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3 Nov 2009 : Column 924W—continued
Patient Choice Schemes: Greater London
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the average time taken was to answer a call to the appointment booking system at (a) the Royal Free Hospital and (b) Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals in the latest period for which figures are available; what percentage of calls to each system were not answered in that period; and if he will make a statement; [296604]
(2) for how many rings on average a person seeking to make an appointment via the telephone booking system at (a) the Royal Free Hospital, (b) Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust and (c) Northwick Park Hospital waited before being connected in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [296620]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The information requested is not held centrally.
Patient Choice Schemes: Hendon
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress is being made in implementing the choose and book system for patients in Hendon constituency; and if he will make a statement. [296600]
Mr. Mike O'Brien:
The choose and book system is in place across all general practitioners practices in England including those in the Hendon constituency which falls under Barnet Primary Care Trust (PCT). The Department
continues to provide national support and guidance to ensure the choose and book system is utilised effectively in all PCTs.
Patients: Attendance
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to reduce levels of non-attendance at appointments at (a) Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals (b) Northwick Park Hospital and (c) the Royal Free Hospital; and if he will make a statement. [296602]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: This is a matter for the local trusts. In 2008 the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement created a tool to be used by hospitals to examine the causes for patient non-attendance and provides guidance on what hospitals can do to reduce the level of 'did not attends'.
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of patients did not attend for (a) operations and (b) out-patient appointments at (i) Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals, (ii) the Royal Free Hospital and (iii) Northwick Park Hospital in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [296603]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Information on the number of patients failing to attend operations is not held centrally. Information on the number of patients who failed to attend out-patient appointments is collected by hospital trust and included in the following tables.
| Count and percentage of appointments( 1) where the patient did not attend( 2) in 2007-08 and 2008-09( 3) (provisional full year) | ||||
| Provider code | Hospital provider | Total appointments( 1) | Total did not attend( 2) | Percentage |
| (1) Appointment count: This provides a count of the number of planned/booked appointments for out-patients. The database is constructed of one row per appointment that was made, whether it was attended or not. (2) Attendance type: Attendance type identifies if the patient attended an appointment, and if it was first or subsequent attendance, or if the appointment was cancelled or the patient did not attend. This field is complete for over 99 per cent. of appointments. In this case, attendance types included in the count of total not attending, were: Four-did not attend first appointment Five-did not attend subsequent appointment Six-did not attend, first/subsequent/tele unknown 24-did not attend first tele consultation (2008-09 only) 25-Did not attend subsequent tele consultation (2008-09 only) (3) Provisional data: The data are provisional and may be incomplete or contain errors for which no adjustments have yet been made. Counts produced from provisional data are likely to be lower than those generated for the same period in the final dataset. This shortfall will be most pronounced in the final month of the latest period, i.e. November from the (month nine) April to November extract. It is also probable that clinical data are not complete, which may in particular affect the last two months of any given period. There may also be a variety of errors due to coding inconsistencies that have not yet been investigated and corrected. (4) Data Quality note: In 2007-08 there was a shortfall in the data submitted by Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust between August and December 2007. For this reason, the total appointment count and total did not attend count would have actually been significantly larger in this year and so caution must be taken before drawing any conclusions on this trust. Note: Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES); Out-patients, The NHS Information Centre for health and social care | ||||
Patients: Greater London
Mr. Dismore:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients from the postcode (a) NW4, (b) NW7, (c) NW9 and (d) HA8 were treated at (i) Barnet Hospital, (ii) Chase Farm Hospital, (iii) the Royal Free Hospital and (iv) Northwick Park
Hospital for (A) inpatient and (B) outpatient appointments in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [296590]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The information requested is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the tables as follows:
| A count of in-patient finished admission episodes of patients from post codes HA8, NW4, NW7 and NW9 to Barnet and Chase Farm NHS trust, North West London NHS trust and Royal Free Hampstead NHS trust between 2008-09 and 2006-07 | |||||
| Postcode | Code | Provider | 2008-09 | 2007-08 | 2006-07 |
| Notes: 1. We are unable to provide information for specific hospitals. We have provided data for the care providers to which the hospitals belong. Barnet Hospital and Chase Farm hospital are part of the Barnet and Chase Farm hospitals NHS trust, the Royal Free hospital is part of the Royal Free Hampstead hospitals trust, and Northwick Park hospital belongs to the North West London hospitals NHS trust. 2. The data provided are for activity in English national health service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector. 3. In-patients are defined as patients who are admitted to hospital and occupy a bed, including both admissions where an overnight stay is planned and day cases. 4. 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. It should be noted that admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. 5. HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. The quality and coverage of the data have improved over time. These improvements in information submitted by the NHS have been particularly marked in the earlier years and need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. Some of the increase in figures for later years (particularly 2006-07 onwards) may be due to the improvement in the coverage of independent sector activity. Changes in NHS practice also need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. For example, a number of procedures may now be undertaken in out-patient settings and may no longer be accounted for in the HES data. This may account for any reductions in activity over time. 6. HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts in England. Data are also received from a number of independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS 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. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care. | |||||
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