| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
16 Dec 2009 : Column 1316W—continued
Dietetics: Training
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many four year dietetics degrees were funded by his Department in each of the last five years. [307077]
Ann Keen: The number of training places on four year dietetics degree courses which were commissioned by the strategic health authorities in the last five years are shown in the following table.
| Training places commissioned | |
| Academic year | Number |
| Source: Non-Medical Education Training Quarter 4 Monitoring Returns | |
Dieticians: Vacancies
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many vacancies for registered dieticians at band 5 were advertised by NHS trusts in each of the last 10 years. [304165]
Ann Keen: It is not possible to identify band 5 dieticians from the NHS Vacancy Survey. The following table gives the total number of vacancies for the whole dietetic speciality for 2007, 2008 and 2009. It is not possible to identify this speciality for earlier years.
| England | Total vacancy numbers |
Food Standards Agency: Conferences
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) away days and (b) conferences that took place outside the Food Standards Agency's buildings attended by civil servants in that Agency there have been since 2005; and what the cost was of each. [307460]
Gillian Merron: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has spent approximately £581,117.74 on conference and away days since 2004-05.
Away days and conference attendance are not accounted for separately in the FSA, and to provide this breakdown would incur disproportionate cost as the information is not held centrally.
Health Education: Internet
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to his Department was of developing the NHS Drinks Counter application for the iPhone. [307254]
Gillian Merron: NHS Choices developed the iPhone drinks tracker application as part of a package of interactive tools that also included a universal mobile phone tool. The total cost for the universal mobile phone and iPhone applications was £10,000.
Between launch on 1 December and 9 December the iPhone application has been downloaded by over 35,000 individuals and has remained in the top 10 most popular iPhone applications on iTunes. It is number one in the health and fitness category.
Hospital Beds: Greater London
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many intensive care beds are available at each London acute hospital; and what recent estimate he has made of their rate of occupancy. [305082]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Tables showing the requested information have been placed in the Library. Table 1 lists the latest published data for critical and intensive care bed occupancy at trust and strategic health authority level for London. Table 2 lists the latest published data for adult critical care bed availability for London, which is more recent than the data for bed occupancy and availability in table 1.
Hospital Wards: Leeds
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) male-only wards, (b) female-only wards, (c) mixed sex wards and (d) wards divided by partition into sexes there are in each hospital in Leeds. [306579]
Ann Keen: The information requested is not collected centrally. Information on the different types of ward in each hospital in Leeds may be obtained from local national health service organisations in the Leeds area.
Kidney Dialysis: Yorkshire and the Humber
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospitals in (a) West Yorkshire and (b) Leeds provide kidney dialysis treatment. [306995]
Ann Keen: The information requested is not collected centrally. Information on hospitals that provide kidney dialysis treatment is collected by the UK Renal Registry. The annual reports containing analysis of data from 1997 to 2008 can be found on the Renal Registry's website:
Leeds
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much capital spending his Department has made in Leeds West constituency in the last three years; [306940]
(2) how much capital spending his Department has made in the Leeds city area in the last three years. [306941]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The information is not available in the format requested. Information is available at national health service organisation level. The following table shows the charge against the capital resource limit for the years shown for the NHS organisations in Leeds.
| £000 | |||
| Name | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 |
| Notes: The charge against the capital resource limit is calculated as follows: (a) Gross capital expenditure in accruals terms for the period; (b) Less the net book value of assets disposed of; (c) Plus any loss on disposal of donated assets; (d) Less capital grants received; and (e) Less donations. The Leeds Partnerships NHS Foundation Trust was authorised as a foundation trust on 1 August 2007. The figure for 2007-08 is consequently for the part of the year that the organisation was a NHS Trust. The 2006-07 figure is for the Leeds Mental Health Teaching NHS Trust (as it was known prior to obtaining foundation trust status). The Department does not collect data from foundation trusts, so there is no figure for 2008-09. Source: Audited summarisation schedules. | |||
Mentally Ill: Homicide
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of the cost of conducting a mental health homicide investigation. [307265]
Phil Hope:
Strategic health authorities commission independent investigations into adverse events in mental health services, including homicides committed by mental
health service users. The Department does not collect routine information or cost data on such local investigations, and nor has there been a national estimate of their cost.
NHS Connecting for Health: Consultants
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much Connecting for Health spent on each of its consultancies in each financial year since 2003-04. [304242]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Comprehensive information is not available in the form requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
NHS: Essex
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he was first informed of the Care Quality Commission's concerns about the (a) Basildon and Thurrock NHS Foundation Trust and (b) Colchester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. [303860]
Andy Burnham: The Department was informed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on 13 October that it would issue Basildon and Thurrock NHS Foundation Trust with a warning notice following a healthcare associated infection inspection by CQC on 8 October. CQC continued discussions with the trust, the primary care trust and Monitor regarding wider concerns about the trust, including persistently high mortality rates and issues relating to the trust's accident and emergency department. Subsequently, the Commission formally invited Monitor to use its powers of intervention to address the failings identified. CQC informed the Department on 25 November that it had invited Monitor to intervene at the trust.
