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30 Jun 2004 : Column 326W—continued

Departmental Refurbishment Costs

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what costs have been incurred in the last 12 months by the Department in refurbishment of its buildings. [180322]

Ms Rosie Winterton: In the last complete financial year (2003–04), the Department has spent £2,840,000 on refurbishing its core headquarters buildings in London and Leeds.

Emergency Planning

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 24 May 2004, Official Report, column 1378W, on emergency planning, how many times the long-standing arrangements between the NHS and the armed forces have been tested; what form these tests took; and when they last occurred. [179471]

Mr. Hutton: The call out and co-ordination aspects of these arrangements are tested whenever military assistance is requested by the ambulance service or hospitals. For example, military search and rescue helicopters routinely deliver patients to national health service hospitals and ambulances and are often involved
 
30 Jun 2004 : Column 327W
 
in urgent patient transfers. No specific exercises are conducted; the military response depends on the assets operationally available at the time.

The guidance issued to the NHS explains that the two areas where the NHS and the military need to collaborate are:

When the NHS needs to receive and treat military casualties from overseas:

There is a joint Ministry of Defence/Department of Health plan, "Reception Arrangements for Military Patients" (RAMP), in place for the handling of armed forces casualties returning to the United Kingdom from overseas. This plan is tested routinely, whenever military casualties are aeromedically evacuated from military operations or training exercises overseas back to the UK.

When the armed forces can offer help and support to the NHS following a major incident or massive disaster:

All NHS organisations are required to include arrangements in their major incident plans for accessing military resources. During an emergency, civil authorities, including the NHS, can call on the armed forces for help in dealing with the crisis under the military aid to the civil authorities scheme.

EU Health Insurance Card

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what discussions he has had with (a) other Government Departments, (b) EU representatives and (c) interested organisations on the introduction of the EU health insurance card in the UK; [178217]

(2) how he plans to meet the EU requirement for British residents to have an EU health insurance card by December 2005; [178218]

(3) what data must be recorded on the EU health insurance card to meet EU requirements; [178219]

(4) what plans he has to introduce the EU health insurance card in the UK; and what format this card will take. [178220]

Mr. Hutton: There has been detailed discussion with other member states and the European Commission (EC) prior to the EC's proposals. We have also had consultations with the devolved Administrations and a range of other Government Departments.

We will set out our proposals for introduction of the card in a consultation paper to be issued shortly. The card will be introduced before the end of 2005.

The data that will appear on the face of all health cards will be:

First name.

Surname.

Date of birth.

Personal identification number.

Country code.

Identification number of the institution responsible for reimbursement of health care.

Identification number of the card.

There will be no electronic data on the United Kingdom card and no clinical information relating to patients. The EC has proposed that a future phase will be to make the European health insurance card a smart
 
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card, that is, one with the inclusion of electronic information. The EC is developing its proposals, which will need to be discussed with member states.

Health Care Professionals (Vacancies)

Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many vacancies there are in the NHS for (a) community-based and (b) palliative care health care professionals. [177877]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 10 June 2004]: Table 1 shows the three-month vacancy rates and numbers for specified areas of work for qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff. Community midwifery figures are not collected separately. Therefore, the data refer to hospital and community based midwives.

The Department does not separately identify data on community-based doctors. Table 2 shows the three-month vacancy rates and numbers for consultants in palliative care medicine as at 31 March 2003.
Table 1 Department of Health vacancies survey, March 2003 Three-month vacancies in the specified areas of work for qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff Three-month vacancy rates, numbers and staff in post

	England
Community learning disabilities
March 2003
Three-month vacancy rate (%)	2.6
Three-month vacancy number	92
September 2002
Staff in post (whole-time equivalent)	3,579
Staff in post (headcount)	4,053
Community psychiatry
March 2003
Three-month vacancy rate (%)	2.7
Three-month vacancy number
September 2002	305
Staff in post (whole-time equivalent)	11,282
Staff in post (headcount)	12,292
Midwives
March 2003
Three-month vacancy rate (%)	3.1
Three-month vacancy number	572
September 2002
Staff in post (whole-time equivalent)	18,119
Staff in post (headcount)	23,249
District nurses
March 2003
Three-month vacancy rate (%)	1.8
Three-month vacancy number	201
September 2002
Staff in post (whole-time equivalent)	10,639
Staff in post (headcount)	13,393
Health visitors
March 2003
Three-month vacancy rate (%)	2.3
Three-month vacancy number	229
September 2002
Staff in post (whole-time equivalent)	9,912
Staff in post (headcount)	12,774

