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Mental Health Services

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what resources have been allocated to mental health services for people aged (a) 50 to 64, (b) 65 to 74 and (c) 75 years or over as part of the National Service Framework for (i) older people and (ii) mental health. [11478]

Mr. Byrne: The resources that are necessary to deliver services in line with the national service frameworks (NSFs) for older people and mental health are included in the unified allocations made directly to primary care trusts (PCTs). It is for PCTs in partnership with strategic health authorities and other local stakeholders to determine how best to use these resources to deliver services in line with the NSFs.

In July 2002, an extra £1 billion was announced for social services for older people by 2006.
 
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Mersey Regional Ambulance Service

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether a compromise agreement was signed by Mersey Regional Ambulance Service and their Chief Executive prior to her departure from the organisation. [12998]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 18 July 2005]: The information is not collected centrally. Employment matters are the responsibility of the local ambulance trust.

MRI Scans

Mr. Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to collect information on the number of MRI scans carried out in the County Durham and Tees Valley Strategic Health Authority area. [12505]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 18 July 2005]: Data on the number of magnetic resonance imaging scans carried out at County Durham and Tees Valley Strategic Health Authority is already collected and published on the Department's website at: www.performance.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity/.

Myasthenia Gravis

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to improve the care offered to those with myasthenia gravis. [12630]

Mr. Byrne: The Department intends to publish best practice guidance on musculoskeletal conditions later this year. In addition, the Government have already published the national service framework for people with long-term conditions.

Nappies

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what measures she has put in place to ensure the safety of commercial cloth laundering services supplying NHS maternity wards with communally laundered cloth nappies for newborn babies; at what temperature these nappies are washed; and at what minimum temperature she recommends reusable nappies are washed in the home to avoid the risk of infection; [11667]

(2) how many cases of enteric viruses were recorded in NHS hospitals using commercially laundered nappies in the last period for which figures are available; [11668]

(3) when she expects the proposed BSI safety standard for commercial cloth nappy laundry services to be finalised. [11669]

Mr. Byrne: Commercial cloth laundering services supplying national health service maternity wards with communally laundered cloth nappies for newborn babies must comply with HSG(95)18, a copy of which is available in the Library. The guidelines set a thermal disinfection wash cycle in which the water temperature has been raised to 65 degrees centigrade for not less than 10 minutes or to 71 degrees centigrade for not less than three minutes.
 
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The Department advises parents that washable cloth nappies be laundered in a 60 degree centigrade wash. A hot wash cycle will destroy most vegetative bacteria and enteric viruses. However, water temperature is only one factor in the laundering process, as the cleansing effect of the detergent and the dilution effect of the pre-wash, wash and rinse is also important.

Information on the number of cases of enteric viruses in NHS hospitals using commercially laundered nappies is not collected centrally. The number of hospital
 
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episodes for babies under three years of age with a primary diagnosis of enteric virus in England in 2003–04 is shown in the table.

Information on when the proposed British Standards Institute safety standard for commercial cloth nappy laundry services will be published is yet to be finalised and is not currently available.
Hospital episodes: babies and children under the age of three with primary diagnosis of enteric virus, England, 2003–04

	Age
Primary diagnosis(80)	Less than 1 day	1–6 days	7–28 days	29–90 days	91–181 days	182–272 days	273–364 days	1 year old	2 years old	3 years old	Total
A080	1	2	37	94	167	252	279	669	213	80	1,794
A081	—	—	1	—	—	2	1	—	1	2	7
A082	—	—	2	11	12	11	7	11	2	—	56
A083	1	2	78	309	322	486	438	820	306	176	2,938
A084	3	4	163	823	1,094	1,440	1,430	3,622	1,622	977	11,178
A085	—	1	4	6	6	9	3	12	3	5	49
B341	1	—	2	4	—	2	3	4	7	3	26
Total	6	9	287	1,247	1,601	2,202	2,161	5,138	2,154	1,243	16,048

⁽⁸⁰⁾ Diagnosis codes:
A080—Rotaviral enteritis
A081—Acute gastroenteropathy due to Norwalk agent
A082—Adenoviral enteritis
A083—Other viral enteritis
A084—Viral intestinal infection, unspecified
A085—Other specified intestinal infection
B341—Enterovirus infection, unspecified
Source:
Hospital episode statistics.

National Infection Control Manual

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she will publish a national infection control manual. [10032]

Jane Kennedy: In the light of the recommendation in the report from the National Audit Office in 2000 that the Department should produce an infection control manual, the Department carried out a scoping study aimed at establishing what infection control specialists wanted from an infection control manual. The study showed a clear consensus that what was wanted was a reliable and high quality infection control information resource, bringing together all national guidance and other source literature relevant to the prevention and control of infection, rather than an infection control manual as such.

To meet this requirement a National Resource for Infection Control (NRIC) has been produced. The NRIC website went live in May 2005 at www.nric.org.uk and will be further developed over the next two years.

Neonatal Care

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total expenditure on NHS hospital neonatal care has been in each of the last eight years. [4469]

Mr. Byrne: The information requested is not collected centrally. Neonatal care services are provided through national health service general funding allocations. It is not possible to identify the neonatal element of this expenditure separately as it is included within the data for maternity gross expenditure, which is shown in table 1.

The Department has made additional funding available specifically to improve neonatal intensive care services. This expenditure is shown in table 2.
Table 1: Hospital and community health services (HCHS) maternity gross expenditure

£ million
HCHS Programme budget cash figures: Gross expenditure	Obstetric in patient funding
1995–96	718
1996–97	718
1997–98	730
1998–99	764
1999–2000	801
2000–01	844
2001–02	752
2002–03	854

Notes:
Figures are for England only.
Adjustments to expenditure figures are as follows:
Excluded from figures:
Well babies
Private patients
Supra regional offices
Special health authorities
Non-England United Kingdom residents
Non-UK residents funded by the Department.
Added to figures:
Private purchases
Health care purchased from the national health service outside of England.





 
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Table 2: Additional funding to improve neonatal intensive care services

£ million
	Funding
	Capital	Revenue
2000–01	6.5	5
2001–02	—	5
2002–03	—	5
2003–04	20	12
2004–05	—	19.857
2005–06	—	20

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