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21 July 2009 : Column 1610W—continued
NHS: Foreign Workers
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department takes to validate the qualifications of clinicians from outside the EU who seek to work in the NHS. [288697]
Ann Keen: The validation of qualifications of overseas clinicians wishing to work in the NHS is not the responsibility of the Department.
In the United Kingdom, the health professions regulatory bodies are the competent authorities to assess whether an overseas clinician possesses relevant qualifications to work in the UK-whether within the NHS or the private sector.
NHS: ICT
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which Minister signed off each business case for the NHS IT programme approved since 2002. [283263]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The information requested on which Minister signed off each business case for the NHS IT programme approved since 2002 is in the following table:
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health from which organisations his Department has sought advice on the NHS national IT programme; and what advice each such organisation has provided. [288403]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department has always prioritised the building of awareness of the national IT programme, and two-way communication with influential stakeholders including clinicians, senior national health service managers and information management and technology staff, the medical professional representative and health regulatory bodies, voluntary and patient organisations, the commercial sector, and suppliers.
Before the programme's inception, a consultation document, 'Delivering 21st Century IT support for the NHS : National Specification for Integrated Care Records Service -consultation draft, issued in July 2002, that outlined the requirements for a national patient care records service and the national standards and specification which would underpin it, resulted in almost 200 responses from organisations and individuals. These were taken into account in drawing up the specification for the NHS care records service. Subsequently, in the programme's procurement and delivery process, and particularly in the development and testing phases, representative stakeholders have been routinely consulted to ensure that their requirements and concerns are taken into account.
More recently, in 2006, the NHS Connecting for Health Evaluation Programme was set up with a view to assessing the usability, actual usage, functions and impact of pilot and delivered systems and services, and more generally to providing high quality, objective, third-party insights into the lessons learned and how systems can be improved. The University of Birmingham was commissioned to manage the programme, including the independent procurement of evaluation services, and day-to-day management of the independent organisations conducting the evaluations.
Further information about the process by which consultation and other aspects of public engagement is conducted on the development, implementation and evaluation of electronic health information services in the NHS is available at:
NHS: Pay
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was paid in performance-related bonuses to staff in (a) his Department, (b) non-departmental public bodies which his Department sponsored and (c) in the NHS in each of the last five years. [286698]
Phil Hope: The amounts paid in non-consolidated performance-related payments in the core Department in the past five years are presented in the following table.
| Non-consolidated performance-related payments | |
| £ | |
The total sum of non-consolidated performance-related payments paid to staff in non-departmental public bodies which the Department of Health sponsors, is as follows.
| Total (£) | |
Non-consolidated performance-related payments for senior staff in national health service special health authorities, strategic health authorities, primary care trusts and ambulance trusts, is subject to the national Very Senior Managers' Pay Framework. Under that framework, the performance-related pay fund is limited to 5 per cent. of the total pay bill. For 2008-09, the total pay bill for relevant staff was £160 million, and the performance-related pay fund was £8 million. Figures for previous years are not available although it is expected that more detailed figures covering this areas of NHS pay will be available in future years, following improvements to the Electronic Staff Record.
Although NHS staff groups other than Very Senior Managers (VSMs) can be paid "performance related bonuses", a specific fund for that purpose is only set
aside for VSMs. Any other performance related bonuses paid out are subject to local agreement and/or other contractual arrangements between employers and staff and must be paid from existing local funding. Details of any such performance related bonuses paid to these NHS staff are not collected centrally.
NHS: Working Hours
Sir John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether it is in accordance with Government policy that NHS managers who reduce doctors working hours to 48 hours to comply with the European Working Time Directive should receive a bonus. [288033]
Ann Keen: This Government's policy is that the payment of bonuses to national health service managers is at the discretion of their employers.
Sir John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information he has received that NHS managers are exerting pressure on doctors to state that their working hours are compliant with the 48 hours maximum permitted by the European Working Time Directive when they are not. [288034]
Ann Keen: This Government's policy is that the payment of bonuses to national health service managers for reducing doctors working hours to comply with European Working Time Directive is at the discretion of their employers.
