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25 Oct 2006 : Column 1959W—continued
| Gross weekly (constant price( c) £) pay for employee jobs( a) by place of work | ||||||||
| London | ||||||||
| Median | Mean | |||||||
| Full-time | Part-time | Full-time | Part-time | |||||
| Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | |
| (a )Employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence. (b) In 2004 additional supplementary surveys were introduced to improve the coverage of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Figures are presented both excluding and including the additional surveys for comparison purposes. (c )Constant price terms have been uprated using the Retail Prices Index (PRI), re-based at April 2005. Guide to quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of a figure, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an average of 200 with a CV of 5 per cent., we would expect the population average to be within the range 180 to 220. Key: CV <= 5 per cent. * CV > 5 per cent. and <= 10 per cent. ** CV > 10 per cent. and <= 20 per cent. x CV > 20 per cent. The median replaces the mean as the headline statistic. The weighted mean is the sum of the weighted values divided by the sum of the weights. The median is the value below which 50 per cent. of employees fall. It is preferred over the mean for earnings data as it is influenced less by extreme values and because of the skewed distribution of earnings data. | ||||||||
Health
Acute Beds
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average cost per day of an acute bed in (a) Worthing hospital and (b) the Royal Sussex county hospital, Brighton was in the most recent period for which figures are available. [93356]
Caroline Flint: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Macular Degeneration
Mr. Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the advice is from (a) the Department of Health and (b) the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to primary care trusts on the use of (i) Macugen and (ii) Lucentis for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration. [93969]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Lucentis is under assessment by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) and is currently not approved for marketing in the European Union (EU). Macugen already has approval for marketing in the EU.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is currently carrying out an appraisal of Macugen and Lucentis for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration and final guidance is due to be published in August 2007. NICE'S appraisal will take into account the outcome of the EMEA's assessment of Lucentis.
Where guidance from NICE is not yet available, primary care trusts are expected to apply local arrangements for the managed introduction of new technologies. These arrangements should include an assessment of the available evidence.
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will request that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence simultaneously appraises Avastin and Lucentis for the treatment of macular degeneration. [94594]
Andy Burnham: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is currently appraising Lucentis (ranibizuman) alongside another drug, Macugen (pegaptanib), for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration. NICE expects to publish its guidance to the national health service in August 2007. The Department has no current plans to ask NICE to appraise Avastin for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration.
Audiology Services
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what targets are in place for the provision of audiology services; what assessment she has made of whether the NHS will meet its targets in this area in 2006-07; and if she will make a statement. [92901]
Mr. Ivan Lewis:
Audiology services are covered by the current operational waiting time standards of 13 weeks for first out-patients and six months for in-patients. Waits for audiological diagnostics are covered by the 13-week stage of treatment diagnostic milestone to be
reached by March 2007 as part of the drive to reduce waits towards the December 2008 referral to treatment waiting time target of 18 weeks, the milestone is not itself a target. Audiology services are in the scope of 18 weeks if referral to a hospital consultant is involved but not if referral is direct to the audiology service. In practice, this means that complex cases are in scope but not the majority of simple cases.
Ministers are aware of long waits for audiology services. An action plan is being developed to improve access to all audiology services including those outside 18 weeks.
Cane Hill, Coulsdon
Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the annual cost has been of providing security for Cane Hill, Coulsdon in each of the last four years. [94070]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The annual cost of providing security for Cane Hill, Coulsdon for each of the last four years has been:
| £ | |
Cane Hill Hospital is included in the portfolio of properties to transfer to English Partnerships as part of a wider agreement with the Department for Communities and Local Government to support the Government's sustainable communities programme. In April 2005, English Partnerships took over responsibility for managing the site and paying for security. They have subsequently reviewed and increased the security arrangements. The increase in the costs reflects this review.
Care Homes
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what star rating each care home in the East Riding of Yorkshire received in the last report published by the Commission for Social Care Inspection; and if she will make a statement. [93175]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: I understand from the chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) that it proposes to introduce new quality, or star, ratings for all 28,000 care providers in England by mid-2007, which will allow service users and the public to see easily whether care providers are excellent, good, adequate or poor.
CSCI inspectors prepare a report after each inspection of a care home, which sets out what the service does well and lists any improvements that need to be made.
A CSCI report of a care home assesses each aspect of the services provided by reference to the Government’s national minimum standards, which form the basis of what people should expect from care services.
CSCI reports for care homes are available on its website at www.csci.org.uk.
Choose and Book
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what percentage of outpatient appointments were made using choose and book in the last period for which figures are available; [92206]
(2) what percentage of outpatient appointments were made using choose and book in the last period for which figures are available; and how many urgent referrals have been made as a proportion of the total referrals. [92211]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: In the week ending Sunday 24 September 2006, approximately 27 per cent. of general practitioner outpatient referrals were made using choose and book. No data are collected centrally on the priority of referrals.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average compliance duration has been for log on and completion of a referral against specification times for choose and book. [92207]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The initial log-on to the choose and book application at the start of the day includes security and access controls as specified by the British Medical Association. The initial log-on session takes around 17 seconds and is only undertaken once at the start of the session. This is an important step in validating the credentials of the person accessing the system and helps to protect patient confidentiality. To complete the end-to-end booking process takes 48 seconds on average, if local infrastructure meets the minimum specified requirements and has been configured correctly.
Contracted specification times do not cover the end-to-end booking process. This is dependent on local national health service infrastructure and external systems for which the choose and book core application supplier cannot be accountable.
Specification times for performance of key elements of the core application are measured against a range of contractual transaction service levels. These include the following:
| Transaction | Not less than 95 percent, of the aggregate transactions times-Less or equal to (seconds) |
Each of these contractual transaction service levels has been met during the last three months.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients using Choose and Book have chosen a hospital outside their local referral catchment area. [92209]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: This information is not collected centrally.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many uncompleted referral processes there have been under Choose and Book. [92210]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information is not available centrally. General practitioner practices, using the Choose and Book activity work list, can monitor converted and unconverted unique booking reference numbers for patients in the practice.
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