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Influenza

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will publish the updated influenza pandemic plan. [211551]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The influenza pandemic plan is being drafted and will be published in due course.

Lancashire Teaching Hospital

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the foundation hospital application of Lancashire teaching hospitals. [215513]

Mr. Hutton: Lancashire Teaching Hospitals National Health Service Trust is a wave 1A applicant for national health service foundation trust (NHSFT) status. The trust received the Secretary of State's support last July to make an application to Monitor (the statutory name of which is the independent regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts) for authorisation as an NHSFT, on retaining three stars in the 2003–04 NHS performance ratings. The trust is currently working towards Monitor's requirements for authorisation and has been placed in a second group in wave 1A for authorisation from 1 April 2005. Monitor will make a positive decision to authorise Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust as an NHSFT after having satisfied itself about the Trust's preparedness and financial viability for foundation status.

Leeds Community and Mental Health Trust

Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will conduct an assessment of the level of consultation undertaken by the Leeds Community and Mental Health Trust with its service users on the use of its day treatment centres; [214902]

(2) if he will make a statement on the Leeds Community and Mental Health Trust's (a) review and re-alignment of services and (b) its impact on service users; [214903]

(3) what assessment he has made of (a) the crisis resolution service being introduced by the Leeds Community and Mental Health Trust and (b) whether there are sufficient funds for its development without detriment to existing services; [214905]
 
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(4) what assessment he has made of the effect of the new crisis resolution service adopted by the Leeds Community and Mental Health Trust on over-capacity on acute wards. [214910]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The consultation period on Leeds Mental Health Teaching National Health Service Trust's proposals for adult mental health service ran from November 2003 to until the end of March 2004 and included a one-day stakeholder event in March 2004.

Following a Commission for Healthcare Inspection review, it was agreed that Leeds Mental Health Teaching NHS Trust would implement a crisis resolution and home treatment service (CRHT) in line with the national service framework for mental health.

£1.4 million of funding has been made available to implement the crisis resolution service.

CRHT has significantly reduced the admission rate and provided home treatment for service users. Between November 2003 and January 2004, the trust admitted 513 patients. During the same period in 2004–05, the trust has admitted 428 patients—a 17 per cent. reduction in patient admissions.

The CRHT team sees 90 per cent. of patients referred to the service within four hours, seven days a week.

The trust believes that the redesign of adult services will deliver positive benefits to service users and carers and that it will not be detrimental to existing services.

Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to the Leeds Community and Mental Health Trust of purchasing acute beds from outside trust boundaries was in the most recent year for which figures are available; and why it has been necessary to purchase them. [214911]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Leeds Mental Health Teaching National Health Service Trust does not purchase acute beds from outside its boundaries. Such service provision is directly commissioned by the Leeds primary care trusts.

Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the bed occupancy rate in the Leeds Community and Mental Health Trust in acute (a) under-65s and (b) over-65s wards is. [215099]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The average bed occupancy at Leeds Mental Health Teaching National Health Service Trust was 79.2 per cent. in 2003–04.

Source:

Department of Health form KH03

Licensing

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the oral answer of 18 January, Official Report, column 679, on alcohol misuse, what advice his Department gave to the (a) Home Office and (b) Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the policy to extend licensing to allow 24-hour drinking; and if he will make a statement. [214152]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 7 February 2005]: The Department supported the policy in the Licensing Bill to give more flexible powers to local authorities on licensing hours, in order to address the
 
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increasing problems of binge drinking and drunkenness. This advice was based in part on the positive experience of similar powers in Scotland since 1976.

Long-term Conditions

Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he proposes to publish the National Service Framework for long-term conditions including multiple sclerosis; and if he will make a statement. [216085]

Dr. Ladyman: We are making good progress and expect to publish the national service framework (NSF) shortly. The NSF sets the direction of travel for the next 10 years to improve health and social care services for people living with long-term neurological conditions. It addresses key areas to improve care and support across the neurological patient pathway from diagnosis, investigation and initial treatment, through rehabilitation and long-term support, to end of life care. It does not look at specific neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis, rather it identifies the common issues affecting people with long-term neurological conditions and how these may be addressed. The principles in the NSF apply equally to improving quality of life and promoting independent living in anyone living with a long-term condition.

ME Treatment

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on funding for ME treatment in Lancashire. [215514]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Individual primary care trusts are responsible for commissioning health services to meet the needs of their local population, including Mylagic Encephalomyelitis services, from within their general allocations. The specialist commissioning team has successfully bid to develop a specialist chronic fatigue syndrome service covering Lancashire and South Cumbria. This will be implemented from April 2005.

Medical Staff (Pharmaceutical Company Funding)

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which hospital trusts in England are employing (a) nurses and (b) doctors paid for in part or wholly by pharmaceutical companies. [210211]

Mr. Hutton: The Department does not collect this information.
 
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Men's Health Tsar

Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will appoint a men's health tsar. [215014]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Government's White Paper Choosing Health" sets out a number of measures for the prevention of ill health in the population. The Department's work in the prevention and treatment of cancer and coronary heart disease will have a significant impact on men's health and the concerted action across Government to tackle root causes of ill-health in housing, education, employment and the environment should also have a positive impact. Therefore, the Department is not considering the appointment of a men's health tsar.

Mental Health

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer from the Minister for Pensions of 2 February 2005, Official Report, column 942W, on benefit rates, if he will request that the Department for Work and Pensions make it its policy to collect figures for the number of people in hospital for more than a year living on the weekly benefit rate of £15.90 who suffer from mental ill-health. [216393]

Ms Rosie Winterton: We have no plans to request the Department for Work and Pensions to collect this information.

Mr. Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients in the Easington constituency have consulted an NHS mental health doctor in each of the last three years. [214105]

Miss Melanie Johnson: This information is not held centrally.

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