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19 May 2008 : Column 121W—continued
Interpreters
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on interpreters in the last 12 months; and on which languages. [202740]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department does not collect information on the costs for language interpreters. The requirement for language interpreters is at a local level. In some locations where there are sizeable black and minority ethic communities, spending by national health service organisations on language interpreters will be significant.
NHS organisations are not required to report their planned or actual spending on interpretation and translation services to the Department. As a result, there is no information on overall NHS spending on this service.
When planning interpretation and translation services, NHS organisations should take due account of their legal duties, the composition of the communities they serve, and the needs and circumstances of their patients, service users and local populations.
Medical Examinations
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government has taken to widen accessibility of health advice and check-ups for NHS patients. [200978]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 28 April 2008]: The Government are committed to improving services, care and advice to national health service patients. As part of that, the general medical services contract requires general practitioner (GP) practices to: invite all newly registered patients for a consultation within six months of registration; provide, on request, a consultation to all patients aged 75 or over who have not had a consultation within the last 12 months and provide, on request, a consultation for patients aged 16 to 74 who have not had a consultation within the last three years.
The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) rewards practices for inviting patients with long-term conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma and mental illness to regular check-ups and for providing advice on health and treatment. QOF also rewards practices for recording blood pressure and smoking status and for treating high blood pressure and supporting patients to quit smoking.
The Government are committed to implementing regular health checks for learning disabled patients and has developed and published a framework to support primary care trusts in commissioning primary care services for people with learning disabilities, including annual health checks.
The NHS LifeChecks programme is currently developing LifeChecks for teenagers, early years and mid-life. Using a straightforward questionnaire approach, the NHS LifeChecks will help users assess their current lifestyle behaviour, provide information on what to change, how to change and assist them in setting behaviour change goals. The NHS LifeChecks will provide information about local services and a way of sharing the results of the questionnaire with health
professionals. NHS LifeChecks will be delivered via the NHS Choices website, the public digital information service for the Department and the NHS.
and was launched last year as a digital health information service to provide the public with accessible information about treatments, conditions and well-being. The website includes a complete guide to NHS services together with comparative data about hospital performance. Directories of services including GPs, dentists and hospitals are searchable by postcode to help the public identify appropriate local providers. The service also provides advice on major health topics such as obesity and giving up smoking.
Users can now register with NHS Choices to receive regular health information and advice on topics of their choice.
NHS Direct provides accessible 24/7 telephone, online and digital services providing the public with advice/information about health, health services and self-care.
NHS Connecting for Health is delivering a single electronic health record for life which will improve accessibility to appropriate care, particularly for some hard-to-reach groups. It will also improve the ability to deliver large-scale screening programmes. As part of this service, HealthSpace will provide online secure access for patients to their summary care record. Academic research has also been commissioned into health literacy to better understand what needs to be done to help patients understand their record and access appropriate advice.
NHS Connecting for Health is also supporting the development of telecare and telehealth services, which provide personalised advice and support to patients, and through collaboration with industry and other providers is driving standards for interoperability that will enable greater choice, and support services tailored to a diverse range of personal needs.
Medical Treatments: Finance
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to allow hospitals to invoice GPs in respect of their patients who receive primary care advice from the hospital trust. [204667]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 9 May 2008]: We have no current plans to do so.
Medical Treatments: Information Services
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken to ensure that patients have timely access to all information that they need to make informed decisions about their treatment. [204834]
Mr. Bradshaw: The NHS Choices website (www.nhs.uk), launched in June 2007, is the Department’s and national health services’ public facing online service. The service already receives over 2 million visits per month and provides convenient, timely access for patients to information on treatment decisions.
NHS Choices is for, the first time and in one place, bringing together and making easily accessible to patients comparative information on NHS and independent hospitals. Through its ‘Your Thoughts’ facility, it is giving patients the opportunity to comment on treatment received—and providers the opportunity to respond. In addition, the website enables patients to have access to the same high quality evidence as doctors about which treatments are most effective.
NHS: ICT
Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will visit Worthing hospital to discuss the CERNER IT system with clinicians; [205551]
(2) whether the ministerial letter of 1 May 2008 to the hon. Member for Wyre Forest, reference MS (H) 103135, included comment on contribution by the clinical lead for IT, Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust; [205552]
(3) with reference to the ministerial letter of 1 May 2008 to the hon. Member for Wyre Forest, reference MS (H) 103135, if he will name the clinicians in Worthing who hold in high esteem the clinical functionality of the CERNER Millennium software; [205553]
(4) at which sites in the UK the CERNER Millennium software has been successfully installed. [205554]
Mr. Bradshaw: We are aware of the concerns expressed by clinicians at Worthing and Southlands NHS Trust about the Cerner IT system that has been installed at that trust. I have arranged for the Department's Director of Informatics and Interim Director of Programme and Systems Delivery to visit Worthing hospital at the earliest opportunity to address with clinicians locally the concerns that have been raised by the hon. Member. I will also write to him shortly to explain the plans that are in place to further develop and improve the Cerner Millennium product, its functionality, and its ease of use.
NHS: Nutrition
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to incorporate information on patients’ nutritional status in summary care records. [206666]
Mr. Bradshaw: Initially, a patient’s summary care record (SCR) will only contain details of their current medications, and any allergies or adverse reactions to medications. It is envisaged that it will then be built over time, with the patient’s express permission, to include any other relevant health information.
This approach to adding information to the SCR will be among issues to be reviewed by the summary care record advisory group in light of the recently published independent evaluation of the SCR early adopters programme in order to inform the future roll-out of the SCR.
NHS: Reorganisation
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who the members are of each clinical working group for the NHS Next Stage review in the South Central NHS Region; and what clinical appointment each member holds. [205647]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Each strategic health authority (SHA) is responsible for their eight local clinical pathway groups. Lists of members and their clinical roles should be sought directly from South Central SHA.
Nutrition: Health Services
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were referred to weight management programmes in each strategic health authority in each of the last three years. [206078]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available centrally.
Obesity: Surgery
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average wait for gastric bypass surgery was in each hospital trust in the last period for which figures are available. [206080]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
The table quotes both median and mean figures. Median figures are a better proxy to the time waited by
the majority of people as mean may be artificially increased by a small number of long wait.
Perinatal Mortality
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many occurrences of (a) stillbirth, (b) perinatal mortality and (c) neonatal mortality there were in each NHS trust in the last financial year for which figures are available. [205201]
Phil Hope: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 19 May 2008:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many occurrences of (a) stillbirth, (b) perinatal mortality and (c) neonatal mortality there were in each NHS Trust in the last financial year for which figures are available. (205201)
Figures by NHS Trust and financial year are not readily available and can only be produced at a disproportionate cost.
The number of (a) stillbirths, (b) perinatal deaths and (c) neonatal deaths registered in 2006 (the most recent year for which figures are available) by Primary Care Trust are given in the attached table.
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