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30 Nov 2009 : Column 539W—continued
Immobilisation of Vehicles
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has paid in vehicle clamping charges incurred on (a) privately-owned and (b) publicly-owned land in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [302739]
Phil Hope: The Department has not incurred any clamping costs either on privately or publicly owned land.
The Department's expenses guide states that it will not pay any penalty imposed under the Road Traffic Acts or any associated expense arising from a traffic accident or offence, neither will it reimburse any parking fines.
Incinerators: Health Hazards
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect on public health of emissions from a functioning incinerator; [302956]
(2) with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Lewes of 17 September 2007, Official Report, column 2209W, on infant mortality: incineration, what recent assessment his Department has made of the correlation between the presence of a functioning incinerator and the incidence of infant mortality in that area. [302957]
Ann Keen: The Department has made no recent assessments of the effect on public health of emissions from incinerators, or the effects on infant mortality.
The health protection agency (HPA) recently reviewed the latest research on the impact on health of emissions to air from modern municipal waste incinerators and published a statement in September 2009. It concluded that, while it is not possible to rule out adverse health effects completely, any potential damage from modern, well-run and regulated incinerators is likely to be so small that it would be undetectable. The advice is available on the agency's website at:
www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb&;HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1251473372175
The HPA also advised that studies of public health around modern, well managed municipal waste incinerators are not recommended, since any possible health effects are likely to be small.
Incontinence: Children
Annette Brooke:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer of 16 October 2009, Official Report, column 104W, on incontinence: children, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of provision for children's continence
services in the last five years; and what plans exist to assess them in the next five years with particular reference to assessing (a) the extent of implementation of the guidance on integrated or joined-up continence services referred to in the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity and (b) the effect of the Continence Exemplar published by his Department. [302984]
Ann Keen: It is for strategic health authorities working together with primary care trusts and local authorities to ensure that adequate services are available, taking into account the guidance given in the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services. The Continence Exemplar provides those designing services locally an example of how an integrated service might work with a child with incontinence issues but no other underlying condition. Future exemplars will show how services might work with children who have physical or learning difficulties as well as problems with continence.
Injuries: Offensive Weapons
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been admitted to each hospital trust in Hampshire with (a) stab wounds and (b) gunshot wounds in each of the last five years. [301378]
Gillian Merron: A table providing information finished admission episodes (FAEs) where the external cause code related to assault by gunshot or sharp object has been placed in the Library. This excludes the knife and gun injuries which are classified as accidents, intentional self-harm and undetermined intent.
Reference should be made to the footnotes and clinical codes when interpreting the data.
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) men and (b) women have been admitted to hospital with (i) stab wounds and (ii) gunshot wounds in each region in each of the last 10 years. [301379]
Phil Hope: A table providing information on the number of finished admission episodes where the external cause code related to assaults by gunshot or sharp object has been placed in the Library. This excludes assault by gunshot and sharp object which are classified as accidents, intentional self-harm and for which the intent is undetermined. Reference should be made to the footnotes and the clinical coding when interpreting the data.
Learning Disability: Cancer
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) women and (b) women with a learning disability have received (i) breast and (ii) cervical cancer screening in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [301413]
Ann Keen: The following table shows the number of women that were screened under the NHS Breast Screening Programme and the NHS Cervical Screening Programme in England in each year from 1996-97 until 2008-09.
| Number | ||
| Women (aged 45 and over) screened under the NHS Breast Screening Programme | Women (all ages) screened under the NHS Cervical Screening Programme | |
| (1) Not yet available. Source: NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care. | ||
The number of women with learning difficulties screened each year is not identified within the data collection for either screening programme.
Mental Health Services: Waiting Lists
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) median and (b) mean waiting time for patients to see mental health specialists as (i) an out-patient first attendance and (ii) an in-patient admission was in each year since 1997. [302358]
Phil Hope: Data are not collected by the Department for in-patient or out-patient waiting times in mental health services.
Referrals by general practitioners to mental health consultants are included in the 18-week waiting time target for out-patients. However, most referrals are to multidisciplinary teams, not to consultants, and most patients are treated outside of hospital in primary care settings. The 18-week target does not apply to primary care mental health activity and this standard is not a robust indicator of access to mental health services.
For mental health in-patients, the Information Centre for health and social care collects hospital episode statistics on waiting times, but only for the 10 per cent. of finished admission episodes which are planned. Around 90 per cent. of mental health in-patient finished admission episodes are emergencies, and for which waiting times data are not collected. The data available do not indicate waiting times for in-patient mental health services accurately and are not used by the Department.
Mental Illness
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will commission research on the potential effects on a person's mental health of trends in geographical mobility. [302030]
Phil Hope: The Department has no current plans to commission research on the potential effects on a person's mental health of trends in geographical mobility.
