| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
7 Jun 2004 : Column 167W—continued
Orthotics
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action is being taken to train more people in orthotics. [176520]
Mr. Hutton: The number of training places in prosthetics and orthotics has increased from 28 to 30 between 1996–97 and 2002–03 and commissioning for the allied health professions is reviewed annually.
Osteoporosis
Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many osteoporosis specialist clinicians are employed in each strategic health authority. [175432]
Mr. Hutton: Information on the number of osteoporosis specialist clinicians in each strategic health authority is not available centrally.
Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) osteoporotic hip fractures, (b) osteoporotic vertebral fractures and (c) osteoporotic wrist fractures occurred on average in England in each of the last three years. [175433]
Dr. Ladyman: Data is not collected centrally, as information is not available on the part of the body that is fractured.
Overseas Clinicians
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what vetting procedures are required for clinicians recruited from abroad on short-term contracts to work in independent sector treatment centres. [174477]
Mr. Hutton: All registered clinicians working in independent sector treatment centres (IS-TCs) will have undergone the following stages of vetting.
Providing companies will have exercised due diligence in their clinical appointment processes including determining qualifications and experience and suitability for the English healthcare environment. This will include English language testing.
7 Jun 2004 : Column 168W
All overseas clinicians working in IS-TCs will have been assessed and registered by the national statutory regulatory authority: doctors by the General Medical Council (GMC), nurses by the Nursing and Midwifery Council and therapists by the Health Professions Council. In addition, overseas doctors involved in surgery will have gained admission to the specialist register of the CMC through a demonstration of their "training equivalence" with United Kingdom trained doctors.
The providing company's insurance company will have carried out due diligence checks on each registered clinician before providing clinical malpractice insurance.
The national health service sponsor of the IS-TC contract will have carried out due diligence on the registration of the clinician.
The Healthcare Commission, in determining the statutory registration status of the IS-TC, will have carried out checks on all clinicians including checks of registration, occupational health checks and Criminal Records Bureau checks.
Paediatric Continence Services
Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether the Children's National Service Framework will reiterate the requirement for integrated paediatric continence services; and what action he will take following the publication of the Royal College of Nursing and Continence Foundation report, "Is Policy Translated into Action"; [176048]
(2) whether he requires integrated continence services at a local level to include provision for children. [176049]
Dr. Ladyman: It is not intended that the children's national service framework will set standards for the treatment of specific conditions, but rather will outline what support should be available to children and their parents in managing a whole range of problems. In doing so, it will emphasise the promotion of evidence-based clinical guidelines, such as Good Practice in Continence Services, within which the need to include children's service provision is identified. The publication of the "Is Policy Translated into Action" document provides a helpful overview of where and how services have improved, and also the scope for further improvement, which I expect service providers will wish to consider carefully.
Parliamentary Questions
John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many (a) Ordinary Written and (b) Named Day Questions his Department received in (i) 2002–03 and (ii) this parliamentary session, broken down by month; [171191]
(2) what proportion of Ordinary Written Questions to his Department were answered within five sitting days of tabling, and what proportion of questions for written answer on a named day received a substantive answer on that day, in (a) the 2002–03 parliamentary session and (b) this parliamentary session, broken down by month. [171192]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
The available information is shown in the tables.
7 Jun 2004 : Column 169W
| Month | Number received | Average time taken to answer (working days) |
|---|---|---|
| November 2002 | 438 | 9.9 |
| December 2002 | 557 | 13.9 |
| January 2003 | 628 | 9.3 |
| February 2003 | 822 | 9.6 |
| March 2003 | 617 | 8.6 |
| April 2003 | 566 | 11.9 |
| May 2003 | 637 | 11.6 |
| June 2003 | 744 | 8.4 |
| July 2003 | (41)837 | 25.6 |
| August 2003 | — | — |
| September 2003 | 502 | 13.2 |
| October 2003 | 426 | 9.4 |
| November 2003 | 467 | 7.2 |
| All months | 7,241 | 12.0 |
(41) Some 50 per cent. of these questions were tabled for answer in September.
| Month | Number received | Average time taken to answer substantively (working days) |
|---|---|---|
| November 2002 | 221 | 9.1 |
| December 2002 | 168 | 10.4 |
| January 2003 | 122 | 7.1 |
| February 2003 | 122 | 9.1 |
| March 2003 | 116 | 7.1 |
| April 2003 | 94 | 9.1 |
| May 2003 | 97 | 8.6 |
| June 2003 | 114 | 7.3 |
| July 2003 | 85 | 11.1 |
| August 2003 | — | — |
| September 2003 | 76 | 16.7 |
| October 2003 | 131 | 6.6 |
| November 2003 | 102 | 4.5 |
| All months(42) | 1,448 | 8.8 |
(42) 68 per cent. of all questions were given a holding reply.
| Month | Number received | Average time taken to answer (working days) |
|---|---|---|
| November 2003 | 174 | 10.9 |
| December 2003 | 527 | 12.5 |
| January 2004 | 511 | 8.4 |
| February 2004 | 597 | 10.4 |
| March 2004 | 796 | 9.7 |
| April 2004 | 584 | 7.5 |
| All months | 3,189 | 9.7 |
7 Jun 2004 : Column 170W
| Month | Number received | Average time taken to answer substantively (working days) |
|---|---|---|
| November 2003 | 22 | 10.9 |
| December 2003 | 130 | 9.1 |
| January 2004 | 116 | 6.9 |
| February 2004 | 110 | 9.2 |
| March 2004 | 138 | 9.8 |
| April 2004 | 63 | 6.6 |
| All months(43) | 579 | 8.6 |
(43) 63 per cent. of all questions were given a holding reply.
The Department endeavours to reply to all questions from hon. and right hon. Members in a timely, helpful and accurate manner.
Private Sector Treatment
Mr. Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money has been spent paying the private sector to treat NHS patients in (a) England and (b) the area covered by Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust in (i) 2001–02, (ii) 2002–03 and (iii) 2003–04. [167056]
Mr. Hutton: It is not possible to extrapolate the precise amount of money spent in the private sector for 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04 from the overall cost of the national health service buying services from non-NHS providers, including voluntary and charitable organisations and the independent sector.
Data was not identified separately for 2001–02. For 2002–03, the reference cost collection was separately identified. Data for 2003–04 will not be available until October 2004.
This will not equate to the total private sector costs because:
Some organisations part-pay non-NHS providers for individual elements of a service.
The data includes voluntary and charitable services purchased.
The data only relates to services that are included in the current reference cost collection, that is, approximately 80 per cent. of acute services.
Learning disabilities services, hospice care and residential and continuing care are outside the scope of the reference costs collection.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |