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15 Oct 2008 : Column 1348W—continued
Health Services: Interpreters
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the risks of medical accidents or misapprehension of clinical information identified by the seventh report of the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health, Saving Mothers' Lives, of using friends and family as interpreters in medical and social care contexts, what steps he has taken to ensure that health and social care professionals have the assistance of interpreters qualified at the level of the National Occupational Interpreting Standards. [224792]
Ann Keen: We have advocated in the maternity standard of the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services that all national health service maternity care providers and primary care trusts make provision for translation, interpretation and advocacy services based on an assessment of the needs of their local population. Copies of the framework have already been placed in the Library.
National health service and social care bodies are not required to report their arrangements for interpretation and translation services to the Department. When planning such services, they 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.
Heath and social care bodies usually commission such services from private organisations that provide access to qualified and trained interpreters. NHS bodies can also access telephone interpretation through NHS Direct, which operates from 21 call centres in England and have access to interpretation for over 100 available 24 hours a day seven days a week.
Health Services: Ministers of Religion
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) which departmental authority is responsible for the central funding allocation for hospital and healthcare chaplaincy; what proposals are in place for its use in 2009-10; and when these will be discussed with the nine world faith communities; [224704]
(2) what funding allocations have been made from the central allocation for hospital and healthcare chaplaincy for 2008-09; and what (a) bids and (b) requirements were made by the relevant representations of the nine world faith communities at which the allocation is directed. [225017]
Ann Keen: Funding for the provision of health care chaplaincy services is built into the financial allocations to primary care trusts, who commission services on behalf of patients.
The Department also holds a central fund of £185,000 to provide grants for the provision of support to chaplains across the nine leading world faith communities. Following an independent review of central funding of hospital chaplaincy in 2005, it was agreed that the nine leading faith groups in England would receive a share of the NHS hospital chaplaincy grant. For 2008-09, the United Synagogue Visitation Committee, The Muslim Council of Britain and the Free Churches Group at Churches Together in England each received £35,000, with the remaining funds distributed among the other six faith groups that bid. This financial year the Department's Equality and Human Rights Group managed the allocation, and more support was given to minority faith groups from the remaining budget to ensure a more equitable distribution of funds to help them provide for the religious and spiritual needs of patients while in hospital.
Chaplaincy grants for the next financial year have yet to be determined. We will be holding a stakeholder event in January 2009 with the main leading faith groups in England to consult on central funding allocations for 2009-10.
Health Services: Pay
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the timetable is for making changes to payment by results taking account of findings from the review of payment by results and cancer. [224578]
Ann Keen: We are seeking to make progress on the recommendations in the report entitled “Ensuring PbR supports the delivery of effective cancer services” as soon as practicable. Copies of this report have been placed in the Library. Some recommendations have already been implemented, such as the establishment of an Expert Reference Panel for cancer. Other issues require further work and discussion before changes can be implemented, such as coding for chemotherapy and radiotherapy, currently being considered by National Cancer Action Team working groups. This work programme is in line with the commitment to further develop payment by results for cancer services made in the “Cancer Reform Strategy” (copies of which have already been placed in the Library).
Healthcare for London
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what meetings officials or Ministers in his Department have had with representatives of Healthcare for London over the past 12 months; and what the date of each meeting was. [224304]
Mr. Bradshaw: Healthcare for London is a programme funded by and run on behalf of London’s primary care trusts, to deliver improvements to the capital’s healthcare over the next 10 years. Representatives of the Healthcare for London team have met with Ministers or officials to keep them informed of implementation of the programme on the following occasions between September 2007 and August 2008.
Lord Darzi, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, had meetings with representatives of Healthcare for London on the following dates: 20 November 2007, 23 and 28 April 2008 and 11 June 2008.
Department officials have had meetings with Healthcare for London representatives on the following dates: 7 and 13 February 2008, 4, 9, 14, 16 and 23 April 2008, 3, 9,
11, 17 and 24 June 2008, 7, 9, 17, 22, 23 and 25 July 2008, and 5, 6, 7, 11 and 27 August 2008.
Liver Diseases: Health Services
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when his Department’s Liver Disease Service Review will reach its conclusions; and when he plans to make a decision on the future of liver disease services. [225269]
Ann Keen: We recognise that there is strong support for developing a national plan for liver disease. We are considering what the national health service needs to do over the next few years in order to address these pressures, and how this should be monitored.
We shall announce next steps in due course.
Lung Diseases
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people required treatment for mesothelioma in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England in each year since 1997. [224748]
Ann Keen: Whilst we do not collect figures on the number of people requiring treatment for mesothelioma, we do collect information relating to the number of finished episodes where the primary diagnosis was mesothelioma. This information is provided in the following table, but it should be noted that the figures relate only to admitted patients and do not include any patients who are treated for mesothelioma in accident and emergency but not admitted, patients treated in an outpatient setting, or patients treated in the community.
It should also be noted that Northumberland, Tyne and Wear strategic health authority and County Durham and Tees strategic health authority combined to form the North East strategic health authority in 2006-07.
Malnutrition
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people who left NHS hospitals experiencing malnutrition in each of the last three years. [224744]
Ann Keen: This information is not collected centrally.
Mental Health
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the letter of 18 March 2008 from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Home Office with responsibility for crime reduction to the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale, West, what changes have been made to his Department’s Frank website with regard to the Under-Secretary’s request for a review of its advice on the link between cannabis and mental health. [226828]
Dawn Primarolo: My hon. Friend, the Member for Gedling, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Home Office (Mr. Coaker), in his letter of 18 March 2008 to the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale, West (Mr. Brady) pledged that new or additional advice on the links between cannabis and the onset of mental health problems presented by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) report—Cannabis: Classification and Public Health (2008)—would be fully and accurately reflected in the information and advice provided through Frank and elsewhere from Government. The ACMD report was published in April 2008.
The Government responded to the ACMD report on 13 October 2008 stating that the Frank campaign, which has been extremely effective in highlighting to young people the harms associated with cannabis, will be updating the information it provides following the ACMD’s report. An enhanced campaign of activity reflecting these new messages will be undertaken in the near future.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what expenditure his Department incurred in maintaining and operating the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the most recent financial year for which figures are available. [225969]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley) on 1 September 2008, Official Report, column 1749W.
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what procedures are used to appoint staff to posts in the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence; what criteria are applied; and who is responsible for making decisions on staff selection. [225970]
Dawn Primarolo: These are matters for the independent National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). NICE should be contacted direct for this information.
NHS: Drugs
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health under what circumstances an exceptional uses medical panel may reverse a clinician’s recommendation for treatment with a drug approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence; and if he will make a statement. [225377]
Dawn Primarolo: Unless it has been amended or waived for a specific treatment, a statutory funding direction requires national health service organisations to make funding available for treatments recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) within three months of publication of final guidance. The Government would not expect a primary care trust to refuse funding for a treatment prescribed by the patient’s clinician that has been recommended by NICE and is covered by the funding direction.
Patients: Death
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of NHS patients who died in NHS hospitals as a result of (a) dehydration and (b) starvation in each of the last three years. [224745]
Ann Keen: This information is not collected centrally.
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