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4 Mar 2008 : Column 2386W—continued
Hereditary Diseases
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of information produced by the NHS and aimed at the public on the risk of genetic disorders in children of consanguineous unions. [187699]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department has not made any assessment of information produced by local national health service organisations on consanguineous marriage and the risk of genetic disorders to the public.
Incontinence
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2008, Official Report, column 343W, on incontinence, how many letters his Department received commenting on the proposed changes to Part IX of the Drug Tariff from (a) right hon. and hon. Members and (b) others in each year since 2004; and whether the views expressed in those letters will be taken into account when he considers the options for Arrangements under Part IX of the Drug Tariff for the provision of stoma and incontinence appliances and related services to primary care. [188411]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 22 February 2008]: The Department has received a large volume of correspondence on stoma and incontinence issues, however due to the way in which correspondence is recorded the information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The views expressed in these letters have been and will continue to be considered by the Department in its review of the arrangements under Part IX of the Drug Tariff.
Lung Cancer: Nurses
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the role of lung cancer clinical nurse specialists in the patient journey and in multi-disciplinary teams. [190039]
Ann Keen: In 1998, the Department issued guidance on “Improving Outcomes in Lung Cancer”. The Guidance identified clinical nurse specialists as core members of the lung cancer multi-disciplinary team.
The guidance has since been fully implemented across the national health service.
The most recent round of peer review (2004-07) found that for lung cancer, almost 95 per cent. of multi-disciplinary teams had lung cancer nurse specialist provision at the time of the review.
In February 2005, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published clinical guidelines on the treatment and diagnosis of lung cancer. The guideline recommended that all cancer units/centres should have one or more trained lung cancer nurse specialists.
NHS compliance with NICE clinical guidelines was assessed for the first time as part of the Healthcare Commission’s health checks for 2006-07. Self-assessment by NHS trusts showed that 90 per cent. are making excellent, good or fair progress towards implementing NICE'S clinical guidelines.
The results of this exercise has informed performance management activity by strategic health authorities. Detailed results of the latest 2006-07 exercise can be found on Healthcare Commission’s website at:
The 2007-08 health check will assesses how well the NHS has continued to perform during the financial year from 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008. The Healthcare Commission’s website contains information about the health check for 2007-08 at:
Maternity Services
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government plan to take to improve maternity services. [190035]
Ann Keen:
In April 2007, we set out our plans for improving maternity care in “Maternity Matters: Choice, access and continuity of care in a safe service”,
a copy of which is available in the Library. In the autumn of 2007, as part of the public service agreement (PSA) announcement, we introduced a PSA maternity indicator to encourage early access to maternity care, which we believe will lead to improved outcomes for mothers and babies.
Members: Correspondence
Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire, dated 25 January 2008, on the future availability of primary medical care to non EU visitors. [190775]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 29 February 2008]: The letter from the hon. Member was answered on 27 February 2008.
Mental Health Services
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients treated for a mental illness in 2007 received NHS counselling and therapy services; and what steps his Department is taking to increase availability of such services. [191287]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information about numbers of patients who received national health service counselling and therapy is not collected centrally. The Government are investing annually in expanding this provision with funding rising to £173 million in 2010-11. As a first step, the Department is committed to expanding these therapies in 20 primary care trusts in the 2008-09 financial year.
Mental Health: Essex
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of those who committed suicide in Essex (a) had been previously treated and (b) were under treatment at the time of their death for mental health problems in each of the last five years. [190707]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The latest information for the former Essex strategic health authority (SHA), has been set out in the following table.
| Year of death | Number of suicides general population | Number of inquiry cases | Proportion of inquiry cases (percentage) |
| Notes: 1. Figures include open verdicts and suicide verdicts. 2. Inquiry cases are those suicide cases who had contact with mental health services in the 12 months prior to death. 3. Essex SHA merged with Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA, and Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire SHA in July 2006, to form the current East of England SHA. 4. 2005 is the latest year for which data in question is available. Source: The National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness. | |||
Mental Health: Legislation
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will ensure that the new mental health advocacy services are put in place before the introduction of community treatment orders under the Mental Health Act 2007. [190530]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The main provisions of the 2007 Mental Health Act, including those for community treatment orders, are being introduced from October 2008. Due to the need to develop suitable training and commissioning arrangements for independent mental health advocates the Department aims to implement the provisions of the Mental Health Act in respect of independent mental health advocacy from April 2009.
