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12 Oct 2009 : Column 748W—continued
Rheumatology
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of (a) inpatient and (b) outpatient attendances in the rheumatology speciality in the latest year for which figures are available; and at what average cost. [289457]
Phil Hope: We have made no estimate of the number, or cost, of in-patient and out-patient attendances for rheumatology.
However, the total number of ordinary, and day case admissions, to hospital where the main consultant specialty is recorded as rheumatology is given in the following table.
| Day case | Ordinary | |
| Note: A finished admission episode is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. Finished admission episodes are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. | ||
Schizophrenia
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what proportion of mental health NHS provider organisations are implementing the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence clinical guideline update for schizophrenia; [290314]
(2) what steps he is taking to (a) publicise and (b) implement the recommendations of the updated National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence clinical guideline update for schizophrenia; [290315]
(3) what (a) support and (b) guidance has been made available to healthcare professionals to facilitate adherence to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence clinical guideline update on schizophrenia; and whether he has put in place ongoing monitoring to assess the implementation of the guidance by healthcare professionals. [290316]
Phil Hope: We welcome the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's (NICE's) updated guidance on schizophrenia and expect it to help further improve the quality of treatment and care for people with schizophrenia.
It is for NICE to publicise the release of its guidance to the national health service and it is for the NHS to implement it. NICE publishes implementation tools to help the NHS implement its guidance locally.
Clinicians are responsible for deciding on the most appropriate form of treatment for their patients, and in doing so they are expected to take NICE guidance fully into account. The Department does not become involved in clinical decisions, nor does it collect data on implementation levels of this NICE guidance among NHS organisations.
NICE issues both technology appraisals (TAs) and clinical guidelines (CGs) and the schizophrenia guidance issued this March is a CG. Clinicians are expected to consider treatments outlined in CGs when considering prescribing options, but are not obliged to prescribe these. As CGs are very broad in approach and can contain 100 or more recommendations, health bodies should implement the guidance as and when resources permit.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how the Care Quality Commission is monitoring adherence to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence clinical guideline update on schizophrenia; and what steps it will take in respect of NHS organisations found to be non-compliant. [290317]
Phil Hope: There are no plans for the Care Quality Commission to monitor adherence with the clinical guideline on schizophrenia published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
NICE clinical guidelines support national health service commissioning and best practice in service provision, but compliance with these are not direct indicators of levels of safety and quality. The Department expects NHS organisations to work towards full implementation
of NICE clinical guidelines over a reasonable period of time using available resources.
Schools: Nurses
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of secondary schools which employ a school nurse; and what estimate he has made of the number of school nurse posts to be established in secondary schools in the next 12 months. [292116]
Phil Hope: There are about 3,000 secondary schools. The 2008 NHS Workforce Census shows there were 3,643 qualified nurses in school nursing areas (2,634 full time equivalent), an increase of 63 per cent. since 2004. Of these, there were 1,447 (headcount) school nurses with a post registration school nurse qualification (1,062 full time equivalent), an increase of 69 per cent. since 2004.
It is for individual primary care trusts to determine how to use the funding allocated to them to commission services to meet the health care needs of their local populations over the next 12 months.
The overall number of professionals within community services for children and families has increased. School nurses are able to access more resources than was traditionally the case.
Smoking: Greater Manchester
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in (a) Bolton and (b) Greater Manchester have received assistance from the NHS to stop smoking in each of the last five years. [291645]
Gillian Merron: The information is not available in the format requested. The following table shows the number of people setting a quit date and the number of those who successfully quit smoking through national health service stop smoking services in the Bolton primary care trust (PCT) and Greater Manchester, 2004-05 to 2008-09.
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