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Departmental Manpower
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many performance reviews were undertaken in respect of staff of (a) his Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years; in how many cases performance was rated as unsatisfactory or below; how many staff left as a direct result of such a rating; and what percentage of full-time equivalent staff this represented. [313838]
Phil Hope: The Department operates a performance management system which rates staff on performance and behaviour scales and allocates each member of staff to one of three performance related pay (PRP) markings: ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’ and ‘Unsatisfactory’. All staff marked as unsatisfactory are subject to poor performance procedures. It is not possible to determine how many staff left employment by the Department as a direct result of an unsatisfactory rating as this information is not held centrally. The following table sets out the requested information.
|
| Total staff year average | Unsatisfactory PRP marks | Percentage of staff marked unsatisfactory |
Details of the previous two years are not held centrally and to retrieve that information would incur disproportionate costs.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) operates the same PRP rating system as the core Department.
In the MHRA no staff have been dismissed on grounds of unsatisfactory performance. Some staff have resigned during the performance management process but it the cause of such resignations are not recorded. The information for the MHRA is as follows.
|
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 |
| n/a = This information is not available. | |||||
The records for the NHS Procurement and Supply Agency (PASA) are only available for 2007-08, when fewer than five members of staff received an unsatisfactory rating and left as a result of the rating. There were 257 (full-time equivalent) members of staff during 2007-08 and the staff leaving represents less than 2 per cent. of total.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the proportion of staff of (a) his Department and (b) its agencies managed out in the last five years who remain working in the public sector. [313854]
Phil Hope: The Department and its agencies do not hold records on the employment of former staff after they leave the Department.
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Departmental Recruitment
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many job vacancies in his Department and its agencies were filled through external recruitment agencies in the latest year for which figures are available. [315494]
Phil Hope: The Department currently has in place recruitment controls for all grades and external recruitment is authorised in only the most exceptional circumstances.
As part of the work currently being undertaken, on Next Generation HR, a single ‘e-recruitment’ system is being developed that will enable Departments to manage recruitment and lower the use and cost of external recruitment agents.
All external vacancies in the core Department are now also advertised through Job Centre Plus.
During 2008-09 the Department used recruitment agents to handle the administration for their external recruitment campaigns. 73 posts were filled through external recruitment in the core Department. The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency filled 10 vacancies through external recruitment.
For the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency 16 job vacancies were filled using external agencies.
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department and its agencies spent on external recruitment consultants in the latest year for which figures are available. [315497]
Phil Hope: The Department currently has in place recruitment controls for all grades and external recruitment is authorised in only the most exceptional circumstances.
As part of the work currently being undertaken, on Next Generation HR, a single ‘e-recruitment’ system is being developed that will enable Departments to manage recruitment and lower the use and cost of external recruitment agents.
All external vacancies in the core Department are now also advertised through Job Centre Plus.
The core Department spent a total of £464,581 on external recruitment for the 2008-09 financial year.
In the same period the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency spent £88,108.00 on external recruitment and the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency spent £66,614.
Hemsworth
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will set out, with statistical information related as directly as possible to Hemsworth constituency, the effects on Hemsworth of his Department's policies and actions since 2000. [316309]
Ann Keen:
The Government have put in place a programme of national health service investment and reform since 1997 to improve service delivery in all parts of the United Kingdom. 93 per cent. of people nationally now rate the NHS as good or excellent. The NHS Constitution contains 25 rights and 14 pledges for patients and the public including new rights to be
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treated within 18 weeks, or be seen by a cancer specialist within two weeks and an NHS health check every five years for those aged 40-74 years.
There is significant evidence that these policies have yielded considerable benefits for the Hemsworth constituency. For example:
Figures for November 2009 show that in Wakefield District Primary Care Trust (PCT):
95 per cent, of patients whose treatment involved admission to hospital started their treatment within 18 weeks.
98 per cent. of patients whose treatment did not involve admission to hospital started their treatment within 18 weeks.
In September 2009, at Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, 99.2 per cent. of patients spent less than four hours in accident and emergency from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge.
Between September 2002 and September 2008, the number of consultants at Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust has increased from 202 to 248. Between September 2002 and September 2008, the number of doctors in training has increased from 261 to 379.
Between September 2001 and September 2008, the number of general practitioners (GPs) per 100,000 within Wakefield District PCT has increased from 62.8 to 73.1.
91.5 per cent. of urgent GP referrals to Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust with suspected cancer are seen by a specialist within two weeks of the referral.
Wakefield District PCT opened its GP-led health centre, the King Street Health Centre, in June 2009. Wakefield District residents and visitors will be able to see a GP or nurse as a walk-in patient between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., seven days a week, 365 days a year.
