated 8.9 per cent. of the qualified nursing workforce whose ethnicity is recorded were from a black or ethnic minority background.

NHS Hospital and Community Health Service Nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff by Ethnic group(excluding agency and learners)England as at September 2001   Percentage

		Old Ethnic Codes				New Ethnic Codes
	All groups	White	Black	Asian	Other	White	Mixed	Asian or Asian British	Black or Black British	Other	Total ethnic minority groups
All nursing, midwifery and	100.0	51.9	1.8	0.7	1.3	39.9	0.5	1.3	1.8	0.8	8.2
Qualified staff	100.0	53.2	2.0	0.8	1.5	37.9	0.4	1.4	1.8	1.0	8.9
Nurse Consultant	100.0	44.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	53.8	1.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.6
Nurse manager	100.0	52.7	1.3	0.3	0.5	42.7	0.3	0.7	0.8	0.7	4.7
Registered sick children's nurse	100.0	56.9	2.0	0.7	0.9	36.6	0.4	0.6	1.3	0.6	6.5
Registered midwife	100.0	58.1	2.7	0.8	0.7	33.1	0.7	0.6	2.6	0.7	8.8
Health vistor	100.0	54.7	2.3	1.0	0.8	38.6	0.2	0.6	1.4	0.5	6.7
District nurse	100.0	54.2	0.9	0.7	0.6	41.7	0.2	0.4	1.1	0.4	4.1
Other first level registration	100.0	52.4	1.9	0.8	1.7	38.3	0.4	1.5	1.8	1.1	9.3
Other second level registration	100.0	54.3	2.4	1.0	1.7	33.7	0.6	2.9	2.5	1.0	12.0
Unqualified staff	100.0	48.4	1.4	0.5	0.6	45.7	0.5	0.7	1.7	0.4	5.9

Notes:Figures should be treated with caution as they are based upon the 68 of HCHS organisations that reported valid ethnic codes for 90 or more of non-medical staff, and further exclude staff whose ethnicity is not recorded. Percentages were calculated from numbers of staff expressed as headcount. Sum of parts may not equal totals due to rounding.Source:

Department of Health 2001 non-medical workforce census.

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NHS Treatment (Age of Consent)

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the age of consent is for agreeing to NHS treatment. [122387]

Ms Rosie Winterton: People aged 16 or 17 are entitled to consent to their own medical treatment and any ancillary procedures involved in that treatment, such as an anaesthetic. As for adults, consent will be valid only if it is given voluntarily by an appropriately informed patient capable of consenting to the particular intervention.

For children under 16, following the case of Gillick, the courts have held that children who have sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable them to understand fully what is involved in a proposed intervention will also have the capacity to consent to that intervention.

Detailed guidance on the law on consent in England was set out in the Department's "Reference Guide to Consent for Examination and Treatment", published in March 2001. The Department has also made available information leaflets for health professionals and for patients on consent in relation to children and young people. These and other related documents are available on the Departments' website at www.doh.gov.uk/consent.

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