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15 May 2007 : Column 722W—continued
Health Professions: Finance
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding was provided by her Department to the Health Professions Council to support its establishment. [133575]
Ms Rosie Winterton: According to our records the amount of funding that was provided to the Health Professions Council for its establishment was £3,804,467.38 between 2002 and 2004.
Health Professions: Length of Service
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the average length of service was for practising NHS (a) GPs, (b) dentists and (c) hospital consultants in each of the last 15 years; [133395]
(2) what the average retirement age was for NHS (a) general practitioners, (b) dentists and (c) hospital consultants in each of the last 15 years. [133399]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not collected centrally.
Health Services: Private Sector
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS paid to private health care providers in (a) 1997-98, (b) 2000-01 and (c) 2006-07. [134103]
Andy Burnham: Information on how much the national health service paid to private health care providers is not separately identified in the annual financial returns of primary care trusts (PCT), health authorities and NHS trusts for 1997-98 or 2000-01.
Information for 2006-07 is being collected this autumn as part of PCTs’ annual accounts.
For information about expenditure on non-NHS bodies, which include private providers, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 16 April 2007, Official Report, column 366W, to the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley).
Heart Diseases/Cancer
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the survival rates from (a) heart attack and (b) all cancers were in (i) the most recent period for which figures are available, (ii) 1997 and (iii) 1987. [134158]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Data to enable assessment of survival after heart attack are not collected centrally. However treatment for heart attack has been audited since 2002 in England. These data indicate that in 2002 the 30-day mortality rate following treatment for heart attack was about 11 per cent. For 2006, the figure was about 9.5 per cent.
Data source: Myocardial Infarction National Audit Project (MINAP)
No assessment has been made of survival rates from all cancers for the periods in question.
Information on one-year and five-year survival rates by individual cancer type is published by the Office for National Statistics. The information has been placed in the Library and is available of their website at:
The last published information covers patients diagnosed with cancer between 1998 and 2001.
Compared with results for patients diagnosed during 1996-99, the five-year survival figures for patients diagnosed during 1998-2001 were around 2.5 percentage points higher for breast cancer in women and for colon cancer in both men and women. Survival for lung cancer increased slightly, by half a percentage point in men and by just over 1 percentage point in women. For prostate cancer, there was a rise of 6 percentage points, but much of this was due to the increasingly widespread use of prostate-specific antigen testing.
Heart Diseases: Rehabilitation
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what methodology is used to assess the (a) quality and (b) effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation services; what targets have been established in relation to cardiac rehabilitation; and if she will assess the merits of assessing the quality of such rehabilitation services in terms of deaths avoided. [135310]
Ms Rosie Winterton: There is an extensive body of evidence to support the effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation.
The National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease (CHD NSF) published in 2000 contained some milestones and a goal for each hospital to reach. This goal stated that every hospital should ensure:
that all people discharged from hospital with a primary diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction or after coronary revascularisation are offered appropriate cardiac rehabilitation;
and
that one year after discharge at least 50 per cent. of survivors are non-smokers, exercise regularly and have a body mass index of less than 30 kg/m2; these should be demonstrated by clinical audit data no more than 12 months old.
There is evidence including a Healthcare Commission review of the CHD NSF recommendations for cardiac rehabilitation published in March 2005 that there are some aspects of cardiac rehabilitation that need further improvements.
The need to achieve better information about patterns of service and uptake by patients is being addressed by a new National Cardiac Rehabilitation Audit. It is being developed across England to provide stronger evidence on quality and effectiveness and encourage local areas to appraise and improve their provision of cardiac rehabilitation.
Hospitals: Leeds
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the plans for a children’s and maternity hospital in Leeds. [136297]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: It is the ambition of the national health service in Leeds to centre children’s services on one new site in the city.
That is the stated aim of the Making Leeds Better programme and that remains the case.
The NHS in Leeds is working to ensure that it meets its next deadline which is for outline business case approval by December next year.
There will be no decisions on changes to health services in Leeds without full public consultation.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Health Services
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment she has made of the standard of services and treatment available to people with (a) ulcerative colitis and (b) Crohn’s disease; [136816]
(2) how many people were diagnosed with (a) ulcerative colitis and (b) Crohn’s disease in each of the last five years. [136817]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Information on the number of people diagnosed with either ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease is not collected centrally.
I have made no assessment of the standard of services and treatment available for those living with either ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease.
Information Prescriptions
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 18 December 2006, Official Report, column 1711W, on information prescriptions, what criteria were used to select areas for information prescription charges. [112287]
Ms Rosie Winterton: It is anticipated that information prescriptions will be delivered free of charge. The bidding criteria sent to prospective pilot organisations has been the basis for their selection.
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 18 December 2006, Official Report, column 1711W, on information prescriptions, how long she expects trials to last. [112288]
Ms Rosie Winterton: It is currently planned that information prescriptions pilots will last for one year until January 2008.
Inter-authority Transfers
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 8 January 2007, Official Report, column 44W, on inter-authority transfers, what criteria are used in determining whether to approve an inter-authority transfer. [131964]
Andy Burnham: In making inter-authority transfers (IAT), the Secretary of State acts on the advice of strategic health authorities. The requests to make transactions are made through monthly financial monitoring forms. In agreeing each IAT request, the Department validates the respective monitoring forms to ensure that all parties to the transaction have agreed the value, expenditure type and reason for the transfer. All discrepancies are remitted to the individual organisations concerned.
Junior Doctors: Paediatrics
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are taken to ensure that junior doctors (Foundation Year 2 and Senior House Officer) working in paediatrics complete a certified paediatric life support course before being on call in England. [133703]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The content and standard of postgraduate medical training is the responsibility of the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board, which is the competent authority for postgraduate medical training in the United Kingdom. Its role is that of custodian of quality standards in postgraduate medical education and practice. It is not practicable or desirable for the Government to prescribe the exact training that any individual doctor will receive. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health recommends courses run by the Advanced Life Support Group which is a registered medical education charity.
Junior Doctors: Training
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many post graduate training posts there were (a) in total and (b) for GP positions for junior doctors in each year since 1997. [134105]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The number of post graduate posts and junior doctors posts funded by the Department from the Medical and Dental Education and Training Levy (MADEL) from 2003-04 to 2007-08 are shown in the following table.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to increase the number of posts available for junior doctors applying for speciality training in 2007; and what help she plans to offer to junior doctors who do not get a training post this year. [134106]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department is discussing with the medical Royal Colleges and postgraduate deans the opportunities to create additional training posts in 2007.
In addition, the Department is working up a package of measures with key stakeholders to support junior doctors who do not get a training post this year. Key stakeholders include the medical Royal Colleges, British Medical Association, strategic health authorities, postgraduate deans, deaneries, employers and NHS Employers.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the ratio of posts to applicants was for speciality training for junior doctors in (a) 2005, (b) 2000 and (c) 1997; [134109]
(2) how many junior doctors applied for but did not obtain speciality training posts in (a) 2005, (b) 2000 and (c) 1997. [134110]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not held centrally.
Maternity Services
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to implement a separate payment by results tariff for neonatal transport; and if she will make a statement. [135457]
Andy Burnham: We have modified the reference costs collection for 2006-07 to separately identify patient transport services.
This would allow a separate tariff to be constructed for neonatal transport. The earliest date this tariff could be implemented is 2009-10.
However, we are currently consulting on the future of payment by results. No decisions will be made on a tariff for 2009-10 until this is completed. The “Options for the Future of Payment by Results: 2008-09-2010-11” consultation document was published on 15 March 2007. This is available in the Library.
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 22 March 2007, Official Report, column 1141W, what information her Department took into account in drawing up the four national choice guarantees in “Maternity Matters”; and what (a) information will be collected and (b) research will be undertaken to assist in implementing the guarantees by the end of 2009. [136499]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: “Maternity Matters” was drawn up to meet the key commitments on choice made in the maternity standard of the 2004 national service framework for children, young people and maternity services; the 2005 manifesto and the 2006 White Paper “Our Health, our care, our say”. An indicator will be developed for “Maternity Matters” together with some baseline indicators being developed through the Healthcare Commission’s local patient experience survey this summer.
The national health service operating framework 2007-08 includes maternity as an area for preparatory work by primary care trusts to support the commitments for 2009, using 2007-08 to assess current services, identify gaps and any barriers to service development and to set out their local strategy for meeting these commitments.
Medicine: Students
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether applicants to medical schools are asked about their views on (a) abortion, (b) contraception, (c) euthanasia and (d) assisted dying; and if she will make a statement. [135712]
Ms Rosie Winterton: All aspects of selection and admission are the responsibility of individual higher education institutions (HEIs) and medical schools. HEIs are independent, autonomous bodies responsible for their own assessment procedures and course arrangements. Ministers are precluded by legislation from intervening in their internal affairs.
Mentally Ill: Discharges
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were (a) on supervision registers and (b) subject to supervised discharge in each year since 1997. [135879]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Information on the numbers of people subject to supervised discharge at any one time is not available. The number of patients in national health service facilities since 1997 who became subject to supervised discharge is shown in the table.
| Number | |
| Note: No information is held centrally on the number of people on supervision registers. Source: Information Centre published data forms KH16 and KP90 | |
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