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13 May 2008 : Column 1541Wcontinued
Dr. Desmond Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department plans to take to address the effect on paediatric services for children and young people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome of the closure of units in Leeds, Stevenage and London. [203971]
Ann Keen: We have no plans to address the effect on paediatric services for children and young people by the closure of these specialist units. Local health bodies have a duty to commission health and social care services to meet the needs of their local population, including those living with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis.
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what surveys were conducted by (a) YouGov, (b) ICM, (c) Gallup, (d) GfK NOP, (f) ComRes and (g) Opinion Leader Research on behalf of his Department in the financial year 2007-08; and what the cost of each to the public purse was. [204124]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department does not collect, centrally, information on surveys it commissions in the format requested. To do so would attract disproportionate cost.
A new system will be introduced on 1 July 2008 called SHOWA, which will be able to gather such future but not retrospective information for the Department.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of NHS doctors of each specialty and grade which will be needed to meet the requirements of the European Working Time Directive in each of the next 10 years. [204224]
Ann Keen: There were 46,783 doctors in training and equivalent grades working in the national health service as of 30 September 2007. This is an increase of 16,470 (54 per cent.) since 1997.
NHS trusts have successfully delivered the current European Working Time Directive (EWTD) requirements. The Department commissioned NHS National Workforce Projects to support local implementation of the final phase of EWTD requirements, namely the 48-hour working week for doctors in training. The solutions developed to support the local NHS do not rely on lots more doctors.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS doctors worked for 48 hours a week or fewer in the latest period for which figures are available. [204530]
Ann Keen: This information is not collected centrally. It is the responsibility of local employers to implement European Working Time Directive (EWTD) as part of their health and safety obligations. The new deal contract monitoring returns give an indication of national health service readiness for fully implementing the EWTD 48-hour week for doctors in training. Monitoring information for 2007 is published on the NHS employers website at:
In 2007, approximately half of doctors in training worked a 48-hour week.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in which local authority wards he plans to establish new GP practices as part of his Departments programme to provide greater GP provision in those primary care trusts with the poorest provision. [203445]
Mr. Bradshaw: Those primary care trusts with poorest provision are currently engaging with their stakeholders, including local patients and clinicians, through their local consultations to determine the precise locations of these new services. Information on these PCTs is shown in the following table.
Primary care trust (PCT) | Strategic health authority (SHA) |
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government have taken to promote well-being among healthcare professionals and support staff since 1997. [204551]
Ann Keen: The Government have done a good deal to promote well-being among health care professionals and support staff since 1997. This includes: Improving Working Lives (2000) and Practice Plus (2001); NHS Plus (2001), providing occupational health to NHS staff; the NHS Employers reference guide to staff well-being, the Healthy Workplaces Handbook (October 2007); NHS Health and Well-being pilots and Health for Health professionals pilots (2008). In addition, a number of primary care trusts (PCTs) took part in both the recent departmental sponsored Investors in People Health and Well-being at Work and British Health Foundation Well@Work pilots.
For the future, the Government will be responding later in the year to the proposals in Professor Dame Carol Blacks, the National Director for Health and Works Review of the health of the working age, Working for a healthier tomorrow (March 2008) to make all work places healthier. Copies of this publication are available in the Library.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he and his officials have had with European counterparts on the European Working Time Directive in each of the last 10 years. [204225]
Ann Keen: Over the last decade, there have been many discussions within Europe at both Ministerial and official level about impact of the SiMAP and Jaeger Judgments and retention of the opt-out.
The Government will continue to try to secure an acceptable agreement with member states and the European Commission on the European Working Time Directive.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government have taken to ensure high standards of health care services during night-time hours since 1997. [204550]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Government have listened to the issues that are important to the public in relation to health care services at night-time and delivered real improvements to availability and standards of services. Improvements have included:
the introduction of NHS Direct giving people a means of accessing health advice at any time and where necessary being supported to access appropriate treatment;
improved availability of out of hours pharmacy services. The Pharmacy White Paper, published in April, sets out ways in which urgent access to medicines can be further improved;
allowing general practitioners to transfer responsibility for providing out of hours services to primary care trusts (PCTs). This has given PCTs the legal responsibility and opportunity to ensure that everyone has access to consistently high quality and responsive out of hours service; and
a guide to risk-assessing hospitals at night to help ensure that hospital at night solutions are designed and implemented to provide safer patient care was jointly published by the National Patient Safety Agency and Modernisation Agency.
In addition to the service improvements that have taken place over the last 10 years, there has been a focus on assessing performance which has looked not only at service availability but also the quality of those services. In 2004 the Department published, Standards for Better Health (National Standards Local Health and Social Care Standards and Planning Framework 2005-062007-08) setting out the level of quality all organisations providing national health service care are expected to meet or aspire to across the NHS in England. Copies of this publication are available in the Library.
The current performance assessment model carried out by the independent regulator, the Healthcare Commission, includes the core standards i.e. the minimum level of quality that health care services are expected to meet. Each year, the Healthcare Commission produces the Annual Health Check detailing the outcome of this performance assessment. The Commission also regulates independent health care providers.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will assess the effect of the implementation of the Working Time Directive in other EU member states on the ability of UK citizens to access healthcare of equal quality in those states. [204514]
Ann Keen: No. This is not part of the United Kingdom Governments responsibility.
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the take-up rate by NHS trusts in England of the NHS Institute's Productive Ward implementation modules launched in January. [204269]
Ann Keen: No assessment has been carried out centrally. It is for local national health service trusts in partnership with strategic health authorities to implement the productive ward programme in accordance with local needs.
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