| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
17 Dec 2007 : Column 1209W—continued
Health Services: Foreigners
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what safeguards are (a) in place and (b) planned to prevent visits to the UK for the primary purpose of using the NHS; and if he will make a statement. [170654]
Mr. Byrne: I have been asked to reply.
The immigration rules provide for overseas nationals to come to the UK for private medical treatment but not for the purpose of using the NHS. Overseas visitors who are not exempt from charge under the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 1989, as amended, are not entitled to free NHS treatment.
Only certain specified treatments which are free to all, including that received in an Accident and Emergency Department or for certain specified infectious diseases which are a threat to public health, can be provided free of charge. These rules do not cover primary healthcare at GP surgeries.
Entry clearance officers at British visa-issuing posts abroad and immigration officers at ports of entry to the UK have powers to refuse entry if they have reason to believe that a visa applicant or passenger applying for entry as a visitor has the intention of seeking NHS medical treatment, since this would not meet the requirements of the immigration rules for visitors. Overseas Visitor Managers in UK hospitals are also required to check a patient’s eligibility for free treatment and apply charges if appropriate.
The Home Office enforcement strategy Enforcing the Rules: a strategy to ensure and enforce compliance with our immigration laws published on 7 March 2007 includes an undertaking to review the rules governing access to the NHS by foreign nationals. The review is currently under way and will report in the new year, followed by a public consultation.
Health Services: Standards
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he intends the Care Quality Commission to have powers to impose administrative fines on those health care providers which do not meet the current Healthcare Commission’s requirements for core standards (a) C15a and (b) C15b. [170057]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Care Quality Commission will be able to take a range of enforcement action against providers that fail to meet registration requirements, including the power to offer a penalty notice in lieu of prosecution. The Department will be consulting during 2008 on the registration requirements that service providers will be required to meet.
Health: Children
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what Child Health Application systems primary care trusts are using in the (a) North, (b) Midlands, (c) East and (d) Southern local service provider area. [171814]
Mr. Bradshaw: Primary care trusts (PCT) in the North, Midlands and East programme for information technology in the main use one or other of the following systems: The Phoenix Partnership SystmOne; Health Solutions Wales Community Child Health 2000 System, Comwise, and various McKesson-based systems. However, one PCT uses an in-house bespoke system. Those in the Southern programme for IT use either the McKesson Swift or CarePlus systems, or the Health Solutions Wales Community Child Health 2000 System.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to (a) central Government and (b) primary care trusts was of (i) the child health interim application system and (ii) RiO in the last 12 months. [171815]
Mr. Bradshaw: All deployments made by the London local service provider (LSP) under the national programme for information technology (NPfIT), including the child interim health application (CHIA) and RiO, are part of the overall £1.016 billion contract between the Department and the LSP, BT. Work done to deliver and support the CHIA and RiO systems in the last 12 months has not resulted in any additional cost to that contract.
Information about costs incurred locally by primary care trusts and other national health service organisations in implementing NPfIT systems and services delivered by LSPs is not collected centrally.
Heart Diseases: Health Services
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what action the Government have taken to improve cardiac services in the NHS since 1997; [173702]
(2) what discussions the Government have had with the British Heart Foundation on the efficiency and effectiveness of NHS cardiac services. [173704]
Ann Keen [holding answer 13 December 2007]: The National Service Framework (NSF) for Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) published in March 2000 sets a 10-year framework for action to prevent disease, tackle inequalities, save more lives, and improve the quality of life for people with heart disease.
The implementation of this NSF has led to a reduction of premature mortality, improved diagnostic and treatment facilities, faster care and better prevention of heart disease.
This progress is set out in detail in the progress report for 2006, ‘Shaping the future’, copies of which are available in the Library. A progress report for 2007 will be published in early 2008.
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) played a significant role in the development and implementation of the NSF for CHD. This was supported by the Department's CHD Taskforce, which included representation from the BHF. The Department has, and will continue to work closely with the BHF on a variety of projects and they are represented on the Department's CHD Programme Board.
Hip Replacements
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people aged over 65 years with hip injuries were discharged from hospital to a nursing home in each year since 1997. [175058]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Information on the number of people aged over 65 with hip injuries who were discharged from hospital to a nursing home is not collected centrally.
Hospital Beds
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which acute hospitals trusts have had red alert status for bed capacity in the last four weeks; and if he will make a statement. [173772]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 13 December 2007]: The Department is aware that some national health service trusts and ambulance trusts operate local bed capacity management systems which incorporate coloured alerts. However, these are local arrangements and there is no national definition of particular colour alerts or national data collection measuring alert status.
Hospitals
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish lists of hospitals recommended for top-ups above the national tariff provided to him by each strategic health authority in the last three months. [171772]
Mr. Bradshaw: The list of providers eligible for specialist top-ups in 2008-09 will be published in December 2007 as part of the tariff package, and alongside the National Health Service Operating Framework for 2008-09.
Hospitals: Admissions
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many emergency re-admissions there were in each year since 1997; and how many were of people aged (a) 0 to 10, (b) 11 to 18, (c) 19 to 65, (d) 66 to 75 and (e) over 75 in each year. [166083]
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many emergency readmissions faced delayed discharge for each quarter since 2002 for which figures are available; and how many emergency readmissions there were in each quarter since 2002, broken down by age. [169941]
Mr. Bradshaw:
Currently, the best estimates of re-admission rates are those released by the National Centre for Health Outcomes Development (NCHOD).
These estimates are derived from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data and are published in full on the NCHOD website at www.nchod.nhs.uk; a relevant extract is given in the table, which has been placed in the Library. There are eight years data from 1998-99 to 2005-06 at primary care trust (PCT) level and trust level, for the age groups 0-15, 16-74 and 75 and over. The data is presented both in raw form and also standardised for changes in age, sex, method of admission and case type and exclude discharges for those coded as death, day cases, maternity spells, mental health specialties and those with a mention of cancer or chemotherapy for cancer anywhere in the spell. Full definitions are on the NCHOD website.
Other analyses from this source, including quarterly data, could be produced only at disproportionate cost. We regret that data linking emergency readmissions to delayed discharge, are not available.
Hospitals: Construction
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what hospital building projects were approved in each of the last three years; what the (a) projected costs when approved were, (b) costs to date are and (c) projected completion costs are of each project; and what the (i) expected completion dates were on approval and (ii) actual expected completion dates are. [171688]
Mr. Bradshaw: Information on hospital building schemes approved (full business case (FBC) approved and financial close or tender awarded for both private finance initiative (PFI) and public capital schemes) in the last three years is in the following table.
For PFI schemes expected completion dates (‘Operational’ in the table) are collected centrally at the point of financial close but whether these are precisely achieved is not logged. Capital costs are recorded at the point of financial close but not on completion as the risk of any cost overruns lie with the private sector under a PFI contract. Information on cost increases and the reasons for them from approval of the first business case in the procurement process (the strategic outline case (SOC) or outline business case (OBC)) to FBC for each scheme in the table are submitted annually as part of the Department's evidence for the Health Select Committee's Public Expenditure Inquiry. I refer the hon. Member to the reports of the House of Commons Health Committee ‘Public Expenditure on Health and Personal Social Services, HC26-i’. Indicative timetables are set for all schemes as part of this first business case as part of approved project management practice but are revised as necessary to reflect changed circumstances and are not collected centrally.
For public capital hospital building schemes expected completion dates (‘Operational’ in the table) are collected centrally at the point of tender award after FBC approval; cost increases and time overruns from then until completion are submitted annually to the Health Select Committee and can also be found in ‘Public Expenditure on Health and Personal Social Services, HC26-i’ (this shows all projects over £10 million—new hospital building schemes are now considered by the Department as projects over £25 million with a clear, frontline clinical purpose). The
capital values provided in the table in this answer are taken at a point near to completion. Cost increases from approval of the first business case in the procurement process (the SOC or OBC) are not collected centrally
nor requested by the Health Select Committee as part of the evidence. The information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |