| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
26 Mar 2008 : Column 205W—continued
Locums: Vacancies
Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of vacant locum appointment, (a) training posts and (b) services posts in secondary care trusts in England; and if he will make a statement. [192879]
Ann Keen: Data regarding locums are not held centrally. Workforce planning is a matter for local determination based on the healthcare needs of the local population, and this would include the appointment and training of locums.
Medical Records: Data Protection
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the report of the independent evaluation of the security of the care records system. [195840]
Mr. Bradshaw: NHS Connecting for Health insists that penetration tests are conducted on suppliers systems that connect to the national infrastructure. Where weaknesses are identified that would lead to a breach of confidentiality, integrity or availability they are corrected before the systems are brought into service. The outputs from these tests are commercially confidential between the supplier, the evaluator and NHS Connecting for Health. NHS Connecting for Health does, in line with best practice, review the security infrastructure of the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) to allow it to be maintained in line with new technologies and emerging threats. These reviews are conducted on an ongoing basis by both internal security specialists and independent evaluators. The recommendations from these reviews are not made public to avoid compromising security arrangements and to avoid potential criminal exploitation of the information.
The NPfIT has adopted the highest levels of security. The NPfIT contracts require suppliers to comply with comprehensive and detailed security requirements in line with international standards (ISO-27001).
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether patient data contained in limited data sets of the secondary users service are fully anonymised. [195841]
Mr. Bradshaw: Patient data contained in the limited, commissioning, data sets of the Secondary Uses Service are not fully anonymised, as the data are required for some core national health service business purposes.
Medical Records: Databases
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether the secondary users service will provide data on a commercial basis; [195205]
(2) what steps have been taken to prevent data made available to organisations through the secondary users service giving an unfair advantage in bidding procedures; [195206]
(3) whether patients will be able to opt out of having their data used in limited data sets in the secondary users service. [195207]
Mr. Bradshaw: There are no plans for the secondary users service (SUS) to provide data on a commercial basis. The current proposals for pseudonymised data extracts from the SUS will be available for any supplier who agrees the terms and conditions. Information from the SUS is used for commissioning purposes, and it is therefore not expected that patients would be able to opt out.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether each accession of the care records system will be monitored by a Caldicott Guardian. [195208]
Mr. Bradshaw: NHS Connecting for Health cannot comment on the specific monitoring process that each Caldicott Guardian within the NHS will employ. However, alerts where there is any potential irregular access will be sent to Caldicott Guardians. There are audit trails of any access to the NHS Care Record Service records which can be made available to Caldicott Guardians.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the mechanism for monitoring any illicit access to the care records system through the full audit trail will be. [195209]
Mr. Bradshaw: There are a number of mechanisms available to monitor access to the NHS Care Record Service. These mechanisms include:
network based intrusion detection and prevention;
network based access controls, audit and alerting;
user authentication recording and monitoring;
system level security audit trails;
application level security audit trails;
security audit trail reports; and
alerts to the Caldicott Guardian on specific accesses that may indicate unjustified access.
These technology mechanisms are dependent on Caldicott Guardians and Information Governance staff carrying out their roles and responsibilities in conjunction with the policies and processes that national health service organisations are required to adhere to. NHS Connecting for Health has regular communications with the NHS to gain feedback and discuss the various mechanisms for monitoring access provided by the NHS Care Record Service.
Mental Health Services: Security
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which secure mental health units in England are categorised as (a) low, (b) medium and (c) high security. [195569]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Information about the applicable security rating for each low and medium secure psychiatric unit in England is not held by the Department. An unvalidated contact list for medium secure mental health units has been placed in the Library. Low secure mental health services are not consistently defined and there is no central list.
There are three secure units which offer high security services: Ashworth, Broadmoor and Rampton hospitals.
NHS Questionnaires
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 7 March 2008, Official Report, column 2860W, on NHS questionnaires, what the (a) subject and (b) cost was of each survey conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Department in 2007-08. [196231]
Mr. Bradshaw: Ipsos MORI were contracted by the Department to carry out four surveys in 2007-08. These, and their associated costs, were:
In 2007-08, the Department has budgeted a total of £10 million for both components of the ‘General Practitioner (GP) Patient Survey—Access and Choice’.
The purpose of the Access survey is to measure and reward GPs based on the patients reported experience in accessing their GP in the preceding six month period; and
The purpose of the Choice survey is to measure and reward GPs based on the proportion of patients whose referring GP discussed the choice's available when referring a patient to hospital.
In 2007-08, the “What Matters to Staff” survey cost £65,800. The purpose of the survey was to identify the major factors pertaining to staff engagement and motivation to provide high quality care so as to establish a clear picture of practical ways senior managers in the national health service can improve how staff feel about their workplace, their colleagues and their roles. The results of the survey are also informing the next stage review.
In 2007-08, the cost to date of the “National Patient Choice” survey is £367,043. The survey asks patients about their experience of choosing and arranging their hospital appointment.
In 2007-08, the cost to date of the “18 Weeks Patient Experience Pilot” is £42,400. The aim of the pilot is to develop a possible survey technique to measure the experience of patients from their referral to treatment under the 18 week waiting initiative.
NHS: Finance
Mr. Lansley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons planned NHS spending over the years from 2008-09 to 2010-11 set out in the 2008 Budget
report has been reduced from the planned spending set out in the 2007 pre-Budget report for those years. [196730]
Mr. Bradshaw: Planned national health service spending over the years from 2008-09 to 2010-11 as set out in the 2008 Budget report has not been reduced from the planned spending set out in the 2007 pre-Budget report.
The apparent difference in published figures was due to an error in the NHS revenue expenditure reported in the Budget Red Book. The correct revenue figures were presented to Parliament and published on the HM Treasury website on Friday 14 March 2008 at:
The correction makes it clear that the planned resource delivery expenditure limit (DEL) for NHS England is £97.1 billion in 2008-09, £103.6 billion in 2009-10 and £110.7 billion in 2010-11. Compared to the plans published at the Comprehensive Spending Review and payment by results, these updated figures reflect decisions to allocate more resources to social care within the Department's DEL, including as a result of transfer of functions from the NHS to social care, and minor revenue transfers to other Government departments. The resources involved are £166 million in 2008-09, £236 million in 2009-10 and £230 million in 2010-11.
NHS: Foreigners
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to reclaim monies owed by foreign national visitors to the UK for services delivered by the NHS; and what his most recent assessment is of the amount of outstanding payments during their visits owed to the NHS for such services at the latest date for which figures are available. [196219]
Dawn Primarolo: Under the national health service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 1989, as amended, it is for national health service trusts to determine which overseas visitors should pay for any hospital treatment provided to them and to make and recover charges. Where charges are found to apply they cannot be waived for any reason and trusts must take reasonable measures to recover any outstanding debts, which can include the use of debt collection agencies. The Department has issued comprehensive guidance to the NHS on this matter.
Successive governments have not required the NHS to provide statistics on the number of foreign visitors seen, treated or charged under the provisions of the charging regulations nor any costs involved. Therefore, it is not possible to provide information on the value of outstanding payments owed to the NHS.
NHS: ICT
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the progress of (a) iSoft and the Lorenzo system, (b) Cerner and the Millennium system and (c) IDX and the Carecast system against the (i) development and (ii) implementation timetable of each; and if he will make a statement. [195799]
Mr. Bradshaw: The development of Lorenzo software by iSOFT under a sub-contract to Computer Sciences Corporation has been regularly assessed by NHS Connecting for Health. It is understood that the development plans will enable the deployment of Release 1 of Lorenzo into early adopter sites in the North, Midlands and East Programme for information technology, formerly North West and West Midlands, North East and the East Midlands, in the summer. Release 2 of Lorenzo is due to be ready for deployment in the autumn.
The development of the Cerner Millennium software by Fujitsu in the South of England, where eight hospitals are using the Release 0 version of the software is the subject of a current contract reset. The development of Cerner Millennium software by BT in London has seen the deployment of Release 0 into two hospitals since July 2007 and a further deployment is now due. The next Release LC1 is due to be implemented in the summer.
Agreement on the software requirements and deployment plans became a responsibility of local national health service trusts from April 2007 to provide greater local ownership of the planning and deployment process. It is the responsibility of the local service providers to manage the delivery of the NHS Care Record Service to the contracted timetables and for the management of their sub-contractors and suppliers. NHS Connecting for Health routinely assesses progress against plans and manages the relationship and commercial arrangements with suppliers to ensure that NHS requirements are being met.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what date deployment of 130 picture archiving and communications system was achieved; and if he will make a statement. [195830]
Mr. Bradshaw: The final picture archiving and communications system (PACS) deployment as part of the national programme for information technology took place on 10 December 2007. This deployment, involving Leeds teaching hospitals trust, marked the completion of a three year process that saw 127 trusts across England receive PACS.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated of the impact on the NHS IT programme of the purchase of iSoft by IBA Healthcare, with particular reference to the (i) financial stability and (ii) cash conversion rate in recent healthcare projects of IBA Healthcare; and if he will make a statement. [195839]
Mr. Bradshaw:
It is the responsibility of the local service provider (LSP) with whom the national health service has entered into contract, to assure itself of the financial stability of its sub-contractors and suppliers, and to deliver the NHS Care Record Service solution in accordance with its contractual obligations. NHS Connecting for Health regularly monitors the performance of all information technology prime contractors, including LSPs and sub-contractors, for financial stability. Computer Science Corporation as
the relevant LSP, has confirmed the financial stability of IBA Healthcare as its sub-contractor and that the purchase of iSoft by IBA has not adversely impacted on the delivery timescales for the Lorenzo solution to the NHS.
NHS: Internet
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pages of content are available on the NHS Direct website; what the cost of operating the NHS Direct website was in 2007; and how many unique visitors to the NHS Direct website there were in each month between June 2007 and February 2008. [195805]
Mr. Bradshaw: The NHS Direct website contains 14,567 unique pages of content. Additionally there are six health tools, 42 self-help guides, and 12 videos.
The total cost of the team of dedicated content authors and editors that work on the NHS Direct website was £212,000 in 2007.
The total number of unique visitors to the NHS Direct website for each month between June 2007 and February 2008 is shown in the following table.
| Number of unique visitors | |
Over the next year NHS Direct will be working with colleagues at NHS Choices to provide a more integrated health information service for the public. The aim is to not only make online delivery more efficient and effective for government, but also, more importantly, improve the public's experience of health service provision via the internet, phone or television.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |