| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
9 July 2008 : Column 1706W—continued
Doctors: Housing
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department has issued to NHS trusts on the future use of accommodation units formerly provided free of charge to junior doctors; and if he will make a statement. [217269]
Ann Keen: On 30 July 2007, NHS Employers issued guidance to NHS trusts reflecting the Department’s view that trusts should maintain existing arrangements and continue to provide free accommodation until 30 July 2008 for all first year junior doctors. The use of accommodation units is a matter for trusts to decide locally, but it remains a contractual requirement that first year junior doctors should have accommodation provided without charge if they are contractually required to be resident.
Ipsos MORI
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) title and (b) date was of each report produced for his Department by Ipsos MORI in the last 12 months. [212718]
Mr. Bradshaw: Ipsos MORI produced the following reports for the Department in the period June 2007 to May 2008:
| Report | Date |
|
NHS Choices evaluation - public tracker survey (benchmark and one tracker) | |
Medical Records: Databases
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what restrictions there are on the release of information from the secondary user's database; and what assessment he has made of the restrictions which will apply to prior transfer to the secondary user's database of information held by clinicians. [213349]
Mr. Bradshaw: The release of patient-identifiable information from the secondary uses service database is subject to approval from the Patient Information Advisory Group (PIAG) which has a statutory role in approving access to patient information. Further restrictions are relating to the prior transfer of information held by clinicians arises from a secondary uses subgroup, established by the Care Record Development Board in March 2006, to assess the issues around uses of patient-identifiable data for purposes other than direct patient care. Their report was published in August 2007, copies have been placed in the Library and are also available on the connections for health website at:
Medical Treatments: Finance
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many exceptional funding requests for treatment were (a) approved and (b) declined by primary care trusts in each financial year since 2002-03. [216913]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested is not held centrally.
It is for primary care trusts (PCTs) to commission services on behalf of their populations and to make decisions locally on which treatments to fund, taking into account all relevant circumstances and their statutory responsibilities and the principles of administrative law set out by the courts, particularly in relation to funding policies and whether to fund treatment in exceptional circumstances.
The draft NHS Constitution makes clear the patient’s right to expect local decisions on funding for drugs, for which National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidance is not available, to be made rationally following proper consideration of the evidence. To underpin this, the Government will require PCTs to put in place clear and transparent arrangements both for local decision-making on funding of new drugs and for considering exceptional funding requests, and to publish information on those arrangements. Where the local NHS decides not to fund a treatment, the patient and clinician can expect an explanation.
Medical Treatments: Lasers
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) which clinical and patient support bodies (a) support and (b) oppose his Department's proposals to deregulate Class 3B and 4 lasers and intense light sources; [216315]
(2) which individuals and organisations have responded to Question 3.3 of the consultation paper Private and voluntary healthcare: Care Standards Act 2000. Regulations and national minimum standards (a) in support of and (b) in opposition to deregulation of Class 3B and 4 lasers and intense light sources. [216504]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department recently held a public consultation on proposed changes to the Private and Voluntary Healthcare Regulations, including proposed changes to the regulation of class 3B and 4 lasers and intense pulsed light sources. This consultation ended on 10 June 2008. The information requested will form part of our consultation response, and we expect to publish the response by the end of summer 2008.
Medicine: Graduates
Mr. Denis Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many students from medical schools in the UK have graduated in each of the last five years; and how many of each graduation cohort are working in the NHS. [217107]
Ann Keen: The number of students who have graduated from medical schools in the United Kingdom in each of the last five years for which we have data is shown in the following table. We do not have the number from each graduation cohort who are working in the national health service. However, the following table shows the number of foundation programme 1/house officers working in the NHS for England as of 30 September for each year.
| Number of UK graduates( 1) | Number of foundation programme 1/house officers in England( 2) | |
| Sources: (1) HEFCE Medical Returns, First Registrable Medical Qualification, output as of 31 July for each year. (2) The Information Centre for health and social care. | ||
Morning Star
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many copies of the Morning Star publication his Department and each of its agencies subscribes to each week; and at what cost. [215662]
Mr. Bradshaw:
The Department purchases three copies of the Morning Star for Monday to Friday and two copies for Saturday at a current total cost of £10.20 a week. The Department’s two executive agencies (the
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency) do not purchase this publication.
