Previous Section Index Home Page

26 Jan 2009 : Column 251W—continued


Post-mortems

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many post mortems were held in each of the last 10 years; and how many of those followed deaths (a) in hospital, (b) in care homes and (c) under the care of a surgeon. [249787]

Kevin Brennan: I have been asked to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell:


26 Jan 2009 : Column 252W
Table 1. Estimated number of deaths where a post-mortem was carried out, by place of death( 1) 1998-2007( 2)
Postmortems (persons)
Care home Hospital Other Total

1998

8,469

57,260

56,302

122,031

1999

9,168

58,128

57,444

124,740

2000

9,919

61,312

57,490

128,721

2001

9,640

57,846

55,940

123,426

2002

9,523

56,040

53,871

119,434

2003

9,832

55,351

54,601

119,784

2004

9,158

53,532

52,910

115,600

2005

9,004

51,504

53,099

113,607

2006

8,272

49,743

52,200

110,215

2007

7,835

48,511

52,027

108,373

(1) ‘Care home’ includes private nursing homes (NHS and non-NHS), and residential homes (private and local authority). ‘Hospital’ includes NHS and non-NHS hospitals, or multifunction sites. Deaths occurring in all places not defined above, including hospices and private residences, are included in the ‘other’ category.
(2) Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year.

Prescriptions

Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 19 January 2009, Official Report, columns 1202-3W, on prescriptions, what reporting process for an error involving a controlled drug in a care establishment is required by the Commission for Social Care Inspection; to which individual services such reports are made; and if he will publish the reports made of such events occurring in the last 12 months. [250894]

Phil Hope: Care homes registered with the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) must provide a report of serious incidents to CSCI. The CSCI retains these reports in the service record and the information is used during a key inspection process when the care service star rating and inspection frequency is determined. CSCI does not inform any other agency and the content of serious incident notifications is not published.

CSCI does not receive notification if a controlled drug error was made by the general practitioner who prescribed the controlled drug or by the community pharmacist who supplied the controlled drug. When errors relating to prescribing and supply of medicines occur within the national health service, primary care trusts are encouraged to have a procedure to report the errors to the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA). But there is no current mechanism for social care services to make similar reports to NPSA about medicine administration errors.

Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether there is a regulatory requirement for a patient to be examined before a prescription for a controlled drug is issued to that patient. [250915]

Phil Hope: In general, a patient will be assessed by their prescriber before a prescription, including one for a controlled drug, is issued. However, there is no requirement in regulation for the patient to be examined. The decision as to whether an examination is required is a clinical one made by the prescriber.


26 Jan 2009 : Column 253W

Rheumatology

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many rheumatology admissions to hospital there were in each year since 1997, as recorded by the Hospital Episodes Statistics database, broken down by whether the admissions were (i) ordinary and (ii) day-case. [249263]

Ann Keen: The total number of ordinary, and day case admissions, to hospital where the main consultant specialty is recorded as rheumatology is given in the following table.


26 Jan 2009 : Column 254W
Day case Ordinary

2006-07

62,707

31,577

2005-06

56,938

32,277

2004-05

53,183

31,530

2003-04

49,003

31,440

2002-03

41,003

32,279

2001-02

33,041

34,056

2000-01

30,331

35,524

1999-2000

27,275

37,033

1998-99

24,045

36,968

1997-98

20,496

38,976

1996-97

17,538

40,053

Note:
A finished admission episode is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one health care provider. Finished admission episodes are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.

Tobacco

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many times (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have met (i) tobacco companies and (ii) representatives of and lobbyists acting on behalf of tobacco companies in the last three months. [250654]

Dawn Primarolo: There have been no such meetings.

Wheelchairs: Waiting Lists

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how long on average existing wheelchair users wait for a chair with different specifications in (a) Southend Hospital Trust, (b) Essex and (c) England; and if he will make a statement; [250073]

(2) what the average waiting time for a replacement wheelchair after assessment is for existing permanent wheelchair users in (a) Southend Hospital Trust, (b) Essex and (c) England; and if he will make a statement. [250074]

Phil Hope: Information about waiting times for wheelchair users is not held centrally. The collation of wheelchair information that may assist commissioning decisions is for local determination.


26 Jan 2009 : Column 255W

Written Answers to Questions

Monday 26 January 2009

Innovation, Universities and Skills

Departmental Public Relations

Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills whether the Higher Education Minister received briefing from departmental officials before his television appearance on Celebrity Mastermind. [249569]

Mr. Lammy: I received no official briefing from the Department prior to my appearance on Celebrity Mastermind.

My appearance was in the spirit of charity and raised £2,750 for Action Aid, an international NGO which helps people in the developing world to fight hunger and disease.

Foundation Degrees

Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many people enrolled on a foundation degree course in each year since its inception; and what the drop-out rate has been in each year. [249106]

Mr. Lammy: The information is as follows.

Table 1 shows the number of enrolments in foundation degrees since 2001/02.

Table 1: Home, EU and overseas enrolments on foundation degrees English higher education institutions and further education colleges academic years 2001/02 to 2007/08
Academic year Enrolments

2001/02

4,320

2002/03

12,310

2003/04

23,945

2004/05

37,820

2005/06

46,780

2006/07

60,580

2007/08

71,915

Note:
The numbers of overseas entrants for 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 are estimated by assuming they represent the same proportion as for the other years, that is 4.6 per cent. for full-time and 5.5 per cent. for part-time. 2001-02 student numbers include some continuing students from 2000-01 which were marketed as foundation degrees but which may not have had all the attributes described in the HEFCE foundation degree prospectus.
Source:
“Foundation degrees 2007/03” and “Foundation degrees 2008/16” reports published by Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Columns one plus two of HESES and HEIFES (2007-08 values are provisional).

Table 2 shows the latest information on the progress of foundation degree students.


26 Jan 2009 : Column 256W
Table 2: Home foundation degree students by progress and institution type English higher education institutions and further education colleges—years of entry 2003/04 and 2004/05
Year of entry Institution type( 1) Progress( 2) Number Percentage

2003/04

FECs

All FEC entrants

1,935

100

O f which:

Change to FE level course

70

4

Not studying

510

26

HEIs

All HEI entrants

9,655

100

O f which:

Change to FE level course

235

2

Not studying

1,305

14

2004/05

FECs

All FEC entrants

4,805

100

O f which:

Change to FE level course

160

3

Not studying

1,225

25

HEIs

All HEI entrants

12,615

100

O f which:

Change to FE level course

230

2

Not studying

1,580

13

(1) Institution type refers to the institution the student is registered with.
(2) Study in the following year includes students registered for any FE or HE study in HEIs in the UK, and students registered for any HE or FE study in FECs in England. Any study outside this coverage is not included and the students will be categorised as ‘not studying’.
Source:
“Foundation degrees 2007/03” and “Foundation degrees 2008/16” reports published by Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

Next Section Index Home Page