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5 Dec 2006 : Column 377Wcontinued
Preston Healthport;
Workington Community Hospital;
Ulverston Community Health Centre;
Ormskirk and District General Hospital;
The Beardwood Hospital, Blackburn;
The Burnley LIFT Centre;
Fleetwood Community Hospital; and
Hill Top Heights, Carlisle.
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether GPs are required to refer a specific percentage of patients to the independent sector clinical and assessment treatment support services rather than to NHS secondary care providers. [104684]
Caroline Flint: General practitioners are not required to refer patients to a particular service provider, but are expected to help patients decide on the best treatment option for them. Guidance on referral management centres and other similar arrangements was set out in the commissioning framework published on 13 July 2006.
Tim Loughton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects to publish the report International experiences of using community
treatment orders; when she received the report; what assessment she has made of its findings; what consideration she has given to its policy implications; what discussion she has had of its findings with (a) the authors of the report and (b) policy officials; and if she will make a statement. [104741]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department of Health has commissioned research to look at international experiences of implementing community treatment orders (CTOs). The Department has not yet received the complete report of the findings and so it would be inappropriate to discuss the report at this stage. We expect to publish the findings when the research is completed. When it is completed, there will be an assessment of the findings and of any policy implications.
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what systems are in place within her Department to prevent the unintended destruction of documentation. [100632]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department continues to implement well established policies and procedures for managing documents and files in accordance with its administrative needs and the Public Records Act.
The Public Records Act requires staff to identify documents arising from their work that should form part of the official record. These are saved for as long as business needs require and stored corporately in accordance with departmental record management procedures.
Once documents have been stored in corporate record keeping systems they are protected from unintended destruction by system controls, clear guidance on managing records, and a strong audit trail. Electronic records are further protected by regular data backups.
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the cost of the introduction of the donor relationship management IT system. [107698]
Caroline Flint: NHS Blood and Transplant estimates that the cost of the introduction of the new donor Relationship Management IT system will be £2 million.
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much NHS Blood and Transplant has spent on (a) consultancy services provided by Fishburn Hedges on its communications strategy, (b) the Promguide Management Resources assessment of donor services, (c) the Branded study of donor marketing and (d) brokerage charges to the Central Office of Information related to the Branded study of donor marketing. [107696]
Caroline Flint: NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for managing blood supplies in England and north Wales. It does this through the National Blood Service (NBS).
NBS has advised that this information is commercial in confidence. NBS engaged Branded and the Central Office of Information to report on the NBSs marketing strategy and effectiveness. The review was undertaken jointly by Branded and COI. A brokerage fee was not paid by the NBS.
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many individual responses to the former Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority's Making It Better consultation were submitted by (a) letter, (b) email, (c) petition and (d) other means; and how many of these were in support of the retention of maternity services at Fairfield Hospital, Bury in each category. [104547]
Ms Rosie Winterton: A comprehensive analysis of responses to the Making it Better public consultation has been carried out by Tribal on behalf of NHS North West.
http://www.bestforhealth.nhs.uk/page.asp?pagekey=508&branchkey=l
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many private finance initiative and public private partnership contracts with her Department and its agencies have been won by Halliburton or its subsidiaries in each year since 1997; what the terms were of each contract; and if she will make a statement. [101223]
Andy Burnham: No private finance initiative or other public private partnership contracts with the Department, its agencies or the national health service have been won by Halliburton or its subsidiaries.
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what contribution the NHS is making to the development of a health authority in Bilborough, Nottingham; and if she will make a statement. [100693]
Andy Burnham: The Department is unaware of any NHS contribution to the development of a health authority in Bilborough, Nottingham.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the spending per 100,000 population on health services (a) in Birmingham, (b) in the West Midlands, (c) in England and (d) by each primary care trust is in 2006-07. [101864]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Information on 2006-07 spending from the annual accounts of national health service bodies will not be available until the autumn of 2007. Tables showing the 2006-07 allocations per 100,000 population which were made to 303 primary care trusts (PCTs) have been placed in the Library. The number of PCTs reduced from 303 to 152 on 1 October 2006.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action is being taken to reduce the average time it takes the Healthcare Commission to deal with complaints. [100972]
Andy Burnham: The Healthcare Commission assumed responsibility for the second stage of the national health service complaints process (complaints where the complainant is dissatisfied with the action taken at local level) in August 2004. Under the previous NHS system there were about 3,400 review requests a year; the Healthcare Commission expected that it might receive up to 5,000 requests. Since August 2004, the Commission has received around 8,000 requests a year for independent review.
The Department is working with the Healthcare Commission to improve the way in which cases are handled and reduce the backlog of cases which has built up. Actions taken by the commission include:
in March 2006, it introduced an initial review process with a view to dealing with 65 per cent. of cases within eight weeks;
it has made available additional internal resources to fund 25 additional temporary case-handling staff to deal with the oldest cases;
it has recruited a business process expert to review procedures and make changes to improve the efficiency with which cases are handled;
it is taking steps to share the lessons learned from the cases it has reviewed; and
it has commissioned a national audit of complaints handling at local level which will feed into the annual healthcheck process in 2006-07 to encourage best practice by trusts in complaints handling and to focus efforts on local resolution of cases.
