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18 Oct 2006 : Column 1334W—continued
Referred: August 20
Outcome: to be confirmed
17. Suffolk OSC: Referral of the decisions of Suffolk West PCT to close community hospitals, remove the provision of inpatient step-down beds, and rush the introduction of the intermediate model of care
Referred: October 2006
Outcome: to be confirmed
Medical Pilot Schemes
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many medical pilot schemes are being conducted by NHS trusts. [89374]
Caroline Flint: Tables have been placed in the Library, which show the number of personal medical services practices by primary care trust as at 30 September 2005. Personal medical services pilot schemes introduced from April 1998 ceased in their pilot form from March 2004 to become a permanent local contracting option for primary medical services from April 2004.
Misdiagnosis
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases were reported to the National Patient Safety Agency related to (a) the misdiagnosis of a patient’s symptoms and (b) surgical error in each year for which statistics are available. [91339]
Andy Burnham: The National Patient Safety Agency collects reports of patient safety incidents on the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS). All national health service trusts have been able to report into this system since late 2005 and the number of reports received each year has increased as more trusts report into the system. Statistics are available for 2004, 2005 and for January-September 2006. Staff usually report patient safety incidents before any further investigation or follow-up has taken place.
| Diagnosis related incidents by calendar year | ||
| Time period | Number of diagnosis related incidents reported | Total number of incidents reported to the NRLS |
| Note: Over 75 per cent. of incidents reported caused ‘no harm’ or ‘low harm’ in the view of the person completing the incident report. Search criteria: To find incidents relating to misdiagnosis, the NRLS was searched to find reports where the incident type was labelled as ‘Clinical assessment’ with a further description of the incident type as ‘Diagnosis—delay/failure to’ or ‘Diagnosis—wrong’. The terms used were intended to find reports that were directly related to clinical diagnosis and may not include diagnosis-related incidents classified under other incident category types. | ||
| Surgical specialty related incidents | ||
| Time period | Number of incidents reported relating to a surgical speciality (excluding incidents described as ‘patient accidents’) | Total number of incidents reported to the NRLS |
| Note: Over 85 per cent. of incidents reported caused ‘no harm’ or ‘low harm’ in the view of the person completing the incident report. Search criteria: To find incidents relating to surgical error, the NRLS was searched to find reports where the incident specialty was described as ‘Surgical specialties’ and the incident type was classified as “Treatment, procedure”. | ||
Mortuary Security
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines the Department has provided to NHS hospitals in relation to mortuary security; and if she will make a statement. [91758]
Ms Rosie Winterton: In August 2006 the Department published “Care and Respect in Death: Good Practice Guidance for NHS Mortuary Staff.” “A service that is safe and secure” is one of the eight key principles of good practice it sets out for all staff working in NHS mortuaries. The guidance states that
“managing the receipt, storage and release of deceased people and their property safely, securely, efficiently, effectively and appropriately is the core business of mortuary services”
and gives advice on developing a pro-security culture in NHS mortuaries.
The national health service security management service (NHS SMS), which has had responsibility for the security of staff, property and assets in the NHS since April 2003, contributed to the development of the guidance. In addition, the NHS SMS has included a chapter on mortuary security in its NHS security management manual, which has been made available to all security management directors and local security management specialists in the NHS.
The guidance has been placed in the Library.
NHS Finances
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many strategic health authorities notified local NHS trusts (a) Medical and Dental Education Levy and (b) increment for teaching funding levels for 2006-07 after the start of the financial year; and if she will make a statement. [94877]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not collected centrally.
Education and training budgets are allocated to strategic health authorities (SHAs) in the form of the multi professional education and training levy. This includes funding for the medical and dental education levy and service increment for training budgets.
SHAs were given indicative multi professional education and training allocations prior to the start of the 2006-07 financial year in order for them to plan their training investment and to engage in discussions with trusts about local priorities for the use of their resources.
Final allocations to SHAs were issued on 26 July 2006. It is up to each SHA to determine the distribution across their area.
