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28 Jan 2010 : Column 1074W—continued
Health Services: South West
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) nurses and (b) doctors were employed in (i) the South West and (ii) the South Devon Healthcare Trust in each year since 1997. [313331]
Ann Keen: Figures on how many nurses and doctors were employed in the South West strategic health authority area and the South Devon healthcare trust in each year since 1997 are given in the following table:
Health: Unemployment
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice he has received from the Chief Medical Officer on the effects on public health of present trends in the level of unemployment. [313291]
Gillian Merron: We have not had any specific advice on the effects on public health of the present trend in the level of employment from the Chief Medical Officer.
Hospitals: Admissions
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many attendances there were at (a) accident and emergency departments and (b) minor injury units in (i) December 2008 and (ii) December 2009. [312941]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Information is not collected in the format requested. Information is collected weekly, not monthly. Depending on how the days of the week fall in any given year there can be four or five weekly collections in each month. In December 2008 there were four weekly collections, and in December 2009 five. The following table shows the number of attendances at all types of accident and emergency (A&E) departments in England in December 2008 and December 2009, collected through the weekly collections. However, the figures are not directly comparable due to the difference in the number of data collections within each month. We have provided data for all attendances at A&E departments as we do not collect separate figures for minor injuries units weekly. The data provided are from the Department's weekly SitRep management data which are not validated.
| Number of attendances at all types of A&E departments, England | ||
| A& E attendances (t housand) | Number of weeks of data collected | |
| Source: Department of Health Weekly SitReps. | ||
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients have been admitted to hospital in (a) Ashford constituency and (b) Kent after being attacked by a dog in the last five years. [313509]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department is unable to provide data specifically for the Ashford constituency due to low numbers, as numbers between one and five would need suppressing due to the Hospital Episode Statistics protocol. The numbers of finished admission episodes for people bitten or struck by a dog by Kent Primary Care Trust (PCT) for the years 2004-05 to 2008-09 are provided in the following table.
| Number of finished admission episodes (FAEs) for bitten or struck by dog by Kent PCT, 2004-05 to 2008-09: Activity in English NHS Hospital and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector | ||||
| West Kent PCT | Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT | Medway PCT | Total | |
| Notes: Kent has been made up of the following PCTs: In 2006-07 to 2008-09: West Kent Eastern and coastal Kent Medway Teaching Prior to 2006-07 West Kent was formerly made up of: Maidstone Weald PCT South West Kent PCT Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley PCT Prior to 2006-07 Eastern and coastal Kent was formerly made up of: Swale PCT Ashford PCT Canterbury and Coastal PCT East Kent Coastal PCT Shepway PCT Prior to 2006-07 Medway Teaching PCT was formerly made up of: Medway PCT It should be noted that the number of FAEs does not represent the number of patients as a patient may have been admitted more than once within a year. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, The NHS Information Centre for health and social care. | ||||
Human Tissue Act
Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will bring forward proposals to amend the Human Tissue Act 2004 to ensure that the rules for informal consent apply equally to imported and exported body tissue; and if he will make a statement. [314080]
Gillian Merron: The Human Tissue Act 2004 requires that these matters be dealt with through the preparation and issue of a code of practice by the Human Tissue Authority. It remains the Government's view that this is the right approach. The Human Tissue Authority published a code of practice on the import and export of human bodies, body parts and tissue in May 2007.
In relation to imports, the code says:
"Good practice requires that effective and reliable processes should be in place for acquiring evidence of informed consent from the prospective donor. This means that the importer should have in place policies and/or Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) which clearly set out the evidence indicating how informed consent was obtained, including safeguarding the confidentiality of all information relating to consent".
In relation to exports, the code says:
"SLAs (service level agreements) should be in place to ensure that human bodies, body parts and tissue to be exported from England, Wales and Northern Ireland are used in accordance with the consent that has been obtained."
Mental Health Services: Ex-servicemen
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 11 January 2009, Official Report, columns 15-16WS, on medical care (veterans), what special provisions he expects mental health services to make for veterans during 2011-12. [313971]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Operating framework for the national health service in England 2010-11 makes it clear that meeting the needs of military and ex-military personnel is a reputational issue for the NHS as a whole. This includes mental health.
The NHS will be helped in this task by the results of six United Kingdom pilots that aimed to test different approaches to encouraging uptake of NHS mental health services by veterans. This will report in the next few weeks.
In addition, we are currently launching a project which will embed personnel from the Combat Stress charity into another six or seven mental health trusts to build on benefits of collaborative working between the NHS and the voluntary sector.
Commissioning responsibility for mental health care services, including any special provisions for veterans, now rests with individual primary care trusts. We do not propose to change this.
Dr. Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate has he made of the number of former service personnel who have received treatment for mental illness in each year since 1992. [314383]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The fact that someone has served in the armed forces is not recorded within national health service information systems, so these figures are not available.
The Defence Medical Services and Department of Health will shortly introduce a new process to help service leavers register with an NHS general practitioner, including direct transfer of medical records and this will allow the individuals status as a veteran to be passed to other health workers, including within mental health services.
Multiple Sclerosis
Patrick Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of research carried out by Professor Paolo Zamboni of Ferrara University into the relationship between chronic cerebro-spinal venous insufficiency and multiple sclerosis. [313624]
Ann Keen: We have made no assessment of this research.
NHS: Finance
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much of the £161 million allocated by his Department each primary care trust spent on commissioning extended hours services. [313881]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Final data to inform spend of the £161 million allocation by primary care trust will not be available until later in the year.
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