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8 Nov 2006 : Column 1846W—continued
New Doctors
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to ensure that there are sufficient specialist training posts to match the number of qualified graduates from medical schools. [97591]
Ms Rosie Winterton: As part of the transition to the new modernising medical careers training structure, strategic health authorities, postgraduate deans and national health service trusts are working together to consider how funding for posts should be used to create the appropriate number of training posts in the new structure in the relevant specialities and locations to meet service need. This process will continue throughout 2006, but will be completed in time for the recruitment round for August 2007. The Chief Medical Officer’s preliminary estimate is that of between 22,000 and 23,000 training opportunities for doctors across the United Kingdom, between 17,000 and 18,000 of these will provide access to run through training schemes.
New Mothers
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what services are provided to mothers following childbirth to promote bonding between mother and child. [99898]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Decisions about service provision of all aspects of maternity care need to be made at a local level by the local healthcare providers who are best placed to make them.
However, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence produced guidelines on postnatal care in July 2006, which recommend that women should not be separated from their baby within the first hour of giving birth and that they should be encouraged to have skin-to-skin contact with their baby and offered support to help start breastfeeding. Health care professionals are expected to follow these guidelines in providing care to new mothers.
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what parenting (a) advice and (b) training is provided to new mothers; and whether she plans to extend that provision. [99899]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The maternity standard of the children’s national service framework (NSF) emphasises the need for good antenatal care for all women and their partners, including access to parenting education, and preparation for birth as classes or through other means to enable them to make informed choices about the type of birth they would prefer. Midwives and other members of the maternity team work together to offer antenatal and other support classes including support for breastfeeding, particularly for new parents.
The Pregnancy Book and Birth to Five are two free Departmental publications which are handed by midwives to women expecting their first child, at the booking-in appointment. These are comprehensive information guides. The Pregnancy Book encompasses a range of information relating to the health of the mother, care during the antenatal period, during labour and birth and the early weeks after birth, including parenting. Both publications encourage women to discuss any concerns that they may have during their pregnancy with an appropriate health professional.
In addition, the child health promotion programme has a key role in communicating health and parenting messages to parents. This programme, set out in standard one of the NSF for children, is a programme delivered universally, which means that all parents receive support and advice at specific times, for example when their child needs immunisation, but parents can also request support at other times with parenting related issues. New guidance on the programme is being produced in spring 2007 and will include a chapter on parenting.
The Department is also working closely with the Department for Education and Skills to ensure a focus on positive parenting through children’s centres, health schools and extended schools.
NHS (Bullying)
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate she has made of (a) the incidence of bullying of NHS staff and (b) how many cases involve bullying of black and minority ethnic staff. [99313]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department of Health does not collect data on rates of bullying and harassment in the NHS. The Healthcare Commission collects data on bullying and harassment as part of the annual NHS staff survey.
In the 2005 NHS staff survey, 6 per cent. of white staff in all NHS trusts reported that they had experienced harassment, bullying or abuse by a manager/team leader in the previous 12 months, compared with 8 per cent. of non-white staff. Nine per cent. of white staff in all NHS trusts reported that they had experienced harassment, bullying or abuse by colleagues in the previous 12 months, compared with 12 per cent. of non-white staff.
NHS Clinical Records Project
Mr. Quentin Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the PRINCE2 criteria have been applied in full to the evaluation and monitoring of the project for the computerisation of the NHS clinical records system. [100195]
Caroline Flint: As confirmed in the National Audit Office report “The National Programme for IT in the NHS”, published in June 2006, NHS Connecting for Health is using the PRINCE2 tool to manage the projects within the programme, as recommended by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) for managing Government projects. It has conducted Gateway reviews on the different component projects of the national programme, and of the programme as a whole, at key stages in their development, with reports made direct to senior responsible owners of the projects. It has also established a national programme office to provide central programme management services to support the planning, control and reporting of activities within the programme.
NHS Decision Making
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria are used on decisions on where to locate (a) accident and emergency departments and (b) other NHS facilities; and if she will make a statement. [91326]
Andy Burnham: It is for the local national health service in consultation with local stakeholders to determine the criteria for making decisions on the location of NHS services, including emergency and urgent care services.
