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7 Nov 2006 : Column 1295W—continued
National Patient Safety Agency
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to the public purse has been of the National Patient Safety Agency in each year since 2001; and if she will make a statement. [96879]
Andy Burnham: Building a safer NHS for patients committed the Department to developing and investing in structures and organisations which would lead to promote patient safety in the national health service. The National Patient Safety Agency was central to the Department’s efforts. It has received the following amounts in Government funding:
| Amount (£) | |
Following the arm’s length body review, the NPSA took on additional responsibilities in 2005. These were the National Clinical Assessment Service, the Central Office for Research Ethics Committees, the three national confidential inquiries and aspects of nutrition, cleaning and design.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures she uses to establish the (a) efficacy and (b) value for money of the National Patient Safety Agency; and if she will make a statement. [96891]
Andy Burnham: As a public body, the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) is accountable for the proper use of its public funds and is obliged to operate under government accounting rules to ensure propriety, regularity and value for money. The Department’s monitoring and accountability framework is the means through which all its arms length bodies including the NPSA must demonstrate how they intend to maximise their contribution to the health and social care agenda as well as value for money.
It is the responsibility of the senior departmental sponsor (SDS) in the Department to ensure that the NPSA is operating within these parameters.
As with all arm’s length bodies, the NPSA must produce a strategic plan and an annual business plan. This is the primary vehicle through which the NPSA sets out how it will discharge its functions as directed by the Secretary of State. There are regular performance reviews against the business plan. In addition, the NPSA have an annual accountability review meeting with Ministers.
National Programme for Information Technology
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 4 September 2006, Official Report, column 2137W, on the National Programme for Information Technology, which NHS organisations are subject to cluster areas underpinned by a financial liability for failure to source sufficient numbers of staff with the necessary expertise; which NHS organisations have been deemed liable for such failure since the start of the National Programme for Information Technology; and what the value of the financial liability was for each NHS organisation in each case. [91806]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The original obligations to provide resources (managed authority employees) from the national health service to support the local service providers existed in the north-west/west midlands cluster and the southern cluster.
In the north-west/west midlands cluster, the liability was £4.7 million distributed across the strategic health authorities (SHAs) on a weighted capitation basis.
In the southern cluster, the liability was £19 million again distributed across the SHAs on a weighted capitation basis.
In both cases, the obligation has since been removed in agreement with the local service providers.
In the remaining clusters, there has been no obligation to provide such resources.
Netcare
Mrs. Humble:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the impact on the health sector in Lancashire of the award of the
capture, assess, treat and support contract to Netcare. [100030]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: No contract has been awarded to Netcare on the capture, assess, treat and support (CATS) scheme in Lancashire. It is still under negotiation with Netcare as the preferred bidder in the negotiation.
The CATS scheme will improve local community access to healthcare services, in line with the White Paper “Our Health, Our Care, Our Say” in January which signalled our intention to bring services closer to patients.
There is a robust process to ensure there is both local support and a capacity need for such schemes, and to reduce the risk that a scheme will destabilise existing service providers. The North West strategic health authority is working closely with the local acute trusts to ensure that the positive impacts of the scheme for the whole local health economy are fully delivered.
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were employed by Netcare on work contracted with the NHS in the last 12 months for which figures are available, broken down by NHS region. [96166]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information requested is not held centrally. Figures for whole-time equivalents (WTE) employed by Netcare in relation to centrally procured healthcare services for NHS patients are shown as follows.
10.0 WTE doctors
24.0 WTE nurses
Greater Manchester Surgi Centre
20.0 WTE doctors
71.0 WTE nurses
7.0 WTE allied health professionals
Staff are employed in accordance with the policy of additionality which conserves national health service clinical skills and encourages the independent sector to increase its capacity to help meet NHS access and waiting times targets.
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the contract for Netcare services in Cumbria and Lancashire will be signed; and what specialisms are included in the contract. [95086]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The specialties in the Cumbria and Lancashire clinical assessment and treatment service scheme include ear, nose and throat, general surgery, orthopaedics and rheumatology and minor treatment room treatments’ with an option for urology and gynaecology specialties.
Negotiations are continuing with Netcare to ensure the provision of a high quality service that is easily accessible for patients. It is expected that they will be concluded later this year.
Neurotin Gabapentin
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS spent on neurotin gabapentin in the latest year for which figures are available; what assessment has been made of the drug's value for money compared with other treatments; and if she will make a statement. [97304]
Andy Burnham: In the financial year 2005-06, the value of the drugs dispensed in primary care in England was £1,742,134 for branded Neurotin and £63,542,027 for generic gabapentin.
The use of gabapentin for the treatment of epilepsy was considered as part of two National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) appraisals in 2004—“Epilepsy (adults)—newer drugs and Epilepsy (children)—newer drugs”. In both appraisals NICE recommended that gabapentin and other relatively recent drugs for epilepsy be considered for use when other epilepsy drugs on their own do not stop seizures. Information on both these appraisals can be found on NICE’s website at www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=TA76 and www.nice.org.uk/paqe.aspx?o=TA79.
NHS (Hertfordshire)
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will examine the efficiency of the regional and strategic administration of the NHS in Hertfordshire over the last 10 years. [96483]
Andy Burnham: There are no immediate plans for Secretary of State or departmental officials to examine the efficiency of the regional and strategic administration of the national health service in Hertfordshire.
NHS (Litigation)
Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was paid out by the NHS litigation authority for each hospital trust in Greater Manchester in each of the last three years. [98716]
Andy Burnham: The requested information on how much was paid out by the NHS litigation authority for each hospital trust in Greater Manchester in each of the last three years is shown in the following table.
Payments made during the last three financial years for hospital trusts in Greater Manchester.
Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many complaints were made about services at each hospital in Greater Manchester in each of the last three years; and how many such cases went to litigation. [98717]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department does not collect data on complaints for individual hospitals and has no information about the number of cases that have progressed from being complaints to claims for negligence. The Information Centre for Health and Social Care only collects data on written complaints, by hospital trusts. The following table shows the number of written complaints made about services at each hospital trust in Greater Manchester in each of the last three years.
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