NHS Staff
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many national health service staff are disabled. [94207]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not collected centrally.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what procedures are in place to discipline NHS staff who do not observe health and safety standards. [89970]
Ms Rosie Winterton: National health service employers are responsible for their own disciplinary procedures. However, under the Directions on Disciplinary Procedures 2005, all NHS bodies in England are required to implement the framework covering disciplinary procedures for doctors and dentists employed in the NHS agreed between the Department, British Medical Association and British Dental Association. This framework has been issued to NHS foundation trusts as advice.
Out-patient Admissions
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients failed to attend for out-patient admission in each NHS trust in each of the last five years. [92204]
Andy Burnham: The information on the number of patients who fail to attend for outpatient admission in each national health service trust is not collected centrally.
However, the total number of missed out-patient appointments in each NHS trust, not necessarily the same as the number of patients because some patients may have missed more than one appointment has been placed in the Library.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she will reply to question 76611 tabled by the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South on 12 June. [91722]
Ms Rosie Winterton: A reply was given on 12 September, printed on 13 September 2006, Official Report, column 2281W.
Psychologists
Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many clinical psychologists were (a) in post and (b) in training in NHS establishments in each of the last five years; [91521]
(2) what steps are being taken to increase the number of clinical psychologists. [91522]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Since 2001 the number of clinical psychologists in the national health service has risen by 1,608 (29 per cent.) to 7,122 and the number of training places has increased by 157 (37 per cent.) to 582. The numbers in post have increased by over 3,000 since 1997. It is for local services to determine how many clinical psychology staff they require to meet local service needs.
The tables show the number of clinical psychologists in post and in training in each of the last five years.
| Clinical psychologists, England | |
| Headcount | |
| Source: The annual NHS workforce census. | |
| Clinical psychology training commissions, England | |
| Number | |
| Source: Quarterly Monitoring Returns. | |
Tattoos
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many tattoos were removed by the national health service in 2005. [92475]
Ms Rosie Winterton: There were 187,086 tattoos removed from April 2004 to March 2005.
Plastic surgery is undertaken in the national health service to correct defects arising from diseases and condition such as trauma or cancer, to correct congenital defects or to restore function, including the necessary correction of any previous cosmetic operations. Cosmetic surgery is not available on the NHS for beautification purposes but it may be undertaken to secure physical or mental health. Surgery may be undertaken to remove tattoos, where it is to secure mental health well-being.
Tuberculosis Research Strategy
Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made towards establishing a national audit of treatment failures and deaths from tuberculosis. [91853]
Caroline Flint:
The Health Protection Agency are currently improving their enhanced tuberculosis surveillance system to provide more accurate data and
analysis on treatment outcome. These data will be used to inform the development of a national audit of treatment failures, which is currently under consideration.
A summary of the results of monitoring for treatment outcomes for cases of tuberculosis reported in 2003 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was published in the Communicable Disease Report Weekly on 13 July 2006. A copy has been placed in the Library and is available on the Health Protection Agency’s website at www.hpa.org.uk/cdr/archives/2006/cdr2806.pdf. Data for 2004 is scheduled to be published in November 2006.
Data on deaths are provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Tables have been placed in the Library and are available on the HPA website at www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/tb/epidemiology/tables.htm#mort. These data are updated by ONS annually, usually in the first quarter of the following year.
Working Time Directive
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what her assessment is of the impact of the European Working Time Directive on health services in Gloucestershire. [92347]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Government agreed to implement the European Working Time Directive (WTD) as United Kingdom legislation to improve the health and safety and working lives of all employees. The vast majority of staff groups have been covered by the 48-hour week since 1998. The Government negotiated an extension to the WTD for doctors in training to enable phased implementation from August 2004.
Local national health service trusts are responsible for assessing the impact of the European Working Time Directive as part of their health and safety obligations. And while implementation of the European Working Time Directive is the responsibility of local NHS trusts, the Department of Health in England continues to work with the health professions and NHS employers to provide joint guidance and support to local organisations including sharing learning from previous lessons learned, and funding new pilot projects in support of the full implementation of doctors in training from August 2009.
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