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5 Apr 2005 : Column 1449W—continued
Neo-natal Care
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to include the performance of neo-natal care in key indicators of hospital standards. [221998]
Dr. Ladyman: The independent Healthcare Commission is responsible for developing and producing the national health service performance ratings. The Commission is currently developing a new assessment methodology, which will include assessments against the national standards for the NHS published in Standards for Better Health". Its proposals will be published in the spring.
NHS Finance
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 16 March 2005, Official Report, column 278W, on NHS finances, if he will give examples of the exceptional circumstances which have previously permitted unplanned support to be given to NHS and primary care trusts. [224318]
Mr. Hutton:
The Department introduced restrictions in the use of unplanned financial support in the national health service from 2003–04. The policy is that unplanned financial support should only be used where
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the extent of financial problems is unmanageable and a failure to act would lead to an undue detrimental impact on the quality of patient care.
NHS Trusts
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) total and (b) individual current recurrent deficit for (i) NHS hospital trusts and (ii) NHS primary care trusts is. [223555]
Mr. Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley) on Tuesday 21 December 2004, Official Report, column 1688W.
Nurses (North-east)
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) trainee nurses are employed by each NHS Trust in the North East region and (b) student nurses on NHS contracts and receiving bursaries from the NHS are studying at each higher education institution in the North East region; what the value of NHS bursaries was in (i) 2004–05 and (ii) 1997; and whether such bursaries (A) are taxable and (B) were taxable in 1997. [221970]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 15 March 2005]: Student nurses are not technically employed bynational health service trusts whilst undertaking pre-registration nurse training courses, even though they continue to be paid a salary, as they have supernumerary status during their training period. There were 307 health care assistants seconded to nurse training by Northumberland, Tyne and Wear strategic health authority on behalf of their local trusts in 2003–04. (Source: Q4 2003–04MPET NMET Quarterly Monitoring).
Information is not held centrally on which higher education institution each student attends.
Total student bursary awards in Northern England Education and Training Consortium were £183,452 in the 1997–98 academic year and £2,463,424 in the 2004–05 academic year. The figures are not directly comparable because the NHS Student Grants Unit (SGU) did not take on the responsibility for the assessment and payment of NHS Bursaries to nursing degree students until the 1998–99 academic year and only assessed and paid bursaries to Allied Health Profession students in the 1997–98 academic year. Similarly, Diploma level nursing and midwifery students were not paid their bursaries by SGU until the 1999–2000 academic year, with fifth year undergraduate medical and dental students, who commenced their first year from 1 September 1998 onwards, being incorporated into the NHS Bursary Scheme from the 2002–03 academic year.
NHS student bursaries are not taxable and were not taxable in 1997.
Obesity
Jane Griffiths:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the National Institute for Clinical Excellence
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will assess the efficacy of low carbohydrate diets as part of its obesity guidance; and if he will make a statement. [223722]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The focus of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence's work is broad and does not include investigations into any particular weight loss strategy. Where there is good evidence of effectiveness, dietary advice including the role of low-fat, low-carbohydrate and very low-energy diets will be considered.
Patients Forums
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many members of patients' forums have resigned since 1 December 2003; and what percentage turnover in membership this represents. [224268]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Since 1 December 2003, 7,614 members have been recruited to patients' forums, of whom 1,609, or 21 per cent., have resigned. Current membership is 4,809, which is the highest since forum establishment.
Practice-based Commissioning
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Healthwhat steps he is taking to encourage uptake of practice-based commissioning; and if he will make a statement. [224286]
Mr. Hutton: The Department has issued two sets of guidance clarifying how practice-based commissioning will operate. Furthermore, external stakeholders have been involved in producing practical booklets aimed at helping practices and primary care trusts with local implementation. A communications strategy has also been developed which highlights the benefits that practice-based commissioning can bring to both patients and those who work in the national health service. Officials are also considering what more can be done to encourage uptake.
Premium Rate Phone Lines
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Healthwhat his Department's policy is on the cost for patients' friends and relatives of calling patients in hospital through premium rate lines operable through bedside telephones; if he will publish guidance given to NHS trusts on this issue; and if he will make a statement. [222181]
Mr. Hutton: Patients in national health service hospitals have requested personal use of a telephone to remain in contact with family and friends. This is provided through the patient power system and over 75,000 beds in NHS trusts have this service.
There are four companies licensed to provide these services and they are responsible for all aspects of installation, managing and running the service.
Contracts are entered into by individual trusts, which will set out in the contract an agreed schedule of charges, including the cost of incoming calls to patients.
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Three suppliers, covering 69,000 beds, include a message notifying callers at the outset of the call what the cost will be. The fourth, which provides a service to the remaining 6,000 beds, will shortly be including a similar message at all its sites.
Bedside televisions and telephones are an additional service to patients. It is still possible for friends and relatives to contact a hospital through its main switchboard and then be transferred to a nurses' station to enquire about their relative's health.
NHS Estates commissioned the British Market Research Bureau to carry out a survey to conduct research into patient and staff satisfaction with the bedside communication and entertainment systems. Over 300 patients and nearly 100 staff were interviewed at six NHS hospitals between October and November 2004.
Patients said the most important reason for using the system was to make phone calls without having to ask a member of staff for help or go to a public pay phone.
The patient bedside entertainment system provides a vital direct link with the outside world for NHS patients. The results of the recent survey confirm that the service is useful in improving the patient's stay in hospital.
Psoriasis
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on levels of psoriasis in the population; [224450]
(2) what improvements he is making in (a) treatments and (b) services for patients suffering from psoriasis; [224451]
(3) what estimate he has made of the number of general practitioner consultations for psoriasis that took place in the last year for which figures are available; [224463]
(4) if he will estimate the number of working days lostin the population as a result of psoriasis in each year. [224471]
Dr. Ladyman: Data on the incidence of psoriasis is not available centrally. However, the Psoriasis Association estimates that the condition affects approximately two per cent, of the United Kingdom population.
Information on the number of general practitioner consultations for psoriasis is not collected centrally, nor are figures covering the number of working days lost as a result of the condition.
In England, primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for deciding which health services the local population requires and ensuring that these services are provided. We have asked the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) to establish the clinical and cost effectiveness of efalizumab and etanercept within their licensed indications for the treatment of psoriasis and to produce guidance for the national health service in England and Wales. We expect NICE to publish
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guidance in October 2005. PCTs are obliged to provide appropriate funding where treatments have been recommended by NICE.
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