| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
26 Mar 2008 : Column 210W—continued
NHS: Negligence
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the 100 largest clinical negligence payments were for compensation claims against his Department by award or settlement in the last five years; and what the nature of the complaint was in each case. [196328]
Mr. Bradshaw [ holding answer 25 March 2008]: The information requested has been placed in the Library, the table shows the top 100 damages payments last five years. The NHS Litigation Authority supplied the information.
The size of award for cases is the total amount paid on closed claims, or for the sum of the outstanding damages reserve and the damages already paid for open claims. Open claims are claims where settlement has been agreed but final payments have not yet been made.
Nurses: Training
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses in England have received training in (a) asthma and (b) respiratory diseases over the last five years, broken down by primary care trust. [193864]
Ann Keen: The information is not collected centrally.
The annual national health service work force census does not separately identify the number of nurses who have received post-registration training from the rest of the nursing work force.
The Government have supported the development of a range of specialist roles within nursing. However it is for local NHS organisations to commission training places and to deploy specialist nurses in accordance with their local needs.
Nursing and Midwifery Council: Disclosure of Information
Mr. Devine: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what procedures exist for members of the Nursing and Midwifery Council to raise issues of concern (a) internally, (b) externally and (c) with his Department; what guidance his Department provides on these procedures; under what circumstances his Department intervenes in such proceedings; and if he will make a statement. [191964]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is an independent regulatory body and as such is responsible for its own internal management practices.
Council members may raise any issue of concern with individuals or bodies they feel might be able to assist, providing they comply with any requirement of confidentiality and codes of conduct of the NMC or the Charity Commission that might apply.
While the Department remains open for discussion with NMC Council members at all times, the Department does not have any specific powers in relation to complaints raised about the NMC or formal procedures for Council members to raise issues of concern.
The Department provides no guidance to Council members on complaints procedures. It is a matter for the NMC, as an independent statutory body, to inform Council members of its own procedures.
The Secretary of State has no powers to intervene in the internal management of the NMC. However, we have asked the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence to consider expediting its annual performance review, including addressing the central question of whether the NMC is fulfilling its statutory functions.
Obesity: Health Education
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2008, Official Report, column 1979W, on obesity: health education, for what reasons part of the budget allocated to obesity campaigns was unspent in 2006-07. [194737]
Dawn Primarolo: The reason for the underspend in 2006-07 allocated to obesity campaigns was due to the Government reviewing their approach alongside the development of the Foresight report.
Occupational Health: Cardiovascular System
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to support employers in improving the cardiovascular health of their workforces. [195376]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government recognise the importance of health promotion in the workplace, including cardiovascular health.
Last year the Government asked Dame Carol Black, the National Director of Health and Work, to conduct a review of the health of the working age population.
Dame Carol's report, “Working for a healthier tomorrow”, was published on 17 March and contains specific recommendations for Government, health care professionals and employers in this area. There will be a cross Government response to the recommendations later in the year. A copy of this report is available in the Library.
The Government have invested £800,000 in to the Well@Work programme, which aims to assess the effectiveness of health promotion interventions in the workplace, including physical activity. Physically active people have up to 50 per cent. reduced risk of major chronic disease such as coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer.
Organs: Donors
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many organ donors were registered in (a) Tamworth and (b) Staffordshire in each of the last five years. [193623]
Ann Keen: The numbers joining the NHS Organ Donor Register from the Tamworth and Staffordshire areas for the years 2003 to 2007 are shown in the following table:
| Tamworth | Staffordshire( 1) | |
| (1 )Includes Stoke-on-Trent (unitary authority). Source: NHS Blood and Transplant. | ||
Palliative Care: Cheshire
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what data are used by commissioners to determine accurately the need for specialist palliative and neurological care in Eddisbury. [195318]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: It is for individual primary care trusts (PCTs), including Western Cheshire PCT and the Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT, within the national health service to commission services for their resident population, including end of life care and neurological care, based on an assessment of local needs and priorities. Strategic health authorities are responsible for monitoring PCTs to ensure they are effective and efficient.
