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30 Jan 2008 : Column 460W—continued
Doctors: Career Structure
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government have taken to improve the Medical Training Application System in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [179627]
Ann Keen: The Medical Training Application System (MTAS) was closed to applicants for specialist training posts in May 2007, although it remained accessible to deaneries after that time for monitoring and statistical purposes. This followed two security breaches to the system.
Improvements were then made to the security, following which the Communications Electronic Security Group, the national technical authority for information assurance, confirmed that appropriate and sufficiently comprehensive action had been taken.
A national information technology-based (IT) application system is used for applications to the foundation programme for junior doctors. It was used for recruitment in 2007 and is being used again this year.
Decisions about whether a national IT-based system should be used for recruitment to specialty training for junior doctors will be the subject of extensive discussion with the medical profession and other key stakeholders.
Fractures
Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of fracture liaison services in ensuring patient compliance with measures to prevent secondary fracture. [180638]
Ann Keen: The Department has made no assessment of the effectiveness of fracture liaison services in ensuring patient compliance with measures to prevent secondary fracture.
General Practitioners: Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government are taking to improve the GP to patient ratio in the Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust in 2008; and if he will make a statement. [179624]
Ann Keen: Barking and Dagenham Primary Care Trust (PCT) and Havering PCT have both been identified as being among the 25 per cent. of PCTs with poorest provision, and will therefore receive additional investment from the £250 million access fund for new general practitioner (GP) practices and a GP-led health centre. These new services will increase capacity in the places that need it most and offer a range of innovative services such as extended opening hours and wider practice boundaries.
Redbridge PCT is ranked 57th nationally, and therefore falls outside the 25 per cent. Like every PCT, Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham, and Havering will be procuring one new GP-led health centre each.
General Practitioners: Yorkshire and Humberside
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many GPs were in practice in the Beverley and Holderness constituency in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [180781]
Ann Keen: The following table shows general medical practitioners (GMPs) (excluding retainers and registrars)(1) by specified area, as at 1997 to 2006.
| GMPs (excluding retainers and registrars)( 1) by specified area, as at 1997 to 2006 | ||||||||||
| Number (headcount) | ||||||||||
| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| n/a = data not available (1) GMPs (excluding retainers and registrars) includes GP Providers and GP Others Notes: 1. Data as at 1 October 1997-99, 30 September 2000-06. 2. Data presented for organisations in existence in the specified years. 3. Beverley and Holderness constituency is contained within East Riding of Yorkshire PCT and previously to this East Riding and Hull HA. 4. Hull PCT has been added for comparability purposes Source: The Information Centre for health and social care General and Personal Medical Services Statistics | ||||||||||
Work force planning is a matter for local national health service organisations as they are best placed to assess the health needs of their local health communities. The NHS Plan target of 2,000 more GPs over the 1999 baseline was achieved in 2004. There are now more GPs in the NHS than ever before. This reflects the Government's record investment in primary care and commitment to expanding the GP work force.
Hospital Wards: Gender
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) by what date his Department expects to have collected data from NHS trusts on their completion of the self-assessment checklist on privacy and dignity issued by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement in December 2007; [180854]
(2) if he will place in the Library a copy of the full report of focus groups and interviews which is summarised on page 7 of “Privacy and Dignity—the elimination of mixed sex accommodation”, issued by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement in December 2007. [180855]
Ann Keen:
Ensuring patients’ dignity and privacy while they are in hospital is very important. The operating framework for 2008-09 confirms mixed-sex accommodation as a local priority. It requires primary
care trusts to review performance with all trusts, and to agree, publish and implement stretched local plans to deliver improvements.
The Government fully support the good practice guide produced by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement. It provides practical information and examples of good practice to help trusts make best use of facilities in order to ensure patients are treated with the utmost privacy and dignity. The guidance is designed to be used internally within trusts and there are no plans to centrally collect or publish these data.
The report of focus groups and interviews is currently being prepared for publication by Ipsos MORI. It will be available during February and will be placed in the Library at that point.