The Department issued in October 2006 Direction of Travel for Urgent Care: a discussion document that suggests a set of principles for urgent care. The views received from key stakeholders on the discussion document will be used to develop a framework within
which primary care trusts and local authorities can work to ensure that the provision of urgent care services reflects local need.
NHS Direct
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the call rate per 100,000 population to NHS Direct was in each quarter since December 2002. [98637]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not collected centrally. The table shows the number of calls answered by NHS Direct per quarter since 2002.
| Calls answered per quarter( 1) | ||
| Notes: 1. Definition of volume: calls answered - number of calls answered/handled after the introductory message. 2. Minor changes in figures for last three quarters of 2005-06 result from review of data. Source: NHS Direct (National Operations Centre) | ||
NHS Estate Safety
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Eddisbury of 9 October 2006, Official Report, column 628W, on NHS estate safety, what the sub-totals are which were used to accumulate the total cost of the backlog in high-risk maintenance work. [100399]
Andy Burnham: The breakdown of high-risk backlog maintenance is not collected centrally.
High-risk backlog maintenance must be addressed as an urgent priority by NHS organisations.
NHS Finance
Sarah Teather:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment she has made of the financial position of (a) North West London
Hospitals Trust and (b) Brent Teaching Primary Care Trust; and if she will make a statement. [100366]
Andy Burnham: The table provided shows the 2005-06 final outturn position and the 2006-07 quarter one forecast outturn position for North West London Hospitals National Health Service Trust and Brent Teaching Primary Care Trust (PCT).
| £000 | ||
| Organisation | 2005-06 Final accounts surplus/(deficit) | 2006-07 Quarter 1 forecast outturn surplus/(deficit) |
| Source: 2005-06 Audited summarisation schedules 2006-07 Monthly financial monitoring returns | ||
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what meetings (a) she and (b) her officials have had in the last six months with HM Treasury to discuss the Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s private finance initiative; and if she will make a statement. [100322]
Andy Burnham: Neither Ministers nor Departmental officials have had any specific meetings with HM Treasury to discuss the private finance initiative (PFI) scheme at the Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. This issue has been discussed on an ongoing basis by my officials with those of HM Treasury as part of the usual process of progressing PFI business cases.
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on the NHS in Barnet in 1996-97; how much has been allocated to the NHS in Barnet for 2006-07; and if she will make a statement. [96922]
Andy Burnham: The information on expenditure figures for 1996-97 is not held centrally. Expenditure by Barnet health authority for 1998-99 (the earliest year available) was £209 million. This does not include all national health service expenditure in Barnet as pharmaceutical services and general dental services are not accounted by the health authority.
For 2006-07, Barnet primary care trust received an allocation of £426 million.
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the capital expenditure has been in the NHS in Barnet since May 1997; and if she will make a statement. [96925]
Andy Burnham: Figures for 1997 are not available. The figures for 1998 to 2005 are in the following table:
| Total capital expenditure by national health service bodies in Barnet | |
| £000 | |
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the budget allocated to primary care trusts for 2006-07 was allocated to them for the purposes of (a) long-term health improvement, (b) reducing health inequalities and (c) tackling issues of public health. [94987]
Andy Burnham: The 2006-07 and 2007-08 revenue allocations to primary care trusts (PCTs) separately identify £211 million in 2006-07 and £342 million in 2007-08, to support implementation of the Choosing Health White Paper.
NHS IT Systems
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the cost of the new NHS IT systems for (a) general practitioners and (b) hospitals; and if she will make a statement. [98132]
Caroline Flint: The value of the eight centrally-funded core contracts which make up the national programme for information technology is some £6.2 billion. Of this, some £4.9 billion relates to contracts with local service providers whose role is to integrate existing local systems, and where necessary implement new systems, to ensure that the programme's national applications can be delivered to the national health service locally in each of the five cluster areas. Of this sum, around £730 million relates to general practice (GP) systems, and the remainder to systems used in secondary care. In addition, contracts and projects added to the original scope of the national programme include one to the value of £245 million for the provision of central data stores required by NHS trusts for picture archiving and communications systems (PACS).
Figures for expenditure on implementing the national programme, separate from the totality of NHS spending on information management and technology, are not collected centrally. However, in the recent National Audit Office report on the programme this is quoted at about £3.4 billion, made up of two elements: £2.6 billion on staff training, data conversion and strengthening local information technology networks for hospitals and GPs; and £775 million for PACS.
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