| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
22 May 2006 : Column 1569W—continued
ME
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the teaching of how to (a) diagnose and (b) treat myalgic encephalomyelitis in medical schools; and what steps she is taking to ensure that such teaching is improved. [70745]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Medical schools determine their own undergraduate medical curriculum in the light of recommendations from the General Medical Council's education committee, which has the statutory responsibility to determine the extent of knowledge and skill required for the granting of primary medical qualifications in the United Kingdom.
The Department does not provide direction on the content of medical school courses. Medical schools are autonomous bodies and Ministers are precluded by legislation from intervening in their internal affairs, including curriculum content.
Medical Practitioners
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research her Department has (a) commissioned and (b) undertaken into suicide and stress among medical practitioners. [51903]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department last commissioned a research project on suicide in high risk occupational groups by Keith Hawton and colleagues at the centre for suicide research, University of Oxford, in 2000. A major component of the study has been research on suicide in
doctors. The research has provided valuable findings to inform policies on education, training and management of doctors. Details of this work are available at www.psychiatry.ox.ac.uk/csr/resdoctors.html.
The Department also funds regular surveys carried out by Michael Goldacre and colleagues at the UK Medical Careers Research Group, University of Oxford, which contain some questions related to stress and job satisfaction. Details of this work are available at www.uhce.ox.ac.uk/ukmcrg/MCRG_home.htm.
Mental Health
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on progress made with proposals in the NHS plan to strengthen primary care mental health services. [69732]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The NHS Plan introduced two new types of mental health workers to the national health service. At the end of March 2005, 648 graduate mental health workers, who have been trained in brief therapy techniques of proven effectiveness, were employed to help general practitioners manage and treat common mental health problems in all age groups, including children. A further 1,520 people were employed as community gateway staff to work with general practitioners and primary care teams, with NHS Direct, and in accident and emergency departments to respond to people who need immediate help. We expect to have more up to date information of the numbers of the new workers in post from the Durham adult mental health mapping database at www.amhmapping.org.uk later in the spring.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the procedure is for getting emergency medical help when a person with a serious mental health problem has a relapse; and if she will make a statement. [69789]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The care of adults of working age who are in touch with specialist mental health services is coordinated under the care programme approach (CPA). Under CPA, service users should be provided with a copy of their care plan that specifies the actions to be taken if the user becomes very ill or their mental health is rapidly deteriorating. In most areas, crisis resolution and home treatment teams provide rapid assessments of individuals with acute mental health problems and refer them to the most appropriate service. For individuals with acute, severe mental health problems for whom home treatment would be appropriate, such teams provide immediate multi-disciplinary, community based treatment 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In areas where there is no crisis resolution and home treatment provision, help is available through general practitioners, social services emergency duty teams and accident and emergency departments.
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the number of children and young people with a mental health disorder in each year since 2000, broken down by (a) age, (b) sex and (c) ethnic group. [71249]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Information is not available in the form requested. The Office for National Statistics 2004 survey, “Mental health of children and young people in Great Britain”, looked at the prevalence of mental health disorders. It found that in the five to 10 year old age group 10.2 per cent. of boys and 5.1 per cent. of girls has a clinically diagnosed mental disorder. In the 11 to 16 year old age group, the prevalence among boys was 12.6 per cent. and 10.3 per cent. among girls.
The survey also found the prevalence of mental disorders among the five to 16 year old age group in ethnic minorities was as follows:
| Percentage | |
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what public funding has been given to Samaritans in each of the last five years. [69388]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Samaritans have received a total of £701,000 from the Department in the last five years, comprised of the following annual payments:
| £ | |
Mersey Care NHS Trust
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much Mersey Care NHS Trust has spent in relation to (a) the suspension of clinical administrative staff and (b) the provision of additional staff to cover the individuals currently suspended in each of the last five years; [68441]
(2) how many staff employed by Mersey Care NHS Trust are (a) subject to disciplinary action and (b) suspended from duty; and what proportion of such staff have been suspended for (i) up to six months and (ii) over six months over the last 10 years. [68442]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not held centrally.
