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11 Oct 2004 : Column 150W—continued
NHS Direct
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of calls to each NHS Direct call centre in England in the last 12 months related to dental problems. [188566]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Information on the total number and percentage of calls to each call centre in England relating to dental problems is not collected centrally.
NHS Psychiatry
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) psychiatrists and (b) community psychiatric nurses were (i) recruited to and (ii) left the NHS in each of the last three years. [189418]
Mr. Hutton:
Work force data are collected through the annual non-medical work force census. The census is a snapshot of data on a specific day in the appropriate year. The information shown in the table shows the net difference each year in the number of consultants within the psychiatry group and the number of qualified nurses working in community psychiatry between September 2000 and September 2003. Data on numbers of leavers and joiners in the national health service is not available.
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Psychiatrist | Qualified community psychiatric nurses | |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 2,904 | 11,080 |
| 2001 | 2,959 | 12,224 |
| Difference 2000–01 | 55 | 1,144 |
| 2002 | 2,979 | 12,292 |
| Difference 2001–02 | 20 | 68 |
| 2003 | 3,229 | 13,173 |
| Difference 2002–03 | 250 | 881 |
Source:
Department of Health medical and dental workforce census
Department of Health non-medical workforce census
11 Oct 2004 : Column 152W
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the vacancy rates are for (a) psychiatrists and (b) community psychiatric nurses in the NHS. [189425]
Mr. Hutton: As at March 2004 the three month vacancy rate was 9.6 per cent. for psychiatrists and 1.9 per cent. for qualified nurses working in community psychiatric nursing services.
NHS Staff (York)
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full-time equivalent NHS (a) general practitioners, (b) nurses in general practitioner practices, (c) other NHS community nurses and (d) community-based NHS staff in each of the other professions allied to medicine there were in the greater York area in (i) 1994 and (ii) each year since then. [189761]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested is shown in the table.
| 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire | ||||||||||
| General medical practitioners (excluding retainers)(45) | 923 | 933 | 927 | 944 | 934 | 951 | 959 | 968 | 989 | 1,037 |
| Practice nurses employed by UPEs(46) | 323 | 286 | 303 | 312 | 325 | 342 | 357 | 367 | 406 | 430 |
| Qualified community nursing(47) | n/a | 1,263 | 1,313 | 1,373 | 1,350 | 1,234 | 1,132 | 1,551 | 1,596 | 1,727 |
| Of which: | ||||||||||
| Selby Primary Care Group (PCG) | ||||||||||
| General medical practitioners (excluding retainers)(45) | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 41 | 42 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Practice nurses employed by UPEs(46) | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 14 | 13 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Qualified community nursing(47) | ||||||||||
| York PCG | ||||||||||
| General medical practitioners (excluding retainers)(45) | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 128 | 131 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Practice nurses employed by UPEs(46) | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 44 | 39 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Qualified community nursing(47) | ||||||||||
| York and Selby Primary Care Trust | ||||||||||
| General medical practitioners (excluding retainers)(45) | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 171 | 184 | 189 |
| Practice nurses employed by UPEs(46) | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 45 | 59 | 62 |
| Qualified community nursing(47) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 183 | 234 | 246 |
| York Health Services NHS Trust | ||||||||||
| General medical practitioners (excluding retainers)(45) | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Practice nurses employed by UPEs(46) | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Qualified community nursing(47) | n/a | 196 | 193 | 193 | 161 | 200 | 240 | 50 | 24 | 24 |
n/a = not available.
(45) All practitioners (excluding retainers) include UPEs, restricted principals, assistants, general practitioner registrars, salaried doctors (Para 52 SFA), personal medical service (PMS) other, flexible career scheme GPs and GP returners.
(46) UPEs include general medical service (GMS) unrestricted principals, PMS contracted GPs and PMS salaried GPs.
(47) Community nursing includes the nursing levels; health visitors and district nurses, and the areas of work; community psychiatry, community learning disabilities and community services.
Notes:
1. GP retainers were first collected in 1999 and have been omitted for comparability purposes.
2. GP wte data has been estimated using the results from the 1992–93 GMP Workload Survey; full-time = 1.00 wte; three quarter time = 0.69 wte; job share = 0.65 wte; half time = 0.60 wte.
3. Data as at 30 September every year except GP data as at 1 October 1994–99.
Sources:
Department of Health general and personal medical services statistics.
Department of Health non-medical workforce census.
NHS Treatment Centres
Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will ensure that any spare capacity in NHS treatment centres is used before involving independent sector treatment centres at a higher cost to the NHS. [189456]
Mr. Hutton:
Both national health service treatment centres and independent sector treatment centres are intended to build capacity to treat NHS patients as safely, quickly and cost effectively as possible. Currently, it is a matter for primary care trusts (PCTs) to commission providers to meet the needs of their local populations. There is no extra cost to a PCT of using
11 Oct 2004 : Column 153W
independent sector providers. In future, the decision whether or not patients are referred to a NHS provider or an independent sector provider will be down to the choice of individual patients.
Occupational Asthma
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department's policy is on encouraging businesses to invest in occupational health services for employees who develop occupational asthma; and if he will make a statement. [189869]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department's policy is to encourage responsible employers and businesses, large, medium and small, to invest in occupational health services for all their employees. To that end, NHS Plus was launched by the Department in November 2001. NHS Plus is now a network of over 100 occupational health departments that sell occupational health (OH) services to the private sector. These services include access to treatment for occupational asthma.
In the NHS Improvement Plan we said that building on the work of NHS Plus, the national health service can play an increasingly vital role in ensuring that employees are able to return to work as soon as possible following illness or injury. The Department will work with the Health and Safety Executive and the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that a wider occupational health approach is supported by the NHS.
Out-of-hours GP Cover
Mr. Simon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the (a) NHS litigation authority and (b) the primary care trust which has made arrangements for out-of-hours general practitioner cover will be liable in cases of clinical negligence where the negligent treatment was provided by an out-of-hours service commissioned by a primary care trust. [187371]
Mr. Hutton: If an out-of-hours service is commissioned by a primary care trust (PCT), the provider of the service will be expected to obtain their own insurance cover. The national health service litigation authority is not liable for claims as it administers the clinical negligence scheme for trusts on behalf of trusts, who retain the legal liability for clinical negligence claims.
If the PCT provides out-of-hours services itself, then any negligent act would be covered by the PCT.
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