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12 Nov 2003 : Column 341W—continued
National Tariff
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 16 October 2003 to the right hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson), Official Report, columns 338–89W, if he will list the regional variations in (a) wages and (b) other costs of service delivery in the standard national tariff, broken down by region. [136543]
Mr. Hutton: The national tariff is adjusted to give a local tariff for each provider. This is done using a market forces factor (MFF). The MFF takes account of unavoidable differences across the country in the costs of staff, land and buildings. Other running costs are assumed not to vary. The MFF is not a regional adjustment, but is specific to each provider. A table listing the MFF adjustment for each provider has been placed in the Library.
NHS Finance
Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the funding per head of population in each English primary care trust area for financial year 2003–04. [136725]
Mr. Hutton: Primary care trusts revenue allocations per weighted and unweighted head of population in 2003–04 have been placed in the Library.
NHS Staff (Attacks)
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to reduce the number of violent attacks on NHS staff. [136419]
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Mr. Hutton: The Counter Fraud and Security Management Service (CFSMS) was launched in April 2003 with a remit encompassing policy and operational responsibility for the management of security in the national health service.
Specific measures on tackling violence were announced in April by my right hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn), as follows:
- a national and consistent incident reporting system for recording physical assaults, and a consistent local reporting system for non-physical incidents, using clear and legally based definitions with the ability to track cases from start to conclusion, allowing for monitoring and intervention where necessary, to ensure the best possible outcome for the person assaulted;
from 2004–05, the CFSMS will begin training nominated staff from health bodies for the new role of local security management specialist (LSMS). The LSMS staff will work with and assist the police in investigating cases of assault in order to increase the number of successful prosecutions. However, as an interim measure to cover the period until the LSMS staff are in place, the CFSMS will use its existing highly trained and professional operational service in this role; and
a new legal protection unit to work with health bodies and provide them with advice on cost-effective methods of pursuing a wide range of sanctions against offenders, and also to work with the police and the Crown Prosecution Service to increase the prosecution rate of individuals who assault staff and professionals working in the NHS.
Older People
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how his Department has audited the production
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of audits by local health care providers of their risk management procedures to reduce the risk of older people falling. [137930]
Dr. Ladyman: Data has not been collected centrally. This is a matter for local health and social care communities and part of their planning to ensure integrated falls services are in place by April 2005.
Ophthalmology Services
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what consultation he has had with (a) ophthalmologists in Buckinghamshire, (b) the Buckinghamshire Association for the Blind, (c) primary care trusts in Buckinghamshire and (d) the Buckinghamshire hospitals NHS Trust about his plans for a diagnostic and treatment centre for ophthalmology in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire; [130808]
- (2) what assessment he has made of the impact on ophthalmology services at Stoke Mandeville hospital of his plans for a diagnostic and treatment centre for ophthalmology in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire; [130809]
(3) what arrangements he is proposing for managing (a) operative and (b) post-operative complications at the planned diagnostic and treatment centre for ophthalmology for Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire; [130810]
(4) what representations he has received from local doctors about the accuracy of the information on the demands for cataract surgery on which he has based his plans for a diagnostic and treatment centre for ophthalmology in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. [130870]
Mr. Hutton [holding answers 18 September 2003]: Local primary care trusts (PCTs) have met with ophthalmologists and they have been actively involved in refining the proposal for a treatment centre for cataract surgery in Buckinghamshire and will continue to be involved in further developing the plans. Buckinghamshire hospitals trust has also been involved and will continue to be. Links are also being developed with local groups including patient support groups and the PCTs will be looking to work with them as the treatment centre plans progress.
Treatment centres in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire will provide more choice for patients and provide services closer to home. Existing local services are held in high regard and an important outcome for local hospitals will be the opportunity of developing further their specialist service and chronic disease management. Clinicians and managers at Buckinghamshire hospitals trusts are involved in these discussions.
Discussions have taken place with Stoke Mandeville hospital to ensure that the viability and quality of the current service will not be adversely affected.
The treatment centre will offer additional opportunities for care of patients by increasing capacity and bringing down wait times and are a service enhancement to the PCT population.
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Treatment centres will be expected to be able to deal with typical surgical problems to at least the same standard as national health service providers. Local trusts, PCTs and new providers will agree protocols for referring and transferring patients who require emergency or urgent care that cannot be provided by the treatment centres.
In autumn 2002, the NHS undertook a national capacity planning process led by local NHS commissioners. This identified a range of capacity gaps that needed to be met for the NHS to meet the waiting time target set for 2005. Where the NHS was not able to demonstrate robust plans to meet this demand the residual activity was included in the independent sector treatment centre programme.
Advice and guidance has been made available to local NHS sponsors who are responsible for running an appropriate consultation with the patients and staff. I have been assured by the Thames Valley Strategic health authority that the treatment centre offers the opportunity to reduce waiting lists for cataract surgery further, with all the benefits that cataract surgery brings to the quality of life for older people. It also creates capacity in the ophthalmology departments of local trusts to enable more complex eye surgery to be carried out.
The details of the scheme, together with a wider review of ophthalmology services generally, will be worked out locally with clinicians and other stakeholders. The specific issues raised in these questions will be managed locally as the NHS makes these new units a success.
Letters have been received at the SHA from ophthalmologists in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire outlining local concerns. These have been addressed in meetings with clinicians and managers.
Prescriptions
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the changes in workload for clerical staff, which may arise from the decision to reduce the maximum length of a prescription from three months to one month; [136711]
- (2) what estimate he made of the costs that will arise from the decision to reduce the maximum length of a prescription from three months to one month. [136712]
Ms Rosie Winterton: We have made no such estimates. It is for prescribers to determine the duration of prescriptions, based on their clinical assessment of patients and other relevant factors, including the minimisation of waste. We have not issued guidance on the duration of prescriptions. However, it is common practice for general practitioner prescriptions to be issued for one month or 28 days at a time.
Road Safety
Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to the NHS of road traffic accidents was in 2002–03. [136047]
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Ms Rosie Winterton: Under the provisions of the Road Traffic (NHS Charges) Act 1999, £105 million was recovered and paid to national health services hospitals in England and Wales and Scotland for treating those injured in road traffic accidents in 2002–03. This amount is not the full cost of treating road traffic casualties. However, as costs are recovered only where the injured person receives personal injury compensation, it includes only hospital treatment costs, and the tariff system under which the scheme operates reflects average costs rather than actual costs.
Information on the total cost to the NHS of treating all road traffic accident victims is not held centrally.
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