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2 Mar 2006 : Column 910W—continued
Doctors (Suspensions)
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors have been suspended for six months or more in each quarter since April 2001; and what estimate she has made of the cost to the NHS of suspensions of doctors in the last full year for which figures are available. [48844]
Jane Kennedy:
Departmental figures show that, from 2000, approximately 30 doctors were suspended at any one time for six months or more. National Clinical Assessment Service (NCAS) figures show that for the first three quarters of 2004, 21 doctors were excluded at any one time, and 19 in quarter four. Long-term suspensions—doctors or dentists formally excluded from work for six months or more—have reduced by almost half to about 20 at any one time in 2004. The figures for 2005 will be published by NCAS in the spring. Data on the cost of exclusions are not collected
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centrally. The National Audit Office in their report, The Management of Suspensions of Clinical Staff in NHS Hospital and Ambulance Trusts in England", estimated that the average cost of excluding a doctor was £188,000.
Eating Disorders
Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research her Department has commissioned on the (a) recognition and (b) referral mechanism for eating disorders by (i) general practitioners and (ii) other health professionals. [53012]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has not commissioned research on the recognition and referral mechanism for eating disorders by general practitioners and other health professionals. However, clinical guidelines published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in January 2004 provide recommendations for healthcare professionals on core interventions in the treatment and management of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and related eating disorders in primary, secondary and tertiary care. The guidelines are available on NICE'S website at www.nice.org.uk/pdf/cg009niceguidance.pdf.
1. PDS schemes have varying registration periods. To ensure comparability with corresponding GDS data, PDS registrations are estimated using proxy registrations, namely the number of patients seen by PDS practices in the past 15 months. There will be a break in the registrations series at the point at which PDS schemes were introduced as the proxy registrations build up. Falls in registration rates will be particularly pronounced in the financial year 2004–05, when the majority of PDS schemes were introduced.
2. Data for 2003 and earlier do not include those PDS schemes that do not have any registrations, for example, dental access centres, and is therefore not directly comparable with 2004 and 2005 data.
Dental Practice Board
Erythropoietin
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is expected to make its final decision on whether it will recommend the use of erythropoietin. [55367]
Jane Kennedy: I understand that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is likely to publish its final guidance on the use of erythropoietin for the management of anaemia induced by cancer treatment in May 2006. Further information is available from NICE's website at www.nice.org.uk.
Free Eye Examinations
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to delegate responsibility for determining eligibility for free eye examinations to individual primary care trusts. [47209]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
There are no plans to delegate responsibility for determining eligibility for free eye tests to primary care trusts.
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Gambling Addiction
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what gambling addiction services are available in Cambridgeshire. [54352]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Gulf War-related Illnesses
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which NHS hospitals are the main centres for the treatment of Gulf War-related illnesses. [50295]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has not designated any national health service hospitals as main centres for the treatment of ex-service personnel returning from military conflict. Local NHS bodies have a responsibility to provide services to meet the health needs of all those who are eligible for treatment including ex-service personnel.
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what Government guidelines are available to (a) general practitioners, (b) neurologists and (c) other medical carers for the treatment of ex-service personnel suffering Gulf War-related illnesses. [50296]
Ms Rosie Winterton: No guidelines have been issued specifically for the treatment of ex-service personnel returning from military conflict. Clinical guidelines published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence provide recommendations in the treatment of various health problems including those that may be experienced by ex-service personnel returning from military conflict.
Haemodynamic Fluid Optimisation
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will instruct the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to conduct an appraisal of haemodynamic fluid optimisation. [51892]
Jane Kennedy: There are no plans at present for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to undertake an appraisal of haemodynamic fluid optimisation.
Health Budget
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) pursuant to the answer of Mr. Richard Douglas to the Health Committee on 6 December 2005, HC (2005–06) 736-i, on public expenditure on health and personal social services 2005, question 318, what the control totals are which sum to £200 million, broken down by strategic health authority; and which of her Department's budgets will be underspent to finance the NHS deficit anticipated for the 2005–06 financial year; [39398]
(2) if she will list the control totals the Department has agreed with each strategic health authority for financial year 2005–06. [51928]
Jane Kennedy:
Control totals are an internal financial management tool used for the operational management of the national health service. The reason for having control totals is to bring strategic health authorities (SHAs) as close as possible to financial balance.
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The control totals are set in agreement with SHAs. They are used to inform performance management discussions across SHAs' health economies. It would be inappropriate to publish the control totals during the financial year, as it may have implications for performance discussions held with NHS organisations, and the ability of the Department and all SHAs to discharge their performance management function.
In 2005–06, spending control totals have been issued to the Department's three business groups. These have not been translated into individual budget underspends. The overall central programme is on target to deliver savings.
Health Care (Tamworth)
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the provision of sexual health services in Tamworth. [53413]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Primary care trusts (PCTs) in partnership with strategic health authorities and other
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local stakeholders, are responsible for planning and developing services to meet the health needs of local people. Burntwood, Litchfield and Tamworth PCT is responsible for commissioning health services for residents of Tamworth.
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many vacant midwife posts there are in (a) the Staffordshire and Shropshire Strategic Health Authority area and (b) the Burntwood, Lichfield and Tamworth Primary Care Trust area; and what plans her Department has to recruit more midwives into the NHS in Staffordshire. [53414]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The table shows the three-month vacancy rates for qualified midwives in the Shropshire and Staffordshire Strategic Health Authority (SHA) area by organisation, including the Lichfield and Tamworth Primary Care Trust (PCT) area.
PCTs, working together with their local acute trust partners, are responsible for determining local workforce requirements, including numbers of midwives.
Notes:
Three-month vacancy
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. — zero.
Staff in post
Staff in post data is from the Non-Medical Workforce Census, September 2004.
General
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. SHA figures are based on trusts and do not necessarily reflect the geographical provision of health care.
Source:
NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre Vacancies Survey, March 2005
NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre Non-Medical Workforce Census, September 2004
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Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many delayed discharges were in acute hospitals serving the Tamworth area in the last 12 months; and how many acute hospital bed nights these represented. [53419]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information is not available in the format requested. However, the table shows the number of delayed discharges in the last 12 months at the Mid-Staffordshire General Hospitals National Health Service Trust.
Notes:
1. Data in the table is taken from local monitoring of delayed discharges included in the SITREPs collection. The delayed transfers of care figures are based on a snapshot taken on the last typical Thursday in the month. This differs to the day used in the separate, quarterly LDPR commissioner collections on which the figures published in the Statistical Supplement to the Chief Executive's Report to the NHS, December 2005 are based. The number of days delayed sums all delays in the month.
2. Due to the way the data are collected, the number of days delayed data for March 2005, June 2005, September 2005 and December 2005 are based on five weeks' data—all other months are based on four weeks' data.
Source:
SitReps
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