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Agency Nurses (CRO Checks)

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what risk assessment has been made of agency nurses working in care home settings without the need for a Criminal Records Bureau disclosure; [164811]

(2) what risk assessment he has made of allowing care assistants to work unsupervised for a domiciliary care agency before their Criminal Records Bureau checks are complete. [164818]

Dr. Ladyman: In view of current recruitment difficulties within the care home and domiciliary care sectors, the Department is consulting on amendments to the Care Homes Regulations 2001, the Domiciliary Care Agencies Regulations 2002 and the Nurses Agencies Regulations 2002 to allow staff to start work prior to the satisfactory completion of a Criminal Records Bureau disclosure.

The consultation ends on 16 April and I will carefully consider all responses. An announcement will be made in due course.

Allergic Reactions (Latex)

Mr. Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to require primary care trusts to establish a policy to reduce allergic reactions to latex in (a) staff and (b) patients. [165568]

Mr. Hutton: Actions to be taken in relation to natural rubber latex (NRL) are covered by the Health and Safety at Work Act, Etc. 1974 which places a general duty on all National Health Service employers to keep staff and patients healthy and safe at work. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 places duties on employers to systematically assess all workplace risks and to take all reasonably practicable action to minimise those risks—this includes exposure to NRL. The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH), also apply in requiring employers to undertake an assessment of any substances used at work that are hazardous to health. All of this legislation applies to primary care trusts.

The Department of Health, working with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and other interested parties, has developed a latex toolkit covering the issues surrounding latex allergy such as what employers and employees should be doing in the workplace, areas affected and general information.

Mr. Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of NHS staff adversely affected by an allergic reaction to latex; and (a) how many days work have been lost and (b) how many staff have left the service as a result of latex allergy in each of the last five years. [165571]

 
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Mr. Hutton: The Department of Health does not collect this information centrally, as it would duplicate data collection undertaken by the Health and Safety Executive in relation to the control of substances hazardous to health.

Ambulance Services

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will publish the ambulance response times for (a) England and (b) each ambulance trust for (i) category a, (ii) category b and (iii) category c calls in each year since 1997; [163506]

(2) what percentage of urgent patient journey calls were more than 15 minutes late in (a) England and (b) each ambulance trust in each year since 1997. [163507]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Information is not available in the form requested. The available data are published in the statistical bulletin "Ambulance services, England: 2002–03", a copy of which is in the Library. It is also available at www.publications.doh.gov.uk/public/sb0313.htm. This shows available performance data for England and by ambulance trust.

Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust

Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the franchise plan for the Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust. [165064]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 1 April 2004]: I refer to hon. Member to the reply I gave on 12 June 2002 at column 1320W.

Biometric Data

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to introduce a black box style system to retain key biometric data for major operations; and if he will make a statement. [162639]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The operating theatre black box system has been invented by a scientist in Britain and can be used to record the actions of surgical teams and   clinical information about a patient during an operation. It is one method to support learning and improve patient safety.

The Government recognise the need to understand more about the nature and causes of errors in surgery and as part of the Department's patient safety research programme has funded research into the safety of surgical care. The research team will make recommendations to inform surgical team training in error management in the future. The national Patient Safety Agency is also undertaking work to reduce patient safety incidents associated with surgery.

Further information is available on the patient safety   research programme website at: http://www. publichealth,bham.ac.uk/psrp and on the National Patient Safety Agency website at: http://www.npsa. nhs.uk.

Cancer Treatment

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) pursuant to his answer of 5 January 2004, Official Report, column 200W, on the National Institute for
 
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Clinical Excellence, when the findings of the investigation into the implementation of guidance on the use of cancer treatments produced by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence will be published; [164239]

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (2) when the National Cancer Director expects to have completed his review of postcode prescribing in the case of cancer treatment. [164683R]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Professor Mike Richards, the   National Cancer Director, is continuing his investigation into the causes of the apparent variation in the uptake of cancer drugs approved by the National Institue for Clinical Excellence.

Professor Richards is currently considering evidence provided by the 34 cancer networks in England and data supplied by the pharmaceutical industry.

Findings are expected to be available in Spring 2004.

Care Homes

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what new arrangements are in place for patient forums to inspect care homes. [162921]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Patients' forums have statutory powers to enter and inspect care homes for the purposes of carrying out their functions, such as monitoring and reviewing the services provided in them, where the services are provided under partnership arrangements between the national health service and a local authority under Section 31 of the Health Act 1999 and where the services provided relate to the exercise of the local authority's health related functions.

In addition patients' forums can enter and inspect NHS care homes and NHS services provided in private care homes. Patients' forums only have the powers to enter and inspect the care homes that have been mentioned for the purposes of their functions.

From 1 April 2004, the Commission for Social Care Inspection will be responsible for regulation and inspection of care homes and will have a duty to co-operate with the Commission for Health Care Audit and Inspection. The Government expect these bodies to work closely with patients' forums as they carry out their statutory functions.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was paid on average per day by local authorities to independent care homes for the provision of (a) food, (b) care and (c) accommodation in the latest year for which figures are available. [163601]

Dr. Ladyman: The Government do not collect data on payments by local councils to independent care homes. According to the most recent National Care Standards Commission report (March 2004), fees for care homes for older people fall most often into the £200 to £400 per week range with very few above £700 per week. In the case of younger adults, fees charged fall in the range of £300 to £1,200 although overall they range from under £100 to over £2,000 per week.

The figures are not broken into the component costs.
 
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