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12 Sept 2005 : Column 2788W—continued
Two Shires Ambulance NHS Trust
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Two Shires ambulance NHS trust met its performance target for responding to category A calls in (a) 2001–02, (b) 2002–03 and (c) 2003–04. [14135]
Caroline Flint: The Two Shires ambulance national health service trust did not meet its performance target for category A (that is, immediate life-threatening calls with ambulance services required to respond to 75 per cent. of such cases within eight minutes) response time in 2001–02, but exceeded it for each consecutive year to date, as shown in the table.
| Percentage | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 73.9 |
| 2002–03 | 76.0 |
| 2003–04 | 76.6 |
United Brain Tumour Campaign
Peter Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to provide support for the United Brain Tumour Campaign. [14109]
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Ms Rosie Winterton: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is developing an Improving Outcomes" guidance for brain tumours. This guidance will recommend the optimal forms of treatment and care for patients with brain tumours in the national health service and is expected to be published in June 2006.
The scope of the guidance covers the issues raised by the United Brain Tumour Campaign, such as the need for a multi-disciplinary approach to treatment, the need for consistent, jargon-free information and the need for support for patients with brain tumours, their families and their carers.
Unsuccessful Operations
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements are in place to compensate those who have incurred pain and suffering through unsuccessful operations; and if she will make a statement. [14651]
Jane Kennedy: Compensation for pain and suffering following unsuccessful operations is available where clinical negligence is proved to have occurred. However, the fact that an operation has been unsuccessful does not imply that the healthcare professionals concerned have failed in their duty of care towards the patient. Patients are advised pre-operatively of the possible consequences of operations and sign a consent form to say that they have been alerted to potential risks during and following surgery.
Claims for clinical negligence incurred by national health service bodies are managed by the NHS Litigation Authority, which is a special health authority set up by the Secretary of State for Health. The authority administers the current clinical negligence scheme for trusts, set up under Section 21 of the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990. For a claim to be successful, the claimant must show that he/she is owed a duty of care, that the duty was breached and that the breach caused or contributed materially to the injury for which he/she is claiming compensation.
Velcade
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects the drug Velcade to be available for prescription in England. [12669]
Jane Kennedy: Velcade is available on national health service prescription.
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make Velcade available on prescription for the treatment of myeloma. [13139]
Jane Kennedy: Velcade is available on national health service prescription for the treatment of multiple myeloma.
Mr. McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to complete its assessment of Velcade. [13450]
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Jane Kennedy: An early referral of Velcade to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) was made on 20 July. NICE will carry out an appraisal at the earliest opportunity.
Violence against Staff
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 27 June 2005, Official Report, column 1385W, on violence against staff, what targets were set on reducing incidents of violence towards NHS staff prior to the Security Management Service research; and what progress has been made on meeting those targets. [13676]
Jane Kennedy: Working Together: Securing a Quality Workforce for the NHS", published in 1999, required national health service trusts to set targets for reducing incidents of violence and aggression by 20 per cent. by 2001 and 30 per cent. by 2003. The targets were subsequently incorporated into the Improving Working Lives" standard, launched in October 2000, which all acute, mental health and ambulance trusts were required to put into practice by April 2003. By March 2002, 20 per cent. of trusts had achieved the 20 per cent. reduction target.
In April 2003, the NHS Security Management Service (SMS) was created and assumed policy and operational responsibility for the management of security in the NHS, including the problem of violence. In November 2003, the SMS introduced a comprehensive range of proactive and reactive measures to tackle violence against NHS staff. The SMS has begun a programme of work to identify the nature, scale and extent of violence against NHS staff. Following the introduction of this new programme, NHS trusts have not been required to report on the 30 per cent. target set under previous programmes.
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many adverse incidents were recorded in the NHS in England by the National Reporting and Learning System in the latest year for which information is available; and if she will make a statement. [13691]
Jane Kennedy: The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) published its first analysis of reported patient safety incidents on 21 July 2005. Copies are available in the Library. Building a memory: preventing harm, reducing risks and improving patient safety—The first report of the National Reporting and Learning System and the Patient Safety Observatory", shows that, up to 31 March 2005, 85,342 patient safety incidents were reported, affecting 86,142 patients. The majority of incidents, 68 per cent., resulted in no harm to patients.
It is important that this information is set in the context of the overall delivery of health care. The vast majority of national health service care is safe and
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effective, with over a million patients successfully treated every day. However, we are working to create a culture where staff feel that they can report patient safety incidents, so that we can learn from these and respond accordingly.
This issue is not unique to the NHS and these levels of mistakes are equally likely to occur in healthcare systems across the world. A key part of our European Union Presidency will be the driving forward of action to improve patient safety and care.
Waiting Times
Steve Webb:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what targets her Department has set for (a) waiting times for patients requiring an initial out-patient
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appointment with an eye specialist and (b) waiting times for second and subsequent out-patient appointments. [13698]
Mr. Byrne: The maximum target waiting time for a first out-patient appointment with a consultant following general practitioner referral for any specialty is currently 17 weeks. By the end of 2005, this maximum will fall to 13 weeks.
By 2008, no patient will have to wait more than 18 weeks from GP referral to start of treatment. This will cover all the stages that lead up to treatment, including any second and subsequent out-patient appointments.
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were awaiting hospital admittance in the East Riding of Yorkshire at the last available count. [13791]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested is shown in the following table.
Source:
Monthly monitoring (commissioner based).
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many delayed discharges there were in acute hospitals serving the East Riding of Yorkshire in the last 12 months; and how many acute hospital bed nights these represented. [13792]
Mr. Byrne: The information is not available in the format requested. The latest information shows that, on a snapshot day in the week ending 3 April 2005, there were four delayed discharges in the East Yorkshire local authority area.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients in the Essex health authority area referred urgently with suspected breast cancer have waited more than two weeks for an out-patient appointment in each reporting period since January 2002. [14134]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is shown in the table.
Source:
CWT-Db, Department of Health.
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Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients in the Essex Health Authority area have waited more than (a) three months, (b) sixmonths, (c) nine months, (d) 12 months, (e) 15 months, (f) 18 months and (g) 24 months for (i) heart operations, (ii) cancer treatment and (iii) hip replacements in each year since 2001–02. [14321]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is shown in the tables.
Notes:
1.A finished in-year admission is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider, excluding admissions beginning before 1 April at the start of the datayear. Please note that admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.
2.The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (seven prior to 2002–03) diagnosis fields in the hospital episode statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.
3.The main operation is the first recorded operation in the HES data set and is usually the most resource intensive procedure performed during the episode. It is appropriate to use main operation when looking at admission details, e.g. time waited, but the figures for all operations count of episodes" give a more complete count of episodes with an operation.
4.Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data—(i.e. the data is un-grossed).
5.Time waited statistics from HES are not the same as the published waiting list statistics. HES provides counts and time waited for all patients admitted to hospital within a given period, whereas the published waiting list statistics count those waiting for treatment on a specific date and how long they have been on the waiting list. Also, HES calculates the time waited as the difference between the admission and decision to admit dates. Unlike published waiting list statistics, this is not adjusted for self-deferrals or periods of medical/social suspension.
Source:
HES, Health and Social Care Information Centre.
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