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15 July 2008 : Column 348W—continued
Health Services: Overseas Aid
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what contribution his Department has made to the Global Health Workforce Alliance’s Health Worker Policy Initiative working group; and if he will make a statement. [213269]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department for International Development (DFID) takes the lead in the United Kingdom’s support to the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA). DFID has provided £1 million to support GHWA from 2007-09, plus technical assistance in the early stages.
The Department of Health participated in the First Global Forum on Human Resources for Health convened by GHWA in Kampala in March 2008. The emerging UK Government’s strategy, Health is Global, highlights the importance of GHWA.
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is considering for implementing the March 2008 Global Health Workforce Alliance Kampala Declaration and Agenda for Global Action; and if he will make a statement. [213270]
Dawn Primarolo: Health is Global: a United Kingdom Government-wide strategy will be published in the autumn. In it, we highlight the work of the Global Health Workforce Alliance and the Kampala Declaration.
Across Government, we will work with the Global Health Workforce Alliance and other partners for a comprehensive and coherent approach to tackling the global human resources for health crisis. The Government provides effective development assistance, is ensuring the national health service is increasingly self-sufficiency, and promulgates fair polices and codes of conducts for health worker migration in the UK and the rest of the world.
The Department has a responsibility in all three areas, all of which are key components of the Kampala declaration. First, we have worked with the NHS and others to make sure that the NHS is now much more self sufficient than previously. Second, the Government’s response to Lord Crisp’s report highlights how the Department will work with the NHS and others to support effective development assistance. Finally we have a code of conduct in the UK that ensures the NHS does not recruit from countries where we provide development assistance (unless there are specific agreements in place between the two governments). We are working with the Global Health Workforce Alliance on the development of a global code of conduct.
Health Services: Private Sector
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what account his Department took of the Better Regulation Executive’s code of practice for consultation in the preparation of its consultation paper on amendments to regulations governing private and voluntary healthcare. [217537]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department took full account of the “Code of Practice on Consultation”.
Health: Equality
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of levels of health inequalities in urban communities between (a) white, (b) mixed race, (c) Asian and (d) Afro-Caribbean ethnic groups; and what steps he plans to take to reduce such inequalities. [216833]
Dawn Primarolo: Primary care trusts and local authorities assess levels of health inequalities between different ethnic groups in urban communities at local level to inform service planning. Nationally the Department has provided tools to aid this process such as joint strategic needs assessment and the health inequalities health poverty index.
The Department has also put in place specific programmes of work to tackle health inequalities between ethnic groups including race for health and delivering race equality in mental healthcare. Action to address ethnic health inequalities is an integral and vital part of our national drive to increase health overall and to reduce inequalities. In a fair society, everyone should have equal opportunity to have a healthy life and the Department is committed to facilitating equitable outcomes in the interest of all sections of the population.
Hemel Hempstead Hospital: Hospital Beds
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations his Department has received on the number of beds in maternity facilities at Hemel Hempstead hospital since June 2005; and if he will make a statement. [217318]
Ann Keen: The Department's records show that we have received only one representation specifically on the number of beds in maternity facilities at Hemel Hempstead hospital, which was a parliamentary question from the hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead in June 2008. However, from June 2005 to June 2008, we have received the following representations on the future of services at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, including maternity services:
three parliamentary questions;
one business question;
two ministerial meetings with hon. Members; and
one debate.
The Department has also received around 1,900 items of correspondence on the future of services at Hemel Hempstead hospital since June 2005. However, due to the way in which correspondence is logged, items concerned specifically with the number of beds in maternity facilities at the hospital could be identified only at disproportionate cost.
Hospitals: Infectious Diseases
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many NHS in-patients contracted (a) MRSA, (b) clostridium difficile, (c) norovirus and (d) other healthcare-associated infections in each year since 2005; [216136]
(2) how many in-patients were treated by NHS hospitals for (a) MRSA, (b) clostridium difficile and (c) norovirus in each year since 2005. [216137]
Ann Keen: The information requested is not collected centrally and the best available data are from the mandatory surveillance system operated for the Department by the Health Protection Agency (HPA). These and additional information on norovirus are given as follows.
All acute national health service trusts in England are obliged to report all cases of bloodstream infections caused by meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
These data comprise all specimens processed by NHS acute trust laboratories, not just those from in-patients and include infections acquired in hospital and elsewhere.
