Previous Section Index Home Page

10 Jun 2004 : Column 549W—continued

Medical Staff

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) nurses, (b) midwives and (c) health visitors (i) were in post in 1997 and (ii) are in post; what plans there are for the future numbers of each in the next five years; and if he will make a statement. [176119]

Mr. Hutton: Information on the numbers of nurses, midwives and health visitors employed in the national health service in September 1997 and 2003 is shown in the table.

There are 67,500 more qualified nurses, midwives and health visitors employed in the NHS than in 1997. The Government have already met the NHS Plan, manifesto and delivering the NHS Plan targets for increasing the nursing workforce and is on course to meet the NHS Plan target for increasing the number of students entering training to become a nurse or midwife. The Government acknowledge that there are still more staff needed in these areas and we shall focus on increasing training places, retaining nursing staff and filling existing vacancies, it is for local NHS organisations to determine the number of nurses needed locally.
NHS HCHS: qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff as at 30 September each specified year
Headcount

19972003
Qualified nursing, midwifery and HV staff318,856386,359
Of which:
Registered midwife22,38523,941
Health visitor12,41012,984




Source:
Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census.



Mersey Regional Ambulance Service

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to reduce sickness absence in the Mersey Regional Ambulance Service; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of these policies. [176926]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 7 June 2004]: The information is not collected centrally. The measures used to address sickness absence rates within an organisation are matters for individual national health service organisations.

Ministerial Visits

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the travel costs incurred by (a) his Department and (b) each Minister within his Department, for each of the last 10 years. [175652]


 
10 Jun 2004 : Column 550W
 

Ms Rosie Winterton: Expenditure details are available for the Department from the financial year 1994–95 and are shown in the table. The Department's finance systems do not maintain information by individual Ministers for each year.
Departmental travel costs
£

Expenditure
1994–954,437,078
1995–964,307,684
1996–975,847,922
1997–986,592,081
1998–995,814,365
1999–20007,080,034
2000–017,295,706
2001–027,972,843
2002–037,607,890
2003–04(29)8,211,382


(29) Provisional


MMR Vaccine

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what scientific assessment he has made of the paper published in The Lancet in 1998 by Dr. Andrew Wakefield on the possible links between the MMR vaccine and autism; what research has been commissioned by his Department on the subject since the publication of Dr. Wakefield's paper; and if he will place in the Library copies of scientific critiques of Dr. Wakefield's paper commissioned or endorsed by his Department. [156637]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Government's independent scientific advisory body, the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM), has reviewed the work of Dr. Wakefield on the postulated association between measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines and the development of autism and inflammatory bowel disease. This has included the study published in The Lancet in 1998. CSM has kept this issue under continual review and has consistently concluded that the available evidence does not support a causal association. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has also kept this issue under close review and is in full agreement with the CSM.

A study, subsequently published in The Lancet in 1999, was commissioned by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (then the Medicines Control Agency) to look at the occurrence of autism in children born within the North Thames region before and after the introduction of MMR vaccination. The results of this study do not support the suggested causal association between MMR vaccine and autism.

At the Chief Medical Officer's request, the Medical Research Council (MRC) held an independent scientific seminar on 23 March 1998 to review the work of Dr. Wakefield's group. At this seminar, Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues were given time fully to present their work including the data from the 1998 Lancet study. The meeting concluded that there was no evidence to indicate any link between MMR vaccination and bowel
 
10 Jun 2004 : Column 551W
 
disease or autism and no reason for a change in the MMR vaccination policy. The Chief Medical Officer endorsed the conclusions of the MRC panel.

Nurses

Mr. Wareing: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses were employed in hospitals in Liverpool in (a) 1997 and (b) 2003. [173662]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested is shown in the table.
National health service hospital and community health services: qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff including practice nurses employed by unrestricted principals and equivalents(30) (UPEs) in each specified organisation as at 30 September each specified year
headcount

19972003
Total specified organisations4,5447,626
North Liverpool Primary Care Trust (PCT)n/a246
Central Liverpool PCTn/a554
South Liverpool PCTn/a152
Liverpool Cardiothoracic NHS Trust336528
Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital NHS Trust684788
Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology NHS Trust98142
Walton Centre for Neurology/Neurosurgery NHS Trust187271
Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital NHS Trust1,5671,948
Aintree Hospitals NHS Trust1,1851,120
Liverpool Women's Hospital NHS Trust487699
Mersey Care NHS Trustn/a1,178




n/a = not applicable.
Note:
UPEs include general medical services unrestricted principals, personal medical services contracted general practitioners (GPs) and personal medical services salaried GPs.
Sources:
1. Department of Health non-medical workforce census.
2. Department of Health general and personal medical services statistics.



Overseas Medical Treatment

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been sent abroad for medical treatment during the last 12 months. [174499]

Mr. Hutton: A total of 353 people were sent abroad for medical treatment commissioned by the national health service in the last 12 months.

Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines govern the use of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy on patients with (a) cerebral palsy, (b) multiple sclerosis, (c) spina bifida, (d) cystic fibrosis, (e) Huntingdon's disease and (f) acquired brain injury (i) generally and (ii) for patients who are in receipt of residential care and support services provided by public, private or voluntary organisations. [178097]

Dr. Ladyman: We have not issued guidelines for this technique. The aim of percutaneuous endoscopic gastrostomy is to feed those who cannot swallow.

The National Institute of Clinical Excellence issued guidelines in 2003 on the prevention of healthcare associated infections in primary and community care.
 
10 Jun 2004 : Column 552W
 
The recommendations provide guidance on infection prevention and control precautions that should be applied by all healthcare personnel and carers.

Peripheral Vascular Disease

Andy King: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in the last year suffered from peripheral vascular disease in (a) Rugby and Kenilworth and (b) England. [174963]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The table shows the number of finished admission episodes relating to peripheral vascular disease broken down by relevant primary care trusts (PCTs) in Rugby and Kenilworth, and the overall count for England in 2002–03.
Number
North Warwickshire PCT248
Rugby PCT71
England60,023




Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health.





Next Section Index Home Page