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26 Mar 2009 : Column 682W—continued
NHS: ICT
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the NHS IT programme; and what recent assessment he has made of progress on the programme. [265647]
Mr. Bradshaw: The overall cost of the NHS Information Technology (IT) programme includes both central costs, and the costs managed by local NHS bodies incurred in implementing the systems, for example in training staff and upgrading computer hardware. Local information is not routinely collected in a way that differentiates expenditure on the IT programme from other local IT-related expenditure.
The latest estimate of the overall cost is contained in Figure 7 on page 26 of the National Audit Office (NAO) report ‘The National Programme for IT in the NHS: Progress since 2006’, which can be found at:
Of this total, the NAO estimated that some £3.5 billion had been spent as at 31 March 2008.
Many of the programme’s systems have already been successfully delivered, and most of the infrastructure, including the network and central databases, are in place, as are the choose and book systems, and Picture Archiving and Communications (digital imaging) systems in every acute trust. All acute trusts and general practices in England, and over 90 per cent. of primary care trusts, are using systems delivered as part of the programme. The NHS in England could not now function without the systems which the programme has delivered.
Progress has been slower than anticipated with the NHS care record service at local trust level. We continue to work closely with suppliers to ensure that software is fit for purpose before deployment, and are in discussions aimed at ensuring that appreciable improvements are achieved by the end of 2009. We remain confident in the potential of both the Cerner Millennium and Lorenzo systems to be able to support the NHS in the longer term.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the Office of Government Commerce gateway reviews of the NHS IT programme. [266219]
Mr. Bradshaw: We are reviewing our previous policy not to disclose the review reports in light of the recent decision by the Office of Government Commerce to disclose two Gate 0 review reports on the identity cards programme. No final decision has yet been taken.
Physiology: Manpower
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) audiologists, (b) cardiac physiologists, (c) gastro-intestinal physiologists, (d) neurophysiologists and (e) respiratory physiologists are employed by the NHS. [266380]
Ann Keen: Gastro-intestinal physiologists are not identified separately in the National Health Service Workforce Census. The number of audiologists, cardiac physiologists, neurophysiologists and respiratory physiologists are given in the following table.
| Headcount | Full-time e quivalent (FTE) | |
Plastic Surgery: Breasts
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS patients have received corrective surgery following breast augmentation surgery performed outside the NHS in each year from 1999. [266051]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients (a) sought NHS-funded breast augmentation surgery, (b) were referred for a psychological assessment and (c) (i) were approved for and (ii) received treatment in each year since 1999. [266052]
Mr. Bradshaw: All the information requested is not collected centrally. Such information as is available is in the following table.
| Finished consultant episodes (FCEs) where there is a primary or secondary procedure of breast augmentation in 1998-99 to 2007-08, activity in English national health service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector | |
| Total FCEs | |
| Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, The NHS Information Centre for health and social care | |
Prescriptions: Fees and Charges
Mrs. Riordan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make it his policy to abolish prescription charges for people with long-term conditions
before the end of the present Parliament; and if he will make a statement; [266910]
(2) which medical conditions are considered to be long-term conditions in the context of Professor Ian Gilmore's review of prescription charges. [267021]
Dawn Primarolo: The Government have asked the President of the Royal College of Physicians (Professor Ian Gilmore) to carry out a review of prescription charges that will consider how to implement the commitment to exempt patients with long-term conditions from prescription charges, including how exemption from charges can be phased in. The review is due to report its recommendations to departmental Ministers in summer 2009.
Primary Care Trusts: Freedom of Information
Mr. Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department provides to primary care trusts on the standards of their responses to requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [264007]
Mr. Bradshaw: As public authorities in their own right, each primary care trust is responsible under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for the responses it provides.
The Department has provided guidance to national health service organisations on the processes that they should have in place for managing their Freedom of Information requests and on the need for publication schemes to be in place by 1 January 2009.
Primary Health Care: Expenditure
Mr. Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent by his Department in providing primary care in each of the last 10 years. [265028]
Mr. Bradshaw: Total primary care expenditure, covering general practitioners, dentists, pharmacists and opticians, for the last 10 years from 1998-99 to 2007-08 is contained in the following table.
| Family Health Services gross expenditure | |||||||||||||
| £ million | |||||||||||||
| Cash | Resource | ||||||||||||
| 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |||
| (1) Primary care figures include amounts paid to pharmacy and appliance contractors by the Prescription Pricing Division PPD and amounts authorised for dispensing doctors and personal administration in England. The data do not cover costs for drugs prescribed in hospital but dispensed in the community or private prescriptions. (2) From 2000-01 figures are in resource terms, prior to this figures are in cash terms. Cash expenditure represents amounts paid between April to March to contractors for drugs, medicines, and appliances prescribed by general practitioners and nurses. These relate to February to January prescribing due to delay in prescription processing and payment calculations. Resource expenditure represents the actual cost of the prescriptions for drugs, medicines and appliances prescribed in the period April to March. (3) All Former GP Contract 1997-98 to 2002-03 spend was Independent Contractor based including both combined General Medical Services Discretionary and Non-Discretionary Spend and Personal Medical Services Discretionary only spend. The new GP contract introduced from 2003-04 now covers General Medical Services, Personal Medical Services, Alternative Provider Medical Services and Primary Care Trust (PCT) Medical Service contracting services. All new GP contract funding is now Discretionary only as notified through PCTs Unified allocations. (4) The normal GP contract spend remit for 2003-04 to 2007-08 is net of dispensing. Normally additional costs for dispensing fees and drug costs for dispensing doctors and non-dispensing doctors personal administration, are counted as part of the total contract cost. However, as these are formally part of the drugs bill cost we have adjusted to exclude for these years the amounts: £804 million, £854 million, £883 million, £814 million and £814 million respectively to avoid double counting within the FHS overall total. (5) From 2000-01 onwards all figures are in resource terms following government accounting practice changes, prior to all this figures were reported in cash terms. (6) All dental service costs are gross of patient charge income. (7) General Dental Services expenditure in 2005-06 was enhanced by an accounting adjustment to correct an historic under-estimate of GDS creditor payments outstanding at the year end. (8) GOS expenditure increased in 1999-2000 as a result of the extension of eligibility for NHS sight tests to all those aged 60 or over from 1 April 1999. Sources: Drugs: Spend figures are taken from the Prescription Pricing Division of the NHS Business services Authority, England. GP Contract: 1996 to 2003-04 Former Old GP Contract data taken from the audited summarised NHS accounts of the 95 health authorities as replaced by 303 PCTs for England in 2002-03. 2003-to 2007-08 new Primary Medical Care nGMS contract spend is based on the audited returns of the 303 to 152 reconfigured PCT audited returns to the NHS summarised accounts. General and Primary Dental Services (GDS): Dental Practice Board and PCT accounts data. PCT commissioned Primary Dental Care services: Under the new dental service framework introduced from 1 April 2006 for local commissioning of primary dental care services, PCTs may commission general dental or specialist personal dental services according to local needs but only report aggregate primary dental care expenditure in central financial returns. General Ophthalmic Services: These are a non discretionary or demand led service, where expenditure is determined mainly by the number of eligible patients who request NHS sight tests or who require NHS optical vouchers to help with the purchase of glasses or contact lenses. Pharmaceutical services: Excludes services funded directly by PCTs and income from prescription charges. | |||||||||||||
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