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15 July 2008 : Column 352W—continued
Mr. Bradshaw: The security of patient records is a local responsibility and each national health service body is legally responsible for holding information securely. However, the Department provides comprehensive policy, guidance and supporting tools for security compliance to NHS bodies and has also made encryption software available to all NHS trusts through a central procurement. The 10 strategic health authorities hold local organisations to account for their performance.
The Department is also providing, through the National Programme for IT, electronic patient record systems that are protected by the highest levels of access controls and other security measures, a secure NHS network for exchanging information that is centrally monitored and strongly protected, and secure NHS e-mail facilities that encrypt all data in transit within the system.
Action taken to retrieve lost or stolen patient information is locally determined and will depend on the circumstances of each particular event, but will typically include involvement of the police where theft has occurred or is suspected, and an internal investigation into the circumstances, with disciplinary procedures invoked where necessary and appropriate.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS patients' records were (a) lost and (b) stolen in (i) Leicester and (ii) England in the last 12 months. [218137]
Mr. Bradshaw: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb) on 25 June 2008, Official Report, column 363W.
Medical Treatments Abroad
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS patients have been sent abroad for operations in the last three months; in which countries they have been treated; what the net effect on costs to the NHS was; and if he will make a statement. [216544]
Dawn Primarolo: There are currently two routes that cover patients who choose to go to another European Economic Area (EEA) country for treatment: the E112 form and the Article 49 route. Information is held centrally on the former but not on the latter as the decision about reimbursement is the responsibility of the local commissioner. The Department also does not hold centrally information about patients referred to countries outside of the EEA.
Departmental data show that 275 E112 forms (used to refer national health service patients to other EEA countries) were issued between April and June 2008. The countries of treatment can be found in the following table. The Department is not able to tell what the cost saving (if any) will be for the NHS as, due to the nature of the claims process between member states, the United Kingdom may not receive the bill for the cost of this treatment for 18 months or more.
The Department recognises that in accordance with EC Regulation 1408/71 and Article 49, British citizens are entitled to go to another country for healthcare, subject to certain conditions.
| Countries of treatment | |
| Number | |
Medical Treatments: Finance
John Battle: 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 (i) Leeds West constituency, (ii) Leeds Metropolitan District and (iii) England in each year since 2000. [218024]
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 “National Health Service Constitution” (copies of which have already been placed in the Library) 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.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will review the resources available to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to produce commissioning guides. [218650]
Dawn Primarolo: No separate review is required. There will be significant new investment in the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to enable it to take on the additional roles proposed in Lord Darzi's ‘High Quality Care for All: NHS Next Stage Review Final Report’ (CM 7432), published last month, copies of which are available in the Library.
NHS: Standards
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will consider making compliance with clinical guidelines produced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence mandatory upon all NHS healthcare trusts. [218649]
Dawn Primarolo:
Clinical guidelines relate to a whole pathway of care and can make a large number of recommendations spanning all stages of care from the diagnosis to treatment of a condition. They are not mandatory or subject to the same performance management assessment as the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE'S) technology appraisals in recognition of their complexity. Clinical guidelines published
by NICE are developmental standards for the national health service and the Government expect them to be fully implemented over time.
NHS: Training
Mr. Denis Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many applications for NHS bursaries were received from (a) medical and (b) dental students in each of the last five years; how many applicants were successful in each year; and how much was paid. [217106]
Ann Keen: Information on the number of NHS bursary awards assessed and the amounts paid for medical and dental students in each of the last five years is shown in the following table.
| Number of NHS bursary awards assessed and amounts paid for medical and dental students by academic year | ||||||
| Number of bursary holders | Amount paid (£) | |||||
| Academic year | Medical | Dental | Total | Medical | Dental | Total |
| Note: Number of Students for whom a NHS bursary award assessed is shown rather than number of applications because: if an application is received and returned for more information / students signature etc. NHS Student Bursaries Unit do not hold the data on the number received and returned, which are then never returned with the additional information (due to the fact they decide in the interim period not to apply for NHS Bursary funding); if an application is received, and rejected on residency eligibility grounds, NHS Student Bursaries receive that application, but do not assess their entitlement as they are rejected before that assessment is made; if an application is received, but NHS Student Bursaries need more information to determine if they are eligible on residency grounds, they have received that application, but do not assess their entitlement until they provide the additional information; NHS Student Bursaries have only been collating data about ‘applications received’ for internal service level agreement monitoring purposes since 2005-06 and therefore they do not have five years worth of data about 'applications received' and can not provide valid year on year comparative figures; NHS Student Bursaries' database only holds details of the course that the student was actually funded for in that academic year, accordingly all medical and dental students who intercalated (undertook a one year BSc course part way through their medical/dental course) in any academic year have to be included with the figures for the medical students (because the vast majority of intercalating students are medical students) as they can not interrogate the data to clarify whether an intercalated student was a medical or dental student in previous or future academic years; and Due to the way tuition fee payments were paid prior to 2005-06, NHS Student Bursaries only hold data in relation to tuition fee payments for the academic years 2005-06 and 2006-07, therefore to ensure that the figures for the last five years compare ‘like with like’ details for ‘amounts paid’ they do not include any amounts paid for tuition fees in any academic year. Source: NHS Business Services Authority Student Bursaries Unit | ||||||
Obesity: Children
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of children in (a) each London borough and (b) English region were obese in the most recent year for which figures are available. [216541]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available in the exact format requested.
The national child measurement programme provides the most comprehensive data on obesity among children aged 4-5 and 10-11 years; now in its third year, it has produced one of the largest collections of data on children's height and weight in the world. The most recent available data, broken down by London local authority and strategic health authority (SHA) in England, can be found, respectively, in table C on pages 39 to 40 and table B on page 38, National Child Measurement Programme: 2006-07 school year, headline results, which was published on 21 February 21 2008. Copies of this publication have already been placed in the Library.
Further information on the percentage of children in England who are obese, for ages two to 15 years, broken down by Government Office Region and SHA in England, is collected in the Health Survey for England. The most recent available data for children can be found in Tables 2.3 and 2.11, pages 36 and 43, Health Survey for England 2006: Volume 2 Obesity and other risk factors in children, which was published on 31 January 2008. Copies of this publication have already been placed in the Library.
Organs: Donors
Mr. MacDougall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the black market in human organs is stopped; and if he will make a statement. [219129]
Ann Keen: In the United Kingdom, it is unlawful under the Human Tissue Act 2004 and the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 to buy and sell organs for transplantation, or to attempt to buy and sell organs for transplantation.
The Human Tissue Authority also administers the approval system for all live organ donations across the UK, and includes a number of safeguards in their approval system to ensure that individuals are not being coerced, or receiving commercial gain.
Out-Patients: Bedfordshire
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many missed appointments there have been (a) at Luton and Dunstable Hospital, (b) in Luton Primary Care Trust and (c) in Luton Mental Health Trust in the last 12 months; and what the cost of missed appointments in each category was over that period. [217435]
Mr. Bradshaw: The following table contains information about missed appointments (‘did not attends’ = DNAs) at Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Luton Primary Care Trust (PCT) in 2007-08. Information is not collected centrally about DNAs for community-based services, and therefore information is not available for Bedfordshire and Luton Mental Health and Social Care Partnership NHS Trust.
Information about the cost of missed appointments is not collected centrally.
| DNAs at Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Luton PCT in 2007-08 | ||||
| Organisation name | First out-patient attendance DNAs | Subsequent out-patient attendances DNAs | In-patient DNAs | Total DNAs |
| Source: Department of Health form Quarterly activity return provider-based. | ||||
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