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19 May 2008 : Column 121W—continued


19 May 2008 : Column 122W

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
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professionals. NHS LifeChecks will be delivered via the NHS Choices website, the public digital information service for the Department and the NHS.

NHS Choices can be found at:

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.


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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]


19 May 2008 : Column 125W

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
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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:


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Number of stillbirths, perinatal and neonatal deaths by PCT in England, 2006
PCT Number of still births Number of perinatal deaths( 1) Number of neonatal deaths( 2)

England

3,418

5,107

2,238

North East SHA

County Durham

29

47

25

Darlington

8

15

9

Gateshead

7

15

11

Hartlepool

7

10

8

Middlesbrough

8

13

6

Newcastle

18

22

6

North Tees

14

24

13

North Tyneside

7

9

5

Northumberland

15

19

4

Redcar and Cleveland

10

17

9

South Tyneside

13

18

6

Sunderland Teaching

20

26

9

North West SHA

Ashton, Leigh and Wigan

20

34

19

Blackburn with Darwen

12

16

7

Blackpool

10

19

14

Bolton

28

40

17

Bury

11

19

9

Central and Eastern Cheshire

23

34

12

Central Lancashire

30

49

24

Cumbria

15

24

11

East Lancashire

29

37

13

Halton and St. Helens

29

44

22

Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale

10

20

11

Knowsley

8

11

3

Liverpool

31

47

21

Manchester

38

56

22

North Lancashire

17

27

10

Oldham

21

33

18

Salford

17

24

9

Sefton

15

24

11

Stockport

18

23

7

Tameside and Glossop

21

31

14

Trafford

11

21

13

Warrington

10

15

8

Western Cheshire

12

25

15

Wirral

20

30

12

Yorkshire and the Humber SHA

Barnsley

14

21

7

Bradford and Airedale

54

87

42

Calderdale

19

25

9

Doncaster

15

29

21

East Riding of Yorkshire

17

22

6

Hull

19

35

18

Kirklees

30

49

26

Leeds

55

84

39

North East Lincolnshire

9

16

9

North Lincolnshire

7

9

4

North Yorkshire and York

34

54

24

Rotherham

22

27

9

Sheffield

29

49

27

Wakefield District

19

29

13

East Midlands SHA

Bassetlaw

10

14

5

Derby City

19

25

6

Derbyshire County

35

48

24

Leicester City

43

63

28

Leicestershire County and Rutland

39

60

29

Lincolnshire

32

50

27

Northamptonshire

51

77

34

Nottingham City

20

33

22

Nottinghamshire County Teaching

38

57

26

West Midlands SHA

Birmingham East and North

50

83

40

Coventry Teaching

21

29

14

Dudley

21

33

18

Heart of Birmingham Teaching

34

65

40

Herefordshire

11

14

5

North Staffordshire

11

13

2

Sandwell

26

51

31

Shropshire County

13

20

10

Solihull

10

15

6

South Birmingham

25

49

28

South Staffordshire

36

61

32

Stoke on Trent

20

37

19

Telford and Wrekin

10

16

8

Walsall Teaching

12

24

14

Warwickshire

27

39

15

Wolverhampton City

21

35

16

Worcestershire

31

39

13

East of England SHA

Bedfordshire

25

31

8

Cambridgeshire

24

38

18

East and North Hertfordshire

27

40

17

Great Yarmouth and Waveney

10

14

5

Luton

29

41

13

Mid Essex

10

18

11

Norfolk

34

60

33

North East Essex

21

30

12

Peterborough

18

26

10

South East Essex

12

23

14

South West Essex

35

48

19

Suffolk

24

33

13

West Essex

10

14

6

West Hertfordshire

28

37

12

London SHA

Barking and Dagenham

23

27

7

Barnet

24

35

11

Bexley

24

29

9

Brent Teaching

33

50

22

Bromley

20

26

7

Camden

17

22

5

City and Hackney Teaching

25

35

14

Croydon

34

53

22

Ealing

41

50

14

Enfield

32

50

24

Greenwich Teaching

31

43

16

Hammersmith and Fulham

8

16

11

Haringey Teaching

27

40

19

Harrow

22

28

8

Havering

16

24

9

Hillingdon

21

23

6

Hounslow

27

34

8

Islington

21

32

11

Kensington and Chelsea

14

15

2

Kingston

9

11

4

Lambeth

29

48

23

Lewisham

24

37

16

Newham

35

49

27

Redbridge

28

42

16

Richmond and Twickenham

17

19

3

Southwark

37

58

26

Sutton and Merton

32

51

22

Tower Hamlets

25

32

11

Waltham Forest

31

46

19

Wandsworth

21

29

13

Westminster

14

20

11

South East Coast SHA

Brighton and Hove City

16

24

14

East Sussex Downs and Weald

11

19

11

Eastern and Coastal Kent

42

57

20

Hastings and Rother

9

14

6

Medway

20

26

10

Surrey

60

87

32

West Kent

41

53

17

West Sussex

31

46

23

South Central SHA

Berkshire East

29

45

18

Berkshire West

38

56

18

Buckinghamshire

27

41

17

Hampshire

64

90

30

Isle of Wight NHS

8

9

2

Milton Keynes

17

33

19

Oxfordshire

36

49

19

Portsmouth City Teaching

11

15

5

Southampton City

19

28

10

South West SHA

Bath and North East Somerset

7

7

Bournemouth and Poole

15

21

10

Bristol

29

42

17

Cornwall and Isles of Scilly

25

36

17

Devon

37

54

21

Dorset

11

20

13

Gloucestershire

32

46

20

North Somerset

10

14

5

Plymouth Teaching

14

18

8

Somerset

26

40

16

South Gloucestershire

13

18

7

Swindon

9

13

1

Torbay

9

3

Wiltshire

20

26

10

“—” Stillbirths based on fewer than five cases have been suppressed. It has also been necessary to apply a secondary suppression to avoid the possibility of disclosure by differencing.
(1) Stillbirths plus deaths occurring in the first week of life.
(2) Deaths under 28 days.

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