Hospital Wards: Mobile Phones
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has taken advice on the application of the Children Act 2004 and the Human Rights Act 1998 to the use of mobile telephones with cameras in hospital wards. [182893]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department issued revised good practice guidance to the national health service on the use of mobile telephones on health care premises in May 2007. The revised guidance offers a legal framework and an evidence base for trusts to use in compiling their own policy on the use of mobile phones on health care premises and makes specific reference to the provisions of the Children Act 2004 and the Human Rights Act 1998.
The guidance entitled “Using mobile phones in NHS hospitals” is available in the Library and is also on the Department’s website at
Guidance to the NHS on the use of mobile telephones on health care premises is kept under review.
Hospitals: Admissions
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements are in place on an (a) national, (b) regional and (c) local scale to share information on available hospital beds in circumstances of significant emergencies. [178721]
Dawn Primarolo: As category 1 responders, national health service trusts have a duty to ensure an appropriate response to major incidents under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. The arrangements should enable a co-ordinated response regardless of the nature or scale of the incident.
Every hospital has major incident plans to make beds available if requested in the event of an emergency. This is co-ordinated at a local or regional level via established command and control systems (gold, silver and bronze). In an exceptionally large emergency this will be co-ordinated nationally across larger geographic areas by the Department’s major incident co-ordination centre, which acts as a focal point of liaison and co-ordination between NHS gold structures.
Hospitals: Cleaning Services
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what average length of time hospital wards which have been deep cleaned have been out of use during deep cleaning. [180396]
Ann Keen: The details and timetable of each trust’s deep clean plan will vary according to local need and the configuration of local services. In addition, not all deep cleaning requires the closure of wards, and trusts will have organised their programmes in order to minimise disruption to services and inconvenience to patients.
I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement given on 17 January 2008, Official Report, columns 38-39WS. Further information on the implementation of the deep clean of the NHS is available from strategic health authorities.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health from which budget the £50 million for deep-cleaning hospitals has been allocated. [180250]
Ann Keen: Funding for deep-cleaning hospitals has been allocated from strategic health authority budgets. I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement given by the Secretary of State on 21 November 2007, Official Report, columns 134-35WS.
Hospitals: Vetting
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received on delays in making appointments for hospital jobs following changes made to the Criminal Records Bureau fast-track checking systems; and if he will make a statement. [179590]
Ann Keen: The Department is not aware of any representations being made on problems in making appointments for hospital jobs following changes made to the Criminal Records Bureau fast-track checking systems.
In-patient Management Programme
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what costs have been identified in the in-patient management programme for cancer services, as outlined in the impact assessment of the cancer reform strategy. [181397]
Ann Keen [holding answer 24 January 2008]: The Cancer Services Collaborative Improvement Partnership and the cancer action team are developing the in-patient management programme to encourage and support local implementation of the programme.
The programme will initially focus on providing support and guidance on service improvement for different categories of patients, such as patients admitted electively for surgery or chemotherapy and patients admitted as an emergency who are subsequently diagnosed with cancer.
For the first five years of the programme, the costs have been identified as follows:
| Cost in (£ million) | |
The bulk of these costs are for treatment provided outside in-patient settings as a result of avoiding or reducing lengths of stay, such as community rehabilitation/care and additional monitoring/treatment and ambulatory care, but they also include costs for programme management and monitoring.
However, overall, the programme will result in both improved experiences for patients and significant cost reductions. For example, if a 25 per cent. reduction in
non-surgical admissions for cancer were achieved across the country, estimates suggest this would result in a £340 million reduction in costs.
Junior Doctors: Greater London
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many newly trained junior doctors were employed in (a) Greater London, (b) Essex and (c) Queen's Hospital, Romford in the last 12 months. [179665]
Ann Keen: The information is not available in the format requested. The following table shows the number of doctors in the first year of employment, compared to the total number in training at all trusts within National Health Service London, the five NHS trusts in the Essex area, and at the Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals NHS Trust, of which Queen's Hospital Romford is a part, on 30 September 2006.
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