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10 Mar 2006 : Column 1821W—continued

Hospital Referrals

Mrs. Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were referred to hospital by GPs in the (a) Bedford, (b) Bedfordshire Heartlands and (c) Luton Primary Care Trust in each year since the
 
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primary care trust was established; how many spent at least 24 hours in hospital in each case; and if she will make a statement. [55292]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not held centrally.

Laser Eye Surgery

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines her Department issues relating to laser eye surgery. [53133]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Laser eye surgery is not routinely provided on the national health service.

Laser eye surgery providers in the independent sector are required to be registered with the Healthcare Commission, and are inspected under the Care Standards Act 2000, and the Private and Voluntary Healthcare Regulations (England) 2001 on an annual basis. Providers must comply with regulations and there are also national minimum standards, core standards that cover general issues that apply to all types of private care, and service specific standards that relate to the use of class four lasers used in laser eye surgery. These national minimum standards are published by the Secretary of State for Health under section 23 (1) of the Care Standards Act 2000.

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of laser eye surgery have resulted in complications in England and Wales in each of the last 10 years; and what percentage of the total this represents. [53134]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Laser eye surgery is not routinely provided on the national health service.

Independent providers of laser eye surgery in England were first regulated by the National Care Standards Commission from April 2002 and this function moved to the Healthcare Commission from April 2004.

Information about complications is not available from the National Care Standards Commission. However, the Healthcare Commission has received two clinical complaints since 1 April 2004.

We do not collect information on the number of laser eye surgery procedures carried out in England.

The provision of laser eye surgery in Wales is a matter for the National Assembly for Wales.

Macular Degeneration

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is her assessment of the effectiveness of macular degenerative care; and if she will make a statement; [52273]

(2) what funding has been directed towards pocket readers for those suffering from macular degeneration in each year since 1997; and if she will make a statement. [52274]

Ms Rosie Winterton: People with untreatable age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are likely to need support from low vision services.
 
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Low vision aids are available free on loan to any person requiring them. The national health service hospital eye service provides optical devices and loans low vision aids, such as high-powered reading lenses, hand-held and stand magnifiers and telescopes, to people with visual impairment.

Electronic magnifiers are classed as aids to daily living and, as such, it is the responsibility of local authority social services departments to provide them. Social service departments will assess an individual's needs and arrange services to meet those needs.

It is for each local authority to decide what provision should be made for low vision services from within the overall resources allocated by the Government, taking account of local circumstances and priorities.

Low vision was one of the areas identified by the eye care services steering group as an area for further development. A care pathway for low vision services has been published and a number of pilots are currently testing the pathway.

Learning from the pilots and their developing evidence base will be shared with the NHS to support wider implementation.

Medical Staff (Sexual Offences)

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many doctors were struck off the Register by the General Medical Council for sexual offences in each year since 1997; [47115]

(2) what the average period was for which a doctor convicted of a sexual offence was removed from the Register by the General Medical Council in each year since 1997; [47116]

(3) whether anyone convicted of a sexual offence is registered to practise as a (a) doctor and (b) dentist. [47117]

Mr. Byrne: Registration and fitness to practise are matters for the General Medical Council in respect of doctors and for the General Dental Council in respect of dentists.

Missed Appointments

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the cost to the NHS of missed appointments with hospital consultants in each of the past five years. [49039]

Mr. Byrne: The Department has made no estimate of the cost to the national health service of such missed appointments.

The new choose and book system, which is being implemented across the NHS, will give patients greater certainty and choice over the time and date of their hospital appointment and will help to reduce the number and cost of missed appointments.

NHS Authorities/Trusts

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what interest rate is charged to NHS authorities and trusts for cash support; and what the rate was in each of the past four years; [51751]
 
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(2) how much was charged in interest to NHS authorities and trusts for cash support in each of the last four years; and what estimate she has made of how much will be charged in (a) 2005–06 and (b) 2006–07; [51752]

(3) what estimate she has made of how much interest would be paid for cash support by NHS authorities and trusts in (a) 2005–06 and (b) 2006–07 based on bank rates of interest. [51753]

Mr. Byrne: The NHS Bank operates a system of cash brokerage between strategic health authorities (SHAs). The NHS Bank is able to provide cash support to SHAs in need by taking cash from other SHAs that have surplus cash. Until this year, the principle was that any cash support received or provided would be returned in the following year, but there was no interest charge.

To encourage good financial management, the NHS Bank agreed that for cash brokerage in 2005–06 an interest payment will be required from SHAs receiving cash brokerage, and they have agreed to pay interest to those SHAs providing cash brokerage.

The charge on SHAs receiving cash brokerage is 10 per cent. Interest rates from commercial vendors vary.

No estimate has been made of the level of interest paid on any cash brokerage received next year.

NHS Direct

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the budget was for NHS Direct in each year since its inception; and what the projected budgets are for the next three years. [43019]

Mr. Byrne: The total costs of the service since 1998–99 are shown in the table.
£ million

	Revenue	Capital	Total cost
1998–99	—	—	14
1999–2000	—	—	55
2000–01	—	—	90.1
2001–02	89.7	20	109.7
2002–03	106	18	124
2003–04	117.5	7.5	124
2004–05	121	10	131
2005–06(8)	163	10	173

⁽⁸⁾ Final outturn position not yet known but expected not to exceed the allocated amount.

Budgets for the next three years have not yet been agreed.

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS staff are employed by NHS Direct. [44654]

Mr. Byrne: The latest available data for September 2004 shows that the total number of staff employed by NHS Direct was 2,353.

NHS Employees

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the retirement age is for employees of the national health service. [51497]

 
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Mr. Byrne: There is no standard retirement age in the national health service. Normal pension age for the majority of employees of the health service is currently age 60, but the average retirement age is higher.

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