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28 Oct 2009 : Column 448W—continued
Nutrition: Standards
Mr. Stephen O'Brien:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will request the Care Quality Commission to take account in its work of the findings of the report commissioned by the Healthcare Commission on a scoping exercise to identify priority topics for national audit on the Essence of Care, published by the Royal College of Nursing in February
2008; what the cost was of producing the report; and what steps he is taking to ensure the Care Quality Commission will incorporate the quality of nutritional care in its service reviews. [295683]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Care Quality Commission has informed us that it has taken into account the findings of the scoping work undertaken by the Royal College of Nursing. The findings have been particularly important in considering how the Care Quality Commission will assess compliance with the new registration requirements and in the development of its reviews and studies programme.
The new registration system will mean that all providers of regulated health and adult social care services will need to register with Care Quality Commission in order to operate. Registered providers will have to comply with specific requirements for hydration and nutrition. The Care Quality Commission will be able to take appropriate action if providers are found not to be compliant. This could include undertaking inspections, issuing warning notices or suspending registration. The Care Quality Commission will issue guidance explaining how providers can meet these requirements.
The Care Quality Commission has also informed us that it will look at nutrition and hydration issues in any special reviews that it undertakes. For example, this year it is undertaking a review of health care needs in care homes and a study of stroke care pathway. The Care Quality Commission is currently considering whether it needs to undertake a special review into nutrition and hydration.
The Care Quality Commission has informed us that it is also linked in with the Royal College of Nursing on their "Nutrition now" campaign and other programmes around improving skills for workforce in this area.
The scoping exercise by the Royal College of Nursing was commissioned by the Healthcare Commission and the Care Quality Commission does not possess information on the cost of producing the report.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what data the Care Quality Commission plans to use to assess adherence by (a) NHS trusts, (b) care homes and (c) other regulated providers to the registration requirement entitled "Making sure people get the nourishment they need". [295788]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has informed us that it is currently developing the methods it will use to implement the new system of registration for health and adult social care providers. It has recently consulted on its guidance about compliance and intends to publish it later this year. It will use information from a range of sources including the CQC's own site visits and information provided by third parties.
Office of the Health Professionals Adjudicator
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the Office of the Health Professionals Adjudicator will commence operations. [295606]
Ann Keen: The current planning assumptions are that from April 2011, the Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator will begin to make decisions on fitness to practise cases brought before it by the General Medical Council and subsequently on a date yet to be confirmed the General Optical Council.
Pain: Health Services
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS has spent on tackling chronic pain in patients in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point constituency in the latest period for which figures are available. [295671]
Ann Keen: The information requested is not held centrally.
Patients: Public Transport
Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has considered the effect on patients of (a) King's College hospital and (b) South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust of proposed reductions to rail services on the South London Line; and if he will make a statement. [295782]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department has not independently investigated the effect to patients of proposed reductions to rail services on the South London Line. It is the responsibility of Transport for London to ensure that its services adequately meet the needs of the local population.
Patients: Safety
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2009, Official Report, column 230W, on patients: safety, how many nutrition-related adverse incidents have been recorded by the National Patient Safety Agency in each month since it was established. [295650]
Ann Keen: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 16 June 2009, Official Report, column 230W. Information on the number of nutrition-related adverse incidents that have been recorded by the National Patient Safety Agency in each month since it was established in 2001 can still be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Social Services
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 12 October 2009, Official Report, column 758W, on social services, whether he proposes that funding for the service will be drawn entirely from his Department's budget; what mechanisms he intends to use to ensure that joined-up services are delivered; and what changes to existing arrangements for delivery of care services he envisages. [295615]
Phil Hope:
The Green Paper says that we want to build a system that is universal, fair, affordable, clear and helps people to live their lives the way they want to. We need to look at a range of different ways to bring more funding into the care and support system. Exact
details of future funding arrangements will depend on which funding option is chosen as the basis of the new Care and Support system.
The Green Paper set outs three ways in which we might fund a new system:
partnership-the Government covers some care costs, more if you have a low income;
insurance-the Government covers some care costs, and helps you take out insurance for the rest, if you want it; and
comprehensive-everyone over retirement age who can afford it would pay into a state insurance scheme, so that everyone who needs care and support will receive it free. We would look at having a free care and support system for people of working age alongside this.
The Green Paper states that all the services that you need should work together. People should be able to expect that the professionals who work with them will work together, particularly when needs are assessed. The Government will tackle the obstacles to partners working together nationally so that local services are freer to make their own choices about how they can improve joined-up working. We will develop a coherent strategy centred on patients, care-users and their carers, to support local leaders to make sure that joined-up services are delivered.
Social Services: Finance
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have taken up (a) a direct payment and (b) an individual budget in each local authority area; and what targets have been set for the take up of each programme in each local authority area. [295604]
Phil Hope: Following the end of the Individual budgets pilots project in December 2007, the Department announced a programme to introduce personal budgets which comprise social care funding only. As part of the Welfare Reform Bill, the 'Right to Control' work is building on the learning from the individual budget pilots to take forward the principles of choice and self-directed support through a range of income streams.
Information on what targets have been set for the take up of direct payments and individual budgets by each local authority is not collected centrally. The available information has been placed in the Library.
Suffolk Primary Care Trust: Finance
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent by Suffolk Primary Care Trust on salaries and wages for (a) general and senior managers, (b) nurses and midwives and (c) administrative and clerical staff in each year since its creation. [296169]
Phil Hope: The following table shows data for 2002-03 to 2008-09, which are the only years for which this information is available by individual organisation. Suffolk Primary Care Trust (PCT) was reconfigured as part of the national restructuring process in October 2006. For 2005-06 and previous financial years, the figures in the table represent the sum of the relevant figures across the four predecessor PCTs-Suffolk Coastal PCT, Ipswich PCT, Central Suffolk PCT and Suffolk West PCT.
The figures provided are for total expenditure on staff and include social security costs, pension contributions and early retirement costs. It is not possible separately to identify salaries and wages. Redundancy costs are not included.
The figures for 'Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting Staff' and 'Admin and Clerical Staff' include non-NHS staff, e.g. staff employed via an employment agency.
Information is from the financial returns for NHS bodies. The data are not audited but are validated to the audited summarisation schedules.
| Suffolk Primary Care Trust 2002-03 to 2008-09 | |||
| £000 | |||
| Managers and senior managers | Nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff | Admin and clerical | |
| Source: Financial Returns 2002-03 to 2008-09 | |||
Swine Flu: Prisoners
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prisoners have been diagnosed with swine influenza. [296174]
Phil Hope: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) receives from each prison in England and Wales a weekly report on the number of swine flu cases. To date there have been 130 cases confirmed by laboratory analysis since 13 July when data collection began.
The data shows that NOMS' strategy for managing swine flu in prisons has been effective in preventing the spread of swine flu among prisoners.
These data have been drawn from administrative information technology systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing returns the detail is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. The data are not subject to audit.
Swine Flu: Vaccination
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of likely take-up rates of swine influenza vaccine (a) amongst different age groups, (b) amongst people with different vulnerabilities to the illness and (c) by geographic area. [294358]
Gillian Merron: The Department has estimated a national uptake rate of 70 per cent. for all the priority at-risk groups, based on the uptake rate of 74 per cent. for seasonal flu vaccine among the over 65s. Based on previous data on seasonal influenza vaccine uptake, there is little reason to believe that there will be significant regional variation in this estimated uptake rate.
This estimate is for planning purposes only and is not a target. We recommend that all people in the priority groups receive the vaccine.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of each swine influenza vaccination. [295884]
Gillian Merron: The swine flu vaccination programme will be administered by general practitioners (GPs) following successful negotiations between the Department, General Practitioners Committee of the British Medical Association and NHS Employers.
The deal will mean that GP surgeries will receive £5.25 per dose of vaccine given. This £5.25 payment will pay for the extra staff and non-staff resources that practices will need to vaccinate their at-risk patients. At the same time it will ensure other services provided by the practices do not suffer while practices are vaccinating large numbers of patients. The £5.25 does not include the cost of the vaccine itself. The price we pay for the vaccine is commercially confidential information.
Thalidomide
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has funded research into the potential effectiveness of the use of Thalidomide in the treatment of certain illnesses. [295438]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: I am told that the Department has not funded research into the effectiveness of thalidomide in the treatment of illnesses.
Thalidomide was licensed in June 2008 for the treatment of multiple myeloma or for those ineligible for high dose chemotherapy. Thalidomide UK and other stakeholders both here and in Europe were consulted throughout the licensing process and I understand that they have acknowledged the benefits of thalidomide for the treatment of multiple myeloma.
West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust: Finance
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent by (a) West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust and (b) Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust on salaries and wages for (i) general and senior managers, (ii) nurses and midwives and (iii) administrative and clerical staff in each year since 1999. [296170]
Phil Hope: The following tables show data for 2002-03 to 2008-09, which are the only years for which this information is available by individual organisation.
The figures provided are for total expenditure on staff and include social security costs, pension contributions and early retirement costs. It is not possible separately to identify salaries and wages. Redundancy costs are not included.
The figures for "Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting Staff" and "Admin and Clerical Staff" include non-national health service staff-e.g. staff employed via an employment agency.
Information is from the financial returns for NHS bodies. The data are not audited but is validated to the audited summarisation schedules.
| West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust 2002-03 to 2008-09 | |||
| £000 | |||
| Managers and senior managers | Nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff | Admin and clerical | |
| Source: Financial returns 2002-03 to 2008-09 | |||
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