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HEALTH

Bivalve Molluscs

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the level of state funding for laboratories researching contamination of bivalve molluscs by (a) Novavirus and (b) hepatitis A virus. [128265]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Since April 2000, the Food Standards Agency has spent £1.5 million on projects relating to the contamination of bivalve molluscs by Norovirus and Hepatitis A virus.

Medical Staff (Protection)

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what protection is afforded to nurses and other medical staff in the workplace from members of the public; what assistance is given by the police to hospitals and other medical treatment centres; and what recent measures he has introduced to improve co-operation. [128112]

Mr. Hutton: Responsibility for tackling assaults against staff working in the National Health Service passed to the Counter Fraud and Security Management Service (CFSMS) on 1 April 2003. During 2003–04, the CFSMS will be taking forward a number of initiatives to reduce the number of both physical and non-physical assaults. The CFSMS is currently developing:

conflict resolution training for all frontline staff including nurses and general practitioners as a key preventative measure to reduce the number of incidents;

a national and consistent reporting system to record incidents of physical assaults on staff, using a common definition, with the ability to track cases from report to conclusion. This will allow for intervention where appropriate in order to ensure the best possible outcome for the victim concerned and help increase the rate of offenders prosecuted;

a consistent locally managed reporting system will be established to deal with non-physical assaults using the common law definition. Clear definitions of assault swill enable sanctions that are appropriate to the incident to be sought;

a legal protection unit to provide health bodies with advice on cost-effective methods of pursuing a wide range of sanctions against offenders including criminal and civil action where appropriate;

ways in which technology can be used to provide better protection for staff. This work is undertaken in co-operation with the Home Office;

a Memorandum of Understanding with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to ensure that a consistent national approach to reducing physical and non-physical assaults on staff is taken by both the NHS and the police.

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what targets were set in the Zero Tolerance campaign; what progress has been made; and how many targets have been met. [128111]

Mr. Hutton: In 1999, in its "working together" framework, the Government set the National Health Service trusts three targets to reduce the number of incidents of violence against NHS staff:

by April 2000, to have systems in place for recording incidents of violence to staff and publish strategies to achieve reductions in the levels of violence by: 20 per cent. by April 2001–02; and 30 per cent. by April 2003–04.

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A recent National Audit Office (NAO) report, "A safer place to Work — Protecting NHS Hospital and Ambulance Trust Staff from Violence and Aggression", reported that:

around 90 per cent. of NHS trusts have violence policies and systems in place for recording incidents; and

the majority of NHS trusts did not meet the 2001–02 target for reducing incidents by 20 per cent.

The NAO acknowledged that the increase in reported violent and abusive incidents in the majority of NHS trusts was mainly due to improved reporting rates, generally among NHS staff and in particular increased reporting of verbal abuse. The NAO suggests in its report, and this appears to be reflected in the data held by the Health and Safety Executive, that levels of physical assaults are stabilising.

Responsibility for tackling assaults against staff working in the NHS passed to the Counter Fraud and Security Management Service (CFSMS) on 1 April 2003. During 2003–04, the CFSMS will be taking forward a number of initiatives to reduce the number of both physical and non-physical assaults. The CFSMS is currently developing:

conflict resolution training for all frontline staff as a key preventive measure to reduce the number of incidents;

a national and consistent reporting system to record incidents of physical assaults on staff, using a common definition, with the ability to track cases from report to conclusion. This will allow for intervention where appropriate in order to ensure the best possible outcome for the victim concerned and help increase the rate of offenders prosecuted;

a consistent locally managed reporting system will be established to deal with non-physical assaults using the common law definition. Clear definitions of assault will enable sanctions that are appropriate to the incident to be sought;

a legal protection unit to provide health bodies with advice on cost-effective methods of pursuing a wide range of sanctions against offenders, including criminal and civil action where appropriate;

ways in which technology can be used to provide better protection for staff, working with the Home Office. One of the chosen test sites for the "Safer Hospitals" project as an ambulance trust;

a Memorandum of Understanding with the Association of Chief Police Officers to ensure that a consistent national approach to reducing physical and non-physical assaults on staff is taken by both the NHS and the police.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many incidents of violence and abusive behaviour by NHS patients in England against NHS staff there were in 2001–02. [127533]

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Mr. Hutton: There were an estimated 112,000 ¹ reported violent or abusive incidents involving staff in national health service trusts and health authorities in England in 2001–2002.

¹ The 2001–02 total has been estimated to include organisations which did not provide figures and the results are based on surveys by the Department of Health and the National Audit Office.

Product Labelling

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to enable labelling of imported agricultural products produced to (a) animal welfare and (b) environmental care standards below those of the United Kingdom. [128122]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Food labelling rules are set at European Union level; the Department is not aware of any plans to introduce new rules to cover animal welfare and environmental care standards. Information on these matters can be given voluntarily on labels so long as it is not false or misleading. The Food Standards Agency is encouraging industry to provide consumers with more information on food production standards, including animal welfare and environmental care standards.

Accident and Emergency Services

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to pilot the 'See & Treat' scheme at Royal Bournemouth Hospital at other hospital sites. [127647]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Most accident and emergency (A&E) departments now have 'See & Treat' schemes in place, specifically to target patients with minor injuries and illnesses. The British Association for A&E Medicine and the Royal College of Nursing have endorsed it as an appropriate model of clinical care. The expectation is that 'See & Treat', or something similar, should be put in place in most trusts. However, it is the trusts' responsibility to decide if, when and how to implement.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has undertaken of the cost of implementing a 'See & Treat' scheme in A&E departments. [127648]

Ms Rosie Winterton: There may be costs associated with the implementation of initiatives such as 'See & Treat', but any costs will depend on how an individual trust implements the scheme locally compared to its existing accident and emergency department procedures.

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were admitted to NHS hospital wards from Accident and Emergency after being examined by a doctor in (a) one hour or less, (b) over two hours but less than three hours, (c) over three hours but less than four hours, (d) over four hours but less than five hours and (e) over five hours in (i) the last 12 months for which figures are available and (ii) 1997–98. [127494]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department collects information on total time in accident and emergency (A&E) from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge.

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Information is also collected and on waits for admission as an emergency via A&E from the point of decision to admit to admission. This information is published quarterly.

Information is not collected on the time from a patient being first examined by a doctor to admission.

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what targets he is planning to set for accident and emergency departments in the next year. [127318]

Ms Rosie Winterton: In 2000, the NHS Plan set the challenging improvement target that no patient should spend more than four hours in an accident and emergency department from arrival to admission, transfer or departure by the end of 2004.

Trusts will continue to be monitored on their progress towards this target, but there are no plans to set further targets for accident and emergency departments in the next year.

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the method used for measuring accident and emergency targets in March. [127319]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department set an internal milestone that 90 per cent. of patients in England should wait less than four hours in accident and emergency (A and E) departments by the end of March 2003.

This was not a target but an interim milestone set to assess progress towards achieving the NHS Plan target to reduce the maximum time a patient should wait in A and E from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge to four hours from December 2004.

Performance against the milestone was measured using routine data trusts provide to the Department.

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