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20 Oct 2008 : Column 61W—continued
Departmental Consultants
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in which of his Department's programmes (a) the total cost of employing consultants has surpassed £500,000 and (b) his Department employed consultants at a cost of more than £100,000 per annum in the latest period for which figures are available. [226857]
Mr. Bradshaw: It is not possible to provide the information requested without incurring disproportionate cost.
Departmental Marketing
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the cost effectiveness of Government-commissioned advertising in the last 12 months relating to matters falling within the remit of his Department. [226524]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department uses a number of effectiveness evaluation techniques including quantitative awareness tracking, response tracking and multiple data source evaluation techniques such as COI Artemis. A Central Office of Information (COI) service designed to capture and report centrally across all campaigns to enable:
1. Response and conversion analysis:
by audience, media channel, vehicle of response;
viewed alongside awareness;
setting realistic objectives;
task based budget setting;
improving plans; and
The Department also buys its media centrally through COI and therefore benefits from significant, independently verified, discounts.
Departmental Pay
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what targets the Commercial Director of his Department must achieve to qualify for bonus payment; and what bonus levels are in place. [227459]
Mr. Bradshaw: All Senior Civil Service (SCS) posts are covered by SCS pay and performance management arrangements. These arrangements apply across all departments, and postholders have individual performance agreements set annually. The size of any bonus will depend on how the postholder performs relative to other SCS colleagues in the Department.
Diazoxide
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of levels of availability and supply of the drug diazoxide suspension. [228429]
Dawn Primarolo: Diazoxide suspension is not licensed for use in the United Kingdom. Under UK Medicines Legislation, doctors are allowed to prescribe unlicensed medicines for use on an individual patient basis, but take direct personal responsibility for their use. Diazoxide suspension is available from abroad, and may also be produced in the UK under a manufacturer’s licence allowing production of unlicensed products. The product is currently available via either of these routes.
Disability Aids: Sight Impairment
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he has given on the rules covering companies which both produce and conduct assessments of products for visually-impaired people to ensure there is no conflict of interest. [227452]
Ann Keen [holding answer 16 October 2008]: The Department has issued no guidance on this matter.
FirstAssist
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been paid by the NHS Litigation Authority to FirstAssist by way of premiums; and how much has been paid by FirstAssist to the NHS Litigation Authority by way of payments under policies of insurance in each year since the inception of the accord between the NHS Litigation Authority and FirstAssist. [228303]
Ann Keen: The NHS Litigation Authority has not paid any money to FirstAssist by way of premiums. Where the NHSLA makes payments for legal costs, these payments are made to claimants' solicitors as global figures to cover all costs in the case and not to the insurer. The NHSLA does not record separately whether payments have been made or received under the accord. Providing this detailed information could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions since its inception the accord between the NHS Litigation Authority and FirstAssist has not been complied with in the payment of monies by the NHS Litigation Authority to FirstAssist. [228304]
Ann Keen: The NHS Litigation Authority does not record separately for individual cases where the accord has not been complied with. Providing the information requested could be achieved only at disproportionate cost. However, we understand that while disputes over premiums have been raised, compromise has always been reached without the need to refer to a costs judge for a detailed assessment.
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 6 October 2008, Official Report, column 455W, on the NHS: negligence, what the legal basis is for the non-binding status of the accord between the NHS Litigation Authority and FirstAssist. [228305]
Ann Keen: The NHS Litigation Authority has informed us that both parties are agreed that the Accord between them is not binding.
General Practitioners: Finance
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average general medical services weighted capitation payment received by GP practices was in (a) England and (b) each primary care trust, in each of the last four years. [227503]
Mr. Bradshaw: Information on general medical services average weighted capitation payments received by general practitioner practices in both England and by primary care trusts for 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 has been placed in the Library. Figures for 2007-08 are not currently available.
Health Centres
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what data his Department has gathered from primary care trusts to assess progress in the implementation of the GP-led health centres programme. [226293]
Mr. Bradshaw: Primary care trusts provide a monthly update on progress against national procurement milestones, confirmation of compliance with core criteria, the expected date of service commencement, and where known, the postcode of the service location.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the effect of allowing primary care trusts to provide a minimum income guarantee to the new GP-led health centres to open in their areas on existing GP practices. [226294]
Mr. Bradshaw: Providing an income guarantee to a new general practitioner (GP)-led health centre will have no impact on the funding of existing GP practices.
It is for each primary care trusts to determine locally the funding for their health centre, including what percentage of income is to be guaranteed to the provider, and for how long.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which primary care trusts have made a request to his Department that an existing health centre or health centre already under development be counted as its contribution to his Department's programme for a GP-led health centre in each primary care trust area; and which requests were accepted. [226304]
Mr. Bradshaw: All primary care trusts have been asked to commission an additional general practitioner-led health centre, and have been given additional funding to commission those services. The Department has not received specific requests from primary care trusts to use existing health centres. PCTs have been guided by the principle that these should be new procurements, but that they could count any planned health centres as long as they had not already been put out to tender before the publication of “Our NHS, Our Future: The NHS Next Stage Review Interim Report” in October 2007, and met the core criteria. These are centres that must be open 8am to 8pm 365 days a year and be situated in easily accessible locations, with bookable and walk-in appointments for both registered and non-registered patients.