The CQC did not contact the Department regarding Colchester NHS Foundation Trust. The intervention at Colchester has been taken by Monitor.
NHS: Information and Communications Technology
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the evidential basis is for his determination that the NHS National programme for IT is not essential; and when his Department was first informed of this evidence. [307059]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The national programme for information technology in the national health service is a key part of delivering modern, safe, joined-up healthcare, without which the NHS could not now function. It is always right to look for efficiencies and value for money on all major projects.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his contribution of 7 December 2009, Official Report, column 21, what estimate he has made of the proposed £500 million efficiency saving for the National programme for IT will be derived from (a) the Local Service Provider Detailed Care Record Service managed by BT for London and the South of England, (b) the Local Service Provider Detailed Care Record Service managed by CSC for the North, Midlands and East of England, (c) Choose and Book, (d) the Electronic Prescription Service, (e) the
Summary Care Record, (f) the Additional Supply Capacity and Capability Framework, (g) GP Systems of Choice, (h) GP2GP transfer, (i) HealthSpace and (j) the interoperability toolkit. [307208]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: These decisions remain to be taken. They will depend partly on the outcome of discussions with suppliers about the potential for reductions to the scope of the systems. We will also look carefully at the savings that can be made from the costs of managing delivery of the programme.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the National programme for IT in the NHS: Project Progress Report of 16 May 2008, how much of the National programme for IT £3.6 billion budget for local costs has been spent in each local service provider region; and whether he plans to amend the budget for the programme in the next 12 months. [307277]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Expenditure information is not available in the form requested. The figure of £3,586 million for local costs is an estimate that was made by the National Audit Office (NAO) in their report The National programme for IT in the NHS : Progress since 2006'. The NAO did not provide an estimate of the costs incurred by individual local service providers.
NHS: Ministers of Religion
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding is available for the support and recruitment of multi-faith chaplains in hospitals in 2009-10. [306924]
Ann Keen: National health service trusts are responsible for delivering religious and spiritual care in a way that meets the diverse needs of their patients. We are committed to the principle of ensuring that patients and staff in the NHS have access to the spiritual care that they want, whatever faith or belief system they follow. The Department recognises the important role played by faith communities in supporting the NHS and has made available a total of £186,000 from central funding to support a multi-faith based approach to chaplaincy.
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department's policy is on support for multi-faith chaplaincy in hospitals; and if he will make a statement. [307001]
Ann Keen: The Department recognises that we live in a diverse society and is committed to responding sensitively and appropriately to the needs of patients and staff of diverse backgrounds, including faith communities. All national health service organisations must take account of the religious, cultural and dietary requirements of the multi-cultural and spiritually diverse communities they serve. The delivery of multi-faith chaplaincy in hospitals is a matter for local determination. However, we expect NHS trusts to follow the guidance "NHS Chaplaincy: Meeting the Religious and Spiritual Needs of Patients and Staff (November 2003)", a copy of which has already been placed in the Library.
Pharmacy: Health Services
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received on proposals to allow general practitioners to sell over-the-counter medicine. [306482]
Social Services
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to Annex B, footnote 4 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill; for what reasons data from West Berkshire was used; and whether his Department holds equivalent data for other local authorities. [304806]
Phil Hope: The model referred to in paragraphs 5.12, 5.13 and Annex B of the impact assessment is still under development. For this reason, its output has not been incorporated into any of the figures reported in the impact assessment. The model will continue to be updated and refined as more information becomes available.
The experience of West Berkshire was used because its clients have been assessed as having high needs under "Fair Access to Care Services". The Department does not hold equivalent data for other councils.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to paragraph 3.1 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, in what ways he expects the policy to encourage better working between the health and social care systems. [304811]
Phil Hope: The Personal Care at Home Bill is a step towards setting up a new national care service. Our Green Paper, "Shaping the Future of Care Together", which has already been placed in the Library, set out our vision for a national care service that promotes better joined-up working between health, housing and social care services.
The consultation on the Green Paper closed on November 13, 2009 and we will publish a White Paper early in 2010. Also feeding into the White Paper will be the work of the ministerial group on integration of health and social care services, which has met four times with a purpose of identifying what has worked well in different parts of the country, as well as what the evidence tells us, to help push forward joined-up working.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to paragraph 7.3 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, whether local authorities with significant rural populations would receive a proportionate uplift in funding if the Personal Care at Home Bill were enacted; if he will place in the Library a copy of the outcomes of the screening equality impact assessment; and if he will publish the full equality impact assessment before the end of December 2009. [304857]
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |