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14 Oct 2003 : Column 85W—continued
Epsom and St. Helier Hospitals
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff, broken down by grade, work in the accident and emergency departments at (a) Epsom and (b) St Helier hospitals. [131633]
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Mr. Hutton: Data are only collected at national health service trust level. The following table shows hospital medical staff within the accident and emergency speciality by grade in Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust.
| As at 30 September 2002 | Numbers (headcount) |
|---|---|
| All staff | 30 |
| Consultant | (31)— |
| Staff Grade | 10 |
| Associate Specialist | (31)— |
| Registrar Group | (31)— |
| Senior House Officer | 10 |
| House Officer | (31)— |
| Hospital Practitioner | (32)— |
| Clinical Assistant | (31)— |
| Other | (32)— |
(31) Five or fewer than five.
(32) Zero.
Notes:
Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
Source:
Department of Health medical and dental workforce census.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assumptions were made in reaching the figure of £340 million capital spend in Option 4 of the Strategic Outline Case for the Epsom and St Helier Clinical Services Strategy. [131634]
Mr. Hutton: This is a matter for south west London strategic health authority (SHA) and Surrey and Sussex SHA. I understand the latest position is that a strategic outline case for an Epsom and St Helier clinical services strategy is still to be finalised.
All the assumptions will be tested carefully before a decision is taken on how best to take the scheme forward.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the number of patients treated in the accident and emergency departments of Epsom and St Helier hospitals in each of the past 24 months. [131635]
Mr. Hutton: Information on the number of patients treated in the accident and emergency (A&E) department of Epsom and St Helier Hospitals is not collected centrally.
Attendances at A&E departments, minor injury units and walk in centres, Epsom and St Helier national health service Trust for the period second quarter, 2001–02, to first quarter, 2003–04, is shown in the table as the closest available data. This information is collected on a quarterly rather than monthly basis.
| Quarter | Attendances | |
|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | 1 | 32,934 |
| 2002–03 | 4 | 29,895 |
| 2002–03 | 3 | 26,871 |
| 2002–03 | 2 | 27,839 |
| 2002–03 | 1 | 28,379 |
| 2001–02 | 4 | 29,297 |
| 2001–02 | 3 | 29,931 |
| 2001–02 | 2 | 30.557 |
| Total past 24 months | 235,703 |
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Eye Tests
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to encourage more regular and thorough eye tests for children to check for cancers, with particular reference to retinoblastoma. [131224]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Doctors and opticians who test sight have a duty to undertake an examination of the eye and perform whatever tests they feel are necessary at the time. The examination undertaken has the purpose of detecting signs of injury, disease or abnormality in the eye and the doctors or opticians carrying them out will be aware of retinoblastoma and the signs to look for on the retina.
Free sight tests are available under the National Health Service to large parts of the population, including all children and those aged 16–18 in full-time education. Sight tests are the ideal opportunity to review all aspects of eye health, including investigations for signs of disease. In 2001–02, 9.8 million NHS sight tests were paid for by health authorities. 2.4 million of those were for children.
We have promoted a system of child health and development checks. The programme of home visiting and community development makes an important contribution to many areas of health education and fosters the early detection of problems, including those associated with eye sight in young pre-school children. The programme also provides the opportunity to develop closer relationships between the family and the primary care team. Work on developing the children's national service framework continues and the healthy child module will take into account the views expressed by the National Screening Committee (Children's Sub-Group) on the need for child eye screening.
Fluoride
Mr. Alan Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) providing fluoride to children through milk and (b) disbursing fluoride via the water supply. [131472]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The cost of implementing the seven trial milk fluoridation schemes under way in the United Kingdom has been relatively modest, due to the fact that existing school milk programmes have been utilised. The actual cost of fluoridating milk is minimal and in most schemes has been absorbed by the dairy. About one half day a week of an oral health promotion officer's time is required to administer each scheme. Information is not yet available to make any reliable estimates of the costs and cost effectiveness of any national scheme using fluoridated milk to tackle oral health inequalities.
The cost of fluoridating water varies depending on the scale of schemes. Experience from current schemes indicates running costs, which are borne by health authorities, of about 40 pence per head of population per year.
Food Poisoning
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what work his Department is undertaking to develop a vaccine against campylobacter. [130082]
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Miss Melanie Johnson: The Department of Health is not commissioning studies at present on vaccines against campylobacter. However, we know that the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is funding some research on campylobacter to understand more about this organism.
Free Fruit Scheme
Joyce Quin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement about the operation of the free fruit scheme in schools; [131876]
- (2) what plans he has to extend the free fruit scheme for schools in the North East of England. [131880]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Following successful small-scale pilots in 2000 and 2001, the national school fruit scheme has been introduced over the last 18 months in four whole regions in England: the West Midlands, London, the North West and the East Midlands. The next region due to join will be the North East, starting in spring 2004. These region-wide pilots, which have been supported by £42 million from the lottery-funded New Opportunities Fund, will be evaluated to establish the impact on children's diets and the practicalities of the scheme, before rolling out nationally later in 2004.
General Social Care Council
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much central Government funding is given to the General Social Care Council; and how many staff it employs. [131543]
Dr. Ladyman: The General Social Care Council (GSCC) will receive £15,195,000 in operating grant for the financial year 2003–04. The GSCC currently employs 119 members of staff: 113 full-time and six part-time.
The total grant is £55,482,000, which also includes training support of £10,697,000 and student bursaries of £27,826,000. The last two amounts are Department monies, which are administered by the GSCC, ring-fenced for their specified use and do not form any part of their operational costs.
GP Referrals
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of GP referrals which were lost in the NHS system in the last year for which figures are available. [131508]
Mr. Hutton: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Grants
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the grants made to outside bodies under the Section 64 general grants scheme; and the value of each grant. [129594]
Dr. Ladyman: The information about the grants approved for award in April 2003 for the year 2003–04 under the Section 64 General Scheme has been placed in the Library.
The total amount was £21,451,211.
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Core grants are awarded as a contribution to an organisation's central administrative costs. "New" core grants are awards to organisations that have not had core funding previously, or after a break of not less than one year. "Renewal" core grants are awards to those organisations that have previously received core funding.
Voluntary and community sector organisations have a range of expertise and knowledge of issues in their particular fields, which enables them to make a unique contribution to the development and delivery of services to NHS patients and their carers.
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