These data are only available by financial year.
| April to March each year | Number of cases of bloodstream infections caused by MRSA |
All acute NHS trusts in England are obliged to report all cases of Clostridium difficile ( C. difficile) infection in people aged 65 years and over.
These data comprise all specimens processed by NHS acute trust laboratories, not just those from in-patients and include infections acquired in hospital and elsewhere.
| Number of cases of C. difficile infection in people aged 65 years and over | |
In April 2007, mandatory surveillance was extended to include all patients aged two years and over. Annual data for patients aged less than 65 years are not yet available.
The HPA Centre for Infections (CfI) has a voluntary reporting system, General Surveillance of Outbreaks (GSURV) that collects data on outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness.
The following table gives the number of outbreaks that were reported to be due to norovirus and occurring in hospitals in England and the number of people affected (patients and staff). The reporter has recorded the pathogen as norovirus from positive laboratory specimens.
| Number of outbreaks | Number of people affected | |
| Note: Many outbreaks that are suspected to be due to viral origin may not have laboratory diagnoses. The number of reported norovirus outbreaks and the number of people affected recorded will, therefore, be considerable underestimates. Source: HPA CfI GSURV | ||
All acute NHS trusts in England are obliged to report all cases of blood stream infections caused by glycopeptides-resistant enterococci.
These data comprise all specimens processed by NHS acute trust laboratories, not just those from in-patients and include infections acquired in hospital and elsewhere.
These data are available from October to September; they are not available by calendar year.
| October to September each year | Number of cases of blood stream infections caused by glycopeptides-resistant enterococci |
The following data are collected from the mandatory surveillance of surgical site infections (SSIs) in orthopaedic categories in English NHS hospitals. Hospitals carrying out orthopaedic surgery have to participate in the surveillance of at least one category for at least one quarter of the year. All of the SSIs reported are identified during the in-patient period.
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | ||||
| Surgical category | Number of operations | Number of SSIs | Number of operations | Number of SSIs | Number of operations | Number of SSIs |
Human Papilloma Virus
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what factors underlay the decisions (a) to offer Cervarix and (b) not to offer Gardasil as part of the national immunisation programme against the human papilloma virus. [217533]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 2 July 2008, Official Repo rt, columns 943-44W, to the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Mark Simmonds) and for Norwich, North (Dr. Gibson).
Incontinence: Medical Equipment
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to his Department’s June 2008 consultation on the proposed new arrangements for the provision of stoma and urology services and related services in primary care, what is meant by the statement that a supplier of continence care products derives particular advantages from ownership of a dispensing appliance contractor; and if he will make a statement. [218493]
Dawn Primarolo: Dispensing appliance contractors, who dispense items that they manufacture, stand to benefit from the fact that in most cases a wholesaler will not be part of their supply chain. Hence, they are able to retain a greater proportion of the reimbursement they receive for items dispensed.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to his Department's June 2008 consultation on the proposed new arrangements for the provision of stoma and urology services and related services in primary care, for what reason the expensive prescription fee is not proposed to be extended to dispensing appliance contractors; and if he will make a statement. [218494]
Dawn Primarolo: The ‘expensive prescription’ fee is to reflect where pharmacies have had to purchase an expensive item to dispense yet they are not reimbursed the final total amount until more than two months after dispensing. Dispensing appliance contractors are reimbursed one month earlier than pharmacists. However, proposals relating to service and service payment regarding products in part IX of the Drug Tariff dispensed by pharmacies and appliance contractors, are subject to a consultation.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with respect to his Department's June 2008 consultation on the proposed new arrangements for the provision of stoma and urology services and related services in primary care, what estimate his Department has made of the remuneration that will be provided in respect of (a) stoma items and services and (b) urology items and services; and if he will make a statement. [218496]
Dawn Primarolo: Subject to the outcome of the consultation, it is estimated that the total reimbursement for stoma and urology appliances and remuneration for related services would be as follows. These figures are based on the number of items dispensed in 2007:
| £ million | |
Maternity Services
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many maternity units were closed in NHS hospitals in each (a) strategic health authority and (b) primary care trust area in each of the last five years. [216835]
Ann Keen: That information is not collected centrally.
Medical Records: Lost Property
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what procedures are followed to retrieve NHS patient information which is (a) lost and (b) stolen; [218136]
(2) what safeguards are in place to prevent NHS patients' information being (a) lost and (b) stolen. [218205]
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