Previous Section Index Home Page


17 Dec 2003 : Column 998W—continued

Northwick Park Hospital

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many complaints he has received concerning Northwick Park Hospital. [142930]

Mr. Hutton: Figures for the number of complaints received about individual hospitals are not collected centrally. Figures for the number of complaints relating to North West London Hospitals National Health Service Trust are available at http://www.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity/.

Operations (Cancellations)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many operations were cancelled at London hospitals in each of the last 16 quarters for which figures are available; what percentage of the cancelled operations were consequently carried out within four weeks; and if he will make a statement. [143997]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 15 December 2003]: Information is not available for cancellations at individual hospital sites. Information on the number of operations cancelled at the last minute and the number not treated within 28 days of a last minute cancellation for each national health service trust is published at: http://www.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity/ Copies of the published information are available in the Library.

Orthopists

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the implementation of the pathfinder project in orthotic services. [R] [144191]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 15 December]: The report of the orthotics pathfinder project will be published in January 2004 after which any policy implications will be considered.

Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of providing the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to (a) all children between two months and two years of

17 Dec 2003 : Column 999W

age and (b) only those children at risk between two months and two years of age; and if he will make a statement. [144108]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The cost of providing pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to all children under two years of age will depend on the negotiated price of the vaccine.

The number of children at risk is not known and therefore the cost cannot be estimated. The recommendation to immunise at-risk children under two years is consistent with United Kingdom policy for those aged over two years.

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many at-risk children are entitled to pneumococcal conjugate vaccine; what proportion of those children have been given the vaccine; and if he will make a statement. [144109]

Miss Melanie Johnson: This information is not held centrally.

Premature Babies

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many premature babies were born in each region of the UK for each of the last five years. [143679]

Dr. Ladyman: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Prisoners

Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action the Government are taking to promote effective inter-agency arrangements for dealing with mentally disordered offenders. [144072]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Government are committed both to providing better services for people with mental health problems and to protecting the public from crime and the fear of crime. A number of initiatives to support these aims are underway, involving a number of Government departments to tackle the issues raised by mentally disordered offenders.

The Department of Health, the Home Office and the Prison Service are developing new assessment and treatment facilities for dangerous people with severe personality disorder. This will result in 300 new places becoming available in high secure care with the development of an infrastructure at lower levels of security to allow a safe transition for those whose risk is reduced.

Multi-agency public protection arrangements exist in every part of the country and bring together health, police, probation and other agencies to plan the management of people who pose a risk in the community, many of whom are mentally disordered offenders.

Closer working between social services departments and mental health trusts, often leading to single management, has benefited all mental health services, including mentally disordered offenders by removing the traditional boundaries between health and social care.

17 Dec 2003 : Column 1000W

Court liaison and diversion schemes are widespread and act to ensure that mentally ill people who come into contact with the Criminal Justice System receive mental health care whenever possible.

A number of strands of work are underway with the National Probation Service to ensure that they are supported by mental health services while managing people with mental health problems in hostels and the community.

Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are taken to ensure that the use of medication for women in prison complies with the best practice guidance of the NHS. [144520]

Dr. Ladyman: All prison establishments are expected, in conjunction with their local primary care trust, to be covered by a drugs and therapeutic committee or its equivalent. Drawing on specialist advice, this committee should be responsible for the development of an evidence-based local formulary, disease management guidelines and medicine-related policies and procedures. All establishments are expected to take account of relevant guidelines issued by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Andy King: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many primary care trust, collaborative commissioning groups are providing funding for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. [144548]

Dr. Ladyman: The information requested is not collected centrally. Only the small amount of rheumatoid arthritis services that are specialised would be commissioned by a group of primary care trusts acting in a collaborative commissioning group. We do not know how many of these groups separately identify and fund rheumatoid arthritis services.

Targets

Ms Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the outcome of the consultation exercise on clinical exceptions to the four hour emergency care target. [144888]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The target for accident and emergency departments is that, by December 2004, all patients should be discharged, admitted or transferred within four hours of arrival. However, front line emergency care staff have told us that in a small proportion of cases it may not be clinically appropriate to move patients within that time frame—for example when they are undergoing active resuscitation.

Responses to the consultation exercise that we announced in September confirmed that. We have listened to the advice we received and have now reached a consensus with the British Association for Accident and Emergency Medicine, the Faculty of Accident and Emergency Medicine and the Royal College of Nursing Emergency Care Association on the type of cases that can be regarded as clinical exceptions to the target. The

17 Dec 2003 : Column 1001W

agreement is available on the Department of Health website at: http://www.doh.gov.uk/emergencycare/clinical-exceptions.htm

Other than in these exceptional cases the target remains in place, and National Health Service trusts must still do everything they can to avoid any breaches of the target that are not clinically necessary.

Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the funding of treatment for temporomandibular joint dysfunction; and if he will make a statement. [144275]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Cases of temporomandibular joint dysfunction, which are suitable for treatment by a general dental practitioner, can be funded through the general dental services. More complex cases, for example requiring surgery, will be referred to hospital and funded as with other hospital services.

Top-up Fees

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the bodies that have made representations on the impact of top-up fees on NHS professionals. [144393]

Mr. Hutton: A wide range of bodies have made formal written representations on variable fees in the consultation exercise on the White Paper "The Future of Higher Education" (column 5735), which was co-ordinated by the Department for Education and Skills. Department of Health Ministers and officials are of course in regular contact with the full range of stakeholders involved in the training of the future health professional workforce.

17 Dec 2003 : Column 1002W

University of Leicester Hospital Trust

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he next plans to visit the University of Leicester Hospital Trust. [142933]

Ms Rosie Winterton: There are no current plans in my right hon. Friend's official diary to undertake a visit to the University of Leicester Hospital Trust. Should a request to do so be received in the Department, it will be given full consideration.


Next Section Index Home Page