| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
4 Sep 2006 : Column 2099W—continued
A range of providers including NHS trusts and foundation trusts will provide health and social care services. Commissioning will be a partnership between primary care trusts (PCTs), general practice and local government. General practice is closest to individual
patients and best placed to advise them on their choices. Through practice-based commissioning, practices will have more freedom to determine the services that are made available to the local population. PCTs will bring a wider view of the overall needs of people living in their communities, and can identify inequalities.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether block contracts will be allowed for ordinary elective procedures in 2007-08; and if she will make a statement. [88875]
Andy Burnham: On 13 July 2006 “Health Reform in England: update and commissioning framework” was published. In this document is a consultation to inform the further development of a national model contract which will be used to procure services from national health service, foundation trusts, and independent and third sector providers.
The aim is to publish a model contract in autumn 2006 for use in the 2007-08 contracting round. The eventual model contract will support the tenets of the health reform programme including practice-based commissioning, payment by results and good financial health.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of savings achieved through competitive purchasing in the NHS in each of the last three years. [88878]
Andy Burnham: The prices that the national health service pays reflect the market dynamics for individual products. It results from direct competition between suppliers, where such competition exists.
The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (NHS PASA) competitively tenders and awards framework agreements on behalf of the NHS in England where central frameworks are appropriate.
Savings achieved through NHS PASA's competitive purchasing in each of the last three years is as follows:
2005-06, savings of £325 million on contract value of £3.2 billion;
2004-05, savings of £339 million on contract value of £3.6 billion; and
2003-04, savings of £409.9 million on contract value of £4.25 billion.
It must be recognised that NHS PASA can only report on the value and savings of contracts in its name; there is no central record for contracts awarded by NHS trusts themselves.
Health Professions Council
Miss Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what percentage of the cases brought against chiropodists by the Health Professions Council resulted in guilty verdicts in each year since it was established; [88363]
(2) how many cases brought against chiropodists by the Health Professions Council have resulted in compensation being paid to the chiropodist because of a spurious complaint. [88364]
Andy Burnham: This information is not held centrally. The Health Professions Council is an autonomous statutory body and maintains its own record of fitness to practise cases.
Health Service Changes
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average consultation period is for the changes which primary care trusts and hospital trusts are implementing during the 2006-07 financial year; and if she will make a statement. [74259]
Andy Burnham: The information is not held centrally.
“Overview and Scrutiny of Health—Guidance”, published in July 2003, advised that it is good practice for consultation to follow Cabinet Office guidelines which state that full consultation should last for a minimum of 12 weeks.
Health Service Deficits
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures she is taking to reduce deficits in the health service; and if she will make a statement. [87084]
Andy Burnham: The aim is for the national health service as a whole to achieve financial balance by the end of 2006-07 and for all overspending organisations to have reached monthly balance of income and expenditure within the same period. The new strategic health authorities (SHAs) have been given the responsibility to develop and implement a service and financial strategy for managing the overall financial position within their health economy. SHA strategies will include the creation of local reserves.
A more rigorous financial and performance regime has also been introduced which is intended to identify and expose the underlying financial problems in NHS organisations which may not previously have been apparent. Through this greater degree of transparency and performance management, NHS organisations will be able to work effectively towards returning to financial balance.
For the organisations with the biggest problems we have sent in financial and management specialists to help address problems and restore financial balance.
Health Services
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) GP practices, (b) dental practices, (c) ophthalmic practices and (d) pharmacies there were in (i) England and (ii) each region in each of the last five years. [88136]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested has been placed in the Library. However, data on the number of ophthalmic practices is only available for England and cannot be broken down regionally.
David Simpson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) GPs, (b) dentists, (c) optometrists and (d) pharmacies (i) there were and
(ii) there were per 100,000 resident population in (A) England and (B) each region in each of the last five years. [88140]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of (a) GPs, (b) dentists, (c) optometrists and (d) pharmacies in (i) England and (ii) each region were (A) male and (B) female (1) under 40, (2) between 40 and 55 and (3) over 55 years old in each of the last five years. [88142]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information has been placed in the Library.
The Information Centre for health and social care holds no workforce data on pharmacists. There are also no age data for the ophthalmic work force, while gender data at organisation level are only available for the latest year. Dental data for age and gender are not readily available at organisation level so are presented to national level. They are also included for the years in which they are available.
Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions she has had on health deprivation in Stoke-on-Trent; and if she will make a statement. [80600]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Although there have been no recent departmental discussions on health deprivation in Stoke-on-Trent, the area had a visit by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 4 April when she visited the University Hospital of North Staffordshire National Health Service Trust. The Secretary of State also met hon. Members from North Staffordshire on 3 May.
Stoke-on-Trent is in the spearhead group, the fifth of areas with the worst health and deprivation indicators. The group is a focus for action to help achieve the life expectancy element of the 2010 national health inequalities target to narrow the gap in life expectancy between the spearhead areas and the England average.
Revenue allocations are made directly to primary care trusts (PCTs). This is done on the basis of a fair funding formula which directs funding to those areas of greatest need. It includes the additional needs for health care related to deprivation. It is for individual PCTs to assess the health needs of their communities and to commission appropriate services to meet those needs.
Healthcare Commission
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what grounds hospital trusts can refuse to submit performance data to the Healthcare Commission. [89112]
Andy Burnham:
Under section 68 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003, the Healthcare Commission has the power to require information from national health service bodies at any time when that information relates to the provision of health care by or for that body, and when
the commission considers it necessary to have the information for the purposes of its functions in relation to NHS health care. It is an offence not to comply with such a requirement without reasonable excuse.
A hospital trust might have grounds for refusing a request if it could show that the information was not needed for any of the purposes outlined.
Heart Conditions
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps have been taken to improve the life chances of those with heart conditions in (a) Kent and (b) Gravesham since 1997. [88100]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Reducing deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD) is a top priority for this Government. The national service framework (NSF) for CHD, published in March 2000, sets the agenda for the modernisation of CHD services over a 10-year period. The NSF was drawn up by clinicians, patients, managers and Government and sets 12 standards for improved prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation and goals to secure fair access to high quality services. The NSF is already making a real difference for patients.
The national health service on the south-east coast has advised that following the publication of the NSF for CHD, a significant amount of work was undertaken to improve access to services for patients with CHD, and to ensure that future services meet the needs of the Kent population.
In March 2004, the Kent cardiac network ratified a strategy to develop a network of cardiac catheter labs and associated facilities across Kent and Medway. This resulted in the agreement to build catheter laboratories at Dartford, Margate, Maidstone, Medway and Tunbridge Wells to support the one already existing laboratory in Ashford.
In addition to the development of new catheter labs, £14.5 million capital funding has enabled the local hospitals to redesign their cardiology departments to enable the catheter labs to become the focal point of local heart centres. Complex cardiac surgery will continue to go to the specialist surgical centres at St Thomas's and Kings College Hospital in London.
Across the Gravesham area, the NHS on the south-east coast has advised of the following improvements to cardiac services since the publication of the NSF for CHD:
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
A new heart centre at Darent Valley hospital is under construction. This new building will bring together cardiac services and will be a centre of excellence. Coronary angiography commenced at Darent Valley in November 2005 as an interim service while the heart centre build is completed. The cardiac team anticipate moving into the building during November 2006. The opening of the heart centre will allow the service to be extended by doing more angiograms and also offering angioplasty locally by spring 2007.
At the trust's rapid access chest pain clinic patients are seen and start their treatment within two weeks of referral from their general practitioner.
The introduction of specialist nurses at the Darent Valley Hospital to help reduce the door-to-needle time. Patients having some type of heart attack now receive clot-busting drugs as soon as possible.
Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley Primary Care Trust (PCT)
The PCT runs healthy lifestyle days in the local community where the general public can discuss health matters and receive advice from community nursing staff and dieticians, and physiotherapists.
The development of a breathlessness clinic provides community diagnostic services for patients, many of whom may have heart failure.
Heat-related Conditions
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people received hospital treatment for (a) sunburn, (b) heat stroke and (c) dehydration in (i) each London strategic health authority and (ii) each London primary care trust in each year since 1997. [87672]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not held in the format requested. However, the table showing the latest data available for episodes relating to effects of heat and light, sunburn and volume depletion (dehydration), by London strategic health authority and primary care trust for the years 1997-98 to 2004-05, has been placed in the Library.
HIV/AIDS
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many HIV tests in each genito-urinary medicine clinic in each London strategic health authority were (a) offered and (b) taken in 2005. [88521]
Caroline Flint: The number of HIV tests offered and taken in the genito-urinary medicine (GUM) clinics within the London strategic health authorities (SHA) is shown in the table. The dataset used to compile this data was taken from the KC60 return, which is made by all GUM clinics to the health protection agency. Only tests offered and taken in GUM clinics are recorded in the KC60 return. Testing undertaken in other clinical settings, such as general practice, is not recorded in the dataset.
The data do not represent the number of HIV tests offered and taken up by the population resident in each SHA, as many patients cross health boundaries to access GUM clinics. In addition, the gender and sexual orientation mix varies between clinics. Some clinics are attended by a high number of homosexual and bisexual men and consequently this influences the number of HIV tests offered and taken.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |