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7 Sept 2004 : Column 1082W—continued

Midwives

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many midwives are registered in the West Midlands. [187300]

Dr. Ladyman: This information is not held centrally, but is available directly from the Nursing and Midwifery Council, which is an independent statutory regulatory body.

Ministerial Conference (Care Issues)

Phil Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the purposes were of the ministerial conference on 26 to 27 May on care issues; and if he will list those invited to attend. [186153]

Dr. Ladyman: Central Government Departments are required to produce pay and workforce strategies in respect of the public services workforces that they cover. The social care workforce is covered predominantly by three Departments; the Department of Health, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

The social care workforce conference was organised by the Department of Health to bring together stakeholders in the development of the social care workforce to share knowledge and to reflect on and
 
7 Sept 2004 : Column 1083W
 
inform the revision of the Department's national social care workforce strategy in relation to recruitment, development and rewards.

Over the past year, most parts of the national infrastructure that are accountable for the social care workforce have experienced significant change. In the Department of Health, a major reorganisation has created a new workforce directorate that has joined health and social care workforce development functions into new teams. Children's social care policy has moved to a new children and families directorate in the DfES and new people are engaged in taking forward the proposals in the Green Paper, Every child matters. Key
 
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regulatory institutions, the National Care Standards Commission and the Social Services Inspectorate, have merged into the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI). The proposed introduction of a sector skills council is also having an impact on the social care employers infrastructure.

The conference had the dual purpose of providing an early opportunity for the many new people to meet and share perspectives, and then to consider with the Government Ministers with central responsibilities how future strategy should be shaped and partnership managed.

Invitations were sent to the following people:

	Title	First name	Surname	Organisation
1.	Mr	James	Churchill	ARC
2.	Professor	Gillian	Slater	Bournemouth University
3.	Mr	Ian	Johnston	British Association of Social Workers (BASW
4.	Ms	Julia	Hurst	Bupa Care Services
5.	Mr	Peter	Ludford	Bupa Care Services
6.	Mr	Oliver	Thomas	Bupa Care Services
7.	Professor	Peter	Beresford	Centre for Citizen Participation
8.	Mrs	Sheelagh	Richards	College of Occupational Therapists
9.	Mr	David	Behan	Commission for Social Care Inspection
10.	Ms	Denise	Platt	CSCI
11.	Mr	Paul	Harper	Department for Education and Skills
12.	Mr	Dominic	Hudson	Department for Education and Skills
13.	Mr	Tom	Jeffery	Department for Education and Skills
14.	Ms	Judy	Leavesley	Department of
15.	Dr	Jeanette	Pugh	Department for Education and Skills
16.	Mr	Steve	Catling	Department of Health
17.	Mr	Andrew	Foster	Department of Health
18.	Dr	Carol	Lupton	Department of Health
19.	Ms	Anne	Mercer	Department of Health
20.	Mr	Craig	Muir	Department of Health
21.	Mr	Andrew	Nash	Department of Health
22.	Ms	Melanie	Newman	Department of Health
23.	Professor	Anthony	Sheehan	Department of Health
24.	Mr	Martin	Staniforth	Department of Health
25.	Mrs	Janis	Stout	Department of Health
26.	Mr	Lionel	Took	Department of Health
27.	Ms	Pat	Nicholls	Department of Health
28.	Mrs	Sue	Brennan	Department of Health
29.	Mr	Rob	Webster	Department of Health
30.	Ms	Joan	Munro	Employers Organisation for Local Government
31.	Councillor	John	Stocks	Employers Organisation for Local Government
32.	Mr	Mike	Walker	Employers Organisation for Local Government
33.	Miss	Ann	Mackay	English Community Care Association
34.	Ms	Lynne	Berry	General Social Care Council
35.	Mr	Rodney	Brooke	General Social Care Council
36.	Mr	John	Sargent	Greater Manchester WDC
37.	Mr	Andrew	Crook	H M Treasury
38.	Miss	Lucy	French	H M Treasury
39.	Mr	Nigel	Druce	Improvement and Development Agency
40.	Professor	Michael	Preston-Shoot	JUC-SWEC University of London
41.	Mr	Peter	Huxley	Kings College London
42.	Professor	Jill	Manthorpe	Kings College London
43.	Mr	Neil	Dhruev	Leicestershire Partnership Trust
44.	Mr	Vie	Citarella	LGA
45.	Mr	Tony	Hunter	Liverpool City Council
46.	Ms	Vivienne	Walters	Local Government Association
47.	Ms	Catherine	Mangal	Local Government Association
48.	Ms	Jenny	Goodall	London Borough of Brent
49.	Ms	Christine	Hawes	London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
50.	Mr	Des	Kelly	National Care Forum
51.	Mrs	Sheila	Scott	National Care Homes Association
52.	Mrs	Nadra	Ahmed	National Care Homes Association
53.	Ms	Erica	De'Ath	NCVCCO
54.	Mr	Brendan	Johnston	National Ireland Social Care Council
55.	Ms	Husna	Mortuza	Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
56.	Mr	Geoffrey	Tierney	Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
57.	Mr	Michael	Leadbetter	Practice Learning Taskforce
58.	Mr	Frank	Ursell	Registered Nursing Home Association
59.	Mr	Alistair	Gaw	Scottish Executive
60.	Ms	Ann	Christina	Shropshire and Staffordshire Strategic Health Authority
61.	Mr	John	Rogers	Skills for Health
62.	Mr	Richard	Clough	Association
63.	Ms	Sheila	Barrett	Social Care Institute of Excellence
64.	Mr	Don	Brand	Social Care Institute of Excellence
65.	Ms	Jane	Campbell	Social Care Institute of Excellence
66.	Mr	Bill	Kilgallon	Social Care Institute of Excellence
67.	Ms	Sue	Lightup	St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council
68.	Mr	Richard	Banks	Topss England
69.	Mr	Arthur	Keefe	Topss England
70.	Mrs	Andrea	Rowe	Topss England
71.	Mr	Francis	Ward	Topss England
72.	Mr	Bill	McClimont	UK Home Care Association
73.	Mrs	Lesley	Rimmer	UK Home Care Association
74.	Mr	Owen	Davies	Unison
75.	Ms	Jo	Goodship	University of Portsmouth
76.	Professor	Judith	Lathlean	University of Southampton
77.	Ms	Maggie	Blyth	Youth Justice Board
78.	Mr	David	Jones	DfES
79.	Mr	David	Leay	NATOPSS
80.	Ms	Fiona	Woodward	Unison