Mesothelioma
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which primary care trusts in Hampshire fund treatment for mesothelioma with Permetrexen; and which do not. [71216]
Caroline Flint: The information requested is not held centrally. It is for primary care trusts to ensure the services they commission meet the needs of the communities that they serve.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were diagnosed with (a) asbestos-related illnesses and (b) mesothelioma in each primary care trust in Hampshire in each of the last five years. [71218]
Caroline Flint: The information requested is not held centrally.
National Health Service
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the countries whose Ministers or officials have expressed an interest to her in modelling their healthcare system on the national health service in the last 12 months. [64855]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not held centrally. Officials and Ministers from a number of countries have visited the national health service to exchange information and learn more about best practice in many areas of healthcare and public health in the last 12 months.
National Patient Record Spine
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she has taken to ensure that patient records available on the National Patient Record Spine will not be used by organisations or individuals bidding for NHS contracts to inform their bid unfairly. [67945]
Caroline Flint: Only properly authenticated staff directly involved in the patient's care are able to view elements of a patient’s care record held in the NHS care records service (NHS CRS). Under a protocol known as role-based access control, access to a patient's care record will be limited to only as much information as is needed for the purpose of the care or other job role being performed. Access is also limited to those with a legitimate relationship with the patient. These arrangements are explained in the NHS care record guarantee, which sets out the rules that govern information held in the NHS CRS.
Anonymised information drawn from patient records has historically been, and will continue to be used, to support NHS planning, commissioning, audit and clinical governance, performance management, research and public health, subject to strict controls to ensure the confidentiality of patient-specific data. Some anonymised information will be routinely published in the form of reports by the information centre for health and social care.
NHS Direct
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of the nurses employed by NHS Direct are disabled; and what estimate she has made of the number of disabled nurses employed by NHS Direct who will lose their jobs in the planned reorganisation. [72563]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not centrally held. It may be available from the Chairman of NHS Direct Special Health Authority.
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the NHS Direct call centres to be closed; and what the location is of the centres to which calls will be transferred in each case. [72564]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The consultation document proposes that 12 sites will close over the next 18 months:
| Closure date | |
| (1 )Potential for staff to transfer to the new Bolton site. (2 )Potential for staff to transfer to Beckenham. (3) Potential for staff to transfer to Southall. |
NHS Direct uses a National Intelligent Network, a virtual call centre and call streaming technology which enables calls to be answered by the next available call handler, irrespective of new location.
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the estimated saving is from the proposed reductions in staff at NHS Direct. [72565]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The proposals set out in the NHS Direct consultation document form an important element of NHS Direct’s overall drive to improve performance and efficiency. The precise savings will become clearer following the outcome of the consultation process.
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the present measures of user satisfaction with NHS Direct will be continued after the proposed reorganisation. [72566]
Andy Burnham: The present measures of user satisfaction with NHS Direct will continue to be used during and after the consultation process through their monthly caller survey. NHS Direct is continuously looking at better ways of measuring user satisfaction through feedback on the quality of the service.
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether services provided by NHS Direct will be transferred to (a) the private sector and (b) abroad. [72567]
Andy Burnham: There are no plans to transfer the services provided by NHS Direct to either the private sector or abroad.
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) nurses and (b) staff are employed by NHS Direct; and how many will be employed in each category after the proposed re-organisation. [72625]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The most recently centrally collected information is shown in the following table:
| National health service hospital and community health services: Non-medical staff employed by NHS Direct by main staff group as at 30 September 2005 | |
| Headcount | |
| Source: The Information Centre for health and social care Non-Medical Workforce Census |
NHS Direct began a 12 week consultation with staff and staff side representatives on 16 May 2006. The consultation period is due to end on 16 August 2006. The outcomes of the consultation will be made public thereafter.
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many telephone calls were dealt with by NHS Direct in each year since it came into operation. [72836]
Andy Burnham: The information requested is shown in the following table:
| Availability and use of NHS Direct | ||
| Thousand | ||
| Calls received | Visits to NHS Direct Online | |
| Source: Health Intelligence Unit, NHS Direct |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |