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28 Jun 2005 : Column 1520W—continued

NHS Dentistry

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which dentists in the Portsmouth area are accepting new NHS (a) children and (b) adult patients. [6005]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Information on which practices are currently taking on new national health service patients is not centrally collected. This information should be available from local primary care trusts or by contacting NHS Direct.
 
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NHS Direct

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the 10 most common reasons for calls to NHS Direct in the most recent year for which figures are available. [5176]

Mr. Byrne: I understand from the Chair of NHS Direct that the 10 most common reasons for calls to NHS Direct where a clinical assessment had been conducted between April 2004 to March 2005 were: abdominal pain; toothache; chest pain; headache; diarrhoea; vomiting; toxic ingestion; fever (age one to four years); sore throat and rash (age one to four years).

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the impact of NHS Direct on staff recruitment in accident and emergency; and if she will make a statement. [6285]

Mr. Byrne: There is no evidence to suggest that NHS Direct has an impact on recruitment in accident and emergency departments.

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the impact of NHS Direct on continuity of care; and if she will make a statement. [6286]

Mr. Byrne: NHS Direct is now a multi channel organisation providing access to the service through the online website, digital television and the telephone service. This ensures that all sectors of the population have access to accredited health advice.

During the out-of-hours period, NHS Direct is able to transfer patient information electronically to the out-of-hours provider to enable continuity of care, thus ensuring patients receive appropriate timely advice.

NHS Spending

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health by what amounts NHS spending was (a) above and (b) below planned levels in the financial year (i)2003–04, (ii) 2004–05 and (iii) 2005–06 to date; and if she will make a statement. [3074]

Mr. Byrne: The national health service plans to break even each year. In 2003–04 the NHS finished the year with a small surplus of £73 million.

Unaudited figures for the financial year ending 2004–05, show that the NHS is likely to be in deficit by around £140 million, this represents a fraction of the total budget, at around 0.2 per cent. Audited information in respect of the 2004–05 financial position of all strategic health authorities (SHAs), primary care trusts (PCTs) and NHS trusts will be published in their individual annual accounts, and will be available centrally in autumn 2005.

The financial position for 2005–06 will be available next year.

NHS Staff

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) vacancy rates and (b) full role calculations for (i) radiographer and (ii) consultant radiologist posts are in each hospital trust. [5498]

 
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Mr. Byrne: Information on vacancy rates and full-role calculations on three month vacancy rates for radiographer and consultant radiologist posts in each hospital trust has been placed in the Library. Vacancy rates for radiographers fell between March 2003 and March 2004. Vacancy rates for consultant radiologists fell between March 2002 and March 2004.

NHS Trusts (Finances)

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the financial position of each (a) primary care trust, (b) hospital trust and (c) other health service trust was at the end of the last financial year. [5673]

Mr. Byrne: Information showing the position for 2003–04, the latest year for which audited data is available, has been placed in the Library.

Nurses

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses have finished training in Lancashire teaching hospitals in each of the last three years. [7597]

Mr. Byrne: The responsibility for the training of nurses rests with higher education institutions rather than national health service trusts. Trusts do however provide clinical placements for student nurses and continuing professional development opportunities. This information is not collected centrally.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on (a) agency nurses and (b) bank nurses in Hull and East Riding (i) Hospitals NHS Trust and (ii) Community Health NHS Trust in each of the last three years. [6549]

Mr. Byrne: The table shows expenditure on agency nurses in both the Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals National Health Service Trust and the Hull and East Riding Community Health NHS Trust. Figures are not collected centrally for bank nurses.
Expenditure on agency nurses (£)

	Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust	Hull and East Riding Community Health NHS Trust
2001–02	309,187	281,161
2002–03	551,525	923,245
2003–04	566,582	1,468,029

Note:
Agency nurses—non-NHS nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff
Source:
Annual financial returns of NHS trusts

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many NHS nurses left the Hull and East Riding (a) Hospitals NHS Trust and (b) Community Health NHS Trust in each of the past five years; [6551]

(2) how many nurses employed by Hull and East Riding (a) Hospitals NHS Trust and (b) Community Health NHS Trust were recruited from outside the United Kingdom. [6553]

Mr. Byrne: The information requested is not collected centrally.
 
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Nutrition (Staff Training)

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what requirements in respect of knowledge of nutrition and malnutrition are placed on registrants by each health and social care regulatory body. [5292]

Mr. Byrne: It is the responsibility of the appropriate regulatory bodies that set standards for health and social care education and training to determine how much knowledge registrants require of specific health and social care issues such as nutrition and malnutrition. My hon. Friend may find it helpful to contact the regulatory bodies direct to obtain this information in respect to those health and social care professions about which he is interested.

Older People

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to establish a central information source about care for older people, as recommended in the Office of Fair Trading report, Care homes for older people in the UK. [5597]

Mr. Byrne: The Office of Fair Trading published a report on care homes for older people on 18 May 2005. The report made a number of recommendations to the Government, which they are currently considering.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what percentage of people over 75 years taking four or more medicines have their medicines reviewed at least every six months; [6663]

(2) what percentage of people over 75 years have their medicines reviewed at least annually. [6664]

Mr. Byrne: The Department do not collect centrally the data requested.

The national medicines management collaborative use medication reviews as measures for assessing improvements in patient care. They have monitored medication reviews for older people undertaken through general practitioner surgeries and also within care homes. Historic data for both measures, collected from the 146 primary care trusts taking part in the programme, suggest that there have been significant and sustained improvements in the number and quality of medication reviews.

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