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6 Dec 2005 : Column 1225W—continued

Digital Hearing Aids

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in the (a) Adur, Arun and Worthing primary care trust area, (b) West Sussex and (c) England have been fitted with a digital hearing aid through the NHS; and what estimate she has made of the numbers remaining in each area to be switched over from analogue aids. [33108]

Mr. Byrne: The information requested is not held centrally. The modernising hearing aid services programme estimates that approximately 500,000 people have now been fitted with digital hearing aids.

Disabled Care

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will bring forward legislation to ensure that a national standard of care is available to all disabled people based on nationally agreed criteria for assessing individual needs and risks; and if she will make a statement. [29715]

Mr. Byrne: There are a range of different models for assessing people's needs across different client groups and in different local authorities. In taking forward the Green Paper 'Independence, Wellbeing and Choice', we will consider the extent to which needs assessment could be streamlined.

Under the Care Standards Act 2000, all care homes in England are regulated by the Commission for Social Care Inspection in accordance with statutory regulations and national minimum standards, to ensure consistency and improve the quality of life and level of protection for the most vulnerable people in society.

East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to increase the funding of the East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust; and if she will make a statement. [32143]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 28 November 2005]: The Department does not allocate funding to national health service trusts. Primary care trusts (PCTs), with their specific local knowledge and expertise, are now responsible for the commissioning of all health services and, to reflect this responsibility, funding is allocated to PCTs. Funding for NHS trusts is therefore dependant on the level of services they are able to contract with commissioning PCTs.
 
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Significant levels of resources have been made available to the NHS. The latest round of revenue allocations to PCTs, covering the period 2006–07 and 2007–08, represents £135 billion investment in the NHS. Over the two years covered by this allocation PCTs will receive an average increase of 19.5 per cent.

Each NHS trust has a statutory duty to break-even over a three-year period. While the financial situation for 2005–06 is challenging, the trust has a financial recovery plan in place and is forecasting to break-even in the current financial year.

Expenses Claims

Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether (a) hospital consultants, (b) general practitioners and (c) nurses are entitled to make an expense claim for their travelling costs to attend NHS hospitals; and if she will make a statement. [27983]

Mr. Byrne: The NHS Employers organisation is now responsible for maintaining and publishing pay and terms and conditions of national health service staff. The information requested can be found on their website at www.nhsemployers.org.

For consultants appointed before 2003 details of entitlements to expenses can be found in the 2002 terms and conditions handbook for Hospital Medical and Dental Staff and Doctors in Public Health and the Community, in paragraphs 277 to 308.

For consultants appointed after 2003 the entitlements are within the 2003 Consultant Contract, Schedule 21. Alternative provisions may be made locally.

Copies of both sets of terms and conditions can be found in the Library.

For those general practitioners on a general medical service contract, any payment for travelling expenses will be by agreement between the two parties concerned. There is no provision in the GMS contract relating to payment for travel expenses.

The NHS terms and conditions handbook, which applies to staff, including nurses, employed on the new Agenda for Change pay system contains information on entitlement to expenses in chapter three. A copy is also available in the Library.

Finished Consultant Episodes

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many finished consultant episodes there were in (a) 1994–95 and (b) 2004–05 where the primary diagnosis was coded as (i) F10, (ii) K70 and (iii) T51 for each strategic health authority for those aged (A) over 18, (B) those under 18, (C) those under 16 and (D) those under 14 years. [18656]

Caroline Flint: The nearest approximation to the data requested is shown in the table.
 
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Count of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) for primary diagnosis F10, K70 or T51—broken down by age and strategic health authority. Data for all NHS hospitals in England, data years 1996–97 and 2003–04

Sum of FCEs
		1996–97
		Age
SHA		Less than 14	14–16	16–18	Greater than 18	Total
Q01	Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA	60	34	22	966	1,082
Q02	Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire SHA	86	52	4	622	764
Q03	Essex SHA	47	21	3	748	819
Q04	North West London SHA	31	23	4	1,226	1,284
Q05	North Central London SHA	46	17	3	886	952
Q06	North East London SHA	47	8	5	987	1,047
Q07	South East London SHA	45	22	10	1,018	1,095
Q08	South West London SHA	66	37	2	878	983
Q09	Northumberland, Tyne and Wear SHA	132	80	34	1,649	1,895
Q10	County Durham and Tees Valley SHA	158	84	28	1,073	1,343
Q11	North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire SHA	77	43	50	968	1,138
Q12	West Yorkshire SHA	141	60	41	1,573	1,815
Q13	Cumbria and Lancashire SHA	148	80	50	2,450	2,728
Q14	Greater Manchester SHA	178	78	34	3,075	3,365
Q15	Cheshire and Merseyside SHA	211	123	60	3,647	4,041
Q16	Thames Valley SHA	38	24	13	1,014	1,089
Q17	Hampshire and Isle of Wight SHA	59	36	27	1,253	1,375
Q18	Kent and Medway SHA	69	40	12	858	979
Q19	Surrey and Sussex SHA	90	59	23	1,692	1,864
Q20	Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire SHA	93	45	21	1,449	1,608
Q21	South West Peninsula SHA	72	35	33	1,066	1,206
Q22	Dorset and Somerset SHA	37	35	14	990	1,076
Q23	South Yorkshire SHA	95	47	26	872	1,040
Q24	Trent SHA	119	61	30	2,160	2,370
Q25	Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland SHA	68	28	6	774	876
Q26	Shropshire and Staffordshire SHA	106	42	16	1,113	1,277
Q27	Birmingham and the Black Country SHA	105	61	22	2,339	2,527
Q28	West Midlands South SHA	97	63	27	1,523	1,710
Q99	Wales	12	4	3	99	118
S	Scotland	2	—	1	21	24
U	England—not otherwise specified	—	3	3	365	371
X	Foreign (including Isle of Man and Channel Islands)	1	5	1	43	50
Y	Unknown	30	17	10	1,257	1,314
Z	Northern Ireland	—	—	—	18	18
	Grand total	2,566	1,367	638	40,672	45,243

		2003–04
		Age
SHA		Less than 14	14–16	16–18	Greater than 18	Total
Q01	Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA	89	52	19	2,193	2,353
Q02	Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire SHA	83	48	7	1,136	1,274
Q03	Essex SHA	40	21	8	1,234	1,303
Q04	North West London SHA	51	31	10	1,770	1,862
Q05	North Central London SHA	33	27	3	1,214	1,277
Q06	North East London SHA	56	27	7	1,505	1,595
Q07	South East London SHA	48	36	12	1,729	1,825
Q08	South West London SHA	73	73	7	1,223	1,376
Q09	Northumberland, Tyne and Wear SHA	71	41	15	2,062	2,189
Q10	County Durham and Tees Valley SHA	75	62	16	1,544	1,697
Q11	North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire SHA	153	86	31	1,644	1,914
Q12	West Yorkshire SHA	121	53	27	2,061	2,262
Q13	Cumbria and Lancashire SHA	152	81	41	2,816	3,090
Q14	Greater Manchester SHA	211	106	34	3,854	4,205
Q15	Cheshire and Merseyside SHA	205	133	49	5,368	5,755
Q16	Thames Valley SHA	78	37	11	1,253	1,379
Q17	Hampshire and Isle of Wight SHA	93	70	37	1,829	2,029
Q18	Kent and Medway SHA	103	36	18	1,029	1,186
Q19	Surrey and Sussex SHA	155	106	17	1,822	2,100
Q20	Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire SHA	94	66	27	1,795	1,982
Q21	South West Peninsula SHA	110	72	43	2,000	2,225
Q22	Dorset and Somerset SHA	46	34	12	1,016	1,108
Q23	South Yorkshire SHA	56	38	16	1,498	1,608
Q24	Trent SHA	140	79	23	3,034	3,276
Q25	Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland SHA	56	33	11	1,482	1,582
Q26	Shropshire and Staffordshire SHA	126	58	6	1,567	1,757
Q27	Birmingham and the Black Country SHA	139	83	40	2,833	3,095
Q28	West Midlands South SHA	87	58	9	1,446	1,600
Q99	Wales	10	2	—	151	163
S	Scotland	2	1	4	59	66
U	England—not otherwise specified	11	5	7	832	855
X	Foreign (including Isle of Man and Channel Islands)	2	6	4	82	94
Y	Unknown	15	13	4	555	587
Z	Northern Ireland	—	—	—	24	24
	Grand total	2,784	1,674	575	55,660	60,693

Notes:
F10 —mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol
K70—alcoholic liver disease
T51(A)— toxic effect of alcohol
1. The data only cover 2003–04 because the 2004–05 data will not be ready for release before December 2005.
2. The data shown are only for 1996–97, rather than 1994–95, for two reasons: international classification of diseases (ICD) 10 codes as requested are not applicable for 1994–95 because ICD10 was only introduced in 1995–96. Attempts to back reference the codes to the ICD9 code list do not reveal a comparable data set. Secondly, strategic health authorities (SHAs) were introduced from 2002–03 and we have done a mapping exercise to apply the new boundaries back to 1996–97. Before this point, SHA breakdowns are not applicable. As such, 1996–97 has been presented as the earliest year where both diagnosis and geographical conditions can be met.





 
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