Mentally Ill: Children
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer of 4 June 2008, Official Report, column 1031W, on mentally ill children, if he will place in the Library a copy of the figures for the 2008 calendar year. [301757]
Phil Hope: This information is not available. NHS Prescription Services cannot supply exemption category data, e.g. children under 16, after December 2007 because the processes for pricing prescriptions and for capturing prescription charge exemption status has changed. Therefore, NHS Prescription Services cannot reliably estimate the data for each exemption category relating to the age of the patient from that date.
Mentally Ill: Prisoners
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what support his Department provides for mentally ill female offenders. [302328]
Phil Hope: Primary care trusts commission mental health services for women in prisons that are equivalent to those provided in the community. Most services are provided by prison primary care staff, with more specialist services provided by in reach teams. When prisoners mental health problems require them to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act they are transferred to appropriate clinical settings.
"Improving Health, Supporting Justice: The National Delivery Plan of The Health and Criminal Justice Programme Board" was published on 17 November 2009 and a copy has been placed in the Library. It includes plans to improve mental health services for offenders and a commitment that priorities for women will be described in a women's programme document to be published shortly.
NHS: Finance
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure that NHS services are fully funded during the recession. [301825]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: We are increasing allocations to primary care trusts by 5.5 per cent. in both 2009-10 and 2010-11, making over £8 billion in new resources available for the national health service. The Government have not yet taken decisions on funding for the NHS for 2011-12 onwards. That will be decided as part of the next spending review.
NHS: Information and Communications Technology
Mr. Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps have been taken to ensure that the Cerner software system at Kingston Hospital NHS Trust does not encounter post-installation problems similar to those which arose at Barts and the London NHS Trust and at Royal Free Hospital NHS Trust; and if he will make a statement. [301775]
Mr. Mike O'Brien:
While not all problems experienced following the earlier installations in London were due to the Cerner Millennium system, initial experience with the new systems was not without difficulties. However,
although the scale of the challenge in implementing complex information technology systems into acute trusts must not be underestimated, significant progress has also since been made.
The approach being taken at Kingston hospital NHS trust has been informed by the lessons learnt from the improvement programmes undertaken over the past year at the existing sites in London that are live with the Cerner system.
NHS: Redundancy
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many redundancies are planned to be made by each hospital trust in the South East between 24 November 2009 and 31 March 2010. [302153]
Gillian Merron: The information requested is not collected centrally. It is for the local national health service to plan and develop health services to meet the needs of the local population.
NHS: Training
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure the provision of protected training time for (a) healthcare assistants and (b) nurses. [301827]
Ann Keen: Employers have a duty to ensure staff have the appropriate education and training to deliver priorities and services and this is supported through the NHS constitution staff pledges.
Employers make local decisions on the amount of time made available to allow staff to access continuing professional development such as training courses or learning opportunities. Continuing professional development needs for national health service staff are determined against local NHS priorities, through appraisal processes and training needs analyses.
Nurses
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what support his Department plans to give to the Royal College of Nursing's Nursing counts campaign. [301819]
Ann Keen: The Department does not plan to give any direct support to the Royal College of Nursing's (RCN) campaign. However, the areas outlined in the campaign are included in current policy. Ministers and Department officials and RCN officials meet formally and informally to discuss policy at all stages of development. We remain committed to involving the RCN as appropriate, and to seek their views and opinions on matters of importance.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to reduce the drop-out rate of student nurses; and if he will take steps to increase the level of support given to student nurses. [301823]
Ann Keen:
The Department has been working with strategic health authorities (SHAs) and higher education institutions (HEIs) to reduce attrition from training programmes by improving the quality of education and
training for nurses and other health professionals. The contract between SHAs and HEIs includes a financial incentive to reduce the level of attrition from pre-registration nursing courses, so that two per cent. of the funding for HEIs is reliant on meeting targets to reduce attrition. An additional three per cent. of the funding is reliant on effective education commissioning and innovation. This includes demonstrating the quality of the education and support provided to students. As part of the Education Commissioning for Quality project within the Department we aim to support further improvements in education commissioning by SHAs, including further refinements to the contractual incentives for HEIs.
The current system of financial support for student nurses is also being reviewed, primarily to remove the anomaly between the support available to degree and diploma students, but also to consider the best way of providing support to students. We are currently consulting on a number of options for alternative ways to provide financial support and expect to take a decision on a new system early in 2010.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure the provision of (a) school nurses and (b) health awareness campaigns in schools. [301824]
Ann Keen: It is for primary care trusts in partnership with local authorities, strategic health authorities and other local stakeholders to determine how best to use their funds to meet national and local priorities for improving health, and to commission services accordingly There are about 3,000 secondary schools. The 2008 NHS Workforce Census shows there were 3,645 qualified nurses in school nursing areas (headcount equivalent), an increase of 1,234 or 51 per cent. since 2004.
In relation to health awareness campaigns, we continue to support the uptake of the Healthy Schools programme in all maintained schools in England and 99 per cent. of all schools are currently participating.
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