The NHS operating framework for 2007-08 asked PCTs, working with local authorities, to undertake a baseline review of their end of life care services. These will allow local commissioners to assess current services, identify gaps and obtain a much clearer view of local need, which will inform local commissioning.
Regarding neurological care, the information strategy published alongside the National Service Framework for Long-term (Neurological) Conditions outlines commissioners' information requirements and a series of local and national actions designed to meet those needs. A copy of the National Service Framework for Long-term (Neurological) Conditions is available in the Library.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's guidance on supportive and palliative care has been fully implemented in Eddisbury. [195319]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: It is for individual primary care trusts (PCTs), including Western Cheshire PCT and the Central and Eastern PCT, within the national health service to commission services for their resident population, including end of life care, based on assessments of local needs and priorities. The NHS has been required to set out action plans to achieve compliance with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommendations on supportive and palliative care. Implementation is being monitored by strategic health authorities (SHAs).
Information on the rate of progress locally can be obtained through the North West SHA.
Patients: Nutrition
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 5 March 2008, Official Report, column 2527W, on patients: nutrition, what information is available on the cost of treating patients for nutritional deficiencies. [195339]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 12 March 2008, Official Report, column 477W.
Polyclinics: Rural Areas
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Bromsgrove of 18 March 2008, to Question 194632, on polyclinics (rural areas), if he will write to primary care trust chief executives to clarify that there is no requirement for each primary care trust to have a polyclinic in each primary care trust area. [196347]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 25 March 2008]: The Department wrote to strategic health authority chief executives in December to confirm the core criteria that will underpin the development of new general practitioner-led health centres. This letter clarified that local commissioners should determine whether or not to go beyond these criteria to achieve more integrated service models such as polyclinics. A copy of the letter has been placed in the Library.
Pregnancy: Smoking
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of women have continued to smoke through pregnancy in each year since 1997 for which figures are available, broken down by (a) region and (b) primary care trust. [195749]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available in the format requested.
Information on the percentage of mothers nationally who smoked during pregnancy in 1995, 2000 and 2005 is available from the editions of the Infant Feeding Survey as follows.
‘Infant feeding 1995: A survey of infant feeding practices in the United Kingdom’, Table 3.8 on page 37 which was published on 1 January 1997. This publication is available in the Library.
‘The Infant Feeding Survey 2005’, Table 10.7 on page 355 which was published on 14 May 2007. This publication has been placed in the Library.
Figures for regional and primary care trust are not available.
Prescriptions: ICT
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many and what proportion of prescriptions were issued in each month since the inception of the Electronic Prescriptions Service; and by how many and which (a) GP sites and (b) community pharmacies; [195201]
(2) how many and what proportion of prescriptions were transferred via the electronic prescriptions service between (a) prescribers and dispensers and (b) dispenser and the NHS Business Services Division in each month since the inception of the electronic prescriptions service; [195211]
(3) whether the electronic prescriptions service can process prescriptions other than FP10 prescriptions. [195212]
Mr. Bradshaw: In Release 1 of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS), an electronic message is transmitted to the EPS in parallel with a paper FP10 prescription form which is handed to the patient. This is necessary while a patient may take a prescription to a pharmacy in the transitional period that is not yet using the electronic prescription service. The current scope of Release 1 and Release 2 is prescriptions generated by general practitioner (GP) practices, either GPs, nurse or pharmacist prescribers, and dispensed in the community.
Electronic prescriptions are not planned to be transmitted to the NHS Business Service Authority until Release 2 is in operational use.
The following table provides the total number of electronic messages transmitted through the service between prescriber and dispensers since its inception in February 2005.
| Month | Total number of EPS R1 prescription messaged generated by GPs | Total number of EPS R1 dispense notification messages sent by pharmacy |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |