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28 Nov 2006 : Column 574W—continued
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the Eastern Health and Social Services Board first informed the General Dental Council of their concerns regarding George Bruce Kelso. [103451]
Paul Goggins: The Eastern Board first wrote to the General Dental Council expressing concerns about Mr. Kelso’s treatment of and behaviour towards patients on 20 March 2001.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will conduct an independent review into the handling of investigations into the conduct of dentist George Bruce Kelso. [103452]
Paul Goggins: Following the erasure of dentist George Bruce Kelso from the dental register for serious professional misconduct, the Department has reviewed the management of the investigatory process into Mr. Kelso’s conduct. The Department will shortly be issuing guidance to Health and Social Services Boards which will apply the lessons learnt from this case. The Department is also developing guidance for dealing with underperforming doctors and dentists and this should be available in the new year. In addition, legislative changes in 2007 will provide Health and Social Services Boards with increased powers of suspension for independent practitioners. Given the measures outlined above, I do not feel it is appropriate to conduct an independent review into this case.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what mechanisms have been in place to audit the provision of NHS dental services in the NHS area including 14 The Square, Portaferry. [103485]
Paul Goggins: There is a robust framework of checks in place for all health service dental practices. The Referral Dental Service based in the DHSSPS undertakes post treatment dental examinations on a random sample of health service claims. Health Boards undertake inspections of health service dental practices in their area to ensure compliance with health and safety and other regulatory requirements. The Central Services Agency (CSA) undertakes pre-treatment checks on proposed courses of treatment which are in excess of the prior approval limit (currently £384). The CSA also generate practice profiles of all health service practices on a quarterly basis which outline individual practitioner’s treatment prescribing patterns and bench mark these against local and regional averages. Since 2005, Health Boards have undertaken probity checks of a random sample of claims from all health service dentists. The practice at 14 The Square, Portaferry would have been included in those checks which were available during the years in which it operated health service dentistry (June 1995 to January 2001).
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much George Bruce Kelso received from NHS funds for dental services related claims in each of the last six years. [103486]
Paul Goggins: Health service earnings for George Bruce Kelso over the past six years:
| Business year | Annual health service earnings (£) |
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many NHS patients George Bruce Kelso had on his list when he was struck off. [103487]
Paul Goggins: Central Services Agency records indicate that Mr. Kelso had the following numbers of patients registered across three practice addresses:
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many complaints were received on the performance of dentist George Bruce Kelso in each year of his practice. [103489]
Paul Goggins: Records of complaints against general dental practitioners are held by the relevant health and social services board, in Mr. Kelso's case this is the Eastern Health and Social Services Board (EHSSB). The EHSSB does not hold records of complaints about general dental practitioners prior to 1991. The records show that there was a total of six complaints received by the EHSSB about Mr. Kelso:
two complaints in 2000
two complaints in 2001
one complaint in 2003
one complaint in 2004.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the Chief Dental Officer was first informed of concerns about the performance of dentist George Bruce Kelso; and what actions were taken as a result. [103490]
Paul Goggins:
Departmental records indicate that the then Chief Dental Officer would have been aware of the concerns about Mr. Kelso in early 1999 following the findings from a series of post treatment examinations undertaken by the Referral Dental Service. Following this, in accordance with procedure, the case was referred to the Eastern Health and Social Services Board (EHSSB), in its role as commissioner of
this practitioner, to further manage. The EHSSB then utilised the Referral Dental Service based at the Department to undertake targeted examinations of Mr Kelso’s dental treatment.
General Practioner Services
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what estimate he has made of the number of individuals from the Irish Republic who are expected to use out-of-hours GP services in the (a) Western and (b) Southern health board areas; [103467]
(2) how many individuals from Northern Ireland use out-of-hours GP services in the Irish Republic. [103469]
Paul Goggins: Co-Operation and Working Together (CAWT) plan to launch the cross-border GP out-of-hours pilot projects in two phases starting in January 2007. One project covers patients living in the Republic of Ireland, along the border area of Donegal, who would have the option of using Western Urgent Care out-of-hours services. Patient flow predictions estimate a potential maximum workload gain of 1,302 Donegal patients, equating to 25 patients per week, opting to take up the offer of using Western Urgent Care's out-of-hours services.
A further pilot project will cover patients living in the South Armagh area who would have the option of using out-of-hours services in Castleblayney. Patient flow predictions for uptake of this service are a maximum workload gain of 931 Northern Ireland patients per annum (19 patients per week) using Castleblayney out-of-hours services.
Data in relation to current patterns of patient flows from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland for the purposes of accessing GP out-of-hours services is not routinely collected.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much funding he expects the Irish Republic to contribute for the provision of out-of-hours GP services in the (a) Western and (b) Southern health board areas. [103468]
Paul Goggins: In the Republic of Ireland General Medical Services (GMS) patients receive free care while non-GMS/private patients pay a fee per service at the point of delivery.
(a) The costs associated with treating Republic of Ireland GMS patients through the services of Western Urgent Care will be met through a Patient Choice Development Fund established by the Health Service Executive in the Republic of Ireland. The size of this fund will be determined by the volume of patient activity. Non-GMS/private patients will be charged a fee of €40 per consultation.
(b) For patients in defined localities within the Southern Health and Social Services Board area who would be offered the choice to use GP Out of Hours Services in the Republic of Ireland (Castleblayney), payment for this service will be met by the Southern Health and Social Services Board and will be determined by the volume of patient activity.
Haemophiliacs
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many haemophiliacs there are in Northern Ireland. [103493]
Paul Goggins: As of August 2006 there were 113 haemophiliacs registered with the Haemophilia Centre, Belfast City Hospital.
Health Care (Self-management)
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps have been taken by the NHS in Northern Ireland (a) to encourage and (b) to assist self-management by patients of long-term health conditions. [103439]
Paul Goggins: The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety has been encouraging the introduction of self-management programmes for a number of long-term health conditions. In 2006-07, the Department invested £4 million, through the General Medical Services Contract, in a number of Directed Enhanced Services. The main aim of this investment is to enable GP practices to provide effective self management training and action plans for people with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and for patients who are obese.
The Department has also set a target which requires the HSS boards and trusts to develop proposals, by 31 December 2006 to introduce a Structured Education Programme for people with diabetes to help them manage their own condition more effectively.
Helm Report
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps have been taken in response to the Helm Report recommendation that significant improvement is required in the finance function of education and library boards in the Province. [103473]
Maria Eagle: The Helm report included 17 specific recommendations aimed at improving financial management and reporting in the education and library boards. Following the report, and in the context of the forthcoming changes to education administration structures, an action plan was agreed between the three departments that currently fond the education and library boards which set out 25 specific areas for action or improvement. I understand that 12 of these actions have already been put in place and that progress is continuing to be made on a further 11. The remaining improvements will be put in place in the context of designing the finance a accountability arrangements that will apply to the new Education and Skills Authority.
Homelessness
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people (a) applied and (b) were subsequently accepted as homeless in each of the Housing Executive district offices in Northern Ireland in (i) 2004 and (ii) 2005. [104021]
Mr. Hanson: The information for the financial years 2004-06 and 2005-06 is as follows:
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |||
| Housing Executive District | Presented | Awarded FDA( 1) | Presented | Awarded FDA( 1) |
| (1) A full duty applicant is someone who is homeless, in priority need (i.e. people with families, young persons at risk of sexual or financial exploitation, single parents and other vulnerable members of society) and not intentionally homeless. | ||||
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