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27 Apr 2009 : Column 1076W—continued
Health Services: Coventry
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what changes there have been to the provision of medical services for (a) pensioners, (b) young people, (c) families and (d) expectant mothers in Coventry in the last 12 months. [270902]
Ann Keen: This information is not held centrally. It was for primary care trusts to commission services in line with local needs and the priorities set out in “The Operating Framework for the NHS in England 2008-09.” A copy of this document has already been placed in the Library.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what services are provided by his Department to partners of expectant mothers in Coventry. [270903]
Ann Keen: This information is not held centrally. It is for primary care trusts to commission services in line with local needs and the priorities set out in “The Operating Framework for the NHS in England 2009-10”, which includes material on children and maternity. A copy of this document has already been placed in the Library.
Health Services: Standards
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms local involvement networks are expected to use to co-ordinate their work with those responsible for discharging local authority health overview and scrutiny functions. [270439]
Ann Keen: The formal mechanism for local involvement networks (LINks) to interact with local authority overview and scrutiny committees (OSCs) is through the referral of relevant matters to the OSC. The OSC must acknowledge referrals from LINks that concern either health or social care matters within 20 working days and keep LINks informed about actions they might take, if any, with respect to those referrals.
It is good practice for LINks and OSCs to build and maintain good working relationships and less formal ways of working together over and above the use of formal referrals. Guidance on how LINks and OSCs might work together has been produced and is available on the NHS Centre for Involvement website at:
Hospitals: Infections
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were screened for healthcare-acquired infections in (a) Hemel Hempstead and (b) Hertfordshire in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [270379]
Ann Keen: This information is not held centrally. However, from 1 April this year the national health service has been screening all relevant elective admissions for meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and will be expanding this to include emergency admissions by 2011.
It is not appropriate to screen for all health care associated infections, and screening for health care associated infections other than MRSA is a matter for local determination according to clinical appropriateness and risk.
Hospitals: Infectious Diseases
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to assist companies working on patient-centred technologies for the prevention of healthcare-associated infections. [269270]
Ann Keen: The healthcare associated infection (HCAI) Technology Innovation Programme provides support to emerging and established technologies, including patient-centred technologies.
The Department has made product surgeries available to commercial and public sector organisations having an interest in HCAI technology. The surgeries provide innovators with the opportunity to discuss their product development programme and get advice on how best to get their technologies quickly through the system and into the national health service, focusing on the Rapid Review Panel (RRP).
The RRP was set up in 2004 and provides a prompt assessment of new and novel equipment, materials, and other products or protocols that may be of value to the NHS in improving hospital infection control and reducing hospital associated infections.
A number of technologies have a RRP recommendation 1. These include both hands-on patient care and general cleaning procedures. They range from technologies that help with the decontamination of large areas like wards and side rooms, to those which help prevent infection when taking blood or giving injections.
The programme is currently piloting a project to support companies who have achieved a RRP recommendation 2. The innovators are able to access expert NHS advice concerning what further evidence needs to be generated to potentially improve the products RRP recommendation and, where appropriate, we will look to see if we might help them get the necessary evidence to show how they help reduce infection.
Where practical, technologies with a RRP recommendation 1 are placed in the supply chain catalogue as soon as possible after gaining their recommendation to make them readily available to the NHS. Details are also added to the website:
The technologies are also showcased in selected showcase hospitals so that NHS practitioners can visit the hospitals and see the products being used.
Liver Diseases: Health Services
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will prepare and publish a national liver disease strategy. [270405]
Ann Keen: The Government are talking action on a number of fronts to tackle the main causes of liver disease—alcohol misuse, viral hepatitis and obesity.
Following on from High Quality Care For All, a copy of which has already been placed in he Library, the National Quality Board has been established to provide strategic oversight and leadership on quality across the national health service. As part of that role, the National Quality Board will provide advice to Ministers on clinical priorities, including the appropriateness of particular action for a particular clinical area or condition. This advice will be based on a systematic methodology which will allow decisions to be made about where work to improve quality is most needed. The work on liver disease will be considered within this context.
NHS: Death Rate
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 30 March 2009, Official Report, column 900W, on NHS: death rate, how many alerts the Healthcare Commission has received since July 2008; which NHS organisation was the subject of each alert; and what the reason was for the alert in each case. [269079]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Care Quality Commission (CQC), which took over from the Healthcare Commission on 1 April 2009, has informed us that since July 2008, the Healthcare Commission considered 94 alerts. The reasons for the alerts were because data received by the Healthcare Commission suggested that the rates of mortality in relation to a number of specific clinical areas were statistically higher than otherwise would have been expected. Statistical alerts relating to mortality rates do not necessarily equate to problems with clinical care. The alerts could be caused as a result of poor data quality, chance events, differences in the complexity of conditions treated or there could be evidence of poor quality care.
Details of the alerts by patient group are contained in the following table:
One of the CQC's first pieces of work is to review this programme and it will be publishing the action taken on these alerts as soon as this review has been completed.
The CQC will undertake a rigorous review of each alert it receives, drawing together all relevant information, including, for example, patient reported experiences. Consideration will be given to possible data anomalies and variations which could be producing the alert, and advice will be taken from clinicians and other experts. Where necessary, information about the alert will be sought from the organisations concerned.
Orthopaedics: Finance
Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether he plans further to revise the national tariff for specialist orthopaedic operations; [271059]
(2) what recent assessment he has made of effect of changes to the national tariff on the financial position of specialist orthopaedic centres. [271060]
Mr. Bradshaw: There are no plans to revise the 2009-10 national tariff for specialised orthopaedic treatments.
Analysis of the impact of the changes to the tariff, using historical activity data and national assumptions, was undertaken centrally at several stages of tariff development and calculation. With the release of the final tariff for 2009-10, organisations are able to undertake their own impact analysis using locally available up-to-date activity data.
Prescriptions: Fees and Charges
Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the timetable is for ending prescription charges for people with long-term medical conditions; and if he will make a statement. [271061]
Dawn Primarolo: The Prime Minister announced last September that the Government will abolish prescription charges for patients with long-term conditions over the next few years. Following this announcement, the Government asked Professor Ian Gilmore, President of the Royal College of Physicians, to undertake a review of prescription charges to consider how this pledge could best be implemented. The review is seeking the views of the public, clinicians and patient representative bodies on how exemption for people with long-term conditions should be phased in and is due to report to departmental Ministers in the summer.
Tranquillisers
Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 10 March 2009, Official Report, columns 391-2W, on tranquillisers, what assessment he has made of the efficacy of his policy on the prescription of tranquillisers in limiting the number of medicines prescribed. [270354]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department has made no such assessment.
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