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7 July 2009 : Column 693W—continued

NHS: Assets

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) gross internal floor area, (b) unoccupied internal floor area and (c) non-patient occupied internal floor area was, according to data from Estates Return Information Collection returns, for each NHS organisation in each year since 1997. [284015]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The information is not available in the precise format requested.

Since 2000-01, the Department has collected annual data on internal floor areas from national health service trusts through the Estates Returns Information Collection (ERIC). Data collection on each NHS organisation’s gross internal floor area and unoccupied internal floor area first began in 2000-01, with non-patient occupied floor area beginning in 2002-03.

The available data for each year since 2000-01 have been placed in the Library.

The information provided has been supplied by the NHS and had not been amended centrally. The accuracy and completeness of the information is the responsibility of the provider organisation.

NHS: Essex

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the NHS staff-to-patient ratio was in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point in each of the last five years. [283892]

Ann Keen: This information is not held centrally.

NHS: Finance

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) pursuant to the NHS Chief Executive's Annual Report for 2008-09, whether the £15 to £20 billion in efficiency savings the NHS is expected to plan for in the financial years 2011-12 to 2013-14 will be made available for expenditure in the NHS; [284269]

(2) what baseline for spending is being used against which to measure the £15 to £20 billion of efficiency savings for which the NHS is being asked to plan between the financial years 2011-12 and 2013-14; and what plans have been made for achieving such savings in each (a) financial year and (b) NHS organisation. [284272]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: Decisions on funding and investment will be made as part of the next spending review. The baseline for efficiency savings in the next spending review period will be 2010-11.


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NHS: Manpower

Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the NHS staff-to-patient ratio was in (a) Hemel Hempstead, (b) Hertfordshire and (c) England in each of the last five years. [284557]

Ann Keen: This information is not collected centrally.

NHS: Standards

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which NHS institutions were assessed by the Healthcare Commission as being (a) compliant and (b) non-compliant with the Standards for Better Health Core Standard C4c in 2008-09. [284431]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The information is contained in the complete data set of unvalidated core standard declarations for 2008-09 that the Care Quality Commission made available on 18 June 2009; a copy has been placed in the Library. The Care Quality Commission will publish final validated declaration results alongside the annual health check results in October 2009.

Nutrition

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nutritionists (a) have been employed by the NHS in each year since 1997 and (b) were employed by each NHS organisation in the most recent year for which figures are available. [283934]

Ann Keen: Nutritionists are not separately identified within the NHS workforce census and therefore this information is not collected centrally.

Workforce planning, including training, in the national health service is managed and led at a local level by the strategic health authorities (SHAs) taking into account the national policy direction.

Local NHS organisations are best placed to determine the levels of service and resource required to meet the health needs of the local population.

Osteoporosis: Health Education

Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken to inform (a) members of the public and (b) health professionals about (i) osteoporosis, (ii) bone health and (iii) fragility fractures in the last three years. [284409]

Phil Hope: The NHS Choices website provides advice on osteoporosis, bone health and fragility fractures, suitable for the general public and those newly diagnosed with osteoporosis, at:

More detailed information, suitable for health professionals, is available on the NHS Evidence website at:


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Social Services

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 20 May 2009, Official Report, column 1434W, on social services, for what reason his Department did not publish the Green Paper on care and support reform in June 2009. [284746]

Phil Hope: Reforming the care and support system is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us all to help create a care and support system capable of supporting people well into the 21st century so it is important that we take the time to get this right. However, the Green Paper will be published shortly.


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Solihull Hospital: Maternity Services

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) high-risk, (b) complicated and (c) premature births occurred at Solihull Hospital in the last 12 months; and what proportion of all births at the hospital each category represented in that period. [283221]

Ann Keen: The information is not available in the format requested.

Solihull hospital is part of Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust. Information on the number and percentage of deliveries at this organisation for 2007-08 is shown in the following table.

Number and percentage of deliveries where the gestation length at the time of delivery was between 0-36 weeks (premature), 37+ weeks or unknown at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (*RR1-X) in 2007-08
National health service hospitals, England Number Percentage

Total deliveries at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust

10,753

100

Deliveries that occurred between 0-36 weeks of gestation (premature)

178

1.7

Deliveries that occurred 37+ weeks of gestation

2,445

22.7

Deliveries with an unknown length of gestation recorded

8,130

75.6

Notes:
1. The high proportion of deliveries with an unknown length of gestation recorded needs to be taken into account when interpreting the rates of deliveries for each gestation group.
2. Length of gestation: This field shows the number of completed weeks of gestation according to the World Health Organisation definition, which specifies time from the first day of the last menstrual period. If this date is not reliable, an estimate is provided. This item appears for each baby on multiple birth delivery records; 0-36 weeks premature birth; 37+ weeks (includes post term births); and unknown.
3. Finished consultant episode (FCE): An FCE is defined as a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. However, the figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year. Maternity events taking place in either NHS hospitals or in non-NHS hospitals funded by the NHS will be recorded as ordinary ‘delivery’ or ‘birth’ episodes. ‘Other delivery events’ are delivery events other than those resulting in delivery or birth episodes under NHS funding or in any other facility supplied under a service agreement with the NHS.
4. Ungrossed data: Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed).
5. Data quality: HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) in England. Data are also received from a number of independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain.
6. Hospital providers: A provider code is a unique code that identifies an organisation acting as a health care provider (e.g. NHS trust or PCT). Hospital providers can also include treatment centres (TC). TCs (also known as diagnostic centres) provide elective (planned) surgery for a range of conditions, mainly for day surgery or short-term hospital stay patients. Some TCs are attached to hospital trusts and HES enables data for these to be separately identified from the rest of the health care provider’s data. It does this by adding TC to the trust code; if there is more than one per trust, ‘T1’, ‘T2’, ‘T3’ etc. are suggested unless already in use by the trust. Activity performed in the remainder of the trust is identified by the health care provider code being followed by an ‘X’. Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care.

Swine Flu

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the Statement of 12 June 2009, Official Report, columns 1052-63, on swine flu update, with which companies his Department holds advance purchase agreements for pandemic-specific vaccines; how much he expects to be spent on these vaccines; and from which budget funds for such expenditure will be drawn in the next 12 months. [283880]

Gillian Merron: The advance purchase agreements are with Glaxo Smith Kline and Baxter. The costs of the advance purchase agreements are £155.4 million over four years. Vaccine costs are commercial in confidence. Expenditure on dealing with swine flu will be met from within existing departmental budgets.

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many swine flu information leaflets have been (a) printed and (b) distributed; and how much his Department has spent on their printing and distribution to date. [283924]

Gillian Merron: The Department has:

The Department has spent £4,470,406 to date on production and distribution.

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what dates his Department's National Director for Flu Resilience has met representatives of (a) primary care trusts and (b) strategic health authorities to discuss swine flu preparedness in the last three months; and if he will place a copy of the minutes of each such meeting in the Library. [283932]

Gillian Merron: The National Director NHS Flu Resilience has been in post since 5 May 2009.


7 July 2009 : Column 697W

The National Director NHS Flu Resilience has engaged with each NHS Chief Executive through the National NHS Chief Executive's Conference on the 20 May. There are no minutes of the conference.

In addition, he has personally briefed each of the 10 strategic health authority chief executives at meetings of the NHS management boards on 13 May and 11 June. A summary of the meeting is usually produced within three months of the meeting taking place, but is not yet available. A copy of the summary will be placed in the Library once it is finalised.

On 4 June, the National Director met with all 10 strategic health authority flu lead directors; there are no formal minutes of the meeting.

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital patient specimens have been submitted to Health Protection Agency regional laboratories in order to be tested for swine flu to date. [283936]

Gillian Merron: The Health Protection Agency’s regional laboratory network has tested 23,395 samples up to the end of 30 June 2009. 83 of the samples that tested positive for swine flu came from hospitalised patients.

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have accessed NHS Direct's online swine flu symptom checker to date; and how much was spent developing this service. [283937]

Gillian Merron: The number of people who have accessed NHS Direct’s on-line cold and flu symptom checker (which has included swine flu since 27 April 2009) is 707,583 (as of 30 June 2009).

The symptom checker service is integrated into NHS Direct’s contact centre operations and is used for a wider range of topics than just colds and flu. The approximate cost of developing the whole suite of tools (not just specifically the colds and flu element) was £367,000.

Swine Flu: Health Education

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 17 June 2009, Official Report, columns 387-88W, if he will place in the Library a copy of the findings of the research. [282154]

Gillian Merron: The Department periodically publishes summaries of the research it commissions on its website at:

A summary of the research to check the receipt of the swine flu information leaflet will be published there in due course. We will also place a copy of the research in the Library on publication.

The tracking research to check awareness of the information campaign is still ongoing and the findings are therefore not yet known.


7 July 2009 : Column 698W

Transplant Surgery

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people who were waiting for organ transplants had been waiting for longer than three weeks in (a) Test Valley Borough and (b) Southampton on the latest date for which figures are available. [283318]

Ann Keen: The following table shows patients currently listed and waiting over three weeks in Test Valley borough (postcodes SP10 and 11).

Organ(s) Number of patients listed

Kidney

7

Kidney/pancreas

2


The following table shows patients currently listed and waiting over three weeks in Southampton (postcodes SO14-19).

Organ(s) Number of patients listed

Kidney

39


Treatment Centres: Standards

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which independent sector treatment centres were assessed by the Healthcare Commission as being (a) compliant and (b) non-compliant with the National Minimum Standard A11 in 2008-09. [284432]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Care Quality Commission has informed us that three independent sector treatment centres were assessed against standard A11 of the Independent Health Care: National Minimum Standards by the Healthcare Commission during 2008-09. Of those, Sussex Orthopaedic Treatment Centre and Bodmin Independent Treatment Centre were found to have met the standard. Eccleshill NHS Treatment Centre was found to have almost met the standard.


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