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18 Nov 2004 : Column 1970W—continued
Freedom of Information Act
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the likely costs to his Department in the first quarter of 2005 of compliance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and if he will make a statement. [199086]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has not found it practicable to assess the likely costs of compliance with the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
Our strategy has been to prepare staff and provide guidance that will help them to minimise costs. Apart from a small team of FOI specialists, and development of a new correspondence system that will improve overall efficiency as well as helping to monitor FOI requests, costs will be widely distributed within the Department, as responding to FOI requests will be integrated with ordinary departmental business.
General Practitioners
Mr. Graham Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people he estimates (a) reside and (b) are registered with a general practitioner in the area served by Nottingham primary care trust. [199047]
Dr. Ladyman: The information is shown in the following table. It is based on patient registrations and is constrained to Office of National Statistics (ONS) estimates as at mid-year 2002. This is the latest available validated data for both figures.
| Number(39) (head count) | |
|---|---|
| Resident population | 269,814 |
| Registered with a general practitioner(40) | 287,809 |
(39) Excludes armed forces and prisoners.
(40) The number of patients registered with GPs responsible to this primary care trust (PCT), is higher due to some of the patients living in neighbouring PCTs' areas. Conversely, some of the patients living in Nottingham's geographic area may be registered with GPs responsible to a neighbouring PCT.
Source:
Department of Health—shadow health and social care information centre.
Mr. Jenkins:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the difference will be in (a) funding and (b) service provision between the practice based
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commissioning structure for general practitioner practices and the former GP Fund Holding structure. [197700]
Mr. Hutton: The Department of Health is currently finalising guidance on practice based commissioning and this will be published shortly.
In terms of funding, under general practitioner fund holding, fund holding practices received a management allowance to administer the scheme. Under practice based commissioning, there will be no management allowance—the costs of the scheme will be funded out of savings made by the practice.
In terms of service provision both schemes strive to engage clinicians, stimulate innovation and provide patient-centred care.
Under practiced based commissioning, primary care trusts will retain legal responsibility for the contracting process and the single national tariff will prevent competition based on price. Practiced based commissioning will instead focus on quality and efficiency.
Government Buildings (Disabled Access)
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether all Government buildings in his Department within the Greater London area are fully accessible to disabled people; and if he will make a statement. [199314]
Dr. Ladyman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
GP Surgeries
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the general practitioner surgeries which will benefit in the (a) Adur, (b) Arun and (c) Worthing Primary Care Trust areas from funding allocations to improve or renew premises in the current financial year; by how much each will benefit; and for what improvements each allocation was made. [198001]
Ms Rosie Winterton: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding has been made available in each primary care trust area for upgrading or rebuilding general practitioner surgeries in each of the last five years. [198419]
Mr. Hutton
[holding answer 16 November 2004]: Personal medical services (PMS) allocations to primary care trusts (PCTs) do not identify primary care premises funding separately to other PMS services provision elements. Owing to this it is not possible to identify primary care premises allocations separately at a PCT level.
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However under the new primary care medical services contracting arrangements introduced from 2004–05 it is possible to estimate these resources from 2003–04 at a national level. From 2003–04 the total resources made available to PCTs for primary care premises purposes was as follows.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 2003–04 | 599 |
| 2004–05 | 640 |
Health Care Acquired Infections
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he or a member of his ministerial team was informed of the National Audit Office's planned publication date for the report on health care acquired infections. [191483]
Miss Melanie Johnson: We knew in April that publication was expected in July. It was not until late June that a particular date was included in departmental documents but it was still not clear that this was a firm rather than a provisional date.
Health Services (York)
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much capital has been invested in York district hospital in each of the last 20 years. [191178]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The information is shown in the following table.
Sources:
1. 1986–87—1991–92 York hospitals NHS trust
2. 1992–93—2002–03 York hospitals NHS trust audited summarisation schedules 1992–1993 to 2002–03.
Hospital Infections
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has instructed commissioners to include information on infection rates of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus in the information provided under Patient Choice. [193453]
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Mr. Hutton: Information on methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bloodstream infections is currently available to commissioners and others on the Department's website at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/08/58/93/04085893.pdf Mandatory national surveillance has been in place since April 2001 and information for the last three years is available for all acute trusts in England. As patient choice increases, information and support will be provided locally by primary care trusts to help patients choose.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the consistency across NHS trusts in methods of monitoring MRSA bloodstream infections under the mandatory surveillance system; and what steps he is taking to ensure consistency. [198181]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Health Protection Agency recently carried out a survey of data collection methods for the mandatory scheme and will be assessing current practice in the light of this.
Mr. Havard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether it is his policy to maximise the use of new medical technologies in hospitals in tackling MRSA. [198494]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
We encourage the use of effective technologies to prevent and control all healthcare associated infections, including methicillin resistant "Staphylococcus aureus" (MRSA) infections. To help the national health service identify suitable
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products and processes, the Health Protection Agency has convened a rapid review panel to review information and evidence relating to claims concerning prevention or control of such infections.
Mr. Havard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether hospitals are encouraged to discharge patients for treatment in the community as soon as clinically possible as part of the programme to reduce the number of cases of MRSA in hospitals; and what guidance he has given to primary care teams on funding the treatment of patients once they leave hospital. [198496]
Miss Melanie Johnson: It has not been possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make a statement on rates of MSRA at (a) Barnet, (b) Chase Farm, (c) Northwich Park, (d) Royal Free and (e) Edgware Hospitals in each of the last three years. [197629]
Dr. Ladyman [pursuant to his reply, 15 November 2004, c. 1163–64W]: I regret my previous reply was incorrect. It should read as follows:
Information on the rates of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) blood stream infections is only available for acute National Health Service trusts and these data are shown in the table.
Data is not collected centrally for Barnet Primary Care Trust, of which Edgware Hospital is a part.
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients contracted MRSA last year following a visit to a NHS hospital; and what plans he has to combat the spread of this disease. [198932]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Information on all methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections is not available but 7,657 blood stream infections were reported in 2003–04. We have an on-going programme of work to prevent and control MRSA and other healthcare associated infections. Recent measures include the launch of a national hand hygiene campaign and a new target to halve MRSA blood stream infections by 2008.
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