| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
21 Feb 2005 : Column 166W—continued
Midwifery
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of health authorities in England and Wales are experiencing staffing shortages in midwifery. [215954]
Mr. Hutton: The national health survey vacancy survey collects information from NHS organisations on the number and rate of vacancies lasting three months or more. The table shows the rate of vacancies lasting three months or more for midwives by strategic health authority area.
Notes:
Three-month vacancy:
1.Three month vacancy information is as at 31 March 2004
2.Three month vacancies are vacancies which Trusts are actively trying to fill, which had lasted for three months or more (whole time equivalents)
3.Three month vacancy rates are three month vacancies expressed as a percentage of three month vacancies plus staff in post
4.Three month vacancy rates are calculated using staff in post from the Vacancy Survey, March 2004
5.Percentages are rounded to one decimal place
6.Figures where sum of staff in post (as at 31 March 2004) and vacancies is less than 10
7.Figures where sum of staff in post (as at 31 March 2004) and vacancies is zero
Staff in post:
1.Staff in post data is from the Non-Medical Workforce Census, September 2003
General:
1.Vacancy and staff in post numbers are rounded to the nearest whole number
2.Calculating the vacancy rates using the above data may not equal the actual vacancy rates
3.Due to rounding, totals may not equal the sum of component parts
4.Strategic HA figures are based on trusts, and do not necessarily reflect the geographical provision of health care
5.London Ambulance Service NHS Trust cannot be assigned to a particular Strategic Health Authority
Sources:
Department of Health Vacancies Survey, March 2004
Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census, September 2003
21 Feb 2005 : Column 167W
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of people in England and Wales training to become midwives. [215955]
Mr. Hutton: The Government have considerably increased the number of training places available for midwives. In 2003–04, 2,226 students entered training to become a midwife, an increase of 35 per cent., since 1996–97.
Furthermore, the Government are implementing a range of measures to recruit more midwives. These include improving pay and conditions, encouraging the national health service to become a better, more flexible and diverse employer, investing in childcare and continuing professional development, attracting returners and running national and international recruitment campaigns.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of midwifery students left theircourse before completion in each of the last five years. [215956]
21 Feb 2005 : Column 168W
Mr. Hutton: Information for England on the percentage of pre-registration midwifery students who have left their university course is shown in the table. Data is not held before the 1994–95 financial year. No data is available for 2001–02. The attrition data for the 2002–03 academic year administered by the Higher Education Statistics Agency is in the process of being analysed.
| Percentage failing to complete courses | |
|---|---|
| 1994–95 | 22.08 |
| 1995–96 | 17.43 |
| 1996–97 | 21.84 |
| 1997–98 | 18.23 |
| 1998–99 | 17.17 |
| 1999–2000 | 14.59 |
| 2000–01 | 6.7 |
Note:
This data is based on a snapshot in time of a particular cohort(s) and therefore each year there will still be students who have yet to complete their course.
21 Feb 2005 : Column 169W
Mixed-sex Wards
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many mixed sex Nightingale wards are still in operation. [214954]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information is not available in the format requested. National health service trusts report annually only on the total number of Nightingale wards which are in use.
The term Nightingale" ward is used to describe a particular layout, that is an open-plan area, which has not been subdivided into bays or cubicles, and which offers dormitory-style accommodation for 12 or more patients.
Nightingale wards are not necessarily mixed-sex wards, but their old-fashioned layout offers patients little in the way of privacy. We have set clear standards requiring NHS trusts to provide single-sex accommodation for their patients, irrespective of the layout of the ward those patients occupy.
The elimination of Nightingale wards for older people is one of our key priorities for the NHS. 98 per cent. of all Nightingale wards for older people have been eliminated or will be replaced on completion of hospital developments schemes currently under way.
The elimination of Nightingale wards for other patient groups is being addressed through the hospital building programme currently under way. This will eliminate remaining Nightingale wards incrementally as it progresses.
MRSA
Mr. Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people contracted the MRSA virus within the East Kent hospitals trust area between January and March 2003; how many of these were children; and what the national average is for each. [210368]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 27 January 2005]: The Department introduced mandatory reporting of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemias (blood stream infections) for national health service acute trusts from 1 April 2001. The mandatory scheme does not include information broken down by age groups. The latest data covers the year April 2003 to March 2004. This shows that the overall rate was 0.18 MRSA bloodstream infections per 1,000 bed days.
The number of MRSA bacteraemia reports for the East Kent hospitals trust between April 2003 and March 2004 was 70. The MRSA rate for the trust was 0.15 per 1,000 bed days, which is lower than the national average.
Multiple Myeloma
Mr. Havard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were diagnosed with multiple myeloma in each of the last 10 years. [215823]
Mr. Timms:
I have been asked to reply.
21 Feb 2005 : Column 170W
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. Dai Havard, dated 16 February 2005:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning the number of people diagnosed with multiple myeloma in each of the last 10 years. I am replying in his absence. [215823]
The most recent available figures are for the year 2001. The number of newly diagnosed cases of multiple myeloma registered in the 10 years 1992 to 2001 are given in the table below.
| Number of cases | |
|---|---|
| 1992 | 2,635 |
| 1993 | 2,688 |
| 1994 | 2,710 |
| 1995 | 2,820 |
| 1996 | 2,682 |
| 1997 | 2,701 |
| 1998 | 3,001 |
| 1999 | 2,889 |
| 2000 | 3,078 |
| 2001 | 2,859 |
(52)From 1992 to 1994, International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes 203.0–203.1; from 1995 to 2001, International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code C90.
Source:
Office for National Statistics
In more detailed analyses of trends in incidence over time for a particular cancer, ONS use age-standardised rates. These control for differences in the size and age structure of the population and allow unbiased comparison of incidence rates over time. Age-standardised incidence rates (directly standardised to the European standard population) for multiple myeloma in England, for each year from 1992–2001, are given in Table 10 of the Annual Reference Volume, Cancer Statistics: Registrations, Series MB1 No. 32, which is available on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_health/MBl_32/MBl_32.pdf
Mr. Havard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the life expectancy is of a patient with multiple myeloma. [215824]
Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. Dai Havard, dated 16 February 2005:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question concerning what is the life expectancy of a patient with multiple myeloma. I am replying in his absence. [215824]
Data on life expectancy for patients with specific types of cancer are not available. Survival data are calculated as the proportion of patients still alive at a given period after diagnosis. The latest
- available one- and five-year survival rates for multiple myeloma in England and Wales are for adult patients (aged 15–99 years) diagnosed during 1996–99 and followed up to 31 December 2001. These figures are given in the attached table.
(53)As cancer survival varies with age at diagnosis, rates have been age standardised (directly age standardised to the 1986–90 cancer patients population) to control for changes in the age profile of cancer patients over time.
(54)International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code C90.
(55)Complete five-year follow-up was available only for those diagnosed in 1996. For patients diagnosed in later years the most up-to-date estimates of shorter-term survival were used in this analysis of survival rates.
(56)Eligible patients included in the survival analysis. The criteria for excluding patient records are given in Health Statistics Quarterly 2000; 6: 71–80, for example where the registration was of a second (different) primary cancer: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_health/HSQ6Book.pdf
Source:
Office for National Statistics.
Available on the National Statistics website: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=7899
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |