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14 Mar 2007 : Column 438W—continued
Hospitals: Lancashire
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many deferred operations there were at hospitals in Lancashire in each of the last five years. [125671]
Andy Burnham: The information requested is shown in the table.
| Cancelled operations for non-clinical reasons, national health service organisations in Lancashire, 2002-03 to 2006-07 | |||||
| Organisation | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07( 1) |
| (1) Data for 2006-07 are for the first three quarters only Source: Department of Health dataset QMCO | |||||
Hospitals: Parking
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was raised from parking fees by each health authority in Lancashire in each of the last five years. [124306]
Andy Burnham: The information requested is in the table.
The figures provided represent the gross income received from parking fees paid by staff and visitors at national health service organisations in Lancashire where information is available.
The information is as provided by NHS organisations without amendment. Since 2004-05, it has been provided on a voluntary basis and may therefore be incomplete.
Hospitals: Waiting Lists
Mr. Lansley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the waiting times milestones agreed with strategic health authorities referred to in the answer of
9 March 2006, Official Report, column 1777W, on waiting lists/times, remain in place; what percentage of those waiting for (a) out-patient appointments waiting longer than 11 weeks, (b) diagnostic tests waited longer than 13 weeks and (c) in-patient appointments waited longer than 20 weeks in the most recent period for which figures are available. [125034]
Andy Burnham: The data requested are shown in the table. The majority of those patients that are waiting over 13 weeks for a diagnostic test are waiting for audiology assessments, on which we published a framework for action on 6 March.
By December 2008, patients can expect a maximum wait of 18 weeks from general practitioner referral to
the start of consultant-led treatment, with most patients treated much more quickly. The referral-to-treatment (RTT) milestones are: by March 2008, 85 per cent. within 18 weeks for admitted patients (whose treatment requires a stay in hospital) and 90 per cent. for non-admitted patients {whose treatment is completed without a hospital stay).
The framework of milestones for individual stages of treatment, agreed with strategic health authorities, remains in place and is central to the current planning round for 2007-08. Performance against the RTT milestones will take precedence over the individual stages of treatment.
| Month end | Stage of treatment | Relevant milestone (weeks) | Total number waiting | Number waiting over milestone | Percentage waiting over milestone |
| Source: Department of Health QF01, QM08 and DM01 | |||||
Injuries: Children
Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps she plans to take in response to the Audit Commission report on preventing unintentional injury to children; and if she will make a statement; [127297]
(2) what assessment her Department has made of the potential contribution of a national roll-out of the injury minimisation programme pioneered at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford to the reduction of unintentional injury to children. [127299]
Caroline Flint: Preventing unintentional injury to children is a cross-Government and cross-disciplinary matter. The Department will consider the recommendations of the Audit Commission's report in partnership with other Government Departments. Specific injury minimisation programmes should be considered by local authorities and health care organisations when commissioning services.
London PCTs: Outstanding Loans
Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many London primary care trusts (PCTs) have outstanding loans from her Department; and how much each such PCT has repaid to her Department in (a) principal and (b) interest payments in each year since 1997. [114174]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Primary care trusts (PCTs) do not have the legal powers to borrow from the Department or elsewhere.
Lung Cancer
Sir Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cancer centres in England participated in the recent national lung cancer audit; and what percentage of centres this represents. [122540]
Ms Rosie Winterton: 154 out of 200 eligible hospitals recently participated in the national lung cancer audit. It covered 77 per cent. of hospitals providing lung cancer services in England.
Sir Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consideration she has given to (a) mandating and (b) building into the commissioning process a requirement on NHS trusts to submit data to the national lung cancer audit. [122542]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The National Clinical Audit Support Programme (NCASP) is commissioned by the Healthcare Commission to manage national clinical audits including the national lung cancer audit (LUCADA). The Healthcare Commission is not currently planning to make participation in audits mandatory. However, the Healthcare Commission conducts an annual health check of national health service organisations and since 2005-06 has been using participation in national clinical audits as part of the health check for NHS trusts. The Healthcare Commission is currently considering whether to include measurement not only of participation in audits, but also of data completeness and quality in its annual health check.
The Department is currently developing a cancer reform strategy. In developing the strategy, the Department is specifically looking at how to strengthen commissioning of cancer services and how to improve the information available on clinical outcomes. Discussions are under way on improving clinical outcomes data including the use of comparative information such as that provided through the NCASP audits. We expect to publish the cancer reform strategy by the end of the year.
Maternity Services
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether her Department has taken steps to support the midwifery model being developed by the Independent Midwives Association. [122716]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: It is for primary care trusts (PCTs) in partnership with strategic health authorities and other local stakeholders to determine which models best suit the local needs of women and the midwifery work force. This process provides the means for addressing local needs within the health community including the provision of maternity services.
Ministers and officials have met with the Independent Midwives Association (IMA) over the past three years to discuss their proposal of a national health service community midwifery model. Following on from these discussions, the IMA has identified a group of midwives and PCTs who are willing to test the model and help to create an outline contract. That process is continuing.
Medical Records
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how patients will opt out of having (a) their detailed patient record and (b) their summary patient record uploaded to the spine. [121951]
Caroline Flint: The spine is the colloquial name given to the national database of key information about patients’ health and care which forms the core of the NHS care records service, and which, from later this year, will begin to hold summary care records. Detailed patient records are created, and can be held electronically, in a variety of national health service organisations, depending on where patients have received treatment. They are accessed locally, and will not, unlike summary records, be uploaded on to the spine.
It will be open to individuals to choose not to have a summary care record through discussion with their general practitioner (GP). General practices will be responsible for entering care records on the system, and by the time the summary care record is introduced in local areas general practitioners will have been provided with guidance on what they need to do to respond to requests. GPs will be advised to record and act on patient preferences.
We believe that holding summary care records on the spine will deliver very significant benefits for safety and the efficient management of NHS services, improving healthcare outcomes for millions whilst preventing thousands of unnecessary deaths. Inevitably patients whose record was not held on the spine, and who might need to be treated in the absence of knowledge of the information they contain, would not receive the same quality of care as others.
Midwives: Manpower
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the numbers of midwives needed by the NHS (a) now and (b) over the next five years. [126165]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: It is for local planners with support from the workforce review team to determine their future requirement for midwives to meet local service needs.
The NHS operating framework for 2007-08, requires all national health service organisations to undertake a comprehensive review of their maternity services,
including the workforce capacity, as preparation for the delivery of maternity commitments outlined in ‘Our Health, Our Care, Our Say’ by 2009.
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