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10 Dec 2007 : Column 345W—continued
Queen’s Hospital Romford: Food
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent by his Department on food outlets at the new Queen's Hospital, Romford. [170850]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested is not held centrally. It is for individual national health service organisations to determine the level and type of refreshments provided for people visiting their relatives, friends or attending out-patient clinics at NHS establishments.
Queen’s Hospital Romford: Private Finance Initiative
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what annual payments are required to be made by (a) Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS hospitals trust and (b) other NHS bodies under the private finance initiative contract for the Queen’s hospital in Romford; to whom such payments are made; and what the duration of the contract is. [170427]
Mr. Bradshaw: Based on the latest service payment invoice for the period covering the quarter to 15 January 2008, the annualised value of the service payments is approximately £40.7 million per year. This figure excludes value added tax (VAT), but VAT is reclaimable under current national health service arrangements.
The payments are made to Catalyst Healthcare (Romford) Ltd.
The contract term is 36 years, covering the construction and operational period, which expires on 15 January 2040.
Retirement
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department requires its employees to retire at the latest at 65 years of age; and if he will make a statement. [169618]
Mr. Bradshaw:
The retirement age for employees of the Department, as of 1 October 2006, is 65 years of age. Employees who reach age 60 after 1 October 2006 can elect whether to retire or remain in employment for a period of their choosing, up to age 65. Employees also have the right to request to work beyond age 65. Agreement will normally be given unless there are valid
business reasons for turning down a request. Employees making such requests are subject to the usual requirements of conduct and capability to carry out their duties. Extensions after age 65 are not normally agreed for more than one year at a time.
Social Services: Finance
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 20 November 2007, Official Report, columns 838-9W, on social services: finance, whether the official steering group is the same as the review of the social care funding group announced by the hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr. Byrne) on 30 March 2006. [172898]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The official steering group, led by Her Majesty’s Treasury, is not the same as the Department of Health Comprehensive Spending Review social care working group, which was announced by the then Parliamentary-under Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr. Byrne), on 30 March 2006.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment the review of social care funding group announced by the hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr. Byrne) on 30 March 2006 made of (a) the long-term costs and cost pressures associated with social care, (b) who should pay for social care services, (c) secondary products relevant to long-term care and (d) options for whole system reform. [172931]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department’s Comprehensive Spending Review Social Care Working Group considered a range of issues around the long term funding of social care. The Group’s work was factored in to the Departments plans for social care funding in relation to the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007.
St. George’s Hospital Hornchurch: Hospital Beds
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average bed occupancy rate was at St. George’s hospital, Hornchurch in each month of the last three years. [170426]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information is not held in the format requested. Information on average bed occupancy rates are only held at trust level. The following table shows average daily bed occupancy rates at North East London Mental Health Trust, which includes St. George’s hospital, for the last three years.
| Occupancy r ate ( o ccupied/ a vailable b eds x 100 per cent.) | |
| Source: Department of Health from KH03 | |
Surgery: Greater London
Tom Brake:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many operations were cancelled at each London
hospital within (a) seven days and (b) 24 hours of the appointment in each of the last five years. [Official Report, 22 May 2008, Vol. 476, c. 6MC.] [169375]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested is shown in the following table.
| Cancelled operations for non clinical reasons, NHS organisations in London, 2002-03 to 2006-07 and 2007-08 Q1 only | |||||||
| Number of last minute cancs for non clinical reasons | |||||||
| Org ID | Name | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08( 1) |
| (1) Q1 only Notes: The table shows the organisations as they existed, at the time of each collection. A last minute cancellation is one that occurs on the day the patient was due to arrive, after they have arrived in hospital or on the day of their operation. Some common non-clinical reasons for cancellations by the hospital include: ward beds unavailable; surgeon unavailable; emergency case needing theatre; theatre list over-ran; equipment failure; admin error; anaesthetist unavailable; theatre staff unavailable; and critical care bed unavailable. An operation which is rescheduled to a time within 24 hours of the original scheduled operation should be recorded as a postponement and not as a cancellation. The QMCO collection does not record the number of postponements. Source: Department of Health dataset QMCO | |||||||
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