 
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MRSA

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he gives to ambulance authorities on (a) combating MRSA and (b) infection control generally; and what additional resources he plans to make available for this purpose. [184409]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Management action and resources for infection control are matters for individual national health service trusts. Each trust will have an infection control policy which should comply with current best practice and have access to local advice. Healthcare organisations including ambulance trusts should have systems in place to minimise the risk to patients from healthcare associated infections. Health Service Circular 2000/002 required all NHS trusts, including ambulance trusts to take action to strengthen prevention and control of infection, to secure appropriate health care services for patients with infection and improve surveillance of infection. This was reinforced by "Winning Ways—Working together to reduce Hospital Acquired Infection in England".

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether the isolation procedures set down by the Department to combat MRSA and which were operative as at 19 March 1997 are still operative; when the procedures were last brought to the attention of hospitals; and if he will make a statement; [184411]

(2) in what circumstances hospitals are required to provide strict isolation for MRSA sufferers; and if he will make a statement. [184413]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Decisions on isolation are made locally. The guidance issued in 1995 is still in place and we require national health service organisations to regularly assess their needs for isolation facilities. Health Service Circular 2000/002 on the management and control of hospital infection, required trusts to undertake a risk assessment to determine appropriate provision of isolation facilities within each trust.
 
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"Winning Ways—Working together to reduce healthcare associated infection in England", published in December 2003 requires chief executives to ensure that there is appropriate provision of isolation facilities within their healthcare facilities.

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether hospitals are required to destroy bed linen of MRSA sufferers after use; and if he will make a statement. [184412]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The destruction of bed linen is not necessary as methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus is removed by normal laundering.

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the results were of the national surveillance by 40 hospitals in respect of MRSA announced by the Minister on 19 March 1997; and if he will make a statement. [184414]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The results were used to develop the nosocomial infection national surveillance service, which was a voluntary and confidential reporting system. This surveillance system aimed to help hospitals benchmark their own performance and investigate their own infection rates. It had two module hospital acquired blood stream infections, which has been replaced by the mandatory surveillance system, and surgical site infections. Orthopaedic surgical site infection (SSI) surveillance is now part of the mandatory system and the rest of SSI module was developed into the surgical site infections surveillance system.

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures he proposes to introduce to tackle MRSA in nursing homes; and if he will make a statement. [184421]

Dr. Ladyman: Implementation of our action plan, "Winning Ways—Working together to reduce Healthcare Associated Infection in England", will reduce infections in both hospital and community settings. This report will raise standards by reinforcing the need to follow existing good practice, such as the
 
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public health medicine environmental group guidelines on the control of infection in residential and nursing homes, published in 1996 and the National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidance, "Infection control; prevention of healthcare associated infection in primary and community care", published in 2003. In addition, we have asked the public health medicine and environmental group to update the existing guidance on infection control in nursing homes.

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