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23 Jan 2006 : Column 1848W—continued
Departmental Data
Dr. Strang: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what methods her Department employs to ensure that its data are up-to-date, with particular reference to information on people who have (a) moved house and (b) died. [37793]
Jane Kennedy: The Department employs a variety of methods to ensure that it keeps its personal data up-to-date. These include:
putting in place business processes that encourage or force necessary changes to data where circumstances change;
communicating to staff on why accurate information is important for them as well as for the Department;
developing technology that allows staff and line managers to make changes to data directly themselves, rather than relying on Human Resource staff or others to do so on their behalf. This is the case in the specific circumstance of moving house; and
increasingly moving towards having a single source of personal data that is transferred automatically between information systems, rather than collecting the same data in more than one system.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on advertising by (a) her Department, (b) each (i) non-departmental public body and (ii) executive agency for which her Department is responsible and (c) each independent statutory body, organisation and body financially sponsored by her Department in each year since May 1997. [39070]
Jane Kennedy: The table shows the expenditure on major information campaigns and advertising commissioned by the Department's Communications Directorate in each year since 1997.
| Financial year | Advertising expenditure |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 2.04 |
| 1998–99 | 8.53 |
| 1999–2000 | 15.17 |
| 2000–01 | 20.80 |
| 2001–02 | 20.40 |
| 2002–03 | 23.13 |
| 2003–04 | 38.98 |
| 2004–05 | 32.7 |
| 2005–06(55) | 23 |
(55)Estimate.
We have no central record of advertising spend by non-departmental public bodies, executive agencies or independent statutory bodies or organisations financially sponsored by the Department and could not obtain these without incurring disproportionate costs.
Doctors (EU Working Time Directive)
Mr. Jim Cunningham:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the effect of the
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European working time directive on doctors working in the NHS; and if she will make a statement. [39737]
Mr. Byrne: The working time directive (WTD) was implemented for the vast majority of national health service staff groups in 1998 in accordance with regulations. The Government negotiated an extension to the WTD for doctors in training to enable phased implementation from August 2004.
Implementation of the WTD is the responsibility of local NHS trusts, and all employees are entitled to appropriate working hours and rest breaks.
The Department in England has worked with the health professions and NHS employers to provide joint guidance and invested an extra £46 million to support WTD implementation, including 20 national pilots and the hospital at night project. We are also funding independent research on the impact of WTD on medical training.
General Practitioners
Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners were paid (a) £130,000 to £150,000, (b) £110,000 to £129,999, (c) £90,000 to £109,999, (d) £70,000 to £89,999 and (e) £50,000 to £69,999 in 2004–05; and how many in each category worked (i) full-time and (ii) part-time. [40354]
Mr. Byrne: Data on general practitioners paid between £150,000 and £50,000 in 2004–05 and split between full-time and part-time are not available centrally.
Health Expenditure
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent by the NHS on treatment by (a) psychiatrists, (b) clinical psychologists, (c) psychotherapists, (d) cognitive and behavioural therapists and (e) other therapists in each of the last five years, broken down to the most local level for which figures are available. [40889]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not available.
Hospital Treatment (Lincolnshire)
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients from (a) North Lincolnshire and (b) North East Lincolnshire received hospital treatment in Hull in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [43064]
Mr. Byrne:
The table shows the counts of finished consultant episodes and patients at the Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals National Health Service Trust where the patients are resident within the North Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) and the North East Lincolnshire PCT.
23 Jan 2006 : Column 1850W
Notes:
1.Finished consultant episode (FCE)
A FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Please note that the figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the year.
2.Patient counts
Patient counts are based on the unique hospital episode statistics (HES) patient identifier (HESID). This identifier is derived based on patient's date of birth, postcode, sex, local patient identifier and NHS number, using an agreed algorithm. Where data are incomplete, HESID might erroneously link episodes or fail to recognise episodes for the same patient. Care is therefore needed, especially where duplicate records persist in the data. The patient count cannot be summed across a table where patients may have episodes in more than one cell.
3.Primary care trust (PCT) and strategic health authority (SHA) data quality
PCT and SHA data were added to historic data-years in the HES database using 2002–03 boundaries, as a one-off exercise in 2004. The quality of the data on PCT of treatment and SHA of treatment are poor in 1996–97, 1997–98 and 1998–99, with over a third of all finished episodes having missing values in these years. Data quality of PCT of general practitioner (GP) practice and SHA of GP practice in 1997–98 and 1998–99 are also poor, with a high proportion missing values where practices changed or ceased to exist. There is less change in completeness of the residence-based fields over time, where the majority of unknown values are due to missing postcodes on birth episodes. Users of time series analysis including these years need to be aware of these issues in their interpretation of the data.
4.Ungrossed data
Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (ie the data are ungrossed).
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics, Health and Social Care Information Centre.
Influenza
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the likelihood of a pandemic strain of influenza developing resistance to oseltamivir; and whether she intends to stockpile (a) M2 inhibitors and (b) other antivirals as an alternative strategy. [42018]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Antiviral resistance is a general concern and we are supporting and monitoring research on levels of viral resistance to antivirals—including oseltamivir. Recent anecdotal reports suggest a few patients treated for avian influenza have developed resistance to oseltamivir. These particular cases are specific to avian, not pandemic virus, and the data, for now, do not affect our current strategy. At present the experience is that these drugs do work and that they
23 Jan 2006 : Column 1851W
should work against a pandemic strain. They need to be used carefully and appropriately to minimise the risk of resistance.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has completed tests of viruses recovered from the first two fatal cases in Turkey. These analyses indicate that the Turkish viruses are sensitive to both classes of antiviral drugs including oseltamivir. Oseltamivir remains the drug of first choice recommended by the WHO.
Our scientific advisory group reviews our antiviral strategy at their regular meetings and will keep under review the option of stockpiling alternative antivirals.
Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of eligible people received free influenza vaccinations in Cleethorpes constituency in each of the last three years; and if she will make a statement. [42970]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Information is available only at primary care trust level. The percentage of people aged 65 and over receiving free influenza vaccinations from 2002 to 2005, in North East Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) is shown in the table.
| Total percentage uptake | |
|---|---|
| 2002–03 | 71 |
| 2003–04 | 72 |
| 2004–05 | 72 |
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