| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
20 Apr 2009 : Column 469W—continued
Measles: Vaccination
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of children up to the age of six years old were inoculated against measles in (a) 2006-07, (b) 2007-08 and (c) 2008-09; and how many such inoculations were for measles only. [268734]
Dawn Primarolo: Routine childhood immunisation against measles is provided by the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Basingstoke (Mrs. Miller) on 27 February 2009, Official Report, columns 1173-74W, for information about 2006-07 and 2007-08. Information for MMR vaccine uptake for the year 2008-09 is not yet available.
Data on the use of single vaccines are not collected. As a result the proportion of children fully or partially
protected against measles may be slightly higher than that identified by the MMR vaccine uptake data collection.
Medical Records: Databases
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2009, Official Report, column 239W, on NHS: data protection, which companies have had access to NHS patient information in each of the last 10 years. [267378]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested is not collected centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, the Department has published clear rules and standards of practice on the management of patient information. These apply both to staff who work within, and those who work under contract to, national health service bodies.
Meningitis
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were diagnosed with meningitis in (a) England, (b) the North East, (c) Tees Valley and (d) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency in each of the last 10 years; and what proportion resulted in death. [268358]
Dawn Primarolo: Meningitis is a notifiable disease and the Health Protection Agency collects notification data for each local authority in England. Information is not available for the hon. Member’s constituency. The available information is given in the following table.
| Notifications | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| Notes: 1. Data for 2008 is provisional. 2. Information is given for North East government office region. 3. Tees Valley is not a single administrative or health area. It is an area which comprises the five unitary authorities of Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton-on-Tees and Darlington. | ||||||||||
Information about registered causes of death is collected separately and is not linked to notification data by year. The available information is given in the following table, including information for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency.
| Deaths | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| Notes: 1. Cause of death selected using the international classification of diseases, ninth revision (ICD-9) codes 036, 047, 320 and 322 for 1997 to 2000 and tenth revision (ICD-10) codes A39, A87 and G00-G03 for 2001 onwards. 2. Based on parliamentary constituency and local authority boundaries as of 2009. 3. Information is given for North East government office region. 4. Tees Valley is not a single administrative or health area. It is an area which comprises the five unitary authorities of Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton-on-Tees and Darlington. 5. Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year. Information for 2008 is not yet available. | ||||||||||
Mental Health Services
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which bodies, other than individual mental health NHS trusts, are responsible for ensuring that patients committed to (a) low security, (b) medium security and (c) high security mental health hospitals and required to reside there for treatment do not abscond. [268814]
Phil Hope: No other body is responsible for ensuring that patients do not abscond from secure services than the secure services provider. Low and medium secure services are provided by the national health service and independent sector voluntary and private sector organisations. The three high secure hospitals in England are operated by the NHS.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to provide older people with improved mental health services; and if he will make a statement. [269267]
Phil Hope: The Department's Service Development Guide ‘Everybody's Business’, published in 2005, a copy of which has already been placed in the Library, made clear how mental health services for older people should be commissioned and set up. A subsequent review of the Care Programme Approach (2008) contains specific guidance in relation to, and is inclusive of older people with mental health needs. A copy has been placed in the Library. As part of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT), guidance for commissioners was issued in November 2008 and in January 2009, a positive practice guide for older people. Both sets of guidance make clear that appropriately designed “talking therapies” can also benefit older people. Copies have been placed in the Library.
In addition, the implementation of the National Dementia Strategy published on 3 February 2009, will be a lever for further improvements in access to care and support for the mental health needs of older people, not only those dementia with dementia. A copy has been placed in the Library.
The Mental Health National Service Framework (NSF), which ends this year, was designed with working-age adults in mind. The successor strategy ‘New Horizons in Mental Health’ will be age-inclusive. Consultation on the new strategy is expected in the summer.
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) pursuant to the answer of 10 March 2009, Official Report, columns 368-69W, on assertive outreach teams, what the reasons are for the reduction in the number of assertive outreach teams in (a) England and (b) the South West Strategic Health Authority area since January 2006; [269346]
(2) how much his Department has spent on the provision of assertive outreach teams in (a) England, (b) the South West and (c) Devon in each of the last 10 years. [269350]
Phil Hope:
The public service agreement target for assertive outreach teams was to have 220 teams by December 2003, and was met. The reduction in team numbers since 2006 has been minimal at both national
and strategic health authority (SHA) level. Nationally, the number of teams was 252 in 2006 and 249 in 2008. The corresponding figures for South West SHA were 29 in 2006 and 28 in 2008. Primary care trusts are responsible for ensuring that the number of teams commissioned meets local need.
The information on local services is not collected centrally in the format requested. However, the data in the following table shows the total investment for England and the South West region for assertive outreach teams from 2001-02 to 2007-08.
| Assertive outreach teams, total cash investment from 2001-02 to 2007-08 | ||
| England (£ million) | South West region (£) | |
| Source: Mental Health Strategies. | ||
Mental Health Services: Nurses
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 9 February 2009, Official Report, columns 1762-4W, on mental health services: nurses, what the reason is for the reduction in the number of registered mental health nurses in the Devon Partnership NHS Trust since 30 September 2006. [269347]
Phil Hope: Work force planning is a matter for local determination as local work force planners are best placed to assess the health care needs of their local population. The Department continues to ensure the frameworks are in place to enable effective local work force planning.
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has spent on the provision of registered mental health nurses in (a) England, (b) the South West and (c) Devon in each of the last 10 years. [269349]
Phil Hope: The information is not held centrally.
Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms are in place for (a) supervision and (b) monitoring of implementation of the recommendations of the Healthcare Commission report on Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust which relate to (i) that trust and (ii) other parts of the NHS. [269526]
Mr. Bradshaw:
It is the responsibility of the board of the trust, with the new leadership in place, to ensure it fully implements the recommendations made within the Healthcare Commission's (HC) report. The trust is producing an action plan to implement the recommendations that it will agree with Care Quality Commission (CQC). Monitor, the foundation trust (FT) regulator, will hold the trust to account for delivery of
the action plan. CQC, which replaced the HC on 1 April 2009, has informed us that they plan to take stock with the trust and Monitor at three months and perform a follow up review in approximately six months time to provide the necessary assurance that all the recommendations in the HC's report have been satisfactorily addressed.
David Nicholson, chief executive of the national health service, wrote to all NHS organisations on 18 March 2009 urging NHS leaders to ensure that the recommendations set out in the report are fully understood by boards and that any local actions necessary are implemented with immediate effect. In addition, Monitor has written to all FTs making clear the expectation that their boards should consider the contents and recommendations of the HC report and implement any actions to ensure they do not breach their terms of authorisation. In his letter, the chief executive made clear that where senior NHS management and boards fail to act in the light of the HC recommendations to assure the ongoing quality and safety of the care they provide, they must and will be held accountable.
In addition, Professor Sir George Alberti is undertaking a rapid review at Stafford of the procedures for emergency admissions to ensure the trust is providing the best service it can to patients, building on the progress already made in implementing the recommendations of the HC. Dr. David Colin-Thomé is undertaking a rapid local review to identify what the people who commission NHS services and manage the performance of these services across England can learn from this case. The new National Quality Board (NQB) has been asked to look at how we can ensure that any early signs that something is going wrong with patient care are picked up immediately, that the right organisations are alerted, and that action is taken quickly. (The NQB is comprised of representatives from the Royal Colleges, patient groups, regulatory bodies and clinical experts, and has been set up to look at how organisations work together to improve the quality of patient care and patient experience.) Any recommendations arising from these reviews will be shared with the wider NHS for action as necessary.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |