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22 Jul 2004 : Column 644W—continued

Traffic Offences (Ambulances)

Mr. Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when new regulations relating to fines for speeding and red light offences for ambulance drivers will take effect; and whether they will apply to (a) all vehicles used by the ambulance service, including unmarked cars and motorcycles, (b) private ambulance drivers, (c) vehicles carrying donor organs for transplant, (d) vehicles transporting surgical teams for transplant operations and (e) journeys that are not initiated by a 999 call. [184792]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The new protocol issued by the Association for Chief Police Officers for dealing with speeding and red light offences committed by emergency service vehicles, took effect from 1 July 2004. The new protocol states that if an emergency service vehicle is caught speeding or going through a red light by a safety camera, a notice of intended prosecution will not be sent to the offending organisation if blue lights can be seen flashing on the photograph.

The protocol also states that if blue lights cannot be seen flashing, the police will send the normal section 172 form and a Notice of Intended Prosecution, together with a standard exemption form.

The protocol applies to all marked emergency ambulance vehicles being used for ambulance purposes.

The protocol only applies to emergency service vehicles.

If the vehicle transporting the organ is a marked emergency ambulance vehicle, the protocol covers such journeys.

If the vehicle transporting the surgical team is a marked emergency ambulance vehicle, the protocol covers such journeys.

The protocol applies to every ambulance journey undertaken by a marked emergency ambulance vehicle as defined in (a) above.
 
22 Jul 2004 : Column 645W
 

Trainee Doctors

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding has been available in each of the last seven years for part-time trainee doctors; and what has been budgeted for the future. [185406]

Mr. Hutton: The funding of medical training salary costs is resourced through a central overall funding allocation that makes no distinction between full-time and part-time trainees. The distribution of funding between full-time and part-time training at local level is the responsibility of the respective strategic health authorities (SHAs). No figures are held centrally for the local breakdown of resources; the total funding provided to SHAs in 2004–05 was £3.8 billion.

In addition and to support the introduction of the new contract, funding of £7 million in each of the years 2002–03 and 2003–04 was exceptionally provided to support the salary costs of part-time trainees. This was during a short period when new pay rates for full-time trainees were being progressively introduced and new part-time salaries, introduced in full in one step, were high by comparison; this is no longer the case.
 
22 Jul 2004 : Column 646W
 

Training Hospitals

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of UK hospitals are training hospitals. [185405]

Mr. Hutton: There are no defined criteria, functions or facilities required for any national health service hospital to describe itself as a training hospital. However, all NHS employer organisations are expected to be effective learning organisations that embrace lifelong learning for their staff.

Travel Costs

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the travel costs were of civil servants in (a) his Department and (b) its related agencies in each year since 1997. [183902]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Expenditure on travel and subsistence by the Department and Agencies has been as follows:
£000

Department		NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency	NHS Pensions	NHS Estates	Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency	Medicines Control Agency	Medical Devices Agency
1997–98	6,592	—	47	422	—	536	241
1998–99	5,814	—	48	689	—	577	208
1999–00	7,080	—	53	1,129	—	872	271
2000–01	7,295	524	67	1,477	—	674	171
2001–02	7,972	579	72	1,343	—	704	177
2002–03	7,607	635	46	1,510	—	711	161
2003–04	8,211	662	54	1,496	978	—	219

Treatment Abroad (NHS Scheme)

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have taken up the option of treatment abroad under the NHS scheme; and what criteria are used to decide to which patients such treatment should be offered. [184039]

Mr. Hutton: From January 2002 to the end of June 2004, 879 patients have been treated overseas on the National Health Service.

Primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for commissioning overseas treatment for NHS patients. Individual PCTs work with their local acute trusts to determine the criteria used to identify those patients suitable for treatment abroad. As a general rule, acute trusts have selected patients for treatment overseas who have been waiting a long time for simple elective procedures such as knee and hip replacements, hernia and cataract procedures. These patients' diagnoses, medical conditions, fitness and willingness to travel and be treated overseas will then be taken into account to determine which patients will benefit most from this treatment in Europe.

Triage

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what National Emergency Medical Services' triage practice is; and what its relationship is with NHS Direct nurse-led services. [184971]

Mr. Hutton: Nottingham Emergency Medical Services (NEMS) has been integrated with NHS Direct since 1998. NEMS is developing additional capacity with NHS Direct to support local out-of-hours care and to extend the range of coverage of this model to 100 per cent. of the Nottingham population in October. NEMS currently provides care for 80 per cent. and the remainder of Nottingham practices use the Sheffield and Birmingham based triage services of Primecare, a national commercial deputising service.

Since 2001, NEMS has been an out-of-hours exemplar site, with clinical integration of NHS Direct and the out-of-hours service. NEMS triage will continue to be that recommended by the review of general practitioners (GP) out-of-hours services in 2000, of using NHS Direct nurse assessment, followed by contact with a GP or other health professional, as required.

Waiting Times (Bury, North)

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list, for each of the last 10 years, the total number of patients in the Bury, North constituency, or the nearest relevant unit of population, waiting for NHS operations for longer than (a) 18 months, (b) 15 months, (c) 12 months, (d) nine months and (e) six months. [185251]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested is only available from 1995–96 onwards and is shown in the table.
In-patient waiting information for the Bury area (Provider based)(Quarter ending March 2004)

Month ending	Year	Qtr	Unit name	6 months+	9 months+	12 months+	15 months+	18 months+
March 1996	1995–96	4	Oldham NHS Trust	1,825	594	0	0	0
March 1996	1995–96	4	Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust	923	356	0	0	0
March 1996	1995–96	4	North Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust	1,069	478	0	0	0
March 1996	1995–96	4	Bury Healthcare NHS Trust	384	149	0	0	0
March 1996 Total				4,201	1,577	0	0	0
March 1997	1996–97	4	Oldham NHS Trust	2,306	967	0	0	0
March 1997	1996–97	4	Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust	1,124	547	173	0	0
March 1997	1996–97	4	North Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust	1,320	612	185	28	6
March 1997	1996–97	4	Bury Healthcare NHS Trust	353	157	37	0	0
March 1997 Total				5,103	2,283	395	28	6
March 1998	1997–98	4	Oldham NHS Trust	2,402	752	16	0	0
March 1998	1997–98	4	Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust	1,058	477	172	40	0
March 1998	1997–98	4	North Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust	1,838	1,011	483	175	0
March 1998	1997–98	4	Bury Healthcare NHS Trust	481	230	102	11	0
March 1998 Total				5,779	2,470	773	226	0
March 1999	1998–99	4	Oldham NHS Trust	1,278	383	68	1	0
March 1999	1998–99	4	Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust	944	460	203	36	0
March 1999	1998–99	4	North Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust	620	251	103	27	0
March 1999	1998–99	4	Bury Healthcare NHS Trust	576	336	209	51	0
March 1999 Total				3,418	1,430	583	115	0
March 2000	1999–2000	4	Oldham NHS Trust	1,108	426	55	5	0
March 2000	1999–2000	4	Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust	1,089	521	191	61	0
March 2000	1999–2000	4	North Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust	478	248	98	20	0
March 2000	1999–2000	4	Bury Healthcare NHS Trust	544	325	161	56	0
March 2000 Total				3,219	1,520	505	142	0
March 2001	2000–01	4	Oldham NHS Trust	857	256	43	0	0
March 2001	2000–01	4	Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust	707	310	61	16	0
March 2001	2000–01	4	North Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust	452	149	30	3	0
March 2001	2000–01	4	Bury Healthcare NHS Trust	299	118	0	0	0
March 2001 Total				2,315	833	134	19	0
March 2002	2001–02	4	Oldham NHS Trust	836	225	0	0	0
March 2002	2001–02	4	Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust	826	299	45	0	0
March 2002	2001–02	4	North Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust	409	144	30	0	0
March 2002	2001–02	4	Bury Healthcare NHS Trust	298	80	2	0	0
March 2002 Total				2,369	748	77	0	0
March 2003	2002–03	4	Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust	2,039	464	0	0	0
March 2004	2003–04	4	Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust	1,402	0	0	0	0

Source:
Department of Health KH07.





 
22 Jul 2004 : Column 647W
 

In-patient waiting information for the Bury area (Commissioner based)(Quarter ending March 2004)

Month ending	Year	Qtr	Unit name	6 months	9 months	12 months	15 months+
March 1997	1996–07	4	Bury and Rochdale HA	2,221	969	176	0
March 1998	1997–98	4	Bury and Rochdale HA	2,807	1,360	517	156
March 1999	1998–99	4	Bury and Rochdale HA	2,219	1,096	511	98
March 2000	1999–2000	4	Bury and Rochdale HA	2,305	1,198	500	159
March 2001	2000–01	4	Bury and Rochdale HA	1,727	778	220	51
March 2002	2001–02	4	Bury and Rochdale HA	1,752	673	123	0
March 2003	2002–03	4	Bury PCT	478	114	0	0
March 2004	2003–04	4	Bury PCT	307	0	0	0

Source:
Department of Health QF01.

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