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Health Professionals (Training Costs)

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the cost to the public purse of training (a) doctors and (b) dentists in the last year for which figures are available. [57411]

Mr. Byrne: In 2005–06, £725 million was provided to meet the clinical cost of training doctors. We estimate that, in 2005–06 that the clinical cost of training some 3,500 dental undergraduates in dental schools in England was £62 million net of tuition fees. The Higher Education Funding Council for England meets academic costs for both, but this information is not collected centrally.
 
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Health Reform in England; Update and Next Steps"

Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in respect of the proposed NHS reforms outlined in 'Health Reform in England; update and next steps', whether the (a) general practitioner (b) primary care trust and (c) hospital will decide whether or not to admit a patient to hospital for treatment. [47468]

Mr. Byrne: Under the framework of reforms outlined in Health reform in England", general practitioners (GPs) will remain responsible for deciding whether to refer a patient to hospital. Hospital doctors will continue to be responsible for taking clinical decisions to admit for treatment and will also continue to decide whether to admit in cases of emergencies.

GPs, primary care trusts and national health service trusts will work together to ensure patients have access to high quality services in the most appropriate and convenient setting.

Health Service Management

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) chairmen, (b) chief executive officers, (c) financial directors and (d) medical and health directors have (i) been sacked and (ii) resigned before the end of their contractual term in (A) 2005–06 and (B) each of the three preceding financial years; which trust or health authority was involved in each case; and what level of compensation was paid in each case where this was applicable. [57511]

Mr. Byrne: The information requested is not available centrally.

Secretary of State has delegated her appointments functions relating to Chairmen of national health service organisations to the NHS Appointments Commission.

I have asked the NHS Appointments Commission to write to the hon. Member directly regarding information about Chairmen.

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) NHS trusts and (b) health authorities (i) are operating and (ii) have operated in the last three financial years with acting or seconded (A)directors and (B) senior executives. [57513]

Mr. Byrne: This information is not collected centrally.

Health Services

Mr. Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people diagnosed with diabetes there were in Hyndburn in (a) 1997 and (b) the last year for which figures are available. [57563]

Mr. Byrne: The information relating to the Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Primary Care Trust (PCT) data is shown in the table.
All diagnoses count of patients for diabetes: Hyndburn and Ribble Valley PCT, national health service hospitals England—1997–98 and 2004–05

	Patient counts
1997–98	609
2004–05	892

Notes:
1. Patient counts
Patient counts are based on the unique patient identifier Hospital Episode Statistic identification (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.
2. All diagnoses count of patients
These figures represent a count of all patients where the diagnosis was mentioned in any of the 14 (seven prior to 2002–03) diagnosis fields in a Hospital Episode Statistic (HES) record.
3. Diagnosis (primary diagnosis)
The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (seven prior to 2002–03) diagnosis fields in the HES data set and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.
4. Secondary diagnoses
As well as the primary diagnosis, there are up to 13 (six prior to 2002–03) secondary diagnosis fields in HES that show other diagnoses relevant to the episode of care.
5. Primary care trust (PCT) and strategic health authority (SHA) data quality
PCT and SHA data was 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 is 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 is 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.
6. Ungrossed data
Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data, that is, the data is ungrossed.
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre




 
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Mr. Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were treated for sexually transmitted infections in Hyndburn in (a) 1997 and (b) the last year for which figures are available. [57564]

Mr. Byrne: The information relating to the Hyndburn and Ribble Valley primary care trust data is shown in the following table.
Count of patients—primary diagnosis STDs, HIV/AIDS—Hyndburn and Ribble Valley PCT. National health service hospitals England, 1997–98 and 2004–05

	Patient counts
1997–98	14
2004–05	11

Notes:
1. Patient counts:
Patient counts are based on the unique patient identifier hospital episode statistic identification (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.
2. Diagnosis (primary diagnosis):
The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (seven prior to 2002–03) diagnosis fields in the HES data set and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.
3. Primary care trust (PCT and strategic health authority (SHA) data quality:
PCT and SHA data was 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 is 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 is 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, that is the data is ungrossed.
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre




 
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Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding the Department has provided to (a) Wakefield West Primary Care Trust and (b) the NHS for dental services in each year from 1997 to 2005. [53409]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 27 February 2006]: The main element of national health service dental services are the primary dental care services provided by dentists working within the general dental services (GDS), or personal dental services (PDS) pilots. Gross and net expenditure on the GDS is shown in table1. The table also includes gross expenditure on PDS pilots, but it is not possible to provide similar data for net PDS expenditure as patient charge income is not
 
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separately identified in NHS accounts. Based on estimates from Dental Practice Board (DPB) payments data, we estimate that PDS expenditure in 2004–05 net of patient charge income was around £240 million.
Table 1: Expenditure on GDS and PDS, England £ million

	Gross GDS(47)	Net GDS(48)	Gross PDS(49)
1997–98	1,348	959	0
1998–99	1,438	1,018	4
1999–2000	1,477	1,046	13
2000–01	1,561	1,109	22
2001–02	1,638	1,166	36
2002–03	1,709	1,222	41
2003–04	1,767	1,283	48
2004–05	1,671	1,246	(50)280

⁽⁴⁷⁾Expenditure data for 1997–98 to 1999–2000 are based on cash data in Appropriation Accounts. Data from 2000–01 onwards are based on the relevant resource accounts data from health authorities and primary care trusts (PCTs). This is to reflect the change in Department's accountancy practices.
⁽⁴⁸⁾Net expenditure represents the cost of the service after taking account of dental charge income collected from patients.
⁽⁴⁹⁾NHS accounts data up to 2004–05 do not separately identify all elements of PDS gross expenditure. See note 4 for 2004–05 data.
⁽⁵⁰⁾An estimate of gross PDS expenditure based on payments data obtained from the DPB.

The level of expenditure on hospital and community dental services is decided at local level by PCTs.

GDS is currently a non-discretionary service funded from a national budget where expenditure is mainly determined by the volume of NHS work that dentists choose to undertake. Local budget allocations are not assigned to individual PCTs. Data on the level of expenditure within the area of the Wakefield West PCT, drawn from payments data obtained from the DPB, are shown in table 2. Payment data are only attributable to individual PCT areas from 2000–01 onwards.
Table 2: GDS and PDS dental payments within Wakefield West PCT £ million

	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05
Gross GDS and PDS payments(51)(5508980052)(53)	4.642	5.211	5.125	5.456	6.047
Net GDS and PDS payments(54)	3.08	3.626	3.533	3.861	4.657

⁽⁵¹⁾Gross GDS payments include adult fees (including item of service and continuing care payments), child fees (including item of service and capitation payments), commitment payments and point of treatment check payment training (in 2001 only), seniority payments, maternity/paternity/adoptive leave payments, long-term sick leave payments, continuing professional development allowances including travel hours, reimbursement of business rates, vocational training grants, vocational trainee salaries and NI contribution costs, clinical audit convenors, clinical audit payments, clinical audit secretarial support and travel expenses. Employer's superannuation costs are excluded.
⁽⁵²⁾PDS payment data are included for 2004–05 only and relate to baseline payments or the agreed regular monthly payments made to PDS practices. Reliable PDS data at practice level are not available prior to 2004–05. The data cannot identify the cost of any PDS services that may be provided in Wakefield West that are directly managed by local NHS trusts, such as certain dental access centres.
⁽⁵³⁾Payments are assigned to PCT area on the basis of practice postcode data.
⁽⁵⁴⁾Net payments represent the balance of payments due after taking account of NHS dental charge income collected from patients by dental practices.

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