Musculoskeletal Disorders
Mrs. Riordan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much additional funding he has allocated to the monitoring of service provision and consultation with patients and their representative groups under the Musculoskeletal Service Framework. [189492]
Ann Keen: Allocations to primary care trusts (PCTS) provide them with funding to deliver all national and local priorities. Expenditure on implementation of the musculoskeletal service framework will depend on local decisions on how to implement this and other priorities.
National Institute for Mental Health
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the budget is for the National Institute for Mental Health in England in 2008-09; [186743]
(2) how many (a) staff and (b) full-time equivalent staff are employed by the National Institute for Mental Health in England; [186744]
(3) what objectives have been achieved by the National Institute for Mental Health in England since its foundation. [186745]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE) was established in 2001 as a nationally co-ordinated but regionally focused organisation to support local implementation of mental health priorities across health and social care. NIMHE has provided a dedicated focus on policy implementation and support for service improvement in relation to a wide range of mental health issues that challenge services and commissioners across health and social care. Much of NIMHE’s work has been done at a local level through its regional development centres and the objectives for this work are agreed with and monitored by local stakeholders in the national health service, local authorities and the third sector.
The resources supporting NIMHE are predominantly contained in the funding transferred from the Department to the NHS within the ‘NHS Bundle’. For 2008-09, the planned resource allocation from the NHS bundle is £19.375 million.
There are 108, or 90.64 whole-time equivalent, staff either with full or fixed term contracts are directly employed on NIMHE work programmes and another
113, or 59 whole-time equivalent, are working on a seconded or temporary basis on specific projects.
Approximately one third of costs go on staff, most of whom work in regional development centres. The majority of expenditure is used to fund policy implementation and capacity development initiatives at national, regional and local levels, for example supporting the delivery of improving access to psychological therapies pilots, delivering race equality community engagement projects, promoting new ways of working among mental health staff.
NHS Cleaning Summit
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 24 January 2008, Official Report, column 2235W, on the NHS cleaning summit, whether the date for the summit has been finalised. [188512]
Ann Keen: The date of the cleaning summit was finalised and took place on 28 February 2008.
NHS: Crimes of Violence
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent (a) discussions he has had and (b) and representations he has received on withholding non-essential treatment from abusive patients by doctors and nurses. [189491]
Ann Keen: The national health service security management service (NHS SMS) meets quarterly with key stakeholders representing NHS managers and staff to discuss work on tackling violence and abuse. When developing the guidance entitled ‘Non Physical Assault Explanatory Notes 2004’, the NHS SMS consulted with the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Nursing. This guidance recommends that health bodies develop local procedures for withholding treatment from patients who have been abusive or violent towards NHS staff. No specific representations have been received by the NHS SMS on the topic of withholding non-essential treatment from abusive patients.
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many incidents there were of (a) physical, (b) verbal and (c) sexual abuse and assault of nurses, doctors and other hospital staff in each of the last 10 years. [189493]
Ann Keen: In April 2003, the National Health Service Security Management Service (NHS SMS) was created and assumed responsibility for tackling violence against NHS staff. Since 2004-05, the NHS SMS has collected data on the number of physical assaults reported against NHS staff in England for the categories shown in the following table. The information is not available in the categories of nurses, doctors and other hospital staff.
The number of physical assaults against NHS staff reported in the period 2004-05 to 2006-07 are in the following table.
| Reported assaults by sector | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
NHS: Learning Disability
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people with learning disabilities were employed by each NHS trust in the latest period for which figures are available. [190009]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: This information is not held centrally.
NHS: Public Participation
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to give local involvement networks (a) a larger budget than patient forums and (b) year-on-year budgetary increases. [190251]
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 funding to LAs in other areas of work.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to require the National Centre for Involvement to provide information, advice and learning opportunities to patients, NHS service users and local involvement network members to improve consultation at national, regional and local level in the NHS. [190254]
Ann Keen: The NHS Centre for Involvement (NCI) is a consortium of organisations comprising the University of Warwick, Centre for Public Scrutiny and Long Term Conditions Alliance. The NCI has been contracted by the Department to promote more effective patient and public involvement and consultation and to provide support, advice and guidance to stakeholders in this respect.
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