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31 Oct 2005 : Column 852W—continued
Surgical Procedures (Costs)
Mr. Wills: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average cost of surgical procedures on the NHS has been in each year since 1995. [19319]
Mr. Byrne: No data are available centrally that separately identifies the average cost of providing surgical procedures within the national health service. However, NHS reference cost data is collected annually at the level of health care resources groups (HRGs) and show a composite cost for a procedure or treatment rather than individual procedures. Definitions and breakdowns of the HRGs are published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre and available on its website at http://www.icservices.nhs.uk/casemix/pages/tools.asp.
Details of NHS reference costs from 1997–98 to 2003–04 are published on the Department's website at http://www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/Organisation Policy/FinanceAndPlanning/NHSReferenceCosts/fs/en.
Therapy
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many established full-time equivalent posts there are in each strategic health authority in England for (a) speech therapists and (b) occupational therapists; and how many of those posts are vacant. [17793]
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Mr. Byrne:
The table shows the number of full-time equivalent occupational therapists and speech and language therapists employed in the national health
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service within each strategic health authority (SHA) and Government office region, together with the rate of vacancies lasting three months or more.
Three month vacancy notes:
1. Three month vacancy information is as at 31 March 2005
2. Three month vacancies are vacancies which Trusts are actively trying to fill, which had lasted for three months or more (whole time equivalents)
3. Three month Vacancy Rates are three month vacancies expressed as a percentage of three month vacancies plus staff in post
4. Three month Vacancy Rates are calculated using staff in post from the Non-Medical Workforce Census September 2004
5. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place
6 * figures where sum of staff in post (as at 30 September 2004) and vacancies (as at 31 March 2005) is less than 10
Staff in post notes:
1. Staff in post data is from the Non-Medical Workforce Census September 2004
General notes:
1. Vacancy and staff in post numbers are rounded to the nearest whole number
2. Calculating the vacancy rates using the above data may not equal the actual vacancy rates
3. Due to rounding, totals may not equal the sum of component parts
4. Strategic Health Authority figures are based on Trusts, and do not necessarily reflect the geographical provision of healthcare
5. The London Ambulance Service NHS Trust cannot be assigned to a particular Strategic Health Authority
6. The 2005 Vacancy survey did not receive a valid return from the Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Trust. Figures for this Trust have been excluded from all applicable vacancy totals and calculations. Staff in post figures for this Trust are included in the England, Yorkshire and the Humber GOR and North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire SHA totals so as to be consistent with other Health and Social Care Information Centre publications.
Sources:
Health and Social Care Information Centre Vacancies Survey March 2005
Health and Social Care Information Centre Non-Medical Workforce Census September 2004
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Waiting Times
Graham Stringer:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people are on the waiting list for gastroscopic examinations at North Manchester
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General Hospital; and how many have been waiting more than (a) three and (b) six months. [20377]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 24 October 2005]: The information requested is not held centrally.