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6 July 2006 : Column 1250W—continued
NHS Direct
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will ask the chief executive of NHS Direct to explain to the hon. Member for Chorley the reasons for the delay in replying to his letter dated 16 May. [81463]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I have asked the chief executive of NHS Direct to write to the hon. Member for Chorley to explain the reasons for the delay in replying to his letter dated 16 May 2006 and understand a reply has been sent. I know that the chief executive of NHS Direct has also offered to meet the hon. Member and he may wish to consider whether he accepts that offer.
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many calls to NHS Direct were (a) received, (b) handled and (c) abandoned in each year since 1999-2000; and how many and what percentage of calls that were handled were redirected to other services. [62596]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 30 March 2006]: The available information requested is shown in the table.
| NHS Direct data: calls offered, calls answered, calls abandoned and the percentage of calls redirected by NHS Direct to other parts of the national health service, including 999, accident and emergency, general practitioners, walk-in centres, dental and other professionals. | |||||
| Calls offered | Calls answered | Calls abandoned after 30 seconds | Percentage of calls abandoned after 30 seconds | Proportion of calls redirected as a percentage of calls answered | |
| Notes: 1. Clinical sorting data was not collected at a national level prior to January 2003. 2. Data are shown for the periods January 2003 to March 2003 and for financial years April 2003 to March 2006. 3. Data includes combined calls = 0845, out-of-hours and other. 4. Definitions of data: Calls offered—number of calls offered/made, including wrong numbers and people hanging up within 30 seconds. Calls answered—number of calls answered/handled after the introductory message. Calls abandoned—number of calls abandoned after the introductory message. Source: NHS Direct | |||||
NHS Information Technology
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she has taken to achieve adoption and acceptance of the NHS IT programme by trust executives since 2002; and what estimate she has made of future levels of adoption. [76387]
Caroline Flint: Following publication of the strategy ‘Delivering 21(st) Century IT support for the NHS’, the NHS chief executive wrote to the chief executives of all national health service bodies in September 2003 explaining their responsibilities for implementing the national programme for information technology (NPfTT) and for using programme contracts.
Local programmes, led by trust executives and supported from the Department, have always been at the heart of implementation, taking responsibility for planning the pace and sequence of deployments. In addition, the Department has routinely used its planning and performance management regime to support local implementation of the national programme. For example, during 2004 annual planning round, the NHS were provided with targets relating to the planning and implementation of the programme. Similarly, in June 2005, the Department wrote to all strategic health authority (SHA) chief executives requiring the establishment of integrated service
improvement programmes as a vehicle for bringing together benefits and improvements from current NHS initiatives and programmes, including NPfIT. In November 2005 the Department’s delivery director reiterated the importance of giving close attention to issues relating to delivery of the programme, and that implementation and use of NPfIT systems and services should be one of the key priorities of all NHS organisations.
The new SHA and primary care trust chief executives will in future be the senior responsible owners for implementation of the national programme in their areas.
We remain on track to complete the national programme, as planned, by 2010.
NHS IT Support
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the contracting timetable in paragraph 4.4.1 of Delivering 21st century IT support for the NHS, how many of those procurements have been made; when they were made; from whom; and what the value is of the contract in each case. [75129]
Caroline Flint: The information requested is shown in the tables. Contract values are for the whole life of the contract.
| Procurement | When | Contractor | Value (£ million) |
| (1) Contract subsequently terminated in March 2004 and re-let to Cable and Wireless in July 2004 at a contract value of between £50 million and £90 million depending on take-up. (2 )No separate procurement. Functionality specified in all core National Programme for Information Technology system contracts. (3) Procured as the Secondary Uses Service as part of the Spine contract. | |||
| NeLH components | |
| Section/lot | Contractor |
NHS Staff
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average earnings were of a (a) doctor, (b) dentist and (c) nurse in (i) 1979, (ii) 1997 and (iii) the most recent period for which figures are available, in (A) nominal and (B) real terms. [76970]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The available information is shown in the following tables. Table one shows the average earnings of doctors in the hospital and community health services and of qualified nurses and midwives in 1998 and 2004 based on the national health service staff earnings survey. This data is not available prior to 1998. Table two shows the intended average net income for general medical practitioners in 1979-80 and 1997-98 and their estimated average net income in 2004-05. Table three shows average general dental service (CDS) income for dentists with a reasonable CDS commitment in 1997-98 and 2004-05. Figures are not available on a comparable basis for previous years.
| Table 1:Average estimated total earnings for all doctors in the hospital and community health services and qualified nurses and midwives, England | ||||
| Estimated annualised average total earnings (£) | ||||
| 1998 | 2004 | |||
| Nominal | Real terms | Nominal | Real terms | |
| Notes: 1. The NHS earnings survey is based on a sample of payroll data from approximately 50 per cent. of NHS trusts. 2. Earnings figures are based on monthly payments in August, multiplied by 12 to give annual equivalent amounts. 3. Averages are calculated by dividing total payments by total full time equivalents. 4. Figures are rounded to the nearest £100. 5. Real term figures are calculated using the HM Treasury GDP Deflator Index using 2006-07 as the base year. Source: Information Centre for health and social care NHS staff earnings survey. | ||||
| Table 2:Intended average net income (IANI)( 1) for general practitioners (GPs), 1979-80 and 1997-98, and estimated average net income (ANI), 2004-05, Great Britain | ||
| IANI (Nominal) (£) | IANI (in 2004-05 prices) (£) | |
| Estimated ANI £ | Estimated ANI in 2004-05 prices £ | |
| (1) The concept of IANI (which related to all principal general medical service (GMS) GP’s, full-time and part-time) disappeared for 2004-05 onwards, when new contractual arrangements came into place. (2) The 2004-05 average net income figure for GMS/primary medical service GPs was estimated by the joint DH/BMA/NHS Employers Technical Steering Committee (TSC). It is not directly comparable with the earlier IANI series. Source: The Information Centre for heath and social care. | ||
| Table 3: Estimated average general dental service (CDS) net income for dentists with a reasonable CDS commitment( 1) , 1997-98 to 2004-05, England and Wales | ||
| Estimated average net income (Nominal) (£) | Estimated average net income (in 2004-05 prices) (£) | |
| (1) Dentists with a reasonable commitment to the GDS are defined as dentists with GDS earnings equivalent to at least £40,000 in 1993-94 in fees for treatments and patient capitation. This equivalent is calculated each year by adjusting figures to take into account the effect of fee increases. The equivalent figure for 2004-05 is £59,100. Notes: 1. Commitment payments started in 2001. 2. Figures since 2000-01 use a different methodology to calculate the contribution from other non-fee/capitation payments. 3. Figures prior to 1997-98 are not available on a comparable basis. 4. The income figures cover both estimated fees for treatments and patient capitation as well as other estimated payments such as seniority payments and commitment payments and payments for maternity and sickness. They exclude dentists’ income from private sources. Source: The Information Centre for health and social care | ||
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS posts have been vacant for more than three months since January, broken down by strategic health authority. [78359]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The latest information available on the three month vacancy rate and number for non-medical and medical staff by strategic health authority has been placed in the Library.
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