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Waiting Lists
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what financial incentives are being offered to clinicians and paramedical staff to reduce present waiting lists. [73883]
Mr. Hutton: We have provided significant additional resources to the National Health Service, linked to specific targets for reductions in waiting lists. It is a matter for local NHS bodies how best to deploy these resources, including the levels of remuneration payable to staff for the additional work carried out in meeting these targets.
Spinal Treatment
Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if it is his policy that invasive procedures carried out in the course of spinal treatment should be replaced by safer practices. [73968]
Mr. Hutton: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the methodology of choice in the investigation of spinal conditions. However, we have no plans to replace invasive procedures entirely. For some patients unsuitable for MRI, invasive procedures may remain necessary. It is for clinicians to use their skills, knowledge and experience to weigh carefully the likely benefits of any treatment or procedure against the anticipated risk for the patient and, following discussion with the patient, to exercise their clinical judgment accordingly.
Control and Restraint Technique (Nurses)
Mrs. Brinton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many deaths have occurred in the United Kingdom as (a) a direct and (b) an indirect result of the use of control and restraint techniques by nurses; and if he will give a breakdown by ethnicity of the deceased. [74339]
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Mr. Hutton:
The information requested is not collected centrally.
Dr. Gibson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many deaths or injuries have occurred in the Norvic Clinic in Norwich as (a) a direct and (b) indirect result of the use of restriction techniques by nursing staff; and if he will provide a breakdown by ethnicity of the deceased. [74070]
Mr. Hutton:
No deaths have occurred as a direct result of the use of control and restraint techniques by nursing staff at the Norvic Clinic in Norwich. A black Afro-Caribbean patient was pronounced dead on 31 October 1998 after an incident in which control and restraint techniques were being applied, but the Coroner's Inquest into that case has yet to be held.
Between 2 November 1997 and 4 December 1998 there were 45 occasions when control and restraint techniques were applied by nursing staff. No injuries were sustained by patients as a result of those procedures. Four members of staff were injured during the incidents.
Dr. Cable:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has commissioned into allergic reactions in children. [74292]
Ms Jowell:
The Department's policy research programme and the National Health Service research and development programmes are supporting a range of research on allergies in children and adults and will continue to do so. The Medical Research Council, the main agency through which the Government supports biomedical and clinical research, by means of a grant-in-aid from the Office of Science and Technology in the Department of Trade and Industry, is also funding relevant research, including the study of infections, immunity and inflammations, which will underpin work on allergies.
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