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26 Jan 2004 : Column 182W—continued

Health Professionals

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many additional (a) doctors, (b) nurses and (c) matrons have been employed (i) in each region and (ii) in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland since (A) 1997 and (B) 2001. [148405]

Mr. Hutton: Information on the number of doctors and nurses in England, each Government Office Region and within County Durham and Tees Valley and Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Strategic Health Authorities areas for the years requested is shown in the table. Separate information is not collected centrally on the number of matrons employed in the national health service.

NHS doctors⁽⁴⁹⁾by Government Office RegionEngland⁽⁵⁰⁾    Number (headcount)

					Change
	1997	2001	2002	1997–2002	2001–02
England	89,619	99,169	103,350	13,731	4,181
North East	5,033	5,656	5,823	790	167
Of which:
County Durham and Tees Valley	2,015	2,228	2,252	237	24
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	3,018	3,428	3,571	553	143
North West	12,870	14,082	14,497	1,627	415
Yorkshire and the Number	9,057	10,075	10,601	1,544	526
East Midlands	6,691	7,162	7,343	652	181
West Midlands	8,916	9,963	10,387	1,471	424
East of England	8,329	9,125	9,590	1,261	465
London	17,107	19,048	19,872	2,765	824
South East	13,056	14,313	15,028	1,972	715
South West	8,277	9,545	10,042	1,765	497
Special Health Authorities and Other Statutory Bodies	283	200	167	-116	-33

⁽⁴⁹⁾ Excludes GP Retainers and medical hospital practitioners and medical clinical assistants most of whom are also GPs working part-time in hospitals.

⁽⁵⁰⁾ 1997 GPs data as at 1 October 1997, all other data as at 30 September.

Sources:

Department of Health medical and dental workforce census.

General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.

NHS hospital and community health services: Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff, and Practice Nurses employed by UPEs⁽⁵¹⁾ by Government Office RegionEngland⁽⁵²⁾    Number (headcount)

				Change
	1997	2001	2002	1997–2002	2001–02
England	318,856	350,381	367,520	48,664	17,139
North East	18,390	20,727	21,504	3,114	777
Of which:
County Durham and Tees Valley SHA	7,524	8,350	8,647	1,123	297
Northumberland Tyne and Wear SHA	10,866	12,377	12,857	1,991	480
Northwest	48,903	52,507	55,989	7,086	3,482
Yorkshire and the Number	33,606	36,064	37,803	4,197	1,739
East Midlands	24,275	26,251	27,597	3,322	1,346
West Midlands	33,132	37,143	38,949	5,817	1,806
East of England	28,481	33,028	34,651	6,170	1,623
London	52,993	58,000	60,638	7,645	2,638
South East	46,702	51,202	53,397	6,695	2,195
South West	31,867	34,868	36,461	4,594	1,593
Special Health Authorities and Other Statutory Bodies	506	591	531	25	-60

⁽⁵¹⁾ UPEs include GMS Unrestricted Principals, PMS Contracted GPs and PMS Salaried GPs.

⁽⁵²⁾ 1997 practice nurse data as at 1 October 1997, all other data as at 30 September.

Notes:

1. Government Office Regions are based on grouped Strategic Health Authority areas.

2. 1997 and 2001 include estimated data for County Durham and Tees Valley based upon the proportioning of staff who moved from Northallerton NHS Trust.

3. Other Government Office Regions include estimated data for Trent, North West London, Cheshire and Merseyside SHA's and Special Health Authorities based on staff at Rampton, Broadmoor and Ashworth Special Hospitals.

Sources:

Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census.

Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.

26 Jan 2004 : Column 183W

Health Services (Lancashire)

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the impact population growth will have on Chorley and South Ribble primary care trust; and what extra monies will be made available; [148214]

(2) what extra staff and funding at Chorley Hospital he plans to make available to meet population growth in Chorley; [148215]

(3) what assessment he has made of the impact that population growth in Chorley will have on Chorley Hospital. [148216]

Miss Melanie Johnson: An assessment of the impact of population growth on the local health economy has been made by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals National Health Services Trust. It is noted from population forecasts provided by local councils that the population is due to decline slowly over the 10 years from 2001. There is no perceived impact on the local health economy, including Chorley and South Ribble Primary Care Trust (PCTs), or Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and its services across Chorley, South Ribble or Preston, and Chorley Hospital in particular.

For each round of allocations, the weighted capitation formula used to inform funding for PCTs is updated to take account of the best available measure of population from the Office for National Statistics.

Revenue allocations for PCTs covering the period 2003–04 to 2005–06 were announced on 11 December 2002. There are no plans to revisit these allocations.

Any changes in population figures will be used for the next round of allocations. We will commence preparatory work on the next round of allocations early this year.

Healthy Living Centres

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 18 December 2003, Official Report, column 1124W, on healthy living centres, what funding he is providing for centres (a) providing activities covering diet and nutrition and (b) offering physical and sporting activities. [148039]

Miss Melanie Johnson: 114 healthy living centres—167 in the United Kingdom—are providing activities covering diet and nutrition and 207 healthy living centres—282 in the UK—are offering physical and sporting activities. A substantial number of health living centres are addressing all of these: diet, nutrition and physical activity. Healthy living centres are funded through the New Opportunities Fund and do not receive any central funding from Department of Health.

26 Jan 2004 : Column 184W

Hip and Knee Replacements

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost per operation is for (a) hip and (b) knee replacements in each hospital trust; and if he will make a statement. [149007]

Mr. Hutton: The information requested has been placed in Library. The table contains the average unit costs (per operation) for each national health service trust in England for primary hip replacements and primary knee replacements where the operation is undertaken as an elective (planned) admission.

The data source is the Reference Costs 2002 Collection, relating to the financial year 2001–02. This is the most current data available in the public domain.

Calculation of the costs provided are based on all activity and costs associated with each procedure, regardless of the specialty in which the activity is recorded.

Hospital-acquired Infection

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of patients with MRSA bacteraemia in NHS hospitals in England died of their infection in the last 12 months for which figures are available; and what comparable figures his Department has collated regarding mortality in other countries. [147499]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Information on deaths from methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemias is not routinely available. Currently, mortality data can only be provided by enhanced surveillance or special studies. We do not have figures for other countries.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) which members of staff and at what level of seniority will be filling the new posts of directors of infection control; [144139]

(2) how the performance of the newly created directors of infection control will be managed; and by whom; [144140]

(3) whether it is his policy that existing consultant microbiologists or infection control nurses will be redeployed to the new posts of directors of infection control. [144141]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The director of infection prevention and control is not a new post but an extra responsibility for an existing senior health professional within every organisation providing national health service services. They will:

report directly to the chief executive and the board and not through any other officer;

26 Jan 2004 : Column 185W

have the authority to challenge inappropriate clinical hygiene practice as well as antibiotic prescribing decisions;

assess the impact of all existing and new policies and plans on infection and make recommendations for change; and

be an integral member of the organisation's clinical governance and patient safety teams and structures.

We would expect consultant microbiologists and infection control nurses to be among the healthcare professionals taking on this role but designation of the new director is a local decision. However, what is important is that the individuals concerned have the appropriate expertise and authority to act to reduce infection rates.

Strategic health authorities will monitor performance against the objectives of "Winning ways" and the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection will be asked to give priority to assessing NHS performance in reducing health care associated infection.

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