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7 Feb 2008 : Column 1456W—continued
Health Services: Private Sector
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many contracts are held between private sector providers of health care and (a) primary care trusts, (b) NHS trusts and (c) NHS foundation trusts. [182779]
Mr. Bradshaw: The national health service is free to enter into local agreements with independent sector providers and the Department does not collect this information centrally.
In terms of contracts centrally procured by the Department’s Commercial Directorate, the following contracts between the independent sector and the NHS exist.
| Wave 1 | ||
| Scheme | Provider | Lead primary care trust (PCT)/local NHS region |
The Secretary of State is signatory to contracts centrally procured by the Department’s Commercial Directorate.
Through Wave 1 of the centrally led procurements, operational contracts also include:
| Scheme/programme | Provider | Area covered/PCTs |
| Commuter walk-in centres | ||
| Scheme/programme | Provider | Area covered/PCTs |
Health Services: Public Participation
Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will increase the budgets for local involvement networks. [183807]
Ann Keen: The Department received an allocation of £84 million over three years from HM Treasury to fund the establishment and costs incurred by local involvement networks and has no plans to bid for any further funds. The allocations to local authorities (LAs) were based on two elements used in many similar cases to take account of key geographical factors such as deprivation, sparsity, area costs, etc. The first was a general baseline payment of £60,000 awarded to each LA. The second was calculated according to the Relative Needs Formula, which is used to allocate funds to LAs in other areas of work.
Hospital Telephones
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 21 November 2007, Official Report, column 1002W, on hospital telephones, whether his Department has conducted any assessment of the effect of telephone charges in children’s wards on recovery rates. [181959]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department has not conducted any assessment of the effect of telephone charges in children’s wards on recovery rates.
The cost to make a call from the bedside telephone is 10p per minute. The bedside telephone exists as an additional service, which offers patients more choice than they had in the past. Alternatives, for patients who do not wish to use the bedside telephone service, include the hospital payphones and mobile phones.
Mixed Sex Wards
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of progress towards the elimination of mixed sex wards. [183823]
Ann Keen: Guidance to the national health service has always required single-sex accommodation, not wards.
NHS compliance with Departmental guidance is currently measured in three ways:
The Standards for Better Health, specifically standards:
Standard C20b: Healthcare services are provided in environments which promote effective care and optimise health outcomes by being: (b) supportive of patent privacy and confidentiality. In 2007, 96.7 per cent. of trusts reported compliance.
Standard C13a: “Health care organisations have systems in place to ensure that: (a) staff treat patients, their relatives and carers with dignity and respect”. In 2007 94.9 per cent. of trusts reported compliance.
Patient Environment Action Team inspections. Current results show all trusts at least ‘acceptable’ for privacy and dignity.
The National Inpatient Survey, 2007 report showed 11 per cent. of in elective patients reported sharing sleeping areas with the opposite sex when they were first admitted.
Sometimes, the need to treat and admit will take priority over complete segregation. This particularly applies to highly technical and emergency areas such as intensive care unit and admissions units. While the DH will give leadership on this matter, the solutions lie with the NHS.
The NHS Operating Framework for 2008-09 requires primary care trusts to agree, publish and implement stretching local plans for improvement on mixed sex accommodation, with identified timescales and monitoring mechanisms.
Hospitals: Admissions
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what arrangements are in place for informing hospital staff of the availability of hospital beds in other hospitals; [178722]
(2) how many staff in a typical hospital are tasked with finding overflow hospital beds in other facilities. [178725]
Mr. Bradshaw: This information is not held centrally. The day-to-day bed management arrangements in national health service hospitals are operational matters that the Department does not routinely collect information about.
Hospitals: Greater London
Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many elective in-patients were treated at (a) Queen Mary’s Hospital Sidcup, (b) Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust, (c) Lewisham Hospitals NHS Trust and (d) Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust in (i) 2005-06 and (ii) 2006-07; [183108]
(2) how many day cases were treated at (a) Queen Mary’s Hospital Sidcup, (b) Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust, (c) Lewisham Hospitals NHS Trust and (d) Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust in (i) 2005-06 and (ii) 2006-07; [183109]
(3) how many elective-care patients were treated at (a) Queen Mary’s Hospital Sidcup, (b) Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust, (c) Lewisham Hospitals NHS Trust and (d) Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust in (i) 2005-06 and (ii) 2006-07; [183125]
(4) how many emergency in-patients were treated at (a) Queen Mary’s Hospital Sidcup, (b) Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust, (c) Lewisham Hospitals NHS Trust and (d) Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust in (i) 2005-06 and (ii) 2006-07. [183176]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information is not available in the requested format as the number of patients treated are not recorded. Information is held on number of finished admission episodes. A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. Admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. There is not a distinction between elective in-patients and elective-care patients.
The number of finished admission episodes at the four requested hospitals are set out in the following table.
| Number of day case, elective and emergency finished admission episodes at Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup, Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust, Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust and Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust in 2005-06 and 2006-07 | |||
| Finished admission episodes | |||
| NHS trust name | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
| Notes: Data Quality Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) are compiled from data sent by over 300 national health service trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) in England. The Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain. FAE A FAE is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. Admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. Ungrossed Data Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed). Day Cases( 1) The patient classification field identifies day cases, ordinary admissions, regular day and regular night attenders, and the special case of mothers and babies using only delivery facilities. For this inquiry, we have only included ‘day case admission’. Elective Admission( 2) These are the elective admission classifications to specify in more detail how the patient was admitted to hospital. Elective: from waiting list Elective: booked Elective: planned. Emergency Admission( 3) These are the emergency admission classifications to specify in more detail how the patient was admitted to hospital. Emergency: via accident and emergency (A and E) services, including the casualty department of the provider Emergency: via general practitioner Emergency: via Bed Bureau, including the Central Bureau Emergency: via consultant out-patient clinic Emergency: other means, including patients who arrive via the A and E department of another health care provider. | |||
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