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12 Jul 2005 : Column 984W—continued
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will break down the membership of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's Citizens' Council by (a) age, (b) gender and (c) ethnicity; and if she will make a statement. [9798]
Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Member to the response of I gave on 27 June 2005, Official Report, column 1374W.
NHS (Independent Providers)
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she has issued any guidance on the number of (a) NHS foundation trusts and (b) independent sector providers primary care trusts must offer to patients in their menu of four to five providers by the end of 2005; when this guidance was issued; and whether she plans to issue any further guidance. [3443]
Mr. Byrne: Under the policy framework for choice and booking at the point of referral, published by the Department in August 2004, primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for commissioning the menus of four or more providers from which patients needing planned hospital care will be able to choose from the end of this year.
Where a PCT has a contract with a nationally procured independent sector treatment centre (ISTC), the ISTC needs to be on the PCTs choice menus for those specialities covered by the contract. Other PCTs in the area should also consider offering the ISTC as a choice to their patients. We would also expect PCTs to include any independent sector provider with which they have an existing, locally negotiated, contract to provide an appropriate package of care.
Creating a Patient Led NHS'" published in March 2005, set out our commitment to increase the choice of providers available to patients from April next year. In addition to the four or more locally commissioned providers, patients will be offered the choice of all national health service foundation trusts, all independent sector treatment centres and other nationally procured independent sector providers which meet NHS standards.
NHS Direct
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the budget for NHS Direct has been in each year since 1997–98; how many calls NHS Direct received in each year; and what the maximum call capacity of NHS Direct was in each year. [7504]
Mr. Byrne: The budget for NHS Direct since its inception in 1998–99 is shown in the table.
| Revenue (£ millions) | |
|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 14 |
| 1999–2000 | 55 |
| 2000–01 | 90.1 |
| 2001–02 | 89.7 |
| 2002–03 | 106 |
| 2003–04 | 117.5 |
| 2004–05 | 121 |
| 2005–06 | 163 |
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I understand from the chairman of NHS Direct that the number of calls answered in each year since 1998 are as shown in the table.
| Calendar year | Calls answered (thousands) |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 110 |
| 1999 | 1,650 |
| 2000 | 3,000 |
| 2001 | 5,001 |
| 2002 | 5,940 |
| 2003 | 6,420 |
| 2004 | 6,480 |
Information on maximum call capacity is not collected centrally.
Mr. Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the national health service direct access tariff is. [10381]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 7 July 2005]: Direct access tariffs require more work on data collection before mandatory tariffs are introduced.
NHS Expenditure
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the NHS annual budget was spent on (a) clinical research, (b) clinical research into the treatment and prevention of cancer and (c) research into the use of photo dynamic therapy as a treatment forcancer in the last period for which figures are available. [9958]
Jane Kennedy [holding answer 6 July 2005]: Research active organisations in the National Health Service were allocated £440 million research and development support funding in 2003–04 1 , of which they report spending some £113 million on research related to cancer. These totals account respectively for 0.72 per cent. and 0.18 per cent. of total NHS expenditure in that year.
Details of individual NHS projects, including some concerned with photo dynamic therapy in the treatment of cancer, can be found on the national research register at www.dh.gov.uk/research. Project level expenditure data for 2003–04 are not held centrally.
1 In addition to clinical research, the allocations to the NHS support health services research, public health research, and research to develop and apply new technology in the NHS.
NHS Finance
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which hospital trusts are in debt, listed in descending order of indebtedness; and what the size of each debt was in each case. [9651]
Mr. Byrne:
The latest available audited information in national health service trusts that failed to break even in their financial accounts is for 2003–04, and is shown in the table. In 2003–04, the NHS as a whole finished with a small surplus of £73 million.
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Source:
Summarisation schedule of 2003–04 final accounts
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