---

21 Dec 2004 : Column 1673W—continued

Family Planning Booklet

Angela Watkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department contributed towards the funding of the Family Planning Association publication, Girls Out Loud. [204396]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Department of Health did not contribute.
 
21 Dec 2004 : Column 1674W
 

Food Supplements

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the outcome of the meeting on 15 October with officials of the European Commission initiated by the Food Standards Agency to discuss the Food Supplements Directive; and whether that meeting led to (a) the addition of nutrients or nutrient sources to the Annexes of the Food Supplements Directive and (b) assurances from the Commission about how it intends to interpret Article 5 of the Directive in relation to the setting of maximum permitted levels for nutrients permitted in food supplements. [201281]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Food Standards Agency will shortly make available on its website a summary of the outcome of the meeting with the European Commission on 15 October and this will be forwarded to interested parties.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will publish its recommendations for maximum permitted levels for nutrients allowed in food supplements in early 2005. The European Commission has indicated that it will bring forward its proposals, based on EFSA's advice, after the summer of 2005.

Gymnasiums

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many gyms are available to the staff in the Department; and what the cost of providing them was in the last year for which figures are available. [204368]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department currently has one gymnasium available to its staff on the Department's London administrative estate. Operational costs are met by gym members' subscriptions.

The Department occupies a building jointly with the Department for Work and Pensions in Leeds which has a gymnasium available to staff. Any operating costs for the gymnasium that are included in the facility price are paid by the Department.

Health Services (Newcastle)

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many elective admissions there were in each year for 1996–97 to 2003–04 in the Newcastle upon Tyne primary care trust area; and how many of those admissions had been waiting for (a) up to three months, (b) three to six months, (c) six to nine months, (d) nine to 12 months and (e) 12 months or more. [202679]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested is shown in the following table.
Count of elective in-year finished admissions for Newcastle upon Tyne hospitals national health service trust—duration of time waited by method of admissions in NHS Hospital in England 1998–99 to 2003–04

Finished in year admissions		Time waited
Year	Method of admission	Under three months	Three— under six months	Six— under nine months	Nine— under 12 months
1998–99	11 Waiting list admissions	26,415	6,623	3,833	2,860
	12 Booked admissions	40,634	981	117	90
	13 Planned admissions	3,193	1,048	456	323
1998–99 total	—	70,242	8,652	4,406	3,273
1999–2000	11 Waiting list admissions	25,825	6,951	3,630	2,229
	12 Booked admissions	43,552	1,071	152	70
	13 Planned admissions	4,315	927	508	266
1999–2000 total	—	73,692	8,949	4,290	2,565
2000–01	11 Waiting list admissions	8,468	2,450	1,357	1,143
	12 Booked admissions	26,879	828	106	52
	13 Planned admissions	1,879	782	468	225
2000–01 total	—	37.226	4,060	1,931	1,420
2001–02	11 Waiting list admissions	25,017	7,493	3,019	1,973
	12 Booked admissions	46,413	1,684	492	533
	13 Planned admissions	4,279	768	284	187
2001 -02 total	—	75,709	9,945	3,795	2,693
2002–03	11 Waiting list admissions	26,739	8,311.	3,465	2,615
	12 Booked admissions	48,807	2,042	440	319
	13 Planned admissions	5,932	982	431	268
2002–03 total	—	81,478	11,335	4,336	3,202
2003–04	11 Waiting list admissions	28,075	8,269	3,749	2,826
	12 Booked admissions	47,750	2,494	229	111
	13 Planned admissions	5,157	972	518	654
2003–04 total	—	80,982	11,735	4,496	3,591

 
21 Dec 2004 : Column 1675W
 

Finished in year admissions		Time waited
Year	Method of admission	12 months plus	Not known	Total admissions
1998–99	11 Waiting list admissions	1,287	88	41,106
	12 Booked admissions	57	1,634	43,513
	13 Planned admissions	367	81	5,468
1998–99 total	—	1,711	1,803	90,087
1999–2000	11 Waiting list admissions	1,555	97	40,287
	12 Booked admissions	66	817	45,728
	13 Planned admissions	437	100	6,553
1999.-2000 total	—	2,058	1,014	92,568
2000–01	11 Waiting list admissions	798	26,459	40,675
	12 Booked admissions	27	18,829	46,721
	13 Planned admissions	550	2,654	6,558
2000–01 total	—	1,375	47,942	93,954
2001–02	11 Waiting list admissions	1,545	245	39,292
	12 Booked admissions	447	2,804	52,373
	13 Planned admissions	560	203	6,281
2001 -02 total	—	2,552	3,252	97,946
2002–03	11 Waiting list admissions	1,616	1.71	42,917
	12 Booked admissions	378	1,668	53,654
	13 Planned admissions	449	165	8,227
2002–03 total	—	2,443	2,004	104,798
2003–04	11 Waiting list admissions	1,890	194	45,003
	12 Booked admissions	80	2,356	53,020
	13 Planned admissions	159	657	8,117
2003–04 total	—	2,129	3,207	106,140

Notes:
Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed).
Time waited
Time waited statistics from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) are not the same as the published waiting list statistics. HES provides counts and time waited for all patients admitted to hospital within a given period whereas the published waiting list statistics count those waiting for treatment on a specific date and how long they have been on the waiting list. Also, HES calculates the time waited as the difference between the admission and decision to admit dates. Unlike published waiting list statistics, this is not adjusted for self-deferrals or periods of medical/social suspension.
Finished in year admissions
A finished in year admission is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider, excluding admissions beginning before 1 April at the start of the data year. Please note that admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health





 
21 Dec 2004 : Column 1677W
 

Hepatitis C

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the payment of compensation to Hepatitis C sufferers infected through NHS treatment, with particular reference to those for whom it is claimed that they overcome the virus. [206066]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 20 December 2004]: The ex-gratia payment scheme for people infected with Hepatitis C following national health service treatment with blood or blood products became operational on 5 July 2004. The Skipton Fund administers the scheme. As at 6 December, the Skipton Fund has made 2,560 stage one payments and 112 stage two payments.

The press release issued on 3 June 2004 and the guidance notes issued with the application form make clear that people who have cleared the virus as a result of treatment, or who have cleared it spontaneously after a period of chronic infection will be eligible to apply for payment under the Hepatitis C ex-gratia payment scheme. People who have cleared the virus spontaneously in the acute phase of the disease will not be eligible for payment.

Hospital Cleanliness

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria are used to assess whether a hospital is rated as having (a) excellent, (b) good, (c) acceptable, (d) poor and (e) unacceptable levels of cleanliness under the 2004 Patient Environment Action Team (PEAT) hospital cleanliness scores; what criteria were used to assess whether a hospital was rated as having (i) green, (ii) amber and (iii) red levels of cleanliness in PEAT hospital cleanliness scores of 2000–03; for what reasons the number of strata of hospital cleanliness has been increased; and on what date it was decided to increase the number of strata. [205862]

Mr. Hutton: Hospitals are assessed against 24 separate elements comprising a maximum of 130 individual scores. The final rating is derived by calculating the total points scored against the total points available subject to a weighting process which places emphasis on specific cleanliness related aspects. In previous years, the process was similar though based on a smaller range of elements, although the "weighting" aspect was first introduced in 2002.

The increased scoring range was introduced ,to allow for greater differentiation in standards to be identified than was allowed by a three-point scale. The decision to increase the range was taken on 11 November 2003 and was notified to National Health Service trusts during November 2003.

---