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15 Dec 2003 : Column 777W—continued

MRSA

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the statistics for England for quarter 1 and quarter 2 of the 2003–04 on MRSA collated in the mandatory MRSA bacteraemia surveillance scheme; and if he will make a statement. [140860]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 3 December 2003]: Results for the first quarter of 2003–04 (April to June 2003) of the mandatory surveillance scheme are available in the Communicable Disease Report Weekly of 18 September 2003, available at www.hpa.org.uk/cdr/PDFfiles/2003/cdr3803.pdf. A total of 1,823 reports were received.

Data for the second quarter (July to September 2003) will be published shortly.

Nappies

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS hospital trusts have contractual arrangements with promoters of baby products which prevent them from making information about re-usable nappies available; and if he will make a statement. [143227]

Dr. Ladyman: I am not aware of any contractual arrangements preventing hospital trusts providing information about re-usable nappies. Parents are given two comprehensive manuals, "The Pregnancy Book" and "Birth to Five", also available at http://www. doh.gov.uk/birthtofive/. Both manuals give detailed information on disposable and reuseable nappies including information about nappy laundering services and contact details for voluntary groups which support the use of re-usable nappies. It is then up to parents or carers to choose which type of nappy to use.

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National Patient Safety Agency

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the appointment of Lord Hunt of Kings Heath as chairman of the National Patient Safety Agency was made by the NHS Appointments Commission. [141314]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Yes, the appointment was made by the National Health Service Appointments Commission. The noble Lord Hunt of Kings Heath was interviewed by a panel, including an independent member, in accordance with the Code of Practice issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

National Service Framework for Renal Services

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what measures the forthcoming National Service Framework for Renal Services module on the effective delivery of dialysis will put in place to increase (a) the availability of and (b) equality of access to dialysis services; [143941]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The national service framework (NSF) for renal services will be published shortly. It will set standards of care for people with renal failure to be achieved over the next 10 years. Details of how the standards can be implemented will be embraced in the document. The NSF will build upon other work, including the "National Service Framework for Diabetes and Saving Lives, Valuing Donors: a Transplant Framework for England". Work on the primary prevention and care towards the end of life modules is in development.

NHS Contractors

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the revenue recovered by the NHS for charging contractors for receiving tender documents in each of the last three years. [R] [144192]

Mr. Hutton: Neither the Department of Health nor national health service bodies charge contractors for receiving tender documents.

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NHS Costs

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of the national health service per head of population was in each year since 1996–97; and what the estimated cost is for each year from 2003–04 to 2005–06 in (a) each of the English regions and (b) Suffolk. [140701]

Mr. Hutton: Available information on the average amount of national health service spending per weighted head for the former English Regions and the Suffolk Health Authority area for 1996–97 to 2001–02 has been placed in the Library. This information is not available in the same format for 2002–03. Information on the average spending per weighted head for the strategic health authorities in 2002–03 has also been placed in the Library, although the Suffolk area cannot be separately identified after 2001–02, along with revenue allocations per weighted head for 2003–04 to 2005–06.

NHS Reservists

Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS staff are deployed as reservists in Iraq. [141419]

Mr. Hutton: The Department does not collect details centrally of the number of national health service staff deployed as reservists in Iraq. The number of NHS staff in Iraq with reservist commitments is dependent on operational circumstances.

NHS Secondees

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS employees in (a) medical and (b) non-medical posts are on secondment to developing countries. [141031]

Mr. Hutton: The Department does not collect data on numbers of national health service employees in medical and non-medical posts currently on secondment to developing countries.

NHS Staff

Mr. Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS staff, employed within the central function, are employed in (a) personnel, (b) finance, (c) information technology, (d) legal services, (e) library services, (f) health education and (g) general management support services. [141917]

Mr. Hutton: The information requested is not collected centrally. As at 30 September 2002, 85,706 people were employed in the National Health Service in central functions within the NHS infrastructure support staff group.

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the timescale is for the introduction of a national incident reporting system for recording physical assaults on NHS staff. [141812]

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. The CFSMS has developed a national reporting system for recording incidents of

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physical assault. The system uses a legally based definition with the ability to track cases from report to conclusion and is designed to give hard and accurate information on both the nature and scale of assaults.

Secretary of State Directions were issued to health bodies in November 2003 to ensure that a consistent approach is taken with regards to the recording of physical and non-physical assaults. The national recording system for physical assaults came into operation on 8 December 2003.

Organ Transplants

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many organ transplants took place in (a) St. Helens and (b) Merseyside in (i) 2001, (ii) 2002 and (iii) 2003. [142912]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested is shown in the table.

Main operation; transplant operations—Liverpool, St. Helen's and Knowsley Health Authorities—treatment count of finished consultant episodes NHS hospitals, 2000–01 to 2002–03

St. Helen's and KnowsleyLiverpool
2000–01082
2001–02080
2002–03078

Notes:

1. Finished Consultant Episode (FCE):

An FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Please note that the figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the year.

2. Grossing:

Figures are grossed for both coverage and missing/invalid clinical data, except for 2001–02 and 2002–03 which are not yet adjusted for shortfalls.

3. Main operation:

The main operation is the first recorded operation in the HES data set, and is usually the most resource intensive procedure performed during the episode.

Source:

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Department of Health.

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