Notes:
1. Three-month vacancy information is as at 31 March 2003
2. Three-month vacancies are vacancies which trusts are actively trying to fill, which had lasted for three months or more (whole time equivalents)
3. Three-month vacancy rates are three-month vacancies expressed as a percentage of three-month vacancies plus staff in post
4. Three-month vacancy rates are calculated using staff in post from the vacancy survey, March 2003
5. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place
6. Staff in post data is from the non-medical workforce census, September 2002
Sources:
Department of Health vacancies survey, March 2003
Department of Health non-medical workforce census, September 2002




 
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Table 2

	Palliative care consultants
Three-month vacancy rate (%)	12.7
Three-month vacancy number	17
Staff in post (whole-time equivalent)	114
Staff in post (headcount)	148

 
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Health Services (Rochdale)

Mrs. Fitzsimons: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the levels of elective admissions to the NHS in Rochdale in 2003–04. [178437]

Miss Melanie Johnson: During 2003–04, the number of elective admissions for patients in the Rochdale Primary Care Trust area was 16,583 (11,132 daycases and 5,451 ordinary admissions).

Mrs. Fitzsimons: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of suspected cancer patients in Rochdale saw an NHS consultant within two weeks in each of the last seven years; and what percentage were (a) women and (b) from an ethnic minority. [178515]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information is not available in the format requested. Information on the number and percentage of suspected cancer patients, seen by a consultant within two weeks of urgent referral for each quarter since quarter 2000–01 is shown in the table. Earlier figures are not available.
Total number of patients seen within two weeks for suspected cancer in Rochdale

Year/Qtr	Name	Total number of people seen within two weeks	Total number of people seen	Percentage of people seen in two weeks of referral
2000–01
4	Christie Hospital NHS Trust	19	20	95.05
4	Oldham NHS Trust	167	179	93.30
4	Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust	200	202	99
4	North Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust	200	213	93.9
4	Bury Healthcare NHS Trust	374	385	97.1
2001–02
1	Christie Hospital NHS Trust	5	6	83.3
1	Oldham NHS Trust	181	191	94.8
1	Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust	224	229	97.8
1	North Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust	242	255	94.9
1	Bury Healthcare NHS Trust	345	359	96.1
2	Christie Hospital NHS Trust	8	8	100
2	Oldham NHS Trust	162	168	96.4
2	Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust	227	244	93
2	North Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust	298	329	90.6
2	Bury Healthcare NHS Trust	385	389	99
3	Christie Hospital NHS Trust	3	3	100
3	Oldham NHS Trust	181	183	98.9
3	Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust	235	236	99.6
3	North Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust	286	302	94.7
3	Bury Healthcare NHS Trust	398	400	99.5
4	Christie Hospital NHS Trust	3	3	100
4	Oldham NHS Trust	197	200	95.5
4	Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust	209	210	99.5
4	North Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust	302	303	99.7
4	Bury Healthcare NHS Trust	450	450	100
2002–03
1	Christie Hospital NHS Trust	5	6	83.3
1	Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust	1,215	1,230	98.8
2	Christie Hospital NHS Trust	2	2	100
2	Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust	1,240	1,251	99.1
3	Christie Hospital NHS Trust	6	7	85.7
3	Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust	1,325	1,347	98.4
4	Christie Hospital NHS Trust	4	5	80
4	Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust	1,190	1,242	95.8
2003–04
1	Christie Hospital NHS Trust	3	4	75
1	Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust	1,214	1,316	92.2
2	Christie Hospital NHS Trust	5	5	100
2	Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust	1,174	1,237	94.9
3	Christie Hospital NHS Trust	3	3	100
3	Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust	1,276	1,308	97.6
4	Christie Hospital NHS Trust	0	0	—
4	Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust	1,186	1,218	97.4

Source: Department of Health from QMCW





 
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