| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
6 Oct 2003 : Column 1302W—continued
Health Care (North Cheshire)
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to ensure that the North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust meets the outpatient targets set by the Government; and if he will make a statement. [129928]
Miss Melanie Johnson: North Cheshire Hospitals National Health Service Trust is making every effort to meet the Government's target of 21 weeks for a first outpatient appointment. This includes regular discussions between clinicians and managers about
6 Oct 2003 : Column 1303W
clinical capacity and modernising out-patient processes. The Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority continually monitors the progress of all partner organisations, including North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust, against Government targets.
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to improve access to general practitioners in Warrington; and what discussions have taken place with the Warrington Primary Care Trust to ensure that the targets for access are met. [129929]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Steps being taken to improve access to general practitioners in Warrington include Warrington Primary Care Trust (PCT) employing an access facilitator, who is working with eight GP practices to redesign services in order to improve access. The PCT board has in addition approved the recruitment of additional salaried GPs and nurse practitioners. Individual practices are also being supported in reviewing their appointment management processes.
The Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority has established performance monitoring processes to gauge PCTs' progress on meeting GP access targets.
Health Care Assistants
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many health care assistants have been seconded to train as nurses in each acute trust, in each year since the scheme was introduced; [130045]
- (2) what records are kept of the number of health care assistants who apply for secondments to train as nurses and are refused such secondments; [130046]
(3) how many NHS trusts are refusing all secondment applications from health care assistants who wish to train as nurses; and which of these trusts have decided to ban all secondments, whatever training is involved. [130047]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 17 September 2003]: The number of health care assistants seconded to train as nurses is a matter for local determination. Records of numbers accepted by trusts, refused applications for secondments and trusts not offering secondments are not collected centrally.
In the current financial year, workforce development confederations plan to support 6,966 secondments. The Department is substantially increasing the amount of funding available in the years 2004–05 and 2005–06.
For the current financial year, central funding has been provided for up to 15 per cent. of the nurses in training to be on secondments.
Health Protection Agency
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what stocks of vital materiel the Health Protection Agency is procuring to prepare for an attack by nuclear, biological, radiological or chemical weapons. [128666]
6 Oct 2003 : Column 1304W
Mr. Hutton: The Health Protection Agency (HPA) is not procuring any stocks of vital material in preparation for an attack using chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) weapons. The procurement of health-related CBRN countermeasures is the responsibility of the Department and, in undertaking this role, the Department seeks scientific and technical advice from the HPA as required.
Health Staff (Performance)
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government is taking to identify poorly performing (a) doctors and (b) nurses. [130155]
Mr. Hutton: The Government established the National Clinical Assessment Authority in April 2001. The key functions of the Authority include helping local organisations manage problems quickly and effectively; promoting effective local and national procedures for preventing, identifying and resolving performance problems; and providing individual assessments that recommend practical ways in which individual performance can be improved.
At present the National Clinical Assessment Authority applies only to doctors and dentists. The Government will consider the case for whether a similar approach would be appropriate for the other health professions.
Health Visiting Services
Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the implications for effective early intervention in cases of potential child abuse of the reduction in health visiting services in South Worcestershire. [129312]
Dr. Ladyman: It is for local organisations to determine the health visiting workforce required to deliver local and national health priorities including child health.
The proposals which have been put forward by South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust are based upon the commitment to provide a family-centred health visiting service which will work with individuals, families and communities to improve child health and tackle health inequalities. The review process for health visiting also took into account public health deprivation indices, the number of children aged up to four years registered with a general practitioner and the number of children currently on the child protection register. All families with children under five years will continue to have access to a named health visitor attached to their general practitioner's practice for advice on health and parenting issues.
The Department is currently funding a range of initiatives to support primary care trusts in promoting recruitment, retention and return to practice within the primary care nursing and health visiting workforce.
High Security Hospital Patients
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons he intends to move 400 patients from high security hospitals to prison settings by 2004. [130328]
6 Oct 2003 : Column 1305W
Dr. Ladyman: Paragraph 14.35 of the NHS Plan said that by 2004 up to 400 patients should have moved from the high security hospitals to more appropriate accommodation. A programme is under way aimed at moving up to 400 patients from high security hospitals to more appropriate accommodation by 2004.
It is intended that the patients concerned should move to less secure hospitals or other suitable settings rather than to prisons. The programme has been initiated to address the problem of patients remaining in high security hospitals for longer than safety and security considerations dictate, which is an infringement of human rights and wasteful of scarce resources. The movement out of inappropriately placed patients will also facilitate the admission of people who do need high security care and treatment, including prisoners requiring transfer.
Histopathology
Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will assess the impact on patients of the availability of histopathology consultants working in the NHS. [129110]
Miss Melanie Johnson: It is for cancer networks to work in partnership with workforce development confederations and strategic health authorities to put in place a sustainable process to assess, plan and review their work force needs and the education and training of all staff linked to local and national priorities for cancer.
To meet NHS Plan and Cancer Plan commitments to get the staff that the national health service needs to deliver high quality care to patients, the Department is taking steps to increase the overall number of histopathologists. Three histopathology training schools were piloted in Leeds, Leicester and Southampton. The schools trained 18 senior house officers a year to be able to apply for specialist registrar posts. Building on their early success, we are increasing funding to the existing schools to enrol 24 trainees each year. We are also increasing the number of schools from three to 12 and raising the annual intake from 18 to 96 by 2005–06.
We have also set up an intensive training programme at Southampton for exceptional overseas graduates with at least two years previous experience in pathology. The aim of the programme is to provide support and targeted training and to assess competence and educational needs in three months, rather than in one year, resulting in an extra eight histopathologists a year being eligible to apply for specialist registrar posts in histopathology.
Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to train histopathology consultants. [129112]
Mr. Hutton: In line with the commitment in "The NHS Cancer Plan", in 2000–01 the Department set up three histopathology training schools in Leeds, Leicester and Southampton. These schools initially trained an extra 18 senior house officers a year, to be eligible to apply for specialist registrar (SpR) posts in histopathology. Building on early success, we are increasing funding to the schools to take on 24 trainees each year. We are also pleased to expand the initiative
6 Oct 2003 : Column 1306W
nationally, increasing the number of schools from three to 12 and raising the annual intake from 18 to 96 by 2005–06.
We have also set up an intensive training programme at Southampton for exceptional graduates with at least two years overseas experience in pathology. The aim of the programme is to provide support and targeted training and to assess competence and educational needs in three months, rather than in one year, resulting in an extra eight histopathologists a year being eligible to apply for SpR posts in histopathology.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |