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16 Mar 2004 : Column 249W—continued
NHS (Complaints)
Mr. Hurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many formal complaints were made by members of the public to the national health service in each year from 1990 to 2002. [156015]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Data prior to 1996–97 are available in the publication 'Handling complaints: monitoring the NHS complaints procedures—England', copies of which are available in the Library.
Data on national health service complaints for years from 1996–97 to 2000–01 are available on the website: http://www.performance.doh.gov.uk/nhscomplaints/ Data for 2002–03 are available on the website: http://www.performance.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity/. As a result of structural changes in the NHS, the data for 2001–02 are incomplete and have not been published, although data from those organisations that submitted returns are available on request.
NHS Budgets
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how the £100 million growth package referred to in his Department's press release of 4 March 2004 is being spent. [160346]
Ms Rosie Winterton: A capital growth scheme was launched in January 2004, which gives financial rewards to trusts providing better and faster access to emergency care. Trusts that deliver real, significant and sustained improvements will be able to access extra money to help them to carry on improving their services and facilities.
16 Mar 2004 : Column 250W
Details of the scheme are as follows:
- Acute national health service trusts can access a flat payment of up to £500,000 for faster progress to meeting the minimum operating standard of treating 98 per cent. of patients in accident and emergency departments within four hours;
- Ambulance services can access up to an average of £250,000 (payment weighted by size of trust) for responding to 75 per cent. of category A calls within eight minutes for three consecutive months;
- Mental health trusts which improve crisis access to mental health services will be able to access a flat £200,000 one-off payment.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 26 February 2004, Official Report, column 548W, on NHS budgets, what the £37 million will be spent on. [160456]
Mr. Hutton: £35.6 million of the estimated balance of £37 million has now been formally allocated to primary care trusts. Details are shown in the following table:
| Allocations made since 6 February 2004 (£) | |
|---|---|
| ABC Project (Invest to Save) | 50,000 |
| Audiology Services | 804,000 |
| Cancer Network Support | 426,000 |
| Choice Programme | 32,000 |
| Commercial Director Feasibility Analysis | 388,000 |
| Dangerous People with Severe Personality Disorders | 3,000 |
| Distinction Awards | 718,000 |
| Drug Market Response Group (Invest to Save) | 413,000 |
| E-Harp (Invest to Save) | 22,000 |
| Equality and Ethnic Minority Health | 110,000 |
| Flu Vaccination Programme | 12,780,000 |
| GP Recruitment and Retention | 199,000 |
| High Security Psychiatric Services Central Element | 450,000 |
| National Clinical Governance Support Team | 1,170,000 |
| National Institute of Mental Health | 40,000 |
| Neo-Natal Intensive Care National Audit | 200,000 |
| NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service | 22,000 |
| NHS Pay Modernisation | 1,445,000 |
| Older People in the Community (Invest to Save) | 116,000 |
| Palliative Care | 74,000 |
| Premises Improvements | 741,000 |
| Prescribing training for Nurses, Pharmacists and other Health Professionals | 10,000 |
| Revascularisation | 10,000 |
| Schedule 5—Programme Budgeting | 3,000 |
| Securing Recombinant Clotting Factors | 11,890,000 |
| Service Improvement Teams | 2,880,000 |
| Strategic Management and Support | 1,804,000 |
| Waiting lists—Booked Admissions | 450,000 |
| Youth Services in Basset Law | 52,000 |
| Total | 35,602,000 |
NHS Treatment (Accession Citizens)
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate the Government has made of how many EU accession country citizens will make use of the NHS. [157352]
Mr. Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Westbury (Dr. Murrison) on 23 February 2004, Official Report, column 279W.
16 Mar 2004 : Column 251W
NHS Treatment
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people sought medical assistance through the NHS between 1997 and 2003. [160923]
Mr. Hutton: The tables show the number of patients admitting or starting a consultation in the following situations:
- General practitioner consultations,
- Walk-in-centre visits,
- Calls to NHS Direct,
- New attendances at accident and emergency,
- First outpatient attendances,
- Day case and overnight hospital admissions.
These figures relate to the number of attendances or admissions and are not a count of the number of people—some patients may be admitted or attend a consultation on more than one occasion.
| All GP consultations (Million) | |
|---|---|
| 1996 | 254 |
| 1997 | — |
| 1998 | 217 |
| 1999 | — |
| 2000 | 220 |
| 2001 | 217 |
16 Mar 2004 : Column 252W
1 The population data used to calculate the estimated total numbers of consultations are revised mid year estimates from the ONS as at 27 February 2003. These figures are based on the 2001 census.
2 Consultation estimates are not available for 1997 and 1999.
Note:
Figures are rounded to the nearest million.
Source:
ONS General Household Survey and Mid year population estimates from the 2001 census.
| Calls to NHS direct(16) | Total visits to NHS walk-in centres(17) , (18) | New attendances at A and E/minor injury units(19) | First out-patient attendances(19) | Day case admissions(20) , (21) | Overnight hospital admissions(20) , (21) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996–97 | — | — | 12,484 | 11,294 | 2,623 | 1,749 |
| 1997–98 | — | — | 12,794 | 11,529 | 2,765 | 1,695 |
| 1998–99 | 110 | — | 12,811 | 11,778 | 3,122 | 1,756 |
| 1999–2000 | 1,650 | — | 13,167 | 12,136 | 3,212 | 1,730 |
| 2000–01 | 3,420 | 574 | 12,953 | 12,466 | 3,337 | 1,719 |
| 2001–02 | 5,213 | 1,144 | 12,853 | 12,714 | 3,411 | 1,680 |
| 2002–03 | 6,319 | 1,373 | 12,945 | 13,O32 | 3,618 | 1,702 |
(16) Figures are partially estimated.
Sources:
(17) Health Intelligence Unit, NHS Direct.
(18) Walk-in centre activity reports.
(19) KH09.
(20) SaFFR. Data relates to General and Acute Specialities only, First Finished Consultant Episodes only.
(21) Day case and over night admissions: Earlier SaFFR figures are from health authorities. With the abolition of health authorities, figures for 2001–02 and 2002–03 are based on returns from NHS trusts
Nursing Home Costs
Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what financial contribution was provided by each local authority in England towards the cost of nursing home provision in each of the last five years. [161055]
Dr. Ladyman: Information on the gross expenditure on nursing care placements as reported by each council with social services responsibilities in England from 1998–99 to 2002–03, has been placed in the Library.
Osteoporosis
Linda Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the value of primary prevention of osteoporotic fracture. [158867]
Dr. Ladyman: The Government acknowledges the importance and value of primary prevention of osteoporotic fracture. That is why the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has accepted the appraisal committee's recommendation to address the prevention of fractures in post-menopausal women who have not yet had a fracture through their technology appraisal for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. This will inform recommendations on the clinical and cost effectiveness of treatments for primary prevention.
NICE is also developing a clinical guideline to look at the assessment of fracture risk and the prevention of osteoporotic fractures in individuals at high risk. It will examine both interventions used to prevent an initial fracture and those used to prevent fractures where one has already occurred.
Out-of-hours Provision
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for the ambulance service to play a role in the provision of out-of-hours emergency care. [160661]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Where general practitioners opt out, primary care trusts (PCTs) will be able to consider a range of alternative providers; for example: NHS Direct, ambulance services, national health service walk-in centres, GP co-operatives or their successor organisations, paramedics and deputising services.
16 Mar 2004 : Column 253W
This will allow the PCTs to plan and commission innovative and integrated services focusing on the most appropriate provider for the range of care required with an enhanced focus on the use of triage and skill-mix. The service is likely to be less reliant on doctors and make more use of nurses and others such as ambulance staff. Through this approach a flexible, more responsive service can be developed with staff trained to provide a range of interventions. This will provide a better service for patients.
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