The Department has introduced new regulations which extend the flexibility for local NHS organisations to respond to patients. This should reduce the number of complaints reaching the Healthcare Commission. The Department is also looking at common areas of complaint to see whether further advice could be given to the NHS which might lead to fewer people having cause for complaint.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the Department is spending on (a) stock piling influenza vaccines and (b) research into methods of preventing an influenza pandemic. [103194]
Caroline Flint: In relation to pandemic influenza vaccines, we have purchased 3.3 million doses of H5N1 vaccine at a cost of £33 million.
We continue to work with the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to research methods of preventing a pandemic. In particular, strong epidemiological surveillance in South East Asia to detect outbreaks early and a strengthened rapid response capacity is of utmost importance. To support these efforts, the Department has already contributed £500,000 to the WHO.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total cost was to the NHS of IVF treatment in the last 12 months for which figures are available; whether she has any plans to restrict the availability of IVF treatments on the NHS; and if she will make a statement. [106962]
Caroline Flint: Information on the cost of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) to the national health service is not collected centrally. The primary responsibility for the provision of fertility services, and the implementation of the clinical guideline produced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in 2004, rests with the NHS at local level. We have no plans to ask primary care trusts (PCTs) to restrict the availability of IVF and we are working with the patient support organisation Infertility Network UK to help PCTs engage with fertility patients in the planning and prioritisation of services.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice the Department offers to pharmacists on the purchase and supply of mannitol powder; what measures she has put in place to prevents its illicit use; and whether she has plans for further restrictions on its availability. [107581]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: None. As far as licensed medicinal products are concerned, mannitol is available as an intravenous infusion and is a prescription only medicine which means that pharmacists may only dispense it against a prescription issued by an appropriate practitioner. Mannitol is also used widely as an excipient (i.e. an inactive ingredient) by the pharmaceutical industry in the manufacture of other medicinal products.
There are no specific measures in place to prevent illicit use. Adulterants and bulking agents mixed with controlled drugs are not usually controlled where they are not psychoactive themselves or precursors to psychoactive drugs of misuse.
There are no plans for further restrictions on availability. There is an established mechanism to allow proper consideration of making drugs of misuse controlled. The advisory council on the misuse of drugs (the expert body that advises Ministers) is made aware of problems posed by specific drugs, or where they are requested by Ministers to consider a specific drug, they will undertake a detailed assessment of whether or not a substance ought to be controlled and make appropriate recommendations to Ministers.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has for the reconfiguration of maternity services in Peterborough; and if she will make a statement. [101857]
Andy Burnham: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and departmental officials are not aware of any immediate plans to reconfigure maternity services in Peterborough.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects to publish Louis Applebys report Avoidable Deaths: Five year report of the national confederation inquiry into suicide and homicide by people with mental illness. [104740]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This report was published by the university of Manchester on 4 December 2006, and copies have been placed in the Library.
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will seek assurances that midwife-led birthing units in Romsey, Hythe and Lymington will not close before the proposed birthing unit at Ashurst opens; and if she will make a statement. [107579]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: This is a matter for the local national health service. It is for trusts, with their specialised knowledge of the local community, to effectively manage and improve local services.
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she last discussed NHS service provision with the Chair of the Labour Party. [102003]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Secretary of State for Health met with the Chair of the Labour Party on 3 July. The Department does not hold minutes or a record of this meeting, and no departmental officials attended. The Secretary of State for Health regularly meets with fellow Cabinet colleagues to discuss a variety of issues.
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which NHS establishments in the St. Albans constituency Ministers in her Department have visited in the last 12 months. [102005]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department's Ministers have neither been invited to, nor visited, any national health service establishments in the St. Albans constituency in the last 12 months.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what formal changes have been made to the multiple sclerosis risk sharing scheme since its inception; [103071]
(2) what proportion of patients in the risk sharing scheme for multiple sclerosis patients have been assessed in relation to predicted clinical outcomes; what proportion fell below predicted outcomes; and to what extent drug prices for these patients have been reduced; [103120]
(3) what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the risk sharing scheme for multiple sclerosis patients; and if she will make a statement; [103121]
(4) how many patients resident in England had been invited to join the Department of Health risk sharing scheme for multiple sclerosis patients by March; and what proportion consented to join. [103122]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: There have been no significant changes made to the multiple sclerosis risk-sharing scheme itself since its inception in May 2002. There has, however, been a change in the scheme co-ordinator from the Sheffield School of Health and Allied Research to Parexel Ltd.
This is a United Kingdom wide scheme and a cohort of around 5,200 patients is being monitored on a routine basis. Information on the numbers of patients who did not consent to join the scheme is unavailable, but treatment is not dependent on participation in the scheme.
The first analysis of data from the scheme will take place in summer 2007. We have no plans to make a separate assessment of the scheme's effectiveness.
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