There is one private finance initiative (PFI) scheme in the area that serves this constituency: work is under way on the major £353 million PR development to replace Pinderfields General Hospital and refurbish Pontefract General Infirmary. The first services in the new Pontefract Hospital opened in January 2010. Overall completion of the two hospitals is expected in January 2011.
Although statistical information is not available at a local level, Hemsworth will have also benefited from national policies in other areas. For example:
Since 1997, gross current expenditure on personal social services has increased by around 70 per cent. in real terms, with around 105,000 households now receiving intensive home care and 3,076 new extra care housing units—exceeding the original target of 1,500 new extra care units.
Other strategies currently being implemented are:
Subject to parliamentary approval, the Personal Care at Home Bill will guarantee free personal care for 280,000 people with the highest needs and help around 130,000 people who need home care for the first time to regain their independence.
Shaping the Future of Care Together Green Paper, published in July 2009, sets out a vision of a National Care Service for all adults in England that is fair, simple and affordable. The Department has consulted widely on this reform and is currently analysing the responses, which will feed into a White Paper later this year.
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The National Carer's Strategy - Carers at the heart of 21st century families and communities was launched in 2008.
The first National Dementia Strategy was published in February 2009.
Valuing People Now—a three year strategy for people with learning disabilities—was published in January 2009.
New Horizons: A Shared Vision for Mental Health was launched in December 2009 to maintain improvements in mental health services, combined with a new cross-Government approach to promoting public mental health.
Since 1998, there are now 2.4 million fewer smokers in England as a result of the Government's comprehensive tobacco control strategy, which has a measurable impact on reducing smoking prevalence.
Child obesity levels are reducing due to the efforts of families across England, supported by the Government's obesity strategy. In 2008, 13.9 per cent, of children (aged two to 10) in England were classified as obese, compared with 17.3 per cent. in 2005.
Overall, life expectancy at birth for men has increased from 74.5 years (1995-1997 data) to 77.7 years (2006-08 data) while for women, life expectancy at birth has increased from 79.6 years (1995-97 data) to 81.9 years (2006-08 data).
Hospital Beds
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average daily bed occupancy level was in (a) low, (b) medium and (c) high secure units by (i) the NHS and (ii) independent sector providers in each of the last five years. [316588]
Phil Hope: This information is not available in the requested format. Information is collected centrally on secure unit bed occupancy levels, but this does not identify security levels. Data on average daily bed occupancy levels across the entire mental health secure estate in the national health service in England, for the five most recent years for which data are available, are shown in the following table.
Snapshot data are collected for high secure units only, and were last collected on 30 September 2009, when 879 beds were available, with an overall occupancy rate of 89.5 per cent. The data included 48 designated learning disability beds. This exercise was not commissioned for low and medium secure services.
Data are not collected centrally on independent sector secure unit bed occupancy.
| Average daily number of beds available and average daily bed occupancy levels in mental health secure units in the national health service in England 2003-04 to 2007-08: all ages; low, medium and high secure units combined | ||
| Mental health | ||
|
| Secure unit average daily beds available | Secure unit average daily bed occupancy level (percentage) |
| Source: Department of Health Form KH03 | ||
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Liver Diseases
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the causes are of (a) chronic liver disease and (b) cirrhosis; and what proportion of cases of each were caused by each such factor in the last 12 months. [316285]
Ann Keen: The known causes of liver disease are alcohol consumption, viral hepatitis, and obesity. A small number of cases of liver disease are genetic (autoimmune hepatitis, haemochromatosis). The Department of does not collect information about the proportion of liver disease by cause.
Locums
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department assessed the level of use of external locums to fill gaps in the medical rotas at acute hospitals (a) before and (b) after the implementation of the European Working Time Directive. [316498]
Ann Keen: The data are not collected centrally.
Mental Health Services: Hospital Wards
Natascha Engel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many bed days on adult psychiatric wards were recorded for patients aged under 16 years in each quarter of the last three years; [315776]
(2) how many bed days on adult psychiatric wards were recorded for patients aged 16 and 17 years in each quarter of the last three years. [315777]
Phil Hope: The table gives figures for the number of bed days for children on Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) wards and for children aged under 16 and 16-17 on adult mental health wards.
| Bed days | ||||
|
| Quarter | Under 18s on CAMHS ward | Under 16s on adult ward | 16/17s on adult ward |
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| Note For 2008-09 onwards it is not mandatory for national health Service foundation trusts to submit returns but many do so on a voluntary basis. | ||||