Obesity
Mr. Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make copies of the publication on medical management during effective weight loss available to NHS staff working with the obese; and if he will make a statement. [286331]
Gillian Merron: National health service staff can currently refer to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance on the prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children.
The Department was not consulted about this publication, but officials will discuss the publication with the national obesity forum, to consider its availability to NHS staff.
Obesity: Surgery
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many bed days were taken up by patients with a diagnosis code of (a) E660, (b) E661, (c) E662, (d) E668 and (e) E669 in each (i) region and (ii) primary care trust in each of the last five years. [286843]
Gillian Merron [holding answer 20 July 2009]: Data are available from the NHS Information Centre on the number of bed days taken up by patients with a primary diagnosis of selected ICD-10 codes. This information has been placed in the Library.
The NHS Information Centre has not provided data at a primary care trust (PCT) level because in order to protect patient confidentiality, figures between one and five at PCT level would need to be suppressed. Where it is possible to identify numbers from the total due to a single suppressed number in a row or column, an additional number (the next smallest) would also need to be suppressed. As a result, the majority of the numbers at PCT level would need low number suppression, and would make the data meaningless. Therefore the data have been provided at strategic health authority level only.
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital admissions there have been for diagnosis codes of (a) E660, (b) E661, (c) E662, (d) E668 and (e) E669 for (i) males and (ii) females aged (A) under 18, (B) between 18 and 30 and (iii) over 30 years old in each (x) region and (y) primary care trust in each of the last five years. [286844]
Gillian Merron [holding answer 20 July 2009]: Data are available from the NHS Information Centre on the number of finished admission episodes with a primary diagnosis of selected ICD-10 code. This information has been placed in the Library.
The NHS Information Centre has not provided data at a primary care trust (PCT) level because in order to protect patient confidentiality, figures between one and five at PCT level would need to be suppressed. Where it is possible to identify numbers from the total due to a single suppressed number in a row or column, an additional number (the next smallest) would also need to be suppressed. As a result, the majority of the numbers at PCT level would need low number suppression, and would make the data meaningless. Therefore the data have been provided at strategic health authority level only.
Palliative Care: Tamworth
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what data are used by NHS healthcare commissioners to determine the demand for specialist palliative and neurological care in Tamworth constituency. [283228]
Gillian Merron: It is for individual primary care trusts (PCTs), including South Staffordshire PCT, within the national health service to commission services for their resident population, including end of life care and neurological care, based on an assessment of local needs and priorities. Strategic health authorities (SHA) are responsible for monitoring PCTs to ensure they are effective and efficient. The information sources used by PCTs to make these decisions are a matter for local commissioners to determine. My hon. Friend may wish to approach the chief executive of South Staffordshire PCT for these details.
To support implementation of the End of Life Care Strategy for adults, published in July 2008, the NHS Operating Framework 2007-08 asked PCTs, working with local authorities, to undertake a baseline review of their end of life care services. These reviews have been helpful to PCTs as they have prepared their local strategic plans to deliver on the SHA visions for end of life care developed as part of the NHS Next Stage Review.
Regarding neurological care, the information strategy published alongside the "National Service Framework for Long-term (Neurological) Conditions" outlines commissioners' information requirements and a series of local and national actions designed to meet those needs.
Pharmacy: Pay
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with pharmacists on his Department's proposals to replace the prescription item threshold system with a scale of remuneration for pharmacists. [287814]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: There have been no discussions on the specific question as yet.
Prescription Drugs
Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to specify medicines to be excluded from the provisions of his Department's proposed generic substitution arrangements. [288424]
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will exempt anti-epileptic drugs from the requirements of his Department's guidelines on generic substitution to be introduced in January 2010. [287994]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: I refer the hon. Members to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) on 15 July 2009, Official Report, column 524W.
Rehabilitation
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money his Department has spent on the treatment of (a) drug, (b) alcohol, (c) smoking and (d) gambling addictions in each of the last five years. [288777]
Gillian Merron: The following table sets out the Department's expenditure on drug treatment for the last five years.
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | |
| (1) Not finalised Note: Abbreviations: PTB - Pooled drug treatment budget, PCT - Primary Care Trust, IDTS - Integrated Drug Treatment System. | |||||
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