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8 Sept 2003 : Column 201W—continued
Home Carers
Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he has given to local authorities on providing assistance to home carers. [127793]
Dr. Ladyman: Carers are entitled to an assessment to determine their needs as carers and eligibility for support. The Carers Grant, worth £100 million this year, provides money for local councils to provide short breaks for carers to enable them to continue in their caring role. The Grant will continue until at least 2006, during which time it will increase to £185 million to provide extended care and 130,000 further breaks to carers.
Carers are also entitled to cash payments for carers' services to enable them to purchase the type of support they require and promote a better quality of life.
Hospice Movement
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the cost to the hospice movement in financial year 2003–04 of the increase in the level of charges for checks by the Criminal Records Bureau in respect of paid staff; [127400]
- (2) if he will provide a grant to hospices to compensate for the recent increase in the level of charges for checks by the Criminal Records Bureau in respect of paid staff. [127401]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Responsibility for paying the fee for a criminal record disclosure rests with the individual applicant, although it is open to the employer to reimburse the cost. The Home Department has placed in the Library a regulatory impact assessment, which assesses the impact of the fee increase across all sectors.
The level of funding agreed is a matter for local discussion and decision. We have made available an additional £50 million per annum for specialist palliative care, including hospices, for the three years beginning 2003–04. This extra £50 million is to help tackle inequalities in access to specialist palliative care to enable the National Health Service to increase their contribution to the cost hospices incur in providing agreed levels of service.
Hospitals
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has had regarding the star rating system. [127377]
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Ms Rosie Winterton: The Commission for Health Improvement (CHI), which is now responsible for publishing the NHS Star Ratings, has received a small number of queries from trusts seeking clarification over the calculation of their Star Rating. Representations to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health have included a small number of right hon. and hon. Members, members of the public and national health service staff proffering views on the NHS Star Ratings system. These views are being passed to CHI so that they may inform future developments of the star ratings system.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what qualitative basis star ratings for hospital-acquired infections are calculated. [127567]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Two new performance indicators related to hospital acquired infections contributed to the star ratings this July. The first, a methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) improvement score was based on quantitative data from the national mandatory MRSA surveillance system. The second, an infection control procedures indicator was based on a qualitative assessment against the infection control standard. Full details of these indicators are on http://www.ratings.chi.nhs.uk/Trust/Indicator/indicators.asp?trustType=1
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures his Department has in place to reduce incidences of MRSA in NHS hospitals. [127334]
Miss Melanie Johnson: We already have standards to ensure there is a managed environment which minimises the risk of infection to patients, staff and visitors. In addition, infection control procedures and a methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus score are now performance indicators and contributed to the star ratings in July. We are continuing work to improve infection control in hospitals by developing a longer term strategy to reduce health care associated infections, spearheaded by the Chief Medical Officer.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many new hospitals have opened in the last three years; and at what cost. [127357]
Mr. Hutton: 35 new hospital building schemes have become operational since July 2000. The schemes and their capital values are shown in the following table:
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IT Projects
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the IT projects his Department (a) plans to undertake in the next year and (b) has undertaken, broken down by (i) expected date of commencement and completion and (ii) cost. [127353]
Mr. Hutton: Information on information technology projects with the Department of Health, costing £100,000 or more, that are planned, under way or are due to be completed in the financial year 2003–04 have been placed in the Library.
Learning Disability Services
Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received on the identification and dissemination of examples of good practice in learning disability services. [127852]
Dr. Ladyman: We have received no such representations but recognise the importance of sharing examples of good practice to help ensure the improvement of services across the country.
Our proposals for improving services for people with learning disabilities, their families and carers are set out in the White Paper "Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century" (Cm 5086), published in March 2001. The White Paper sets out a challenging programme of action which will make a real difference to people's lives.
Our annual report on learning disability, "Making Change Happen" (HC514), published in April 2003, reports progress made in implementing "Valuing People" and contains examples of good practice. The valuing people support team, set up as part of the White Paper implementation programme, has been operating since February 2002. A core component of the support team's work, through publications, conferences, and other events, is the sharing and promoting of good practice among learning disability partnership boards throughout England.
Locums
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many locum doctors there are. [127480]
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Mr. Hutton: A locum can be defined as a doctor with a temporary as opposed to substantive contract who temporarily fills vacant positions or covers the work of absent colleagues.
The table shows the number of medical and dental staff with locum contracts working in the national health service as at 30 September 2002.
| England as at 30 September 2002 | Number |
|---|---|
| All locums(56) | 3,700 |
(56) HCHS doctors with locum contracts—excludes doctors who also hold a substantive contract.
Note:
Locum data was not collected in the HCHS March 2003 mini census.
Source:
Department of Health 2002 medical and dental locum work force census.
The following table shows the number of general practitioner locums working in the NHS as at 31 March 2003.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Loums(58) | 4,644 |
(57) All practitioners include GMS Unrestricted Principals, PMS Contracted GPs, PMS Salaried GPs, Restricted Principals, Assistants, GP Registrars, Salaried Doctors (Para 52 SFA), PMS Other, GP Retainers and Flexible Career Scheme GPs.
(58) General Medical Practitioners with locum contracts—excludes doctors who also hold a substantive contract in GP practice.
Source:
Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.
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