Health Centres: Finance
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire on 1 September 2008, Official Report, column 1689W, on health centres, for what reason GP-led health centres will not receive payments for treating patients registered with another GP practice. [227512]
Mr. Bradshaw: Payment for services delivered by each general practitioner (GP)-led health centre is a local matter for each primary care trust (PCT). PCTs have been advised to make payments on a similar basis to that which existing GP practices receive funding for treating patients i.e. a mixture of funding based on the number of patients registered with them and volume of activity of treating patients not registered with the centre.
Norman Lamb:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire on 1 September 2008, Official
Report, column 1689W, on health centres: finance, how much each primary care trust will receive of the £120 million allocated for new GP-led health centres. [227513]
Mr. Bradshaw: A £250 million access revenue fund was secured for the NHS through the comprehensive spending review process to support the delivery of general practitioner (GP)-led health centres in every primary care trust (PCT) and 112 new GP practices in the most poorly served PCTs. Collectively, £120 million of the access fund will be recurrently allocated to PCTs in their general allocation using the standard weighted capitation formula which determines each PCTs target share of available resources. PCTs general allocations and are not broken down into individual components for specific policy delivery. General allocations to PCTs for 2009-10 and 2010-11 will be announced in due course.
Health Services
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which comparable measures of the quality of acute patient care have been identified, as referred to on page 50 of High Quality Care for All, Cm 7432; what assessment he has made of the robustness of such measures; what plans he has to increase the accuracy of the measures included in the integrated national set; whether he plans to publish a draft integrated national set of quality metrics for consultation; and if he will make a statement. [221123]
Mr. Bradshaw: A full set of quality measures for acute patient care has not yet been identified. Departmental officials, in partnership with the NHS Information Centre for health and social care have begun identifying measures from existing sources in the national health service, other health-related organisations and internationally. These measures have been informally assessed for robustness in terms of availability and relevance to a broad range of clinical care areas.
Further work on the usefulness and accuracy of such measures, including definitions and methodology, is required before indicators can be considered viable for use in an integrated national set. This work will be informed by further discussion and consultation with clinical and expert stakeholders.
Hospital Beds
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made on the pilot project to evaluate the implications for nursing of 100 per cent. single room provision in the NHS; and if he will make a statement. [227507]
Mr. Bradshaw: The pilot project at Hillingdon hospital to develop and test a 24-bed ward of single rooms has progressed to a stage where the construction of the unit is now complete. A plan is in place to test the prototype accommodation in use through an evidence-based programme of research. This will focus on clinical outcomes, economic outcomes, patient and staff satisfaction and spatial analysis. Learning from the pilot will be transferable across the whole national health service.
Hospital Wards
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to phase out mixed-sex wards in NHS hospitals. [227829]
Ann Keen: The Department's guidance to the national health service has always required single sex accommodation rather than single sex wards. Even within a mixed ward, good single sex accommodation can be achieved by using single rooms or single sex bays and toilet facilities.
The Department continues to engage strategic health authorities about their plans to deliver a reduction in mixed sex accommodation, thus keeping levels to an absolute minimum, and where possible eliminating it.
Local plans have been made in the context of the operating framework for the NHS in England (2008-09) (this publication has already been deposited in the Library), which requires primary care trusts to review the current situation in all trusts and agree, publish, and implement stretching local plans for improvement in delivering single sex accommodation, with identified timescales and monitoring mechanisms. The framework specifically requires that patient survey results, where available, be used as the monitoring mechanism.
Hospitals: Libraries
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS has spent on hospital libraries in the last five years. [227791]
Mr. Bradshaw: This information is not collected centrally.
Hospitals: Security Guards
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on security staff in hospitals in (a) England and (b) the London Borough of Havering in the last year for which information is available. [227770]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Injuries: Health Services
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many minor injuries units there were (a) at the most recent date for which figures are available and (b) in 2006-07. [228105]
Ann Keen: National health service trusts in England self-report the number of accident and emergency (A&E) services they provide against definitions provided by the Department on a quarterly basis. This includes type 3 services, which are A&E services providing minor injury and illness services and include walk-in centres and minor injury units.
It is possible to provide numbers of type 3 services excluding walk-in centres. However, the remaining type 3 services may provide a range of minor injury and illness services, not simply a count of minor injury units.
Latest information shows that, for the quarter ending in June 2008, NHS trusts self-reported 214 type 3 A&E services, excluding walk-in centres. For 2006-07 the figure was 220.
Notes:
1. From Q1 2007-08, for the first time, data includes information from appropriate independent sector providers that provide services only to NHS patients.
2. The figure for 2006-07 was the position at end March 2007 (quarter four 2006-07).
Injuries: Offensive Weapons
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people aged (a) under 16, (b) between 16 and 18 and (c) over 18 years were admitted to hospital with stab wounds in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside, (iii) the North East and (iv) England in each year since 1997. [223909]
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