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22 Jun 2006 : Column 2099W—continued
Influenza
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to her answer of 4 April 2006, Official Report, column 123W, on influenza, what she expects the expanded production capacity will be in the UK. [67038]
Caroline Flint: The expansion of manufacturing capacity is an ongoing process. Much depends on research and development results. One promising approach is the incorporation of adjuvants (agents to enhance the immune response), thereby allowing smaller quantities of the vaccine itself to be used, expanding the numbers of available doses. The Department is in close touch with both industry development plans and the international initiatives to increase vaccine manufacturing capacity.
Insulin
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to improve education for diabetes patients on the self-administration of insulin. [75839]
Ms Rosie Winterton: From January 2006, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), guidance on patient education required all primary care trusts to implement NICE recommendations by providing all people with diabetes with high quality, structured education which should include information on insulin.
Medical Treatment (Under-16s)
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research her Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on whether health professionals request the involvement of parents or guardians of persons under 16 years of age before any medical treatment is given; and if she will make a statement. [75529]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has not commissioned research into the involvement of parents or guardians in decisions about medical treatment for young people.
Mental Health
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to promote the safety of mental health staff providing care and support in services outside the statutory sector. [76225]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The independent Healthcare Commission registers and inspects the private and voluntary health sector. The Commission inspects the sector against a range of national minimum standards set by the Government particularly focused on mental health establishments, including requirements covering staff training, risk assessment and management, managing disturbed behaviour, managing serious/untoward incidents, and patient restraint and physical interventions. Further details are available on the Department’s website at: www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/07/83/67/04078367.pdf.
Best practice around the management of adults presenting disturbed/violent behaviour in in-patient psychiatric settings is set out in the clinical guidelines published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in 2004.
The National Institute for Mental Health in England will publish revised guidance on positive practice to support the safe and therapeutic management of aggression and violence in mental health in-patient settings in 2006.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many foreign mentally-disordered individuals are held in special hospitals under mental health legislation. [77404]
Ms Rosie Winterton: None of the high security psychiatric, formerly special, hospitals collect specific information about the nationality of their patients. They all record place of birth as reported by the patient but this in itself is not an accurate method of determining nationality.
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total cost was of drugs prescribed on the NHS for psychiatric and mental health purposes in the last year for which figures are available; and which five categories of psycho-active prescriptions (a) were prescribed in the greatest volume and (b) cost the most in that year. [75671]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information is not available in the requested format. Prescription cost analysis (PCA) provides details of the number of items and the net ingredient cost of all prescriptions dispensed in the community in England according to British National Formulary (BNF) therapeutic classes. Drugs that appear in BNF chapter four (central nervous system) are usually, but not exclusively, prescribed for psychiatric and mental health purposes. The most recent PCA is at www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/prescostanalysis2005.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will list the mental health hospitals which operate mixed sex wards; [69386]
(2) how many mixed sex wards operate in acute mental hospitals; and if she will make a statement. [69438]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information is not available in the format requested.
The Department does not collect information on the number of single-sex or mixed-sex wards in use in national health service hospitals.
Between 1998 and 2005 the provision of single-sex accommodation was measured as compliance at NHS trust level with three objectives set by the Department.
The results of the most recent compliance survey (December 2004) show that:
99 per cent., of NHS trusts provided single-sex sleeping accommodation for planned admissions and had robust operational policies in place to protect patients' privacy and dignity;
99 per cent., of NHS trusts met the additional criteria set to ensure the safety of patients who are mentally ill; and
97 per cent., of NHS trusts provided properly segregated bathroom and toilet facilities for men and women.
The small number of hospitals who did not achieve these objectives are building new hospitals.
The 2004 position of each NHS trust was published on 26 May 2005 and is available on the Department's website at www.dh.gov.uk and in the Library.
These objectives have been superseded by the core national standards presented in standards for better health.
The core standards require that:
"Staff treat patients, their relatives and carers with dignity and respect" (CIS); and
"Health care services are provided in environments which promote effective care and optimize health outcomes by being ...Supportive of patient privacy and confidentiality" (C20b)
The Healthcare Commission will assess compliance with these standards.
Merton and Sutton Better Healthcare Closer to Home Programme
Stephen Hammond:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2006, Official Report, column 1016W, on the Merton and Sutton Better Healthcare Closer to Home Programme,
on what date she expects to publish her response to the local national health service. [78803]
Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 19 June 2006]: As stated previously, the Department has received the response from the local national health service and is currently considering the situation. This is a complex issue and it is therefore difficult to predict when the Department will be in a position to publish a response.
