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Negligence: Greater London

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) claims and (b) settlements for clinical negligence (i) were made in each of the last three years and (ii) have been made in 2007-08 for cases arising from (A) Barnet and Chase Farm, (B) Royal Free and (C) Northwick Park hospitals; and how much compensation was paid by each hospital in each year. [179054]

Ann Keen: The information requested is in the following four tables. The National Health Service Litigation Authority supplied the data.

Number of clinical negligence claims received by the NHS Litigation Authority 2004-05 to 2007-08 as at 31 December 2007 for specified trusts
NHS litigation authority notification year
Trust name 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Total

Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust

39

31

30

20

120

North West London Hospitals NHS Trust

49

45

36

25

155

Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust

25

20

30

21

96

Total

113

96

96

66

371


Number of clinical negligence claims settled 2004-05 to 2007-08 as at 31 December 2007 for specified trusts
Settlement year
Trust name 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Total

Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust

36

41

32

23

132

North West London Hospitals NHS Trust

42

37

42

32

153

Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust

28

30

20

21

99

Total

106

108

94

76

384


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4 Feb 2008 : Column 886W
Number of clinical negligence claims settled with damages 2004-05 to 2007-08 as at 31 December 2007 for specified trusts
Settlement year
Trust name 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Total

Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust

23

25

19

15

82

North West London Hospitals NHS Trust

30

22

28

24

104

Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust

17

20

12

13

62

Total

70

67

59

52

248


Clinical negligence payments for specified trusts 2004-05 to 2007-08 as at 31 December 2007 by year of payment
Trust name Payment year Damages Defence c osts Claimant costs Total

Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust

2004-05

3,447,834

391,034

1,222,274

5,061,142

2005-06

2,153,553

402,769

296,592

2,852,914

2006-07

1,766,719

520,499

924,756

3,211,973

2007-08

1,517,518

157,136

730,610

2,405,264

Total

8,885,624

1,471,438

3,174,231

13,531,293

North West London Hospitals NHS Trust

2004-05

1,419,276

353,864

1,367,983

3,141,123

2005-06

1,188,597

300,782

259,845

1,749,224

2006-07

3,784,051

255,398

635,811

4,675,260

2007-08

1,147,351

177,009

402,128

1,726,488

Total

7,539,275

1,087,053

2,665,767

11,292,095

Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust

2004-05

1,729,388

518,411

240,671

2,488,470

2005-06

1,272,601

353,396

907,132

2,533,129

2006-07

1,064,319

170,952

852,721

2,087,992

2007-08

1,887,016

231,123

304,736

2,422,875

Total

5,953,324

1,273,882

2,305,259

9,532,465

Notes: 1. The NHS Litigation Authority holds data at a trust level rather than hospital level. Data are therefore provided for the whole trust rather than for an individual hospital as requested. 2. The claims received refer to the year in which a claim was received and not the year the incident occurred. 3. Additional data have been provided to include not just the number of claims settled, but also the number of claims settled with damages. 4. The number of claims in a particular year for a trust will not necessarily be the same as the number of claims settled in the same year as claims can take a number of years to settle.

NHS: Disease Control

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health by what date each local NHS trust will (a) receive the funding to recruit two additional infection control nurses and one additional antimicrobial pharmacist and (b) be expected to have these additional staff in post. [179132]

Ann Keen: The £5 million additional funding is allocated to primary care trusts for 2008-09 and will enable each hospital trust to employ two infection control nurses, two isolation nurses and an antimicrobial pharmacist. It is up to the trust to decide on actual staff numbers in light of their specific local hygiene and infection needs and existing staff levels.

NHS: National Working Groups

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when his Department expects national working groups to be established under the NHS Next Stage Review, as described on page 2 of Lord Darzi's letter to stakeholders, dated 20 November 2007. [175028]

Ann Keen: The memberships and terms of reference of the national working groups are available on the 'Our NHS, Our Future' website:

NHS: Pay

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department’s policy is on the re-imbursement of home-to-work travel for community based staff who use personal cars as their private and work transport. [182856]

Ann Keen: Community-based staff are employed by the national health service, general practitioner practices and social care providers including local authorities, voluntary and private sector organisations. Reimbursement for home to work travel is a matter for employers. However, for those employed by the NHS on Agenda for Change contracts, the current policy can be found in the “Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook” which is available in the Library.

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to remedy problems in administering the payment of travel expenses to community based health staff; and if he will make a statement. [182857]

Ann Keen: Community-based health staff are employed by the national health service and general practitioner practices. We are not aware of any
4 Feb 2008 : Column 887W
problems in administering the payment of travel expenses to community-based health staff, which is a matter between employee and employer.

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many incidences there were of NHS staff being paid late due to problems with the payroll system in each of the last three financial years. [182858]

Ann Keen: Details of the number of incidences of national health service staff being paid late due to problems with the payroll system are not collected centrally.

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many complaints were made by NHS staff about problems with the NHS payroll system in each of the last three financial years. [182859]

Ann Keen: Any complaints made by national health service staff about problems with the NHS payroll system is a local matter between employee, employer and their payroll provider and not collected centrally.

Nurses: Disease Control

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many infection control nurses were employed in the NHS in England in each financial year since 1997-98. [179131]

Ann Keen: This information is not collected centrally.

The annual national health service workforce census does not separately identify the number of infection control nurses from the rest of the nursing workforce.

Infection control nurses (ICN) should be registered nurses and are usually the only full-time members of the infection control team with full-time responsibility for infection control. ICN staffing levels are a matter for local determination.


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