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11 Jul 2005 : Column 718W—continued
Connecting for Health
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what instructions have been issued by Connecting for Health to suppliers to develop stand alone versions of their application which are not reliant on the NHS data spine; and for what reasons. [7385]
Mr. Byrne: None. Contracts governing service levels for the data spine require a very taxing standard of guaranteed availability on a 24 hours a day, seven days a week basis. Suppliers are required to develop highly reliable and resilient systems to meet these service levels. Earlier this year, suppliers were asked to consider the impact for their systems and services of the data spine being unavailable temporarily, but there are no current plans to progress this to an instruction to develop stand-alone systems.
Conscientious Objection
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she will reply to paragraphs 3.11 to 3.16 of the Twelfth Report from the Joint Committee on Human Rights of Session 2003–04, relating to conscientious objection; and if she will make a statement. [9965]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Parliament will debate the issues raised in the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill on 10 October and the Government will listen carefully to this debate.
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Consultants' Contract
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she has fully funded the NHS for the costs its has incurred from implementing the consultants' contract; and if she will make a statement. [9352]
Mr. Byrne: We have invested substantial resources—some £250 million extra by 2005–06—for the new consultant contract, which rewards those national health service consultants who do the most for the NHS and aims to secure real changes in the way patient care is delivered.
This funding, based on the methodology agreed with the British Medical Association during negotiations, was allocated to primary care trusts (PCTs) in December 2002 as part of main allocations. The amount that went to main allocations was 0.3 per cent. 2003–04, 0.4 per cent. in 2004–05 and 0.5 per cent. in 2005–06.
We uplifted the provider tariff for 2005–06 to take account of any potential cost pressures, although our national survey subsequently demonstrated that the cost pressures anticipated by trusts were not being realised. The imperative remains for trusts to ensure that all consultants have job plans that reflect the current needs of patients and the service in line with local delivery plans.
Category A Patients (Mortality Statistics)
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of Category A patients were pronounced dead on arrival at hospital in the last period for which figures are available, broken down by ambulance trust. [9789]
Mr. Byrne: This information is not collected centrally.
Dentistry
Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures she is taking to increase the provision of dentistry services in Hertfordshire; and if she will make a statement. [7488]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The eight primary care trusts (PCTs) in Hertfordshire have received £1.03 million in capital grants in 2004–05 and £446,000 revenue access money in 2004–05. This additional funding has already delivered growth equivalent to 5.5 whole time dentists and delivered in excess of 10,000 additional patient registrations in Hertfordshire.
Through local recruitment activity, Dacorum PCT now employs three dentists from overseas and North Hertfordshire and Stevenage PCT employs two.
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Healthwhat orthodontic treatment is available on the NHS; and what the charges are for each type of treatment. [8090]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Full details of dental treatment available on the national health service are set out in the statement of dental remuneration (SDR), which details the availability of all NHS treatment and the fees payable by patients. A copy of the SDR has been placed in the Library. As with all NHS dental treatment, orthodontic treatment is free for children.
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Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps her Department is taking to improve NHS dentistry in the Southend area. [9929]
Ms Rosie Winterton: In 2004–05, the Department allocated £1.5 million to the Essex strategic health authority to improve access, choice and quality in national health service dentistry. Of this sum, Southend primary care trust (PCT) received £220,000. The PCT aims to create additional capacity of 23,400 places as a result. The PCT has a dental action plan in place which includes a range of measures to increase capacity and extend existing services, and has already negotiated two personal dental service contracts which has created an additional 13,000 patient registrations. The PCT has also recruited three Polish dentists as part of the Department's international recruitment scheme, with a fourth due to start later this month.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists undertaking NHS work there are in (a) Essex and (b) Southend Primary Care Trust; and if she will list the practices which are taking new patients. [9968]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The table shows the number of dentists in Essex and Southend Primary Care Trust (PCT).
Information about dentists taking on new national health service patients is not collected centrally. However, information can be obtained from local PCTs or from NHS Direct.
Note:
The figures given by PCT and SHA include all dentists practising in that area. Some dentists may have an open GDS or PDS contract in more than one PCT or SHA and therefore they have been counted more than once.
Source:
Dental Practice Board.
Disability Equality Training
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to ensure that all NHS staff receive disability equality training; how many trusts provide such training; and how many strategic health authorities monitor the availability of such training in their area. [2722]
Mr. Byrne
[holding answer 9 June 2005]: The responsibility for diversity awareness training, which includes disability equality, lies with each national health service employer. We recommended in Improving Working Lives Practice Plus" that NHS employers provide employees with diversity awareness training. All NHS employers are expected to conform to Improving Working Lives" human resources practice by March 2006. General practitioner practices and foundation trusts, however, are not covered by these requirements. Compliance data are not held centrally.
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Doctor Numbers
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) general practitioners, (b) consultants, (c) junior doctors, (d) staff grade and (e) associate specialists were employed in NHS hospitals in (i) West Sussex, (ii) Surrey, (iii) Durham, (iv) the East Riding of Yorkshire and (v) each strategic health authority in each of the last eight years. [7911]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested has been placed in the Library. Between 1997 and 2004 in England, consultants increased by 43 per cent.; associate specialists by 70 per cent.; staff grade by 114 per cent.; doctors in training or equivalents by 38 per cent, and general practitioners by 16 per cent.
Domiciliary Care
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the stages in the registration of domiciliary care providers are; and what standard is required at each stage. [9078]
Mr. Byrne: The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) is responsible for registering domiciliary care agencies in accordance with statutory regulations and national minimum standards. Information about registration is found on the application pack R1 and AppendixA3, both of which are available from CSCI at www.csci.org.uk.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in (a) England and (b) each region have (i) met and (ii) not met the required standard at each stage in the registration of domiciliary care providers. [9079]
Mr. Byrne: I understand from the chair for the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) that, in 2004–05, the CSCI registered 2,118 domiciliary care agencies, making a total of 4,091 registered as at 31 March 2005.
A total of 17 registrations for domiciliary care agencies were refused in 2004–05.
The regional analysis is shown in the table.
Source:
CAiRE, New to registration and new to regulation applications, 1 July 2005.
11 Jul 2005 : Column 722W
Source:
CAiRE, 1 July 2005.
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