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2 Nov 2004 : Column 174W—continued
Midwives
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the vacancy rate is for midwives for each hospital trust. [195272]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 1 November 2004]: Information on the rate of vacancies lasting three months or more for midwives in each national health service trust has been placed in the Library.
Myasthenia Gravis
Mr. Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice he has received on (a) the diagnosis, treatment and management of myasthenia gravis and (b) support for patients and carers; and if he will make a statement. [194875]
Dr. Ladyman: Myasthenia gravis is a neurological condition, characterised by fluctuating levels of muscle weakness. There is no cure, but treatment includes medication, surgery and palliation.
The national service framework for long term conditions will focus on improving services for people with neurological conditions. While the framework will not cover myasthenia gravis specifically, it will recommend improvements in standards, care and support that will benefit everyone with a neurological condition.
We are committed to publishing the framework as soon as possible.
It is for health authorities, in partnership with other local stakeholders to determine how best to use their funds to provide health services for their populations, including those with myasthenia gravis.
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NHS
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on NHS administration in each year since 1980 in real terms. [192786]
Mr. Hutton: Real terms expenditure on administration in the national health service was not collected prior to 1996. Expenditure from then is shown in the following table.
(8) Expenditure pre 1999–2000 is on a cash basis.
(9) Expenditure tables from 1999–2000 to 2002–03 are on a Stage 1 resource budgeting basis (and consistent with figures published in table 3.4a of the Departmental Report 2004).
(10) Not available.
(11) Expenditure for 2003–04 is on a stage 2 resource budgeting basis (and consistent with figures published in table 3.4b of the Departmental Report 2004).
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the functioning of the NHS Bursary Department (a) hotline, (b) e-mail system and (c) correspondence facility and how many letters of complaint he has received on this issue. [194358]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 1 November 2004]: The NHS Pensions Agency student grants unit deals with very high volumes of inquiries from students, universities and other organisations. The unit's work is seasonal by nature peaking from June to October. Throughout the majority of the year, the unit deals effectively with all customer inquiries but they acknowledge that during their busiest period many callers have had difficulty contacting them within a reasonable time.
Work is ongoing to improve the unit's customer service both in the short and long term. This includes extra helplines to deal specifically with clinical placement travel claims, disabled student allowances and the new child care allowance. In addition, a new website has been set up where a dedicated team will answer frequently asked questions.
Between April and September, the unit processed 41 complaints.
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria are used to determine whether patients may (a) opt out of and (b) anonymise entries in the national programme for IT in the NHS. [195078]
Mr. Hutton
[holding answer 1 November 2004]: Good clinical management requires that healthcare professionals keep a record of key information about
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their patients and about individual treatment episodes. The national programme for information technology is incorporating stringent security controls and safeguards that will mean patients have more control over who has access to their information than is possible with existing systems. A fundamental principle in the implementation of the national health service care records service (NHS CRS) is that confidentiality and privacy of sensitive patient information must not be compromised.
Patients will have the right to specify that detailed information recorded at the point of contact with the NHS should not be available to other NHS organisations via the summary record held on their NHS care record. They will also have the right to define some information as especially sensitive and only accessible under terms of explicit consent. This reinforces the key statutory safeguards set out in the Data Protection Act 1998, with which all information users must comply. These facilities have been designed in to the NHS CRS.
The Data Protection Act also provides patients with a right, where they are suffering substantial damage or distress, to object to processing of their data, including to prevent their data being held at all in an identifiable form, though this is expected to be a very rare event. We are currently considering how this right should apply to implementation of the NHS care record.
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average amount of NHS spending per head of population of people living in the Greater London area has been in each of the last three years. [194629]
Dr. Ladyman: Figures are shown in the table which relate to expenditure by national health service bodies which were, or are, within the five existing London strategic health authority (SHA) areas.
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 951.36 |
| 2002–03 | 1,050.14 |
| 2003–04 | 1,200.57 |
Notes:
1. Expenditure is taken from audited health authority (HA) accounts and primary care trust (PCT) summarisation schedules, which are prepared on a resource basis and therefore differ from cash allocations in the year. The expenditure is the total expenditure by the relevant HAs and the commissioner costs of the PCT.
2. The total NHS expenditure cannot be identified by health authority area, because the majority of general dental services expenditure is not included in the individual health authority accounts or PCT summarisation schedules and is separately accounted for by the Dental Practice Board. The majority of pharmaceutical services expenditure is accounted for by the Prescription Pricing Authority and not by HAs or PCTs.
3. Figures for 2002–03 and 2003–04, based on strategic health authority (SHA) areas, have been adjusted to eliminate expenditure which would be double counted where an authority acts as a lead in commissioning healthcare.
Sources:
Audited HA summarisation forms 2001–02.
Audited SHA summarisation forms 2002–03 and 2003–04.
Audited PCT summarisation schedules 2001–02 to 2003–04.
Weighted population figures.
2003–04 data remains provisional.
2 Nov 2004 : Column 177W
Organ Transplants
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have died waiting for an organ transplant in each year since the organ donation register began. [194263]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Details of the number of patients dying while registered for an organ transplant in the United Kingdom during each 12 month period since the start of the national health service organ donor register is shown in the table.
| As at October | Number who died while on list |
|---|---|
| 1994–95 | 502 |
| 1995–96 | 555 |
| 1996–97 | 537 |
| 1997–98 | 539 |
| 1998–99 | 536 |
| 1999–2000 | 495 |
| 2000–01 | 460 |
| 2001–02 | 425 |
| 2002–03 | 406 |
| 2003–04 | 380 |
| Total | 4,835 |
Over-30-months Scheme
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what recent discussions his Department has had with the Scottish Executive regarding the over-30-months scheme; and if he will make a statement; [193684]
(2) what recent discussions his Department has had with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs regarding the over-30-months scheme; and if he will make a statement; [193685]
(3) what recent discussions his Department has had with the Welsh Assembly Government regarding the over-30-months scheme; and if he will make a statement; [193686]
(4) what recent discussions his Department has had with the Meat and Livestock Commission regarding the over-30-months scheme; and if he will make a statement. [193687]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Government are considering the Food Standards Agency's advice on the over-30-months rule and an announcement will be made in due course.
The Department has not discussed the over-30-months rule with the Meat and Livestock Commission.
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