---

17 Mar 2005 : Column 428W—continued

Carers

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) who the official responsible for the National Carers Strategy is; [222496]

(2) who is responsible for the Department's carers website. [222498]

Dr. Ladyman: The policy management unit in the Department's older people's and disability division, which is part of the care services directorate, has ongoing responsibility for policy on carers. The Government actively supported the private members Bill last year that has now become the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004. Departmental officials are currently working on the implementation of the Act and guidance. Young carers are the responsibility of the Department for Education and Skills.

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the likely impact of the Social Care Institute of Excellence on carers. [222497]

Dr. Ladyman: The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) works with people throughout the social care sector to identify useful information, research and examples of best practice. The SCIE works closely with people receiving services, their carers and their representative organisations. The SCIE will be taking forward the development of practice guidance to accompany the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004. The exact format of that guidance is yet to be decided, but, subject to stakeholder agreement, it is likely to build on the current SCIE knowledge review for carers and follow the format taken for other SCIE practice guides. An outline of the work programme and how people can become involved in the development of the guide will be communicated in due course through carers' networks as well as SCIE's website at www.scie.org.uk and the Department's carers website at www.carers.gov.uk.

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for the inspection of the implementation of the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004. [222499]

 
17 Mar 2005 : Column 429W
 

Dr. Ladyman: The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) has the responsibility for bringing about improvements in services for those that use them, including carers. It is the responsibility of CSCI to assess services for carers, including the implementation of the new Act, as part of its responsibility to monitor council performance in social services.

The Government are assessing, also through the CSCI, councils' performance in supporting carers through a new carers' performance indicator. This demonstrates that support for carers continues to be a priority for the Government. The new carers' performance indicator will be published in autumn 2005.

Dentistry

Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 8 February 2004, Official Report, column 1469W, on NHS dentists, how many of the extra 1,000 full-time dentists to be recruited into the NHS by October have so far been recruited. [218298]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 25 February 2005]: The Department is gathering information on progress with the recruitment of 1,000 whole-time equivalent dentists since April 2004. This will include local national health service recruitment activity and departmental central recruitment, including the 28 Polish dentists who began work in England in January and the further 41 starting work during March and early April.

Departmental Accounts

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether Ministers in his Department have issued written instructions to override his Department's accounting officer's objections since 1997. [221111]

Mr. Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 14 March 2005, Official Report, column 80W.

Diabetes

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if his Department will take steps to provide access for patients to the new treatment for diabetes on the NHS. [221801]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Research into islet cell transplant, a possible new treatment for people with diabetes, is still at an early stage. Decisions regarding the funding of this treatment by the national health service will be taken when the results of further clinical trials have been considered.

GP List Sizes

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average general practitioner list size was in Greater London, broken down by primary care trust or health authority, in each of the last 10 years. [221947]

Dr. Ladyman: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
 
17 Mar 2005 : Column 430W
 

Hatfield (New Hospital)

Mr. Wilkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his latest estimate is of the cost of the new hospital planned to be built at Hatfield. [222433]

Dr. Ladyman: I am informed by Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire strategic health authority that East and North Hertfordshire national health service trust currently estimate that the cost of the new hospital planned to be built at Hatfield is £550 million.

Mr. Wilkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what provision he is making for the construction of homes for key workers and in-patients' relatives at the new hospital in Hatfield; and what the cost is of each. [222434]

Dr. Ladyman: The local national health service have planned for 450 units of accommodation on the Hatfield site and 200 units of accommodation on the Queen Elizabeth II site at Welwyn Garden City and are developing this with a housing association. The cost of each has not yet been calculated.

Mr. Wilkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to his Department will be of providing cancer treatment facilities at the new planned hospital at Hatfield; and what estimate he has made of the cost of provision of such facilities to an equivalent standard at Mount Vernon hospital Northwood. [222435]

Dr. Ladyman: The Department has not made an estimate of these costs.

Mr. Wilkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to move the in-patient facilities of the cancer centre at Mount Vernon hospital to a new hospital at Hatfield. [222436]

Dr. Ladyman: The local national health service has plans to move the in-patient facilities of the cancer centre to a new hospital at Hatfield. It is understood that this will take place at the end of December 2011.

Mr. Wilkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his estimate is of the number of (a) cancer in-patients who could be referred to the new hospital in Hatfield from within a 15 mile radius of it and (b) cancer in-patients who can be referred to the Cancer Centre at Mount Vernon hospital, Northwood, from within a 15 mile radius of it. [222437]

Dr. Ladyman: Within Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire as part of an approved strategic outline case a new hospital at Hatfield is planned providing a specialist cancer centre in Hertfordshire.

At this stage, the local national health service has not undertaken this level of analysis.

IT Projects

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the capital and revenue costs of Patient Archiving and Communications systems will be met by (a) the Department of Health and (b) the National Programme for IT. [220756]

Mr. Hutton: Both the capital and revenue cost of picture archiving and communications systems will be met by a combination of Departmental and national health service funding.
 
17 Mar 2005 : Column 431W
 

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of the trusts listed in the National Programme for IT deployment plans as intending to deploy hospital and clinical administration systems by the end of March have fully implemented basic Patient Archiving and Communication systems for all users throughout each trust. [220757]

Mr. Hutton: Picture archiving and communications systems (PACS) deployment is not dependent on wider national programme for information technology deployments of hospital and clinical administration systems. PACS implementation work has started at 12 early adopter sites, which are expected to go live before the summer.

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimates his Department has made of the capital and revenue costs of Patient Archiving and Communication systems for each NHS Trust in England and Wales over the next 10 years. [220769]

Mr. Hutton: Trust-specific estimates are not made centrally. Overall estimates of picture archiving and communications systems work contracted by the national programme for information technology (NPfIT) over the next 10 years are based on the three out of five NPfIT cluster areas in England where contracts have now been signed. The work is estimated to have associated capital and revenue costs of £861 million over the next 10 years.

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department will pay to fund the capital and revenue costs of the cluster data stores to be provided by local service providers as part of their picture archiving and communications contract with the Department. [220861]

Mr. Hutton: The Department's total planned contribution, via the national programme for information technology, is £61 million capital and £225 million revenue.

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many changes there have been to the original specifications of the NHS data spine. [220862]

Mr. Hutton: None. However, there have been seven additions to the specification as a result of new or revised business processes and requirements that have arisen since the development of the original specification.

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many trusts in each of the clusters of the NHS National Programme for IT have signed off full trust business cases to take picture archiving and communications systems from their local service provider. [220864]

Mr. Hutton: Two trusts have signed off full business cases to implement picture archiving and communications systems (PACS). Governance arrangements are being adhered to at other sites where PACS implementation work has commenced, to ensure appropriate due diligence, while they await final sign-off of their business cases.
 
17 Mar 2005 : Column 432W
 

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Government is still working towards the target that picture archiving and communications systems should be (a) 80 per cent. implemented across the NHS in England by the end of 2006 and (b) 100 per cent. implemented by the end of 2007. [220867]

Mr. Hutton: The target for picture archiving and communications systems roll-out is 80 per cent. completion by the end of March 2006 and 100 per cent. completion by the end of March 2007.

---