| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
18 May 2009 : Column 1223W—continued
13 September 2005. The Institute of Maxillofacial Prosthetists and Technologists. Maxillofacial Prosthetists and Technologists. Recommended to the Secretary of State subject to clarifying the education routes to registration and also the nature of the profession’s continuing professional development and that they engage in discussions with one of the professions already regulated by the HPC with a view to being regulated under their umbrella;
1 March 2006 and 11 May 2006. The Society of Sports Therapists. Sports Therapists. Recommended to the Secretary of State;
3 July 2008. Society and College of Radiographers. Sonographers. Outstanding, awaiting publication of extending professional regulation working group report; and
11 September 2008. The HPC considered the report of the Department of Health working group on acupuncture, herbal medicine, traditional Chinese medicine and other traditional medicine systems practised in the United Kingdom as if it were a new professions application. Recommended to the Secretary of State.
Hertfordshire Community Health Services
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what statutory functions will be undertaken by the arms-length organisation Hertfordshire Community Health Services. [275372]
Phil Hope:
Hertfordshire Community Health Services is the provider arm of the West and East and North
Hertfordshire primary care trusts (PCTs). Therefore the PCTs retain all the statutory functions of those organisations.
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what role the Care Quality Commission will play in the regulation of the arms-length organisation Hertfordshire Community Health Services. [275373]
Mr. Bradshaw: All national health service providers of health care, including primary care trusts (PCTs), have been registered with the Care Quality Commission since 1 April 2009 against a single registration requirement relating to the prevention and control of health care acquired infections. From April 2010, NHS providers of regulated activities will be required to register with the Care Quality Commission against a full set of registration requirements. The Care Quality Commission will also assess PCT provider services as part of its organisational assessment of PCTs.
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much (a) has been allocated and (b) is expected to be spent on renaming (i) West Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust and (ii) East and North Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust. [275374]
Phil Hope: Allocations are made to primary care trusts (PCTs) and it is their responsibility to ensure that those allocations are used to commission services to meet the needs of the communities that they serve while at the same time giving value for money. The East of England Strategic Health Authority (SHA) reports that the cost implications for renaming West Hertfordshire PCT and East and North Hertfordshire PCT will be very limited and restricted largely to the production of new name badges for staff. There are no immediate plans to replace any premises signage. The SHA also reports that there will be little or no cost to making the name change in other areas such as email signatures, websites and stationery reprints, the latter only taking place as stationery stocks diminish.
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his most recent assessment is of the performance of the Hertfordshire community health service. [275551]
Phil Hope: The Care Quality Commission will continue to assess the provider services of primary care trusts (PCTs) as part of their assessment of PCTs. The Healthcare Commission’s annual health check ratings for West Hertfordshire PCT and East and North Hertfordshire PCT is shown in the following table.
| West Hertfordshire PCT | East and North Hertfordshire PCT | |
Hospitals: ICT
Mr. Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the financial implications for the NHS are of BT not installing core IT systems at (a) all major hospital trusts in London and (b) all major hospital trusts in Birmingham. [275707]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 14 May 2009]: In London, four acute trusts, Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals, Queen Mary’s Sidcup, Barts and the London, and the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trusts are already live with the Cerner Millennium system supplied by the local service provider, BT.
BT is not responsible for the implementation of systems in Birmingham.
While the scale of the challenge in implementing new IT systems into acute trusts must not be underestimated, and initial experience with the new systems in London was not without difficulties, significant progress has since been made.
Information about the local financial and resource impact on national health service organisations resulting from implementation of, or failure to implement, computer systems is not held centrally, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Under the national programme for information technology central contracts, suppliers are only paid when systems have been successfully deployed and are working satisfactorily. The cost of failure is therefore met by the supplier rather than the taxpayer.
Mental Health Services: Prisons
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his estimate is of the number of prisoners with a diagnosed mental health disorder; what percentage of prisoners who (a) had a diagnosed mental health disorder prior to conviction and (b) have been diagnosed with schizophrenia; and what proportion of prisoners diagnosed with (i) schizophrenia and (ii) another mental health disorder had been convicted of an offence involving violence. [274625]
Phil Hope: This information is not collected by the Department.
On 30 April 2009, Lord Bradley published his review of people with mental health problems or learning disabilities in the criminal justice system. The “Bradley report” found that too many people pass through the criminal justice system without their mental health needs or learning disabilities being recognised. This means that their specific needs are not met and too often this leads to a cycle of re-offending.
The prevalence among suspects and offenders, of mental disorders, learning disabilities, and drug and alcohol problems is very high. About 20 per cent. will either currently be in contact with, or have a history of psychiatric treatment.
The Government published their response to the recommendations alongside Lord Bradley’s report. The report has been welcomed by Ministers across Government who recognise the need for reform in this area and the necessity for more joined up services to strengthen capacity and take forward this work.
Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to scrutinise the performance of Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust in dealing with complaints; and if he will make a statement. [274917]
Mr. Bradshaw: The primary care trust (PCT) monitors performance and scrutinises complaints through the Commissioning Quality Review Committee meetings. The complaints report is presented at the PCTs Quality Scrutiny Committee, which looks at the response rates, key themes and any trends. This is then reported through the Governance Group meetings at the PCT. The PCT reports complaints at its monthly trust board as part of the performance report. As a result of the situation in Mid Staffordshire, the PCT offered to advocate on behalf of patients and will continue to offer this service.
More generally, the Department has reformed and strengthened the national health service complaints system from 1 April this year. This sets the expectation that hospitals need to do better at resolving complaints at the local level and, importantly, take appropriate action in the light of the outcome of a complaint.
Information on complaints is already available from the Care Quality Commission, the ombudsman and the Information Centre, but we will now require hospitals to publish annually the number of complaints they receive, and how many were successfully resolved locally. We will also discuss with the health ombudsman publishing the number of complaints from each trust referred to and upheld by her. All this information will also be placed on the NHS Choices website allowing easier comparisons between hospitals.
A written ministerial statement was issued on 30 April 2009 setting out the Government response to the reports on care at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust submitted by Professor Sir George Alberti and Dr. David Colin-Thome.
In line with the recommendations in Dr. David Colin-Thome’s report, officials will undertake an assessment of the new complaints system in due course.
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent guidance his Department has issued to Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust on the exercise of the statutory powers of the trust's governors; and if he will make a statement. [274919]
Mr. Bradshaw: The statutory powers of an NHS Foundation Trust’s board of governors are set out in the National Health Service Act 2006 (c41) Schedule 7 —“Constitution of public benefit corporations”.
In general, the governors of a foundation trust are expected to represent the interests of the membership, and to act as a bridge between the Board of Directors and the membership. Governors must act in the best interest of the trust, and hold the board of directors to account for the performance of the trust. This includes reviewing the annual report and accounts. The governors have a legal duty to appoint the non-executive directors and chair of the trust, and are responsible for appointing the external auditors.
It is for the governors of an NHS Foundation Trust, acting on behalf of the trust’s membership, to consider whether and when to act in accordance with their legal powers. The Secretary of State does not have a power of direction. NHS Foundation Trusts were established to increase the level of local accountability and the Department has not issued any guidance to Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust on the exercise of the statutory powers of the trust’s governors.
A written ministerial statement on Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust was issued on 30 April 2009 in response to the reports of the independent reviews undertaken by Professor Sir George Alberti and Dr. David Colin-Thome.
NHS Foundation Trusts: Pay
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what requirements there are on NHS Foundation Trusts to publish details of the salaries and remuneration packages offered to their chief executives and senior managers; and if he will make a statement. [276039]
Mr. Bradshaw: The independent regulator (Monitor) requires foundation trusts to produce annual reports including annual accounts. These include details of salaries and remuneration packages of chief executives and senior managers. Copies of these documents are placed in the House of Commons Library. As a public benefit corporation, NHS Foundation Trusts have a duty to make this published data available to any person who requests it.
NHS: Disclosure of Information
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will bring forward proposals to amend the law to increase levels of protection for whistleblowers in the NHS; and if he will make a statement. [274916]
Mr. Bradshaw:
We have already introduced legislation to protect whistleblowers. The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA) gives the full protection of the law to national health service staff who blow the whistle. The
Department has made it clear that every NHS trust must have in place local policies and procedures that comply with the Act. The Government expect a climate of openness and dialogue in the NHS that encourages staff to feel able to raise concerns about health care matters sensibly and responsibly without fear of victimisation. The NHS constitution published on 21 January 2009, also sets out how staff should have “protection from detriment in employment and the right not to be unfairly dismissed for ‘whistleblowing’ or reporting wrongdoing in the workplace.”
We have taken out a contract with the charity “Public Concern at Work” to provide a helpline that is manned by lawyers with expertise on whistleblowing law who can provide confidential advice and support to NHS staff.
NHS: Information and Communications Technology
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many and what proportion of computers in NHS hospitals malware was detected in 2008. [275400]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Tranquillisers
Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) prescriptions and (b) in-patient prescriptions were issued for each (i) benzodiazepine and (ii) Z tranquilliser in (A) 2007 and (B) the last quarter of 2008. [274692]
Dawn Primarolo: Information is not held centrally for the number of prescription items issued, only for prescription items dispensed. Similarly, information on the number of in-patient prescriptions is not held in the format requested.
The following table provides prescriptions for Benzodiazepine items, dispensed in the community, in England, and written in the United Kingdom, for 2007 and 2008, by quarters (Q1-Q4), in thousands.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |