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NHS Integrated Care System
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the results have been of the Gateway reviews of the NHS Integrated Care System. [136628]
Mr. Hutton: New and large scale procurement projects in central Government are subject to gateway reviews. The process examines a project at critical stages to provide assurance that it can progress successfully to the next stage. The review provides project teams with advice and guidance from fellow practitioners and in order to maintain the integrity of the advice, this is held to be completely confidential by both parties. The gateway review process is not an audit.
Recommendations are made to the senior responsible officer on good practice in key areas such as programme management, risk management and involving key stakeholders. The national programme is implementing any recommendations which arise from each stage in the gateway review.
The national information technology programme is fully committed to external reviews being undertaken on a timely basis.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many man hours he estimates will be required to input a record for each NHS patient into the Integrated Care System; and who will be responsible for this work. [134287]
Mr. Hutton: Data and information is already keyed in on multiple systems and on multiple occasions.
The efficiency savings will be generated through data and information being keyed in once only. This will result in a net saving to the time required on record keeping and maintenance.
The integrated care records service is not about entering historical data but about improving the capture, use and quality of current data and future support to patient care.
North Bristol Trusts (Chief Executive)
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was paid to the former Chief Executive of North Bristol Trusts on his departure in December 2002; and if he will make a statement. [135404]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 30 October 2003]: North Bristol National Health Service Trust made a payment to its former chief executive upon his resignation, the total value of which was £70,961 (gross); the net value of this to the employee following deductions for tax/
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national insurance etc was £54,576.60. The payment was considered and approved by the trust's remuneration committee in line with its terms of reference.
Nurse Prescribing
Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether persons on nurse prescribing courses can be individually funded; [136163]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 4 November 2003]: The Department has made funds available to work force development confederations to train nurses in prescribing. It is for the confederation, in consultation with local National Health Service employers, to determine how to use the funds available to them.
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PAF PI D43
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how long people waited for services in the last five years to be provided after their first contact as recorded in PAF PI D43, broken down by (a) age and (b) length of wait. [130875]
Dr. Ladyman: There is insufficient data available to answer this question in full, as national estimates on waiting times are available only for 2001–02.
The estimated length of time between first contact and first service for new clients aged 18 and over for the year 2001–02 and the relevant percentages for each time band, are shown in the table, broken down by age group.
We are unable to provide any estimated figures for England 2000–01 as only 52 local authorities provided data for the relevant return. Data for years previous to 2000–01 were not collected.
| Estimated figures | Percentages | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All ages | Clientsaged 18–64 | Clientsaged 65+ | All ages | Clientsaged 18–64 | Clientsaged 65+ | |
| All client groups | 375,000 | 78,000 | 296,000 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Contact day or the following day | 63,000 | 16,000 | 47,000 | 17 | 21 | 16 |
| More than day | 52,000 | 9,300 | 43,000 | 14 | 12 | 15 |
| More than 1 week up to 2 weeks | 46,000 | 8,000 | 38,000 | 12 | 10 | 13 |
| More than 2 weeks up to 6 weeks | 93,000 | 17,000 | 76,000 | 25 | 22 | 26 |
| More than 6 weeks up to 12 weeks | 48,000 | 10,000 | 38,000 | 13 | 13 | 13 |
| More than 12 weeks up to 6 months | 40,000 | 9,100 | 31,000 | 11 | 12 | 10 |
| More than 6 months | 33,000 | 9,500 | 23,000 | 9 | 12 | 8 |
Note:
2001–02 data are national estimates based on 133 P5 forms
Source:
RAP return P5
Orthotics
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the results of the Orthotics Pathfinder project were; and what the cost of the project was; [135276]
- (2) whether it is his policy that the model of the Orthotics Pathfinder project will be introduced across the NHS. [135277]
Mr. Hutton: The report of the Orthotics pathfinder project will be published in January 2004 and its policy implications will need to be considered. The total cost of the project was approximately £400,000 over a period of three and a half years. Most of this cost was to fund the changes in service provision, whose effectiveness the project was evaluating.
Patient Power Programme
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on progress towards the Patient Power programme; what targets have been set; and what the (a) deadlines and (b) baselines are for these targets. [128906]
Mr. Hutton: Patient bedside televisions and telephones have been well received by patients and staff. The national health service and private sector suppliers are to be congratulated on the rapid progress being made, which to date is bringing over £100 million of investment into the NHS, and giving patients access to improved communications.
Patient bedside televisions and telephones are operational in 95 hospitals, including 76 major facilities. We want all major hospitals to at least have a contract agreed by the end of 2003, and to have the system installed by the end of 2004. The exception will be a small number of hospitals with public finance initiative schemes which will install the system as their new hospitals come on line. We have also worked with suppliers in order to enable them to introduce the system to smaller sites, so as many NHS patients as possible can have access to the service.
Pharmacies
Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many fully qualified pharmacists are working in pharmacies that provide services for more than 100 hours per week; and if he will make a statement; [135398]
- (2) how many pharmacies in England are open for more than 100 hours per week; and if he will make a statement. [135399]
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Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 30 October 2003]: The information requested is not held centrally. However, as at March 2002, out of a total of 9,756 national health service community pharmacies in England, 1,524, or 15.6 per cent., received payment for extended opening hours either before 0900 hours or after 1730 hours on Monday to Saturday (or after 1300 hours on an early closing day). 4,015, or 41.2 per cent., received payment for opening on Sundays or on public holidays.
We are currently consulting on a range of measures to modernise the regulatory system which governs whether or not a community pharmacy can dispense NHS prescriptions. As well as maintaining and improving access to pharmacies in all our communities and continuing to raise standards for patients, the aim is to make the system more business friendly, to provide more certainty and reliability for the companies who depend on it and to make the process less time-consuming. The measures include a proposal to exempt from the current restrictions applications from pharmacies which intend to open more than 100 hours a week, provided they provide a full and prescribed range of services, appropriate to local needs, determined by the NHS primary care trust. Full details are given in the consultation document, "Proposals to reform and modernise the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 1992", published on 29 August 2003 and available on the Department's website at www. doh.gov.uk/pharmacyregulationconsultation.
Comments can be sent, by 21 November 2003, to Peter Dunlevy, Pharmacy and Prescriptions Branch, Department of Health, Room 155 Richmond House, 79 Whitehall, London SW1A 2NS or e-mailed to peter.dunlevy@doh.gsi.gov.uk.
Research and Development
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the national health service research and development programme was last inspected; and when it is next due to be inspected. [133932]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Department issued a research governance framework for health and social care in 2001. It brought together standards and statements of good practice against which national health service research and development programmes can in future be inspected. In 2002 and 2003, those NHS bodies involved in research reported to the Department on progress against an implementation plan.
In 2004, it is intended that research governance will be one of the controls assurance standards for the NHS. The standard will provide a common point of reference for strategic health authorities' performance management of research governance, and for the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection to take into account in its assessments.
Subject to legislation, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will from 2004 have statutory responsibility for inspecting NHS and other sites where clinical trials involving medicinal products are conducted.
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