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The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 7 March (WA 37-38), whether the possible conflicts of interest between a therapeutic role and the interests of a commercial agrochemical company were addressed by the Local Research and Ethics Committee of the Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital Trust at the time of the appointment of a specialist registrar, part-funded by Syngenta (then Zeneca); and, if so, how.[HL4404]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: Local research ethics committees have no formal remit or accountability for ethical standards outside the research framework.
The arrangement at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Trust is analogous to pharmaceutical industry schemes. The intention of the arrangement is to encourage research into poorly understood and poorly funded areas of the toxicology chemicals used in agriculture and horticulture. In the year of the scheme 1999–2000 no research was undertaken.
The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 7 March (WA 37-38), how many patients who had been exposed to agrochemicals were seen and treated by the specialist registrar at the Medical Toxicology Unit; whether they were informed of the source of funding for the specialist registrar's post; and whether they gave written consent to be clinically examined and treated by the registrar.[HL4405]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The Medical Toxicology Outpatient Clinic does not maintain a separate database which would allow easy identification of specific sub-groups of patients and their diagnosis. This would be done through research projects which require approval according to trust procedures, including ethical approval. Appropriate funding would be required for such research projects.
Since the clinic is not undertaking any research on agricultural chemicals, the Medical Toxicology Unit registrars would have seen patients on the basis of their clinical need; therefore no such consent is required.
The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether the agrochemical company Syngenta (then Zeneca) was given access to the medical records of patients who had attended the outpatients' clinic of the Medical Toxicology Unit
- for illnesses related to exposure to pesticides and to National Poisons Information Service inquiry data on pesticide exposure incidents through the specialist registrar whose post was part-funded by the company; and, if so, whether the explicit consent of the patients involved was obtained.[HL4406]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: Zeneca was not given access to patient information of any sort as a consequence of this scheme.
Previous toxicovigilance schemes funded in part by Zeneca collected patient data for the purpose of monitoring paraquat toxicity. Zeneca medical staff were involved in the analysis of this follow-up data. However no identifiable patient specific data has been given to Zeneca personnel by the Medical Toxicology Unit.
The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 7 March (WA 37-38), how many whole-time equivalents of the specialist registrar's post part-funded by Syngenta (then Zeneca) were spent dealing with agrochemical toxicology issues.[HL4407]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: In the year of the scheme 1999–2000 no research was undertaken.
During this trial period no specific time was allocated for continuing medical education or research and development related to agrochemicals. It would therefore be difficult retrospectively to estimate the time spent on any work that might be regarded as funded by this scheme.
Abortion
Lord Alton of Liverpool asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 13 May (WA 17), why information on the number of women refused an abortion because their particular circumstances do not fit the criteria of the Abortion Act 1967 is not collected centrally; and whether they have any plans to correct this.[HL4432]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: If two registered medical practitioners are of the opinion, formed in good faith, that an abortion is justified within the terms of the Abortion Act, the Act requires a certificate of opinion to be completed. If an abortion is performed, the Act also requires that a notice of the termination be sent to the Chief Medical Officer. From this notice, data on abortions are collected.
Neither the Act nor the regulations require information on the number of women refused an abortion to be collected. We have no plans to start to collect these data.
Lord Alton of Liverpool asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 13 May (WA 18), under which sections of the Abortion Act 1967 selective reduction of pregnancies have been performed in the past five years.[HL4433]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The information requested is in the table.
| Statutory Grounds | |||||
| A | B | C | D | E | |
| 1996 | 0 | 1 | 29 | 0 | 29 |
| 1997 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 25 |
| 1998 | 1 | 13 | 28 | 1 | 22 |
| 1999 | 0 | 8 | 18 | 0 | 19 |
| 2000 | 0 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 20 |
A The continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman greater than if the pregnancy were terminated.
B The termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.
C The continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.
D The continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of any existing child(ren) of the family of the pregnant woman.
E There is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.
Baroness Noakes asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: In the short term, the NHS Bank is not being established as a separate statutory organisation with non-executive directors that would require appointment by the NHS Appointments Commission.
The shadow bank is being overseen by the Department of Health Director of Finance and Investment and four strategic health authority chief executives.
Baroness Noakes asked Her Majesty's Government:
When the board of governors of the shadow NHS Bank will be appointed; and whether they will be appointed by the National Health Service Appointments Commission.[HL4500]
How the shadow NHS Bank will be managed on a day-to-day basis; how many staff will be involved; who will employ those staff; and how the costs of the shadow NHS Bank will be accounted for.[HL4501]
17 Jun 2002 : Column WA60
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: In the short term, the bank will be supported by strategic health authority and Department of Health staff as part of their wider financial and performance management roles.
Baroness Noakes asked Her Majesty's Government:
- On what basis grants could be paid by the shadow NHS Bank; and whether such grants would be recoverable; and[HL4502]
On what terms, as to interest and repayment, loans to National Health Service organisations will be offered by the shadow NHS Bank.[HL4503]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The basis and terms on which any grants or loans may be arranged have yet to be determined.
Baroness Noakes asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What legal form the NHS Bank will have:
Whether primary legislation is necessary for the full establishment of the NHS Bank; and, if not, how it will be established.[HL4505]
(a) when it is operating in shadow form; and
(b) when it is fully established; and[HL4504]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The future legal form of the NHS Bank has yet to be determined.
Lord MacKenzie of Culkein asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: At the meeting held on 9 May there were representatives present from Department of Health, Philippines Embassy, Ambassador of the Philippines, UNISON, Royal College of Nursing, Recruitment and Employment Confederation, National Care Standards Commission, Independent Healthcare Association, Registered Nursing Homes Association and the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
All the parties who attended agreed to review their advice on international recruitment and supervised practice and to work together to improve the standards of all international recruitment of healthcare professionals to reduce delays in the registration process. Other outcomes included that the Department of Health would improve liaisons between the Overseas Labour Service, Work Permits UK, NMC and NCSC, establish the parameters for a helpline for healthcare professionals recruited from overseas and convene further meetings to take forward the agreed action.
Further to the Written Answer on Filipino nurses by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 21 May (WA 92) which indicated that ''a summit meeting is scheduled for 9 May'', which organisations were invited to the summit; and what were the outcomes.[HL4571]
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