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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.
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
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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:
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 WaysWorking 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 WaysWorking 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 WaysWorking 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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