NHS Employment
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the evidence was for her statement in the foreword to her Department’s 2006 Departmental Report, published on 11 May 2006, Official Report, column 6814, that the NHS is the third largest employer in the world. [74536]
Ms Rosie Winterton: There have been various estimates by a number of media and international organisations of the world’s largest employers and there is some debate as to the exact ranking of the national health service. In 2004, the Department estimated that the NHS is the third largest public employer in the world, behind the Indian Railways and the United States Department of Defence. Although there may be some debate as to the exact ranking of the NHS in terms of its comparative size as an employer, what is not in any doubt is that the NHS is one of the largest employing organisations in the world today.
NHS IT Programme
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the recently expressed views of the Chief Executive of Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust on the centralised and standardised approach of the NHS IT programme. [65985]
Caroline Flint: Sir Jonathan expressed views on a one size fits all, centralised information technology (IT) solution for the national health service. However, it has been demonstrated by independent analysis that the aggregated procurement has saved over £3.8 billion for the taxpayer over procurements by individual trusts. Moreover, the provision of a national information system architecture that makes patient information available at point of need will improve patient safety. In addition, it provides a common computer system interface which makes training easier and more economic across different trusts which should also improve accuracy and consistency in treatment. History suggests that the NHS does not have a good track record of procuring, developing or using IT at a local level. An accreditation programme has already enabled 46 local and previously incompatible systems to exchange data with and via national systems. A degree of local flexibility is important but good interoperability across the NHS is critical to patient care and this is what the national programme for IT will achieve.
NHS Trust Savings
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (a) efficiency savings and (b) savings resulting from technical adjustments were required by each NHS Trust in (i) 2004-05 and (ii) 2005-06; what these figures represent as a percentage of each budget; and what such savings will be required in 2006-07. [73299]
Andy Burnham: The annual uplift to the national tariff includes an offset for efficiency savings realisable from front line national health service services. An uplift is applied every year to incentivise a continuous improvement approach to efficiency. The respective efficiency savings equate to 1 per cent. in 2004-05, 1.7 per cent. in 2005-06 and 2.5 per cent. for 2006-07. The efficiency offset is applicable to all national health service trusts.
There is no recognised classification of savings resulting from technical adjustments and it is therefore not possible to provide any information on this request.
Nutrient Profiling
Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether her Department has accepted the nutrient-profiling model recommended by the Food Standards Agency. [77574]
Caroline Flint: The Government's manifesto includes a commitment to help parents by restricting further the advertising and promotion to children of those foods and drinks that are high in fat, salt and sugar.
The Department believes that the nutrient profiling model, developed by the Food Standards Agency for use by Ofcom, provides a scientific and objective base for underpinning regulatory intervention in relation to television advertising to children.
Obesity
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of (a) children and (b) adults are (i) obese and (ii) overweight when measured by body mass index according to the Government's most recent health survey figures in (A) Peterborough constituency, (B) Peterborough city council area, (C) the east of England and (D) England. [77917]
Caroline Flint: The main source of data on the prevalence of obesity and overweight among children and adults is the Health Survey for England (HSE). Data is not available in the format requested. Table one to four sets out the most recent data on the prevalence of obesity and overweight in children and adults.
Table one presents the data on overweight and obesity among adults in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire (the strategic health authority (SHA) which contains Peterborough) as a three-year average over the period 2000 to 2002. The sample size of the HSE does not allow figures to be produced below SHA level, nor does it allow an SHA breakdown for children.
| Table 1. Prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults aged 16 and over in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA (3 year average), 2000 to 2002 | |
| Percentages | |
| Source: Health Survey for England: Health and Lifestyle indicators for Strategic Health Authorities 1994 to 2002, Department of Health. | |
Table two shows the proportion of adults who were overweight and obese in east of England Government office region (GOR) in 2003.
| Table 2. Prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults aged 16 and over in east of England Government office region by gender, 2003 | |
| Percentages | |
| Source: Health Survey for England 2003. Department of Health | |
Tables three and four set out the most recent available data on the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults and children in England in 2004.
| Table 3. Prevalence of obesity and overweight among adults aged 16 and over by gender, England 2004 | |
| Percentages | |
| Source: Health Survey for England 2004. The Information Centre for health and social care. | |
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