NHS
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what representations he has received on the case for introducing an NHS constitution in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement; [216905]
(2) pursuant to the answer of 27 February 2008, Official Report, columns 1762-63W, on the NHS: reorganisation, what work is being carried out on the case for an NHS constitution; what discussions his Department has had with (a) NHS staff, (b) patient groups and (c) others on the case for an NHS constitution; and on what dates. [216937]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The draft national health service constitution presented for consultation builds on an extensive development process, including a literature review, discussions with patients, the public and staff, contributions from a wide range of experts and think-tanks, and a major deliberative event with stakeholders in February 2008. Early drafts of the constitution were tested with these stakeholders, with experts and with patients, the public and staff. Patient and public groups told us it was useful to summarise their key rights in one place.
The research to establish a set of NHS-wide values involved over 9,000 staff and over 5,500 patients and members of the public, as well as evidence from existing surveys of over 1 million patients.
NHS Interim Management and Support
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans the NHS Interim Management and Support will be established, as referred to on page 4 of his Department’s document, Developing the NHS Performance Regime, published on 4 June 2008; what budget will be provided to NHS Interim Management and Support in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11; and if he will make a statement. [216906]
Mr. Bradshaw: The NHS Interim Management and Support Programme is in a ‘proof of concept’ stage until the end of this financial year, when it will be fully evaluated and the steering group will make a recommendation to the 10 strategic health authorities on a way forward.
NHS: Chilvers McRae Healthcare
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department's commercial directorate has made of the range of services provided to the NHS by Chilvers McRae. [216399]
Mr. Bradshaw: All bidders who participate in procurements run or supported by the Department are subject to a rigorous assessment process across a range of work streams, including legal, clinical, financial and workforce.
A key role of the Commercial Directorate is to support primary care trusts (PCTs) in their procurements, and it is up to the PCTs to take a considered view on services being offered by providers.
NHS: ICT
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the total lifetime length of each of the Connecting for Health systems. [215857]
Mr. Bradshaw: The National Programme for IT, which is being implemented by the Department’s NHS Connecting for Health Agency, exists to provide the information systems and services the national health service needs to deliver modern effective health care to patients and to improve clinical quality and safety. The systems are being developed using standards and architecture that enable them to operate to high levels of resilience and service availability for the foreseeable future and can be upgraded to accommodate new requirements. As is normal practice, technology components are regularly refreshed to keep pace with new developments. The existing contracts for deployment of national applications and local systems, currently have end dates variously between 2009 and 2015.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 23 June 2008, Official Report, column 121W, on NHS ICT, what recent estimate he has made of the minimum annual revenue funding required to keep the systems established through the NHS national programme for information technology running beyond 2010-11. [216224]
Mr. Bradshaw: The revenue beyond 2010-11 required to support systems delivered by the National Programme for IT will be dependent on the number and type of deployments per contract and, in some cases, on new or extended contracts. This falls into a future spending review period and it is not possible to make a meaningful estimate now because of the number of variables involved.
NHS: Private Sector
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS patients resident in the London borough of Havering have been referred to a private hospital for an operation in the last three years. [214180]
Mr. Bradshaw: Information is not collected in the format requested. Information is available on national health service-funded first finished consultant episodes (FFCEs) for Havering Primary Care Trust (PCT), carried out by United Kingdom independent sector and overseas providers, including independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs).
The following table shows this information for the last three years.
| Independent sector inpatient activity, Havering PCT, 2005-06 to 2007-08 (Commissioner based) | ||
| General and Acute | ||
| Elective FFCEs carried out by UK independent sector and overseas providers | Elective FFCEs carried out by ISTCs | |
| Note: Patients may not be resident at Havering PCT, but registered with general practitioners in the Havering PCT area. Source: Department of Health quarterly activity return, local delivery plan return, Department of Health monthly activity return, monthly monitoring return | ||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |