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17 Nov 2003 : Column 610W—continued
Older People
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which hospitals have introduced self-administration schemes for medicines for older people. [137931]
Dr. Ladyman: This information is not collected centrally.
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what analysis he has made of the (a) levels and (b) patterns of services for older people in order to facilitate comparisons across health authorities. [137937]
Dr. Ladyman: In July 2002, the Department published its national health service performance ratings and indicators for 2001–02. This compared performance of NHS trusts, also grouped by strategic health authority and, for the first time, primary care organisations.
The indicator set included several performance indicators relating to services for older people including services following a fall or a stroke.
The indicators and ratings can be found at www. doh.gov.uk/performanceratings/2002.
The Department also collects, on a regular basis, performance information relating to targets, including those relating to older people's services, in "Improvement, Expansion and Reform," the 2003–06 priorities and planning document.
Overseas Treatment Scheme
Mr. Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what basis patients are selected for the NHS overseas treatment scheme; and who is involved in the making of that decision. [136746]
Mr. Hutton: Local national health service trusts determine the process for selecting patients for treatment abroad. However, two key determinants are always addressed:
- The patient is clinically fit to travel
The patient is clinically fit to be operated on
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the local trust or the overseas commissioner (in accordance with local agreement) seeks approval from the patient's general practitioner that they are fit to travel. Before travelling overseas, all patients attend an overseas assessment clinic, run by the overseas clinicians. This allows the overseas clinicians to carry out a pre-operative assessment to determine whether the patient is suitable for surgery and to travel to the overseas hospital.
Performance Targets
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total cost was of (a) setting, (b) monitoring and (c) measuring the performance targets for his Department in 2002–03; and how many and what grades of civil servants monitor these targets. [137946]
Mr. Hutton: Performance targets for the Department were agreed as part of Spending Review 2002. The monitoring and measurement of Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets forms part of departmental performance management. Performance management is an integral part of the day to day running of the Department and, as such, it is not possible to separate the specific costs out. The monitoring of progress towards, and performance against, the Department's PSA targets is undertaken by a wide variety of staff at all levels of the organisation.
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the performance targets that (a) his Department and (b) its agencies and non-departmental public bodies are required to meet; and if he will specify for each target (i) who sets it and (ii) who monitors achievement against it. [137962]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Gregory Barker) on 23 June 2003, Official Report, column 581W.
The Department of Health Report 2003 provides information on its agencies and non-departmental public bodies. Performance against targets is monitored by the Department, including through meetings between Secretary of State and Ministers and the Chief Executive of the body.
Personal Alarms
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to supply personal alarms to NHS staff. [137466]
Mr. Hutton: The decision to supply personal alarms to national health service staff is the responsibility of each individual NHS employing body.
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 NHS. The CFSMS will shortly be publishing a strategy on the management of security in the NHS. From June 2004, a NHS security management manual will be made available to trained and accredited security management specialists in each NHS health body, which will contain advice on the issue of personal alarms to NHS staff and professionals.
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Personal Care
Mr. Patrick Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what evaluation he has made of the impact of free personal care in Scotland. [138929]
Dr. Ladyman: It is a matter for the Scottish Executive to evaluate the implementation of free personal care in Scotland.
Pharmaceutical Regulations
Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to carry out a regulatory impact assessment on the proposals to reform and modernise the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 1992. [137302]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the draft regulatory impact assessment and competition assessment at Annex C of our consultation document, "Proposals to reform and modernise the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 1992" published on 29 August 2003. This is available on the Department's website at www.doh.gov.uk/pharmacy regulationconsultation.
Comments on the consultation document and draft assessments 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. We will publish a final full regulatory impact assessment and competition assessment in due course having analysed all comments received. These assessments will be placed in the Library.
Plastic Bottles
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the safety of plastic bottles for consumption of fluids for (a) babies and (b) the general public; [136077]
- (2) what research he has collated on risks to health of using plastic bottles for feeding babies; and what assessment he has made of the practice in other EU countries. [137218]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The composition of plastic bottles used for drinks consumed by babies and the general public is strictly controlled to ensure the safety of foodstuffs contained in them. These controls are harmonised throughout the European Union and they set limits on the migration of substances into foodstuffs to prevent harmful quantities being present.
The materials used to make plastic bottles for feeding babies are subject to strict controls that have been harmonised throughout the European Union. These controls are based on a detailed assessment of safety data by European scientific experts.
Podiatry
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average time has been that patients have had to wait for podiatry appointments in each primary care trust, in each year since 2001. [138160]
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Mr. Hutton: This information is not collected centrally.
Premature Babies
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will ensure that premature babies at Guys and St. Thomas' Hospital receiving preventative treatment for respiratory syncytial virus are not discharged without assurance that they will be able to return to the hospital as required to complete their course of treatment; [136926]
- (2) if he will ensure that premature babies at Guys and St. Thomas' Hospital at high risk of contracting respiratory syncytial virus and chronic lung disease do not have their treatment curtailed due to cost cutting requirements; [136927]
(3) how many paediatric wards were closed to new admissions owing to respiratory syncytial virus infection in the last year for which records are available. [136928]
Mr. Hutton: It is the current view of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation that children less than two years of age with severe chronic lung disease and who are on home oxygen during the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) season should receive prophylactic treatment during the respiratory syncytial virus season. I am assured by Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital National Health Service Trust that it will continue to provide full courses of the prophylactic treatment for these children.
Information on the number of wards closed to new admissions owing to RSV is not collected centrally.
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