| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
16 Oct 2007 : Column 1056W—continued
Internet: Finance
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of the NHS Choices website has been since its establishment. [158749]
Mr. Bradshaw: To date, £7.9 million has been spent on the design, development and operation of the website.
Maternity Services
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many roadside births have taken place (a) in England and (b) in each primary care trust area in each year since 1997. [157396]
Ann Keen: This information is not collected centrally.
Medical Treatments: Arthritis
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to ensure that the full range of biologics is available to patients with rheumatoid arthritis. [158145]
Ann Keen [holding answer 15 October 2007]: All primary care trusts in England and Wales are obliged to fund, from general allocations, drug therapies for those patients with rheumatoid arthritis who meet the clinical guidelines issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
MRSA: Greater London
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of MRSA were reported in (a) each London hospital and (b) each London primary care trust in each of the last five years. [157375]
Ann Keen: The information is not available as requested. The mandatory surveillance of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) in England applies to national health service acute trusts only. Data on primary care trusts are not compiled.
Since April 2001, trusts in England have reported all cases of MRSA bacteraemias (bloodstream infections), to the Health Protection Agency (HPA). Data covering the period April 2002 to March 2007 were published on 25 July 2007. The data for those trusts in London are summarised in the following table.
| MRSA bacteraemias; London (that is within London strategic health authority: April 2002 to March 2007) | |
| April to March each year: | Number of bacteraemias |
| Source: HPA | |
NHS: Ancillary Staff
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) caretakers, (b) hospital porters and (c) cleaners were employed by each London Primary Care Trust in each year since 1997. [157633]
Mr. Bradshaw: This information is not held in the format requested. However, the following table shows the amount of non-medical staff employed in London since 1997 at strategic health authority (SHA) level.
| NHS hospital and community health services: maintenance and works staff and support workers in the hotel, property and estates area of work in the London strategic health authority area as at 30 September each specified year | |
| Headcount | |
| Notes: 1. These figures are for staff directly employed by the NHS only. The Non-Medical Workforce Census does not cover contracted services staff. Maintenance and works and support staff in hotel, property and estates include caretakers/handypersons, gardeners and grounds, maintenance staff, catering staff and cleaning staff. There is no way to separately identify any of these occupations from the census data. 2. More accurate validation processes in 2006 have resulted in the identification and removal of 9,858 duplicate non-medical staff records out of the total work force figure of 1.3 million in 2006. Earlier years' figures could not be accurately validated in this way and so will be slightly inflated. The level of inflation in earlier years' figures is estimated to be less than 1 per cent. of total across all non-medical staff groups for headcount figures. This should be taken into consideration when analysing trends overtime. Source: The Information Centre for health and social care Non-Medical Workforce Census | |
NHS: ICT
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library the gateway reviews of the NHS IT programme. [155866]
Mr. Bradshaw: We have no current plans to do so. The Gateway review reports are intended to help and inform the management of the programme and the Department's own decisions. They are not intended for publication.
More generally, the Government believe that the prospect of disclosure of any Gateway review would restrain the frankness and candour with which participants engage in the Gateway process, and that this in turn would undermine its effectiveness and the quality of recommendations arising. Gateway reviews perform an important role in ensuring that public authorities are using their resources in an efficient and effective way and there is therefore a strong and vital public interest in maintaining their efficacy.
NHS: Leave
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what rules or guidelines his Department has in place governing the length of time that NHS employees are allowed to take paid leave on (a) compassionate and (b) other grounds; what the overall maximum period is for which paid leave will be given; and if he will make a statement. [157737]
Ann Keen [holding answer 15 October 2007]: The position on paid leave is outlined in the terms and conditions for particular staff groups and depends on time served and individual circumstances.
For medical staff the “National Health Service Hospital Medical and Dental Staff and Doctors in Public Health Medicine and the Community Health Service (England and Wales)”, and the “Terms and Conditions of Service for Consultants (England) 2003” have been placed in the Library and are also available at:
For non-medical staff the “Agenda for Change NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook”, has been placed in the Library and also available at:
NHS: Reorganisation
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make it his policy that all consultations on NHS service reconfiguration will contain as one option the retention of services in their existing configuration; [157006]
(2) what research his Department has conducted into the impact of relocation or closure of hospital services on patient access to healthcare facilities in areas with disproportionately high numbers of elderly residents; [157015]
(3) whether his Department has undertaken an assessment of the impact on local economies of closing district general hospitals. [157021]
Ann Keen: The Department of Health has not undertaken specific research into the relocation of local health care services.
Proposals for the reconfiguration of services are a matter for the national health service locally, working in conjunction with clinicians, patients and other stakeholders.
The recently published interim report on the NHS Next Stage Review makes it clear that no major service change should happen except on the basis of need and sound clinical evidence.
NHS: Temporary Employment
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of staffing costs were spent on agency staff in each London primary care trust in each of the last five years. [157376]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested can be found in the following table.
| Percentage | ||||||
| Trust code | Trust name | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 |
| Source: PCT financial returns 2001-02 to 2005-06 | ||||||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |