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11 Mar 2003 : Column 243W—continued
NHS Interpreters
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many interpreters are used by the NHS to assist staff working with patients. [102039]
Mr. Hutton: Data on the number of interpreters used by the National Health Service to assist staff working with patients is collected as part of the broader clerical and administrative function, which includes several other staff groups. As a result, it is not possible to identify the number of interpreters separately.
Orthopaedic Operations
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health further to his answer of 26 February 2003, Official Report, column 639W, what type of orthopaedic operations were carried out on NHS patients in Germany and France. [100778]
Mr. Hutton: 153 orthopaedic patients were referred to France and Germany as part of the overseas treatment pilot project. Of these, 131 were major joint procedures, 17 were intermediate day cases, and five were hands and feet procedures.
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Overseas Trips
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the overseas trips made by himself and other members of his ministerial team in 2002; and what the (a) purpose and (b) cost was in each case. [101488]
Mr. Lammy: I refer the hon. Member to the response that was given by my hon. Friend, the Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Mr. Alexander), on 2 January 2003, Official Report, column 334W.
Pharmacists
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to increase the number of people becoming qualified and taking up pharmacist roles. [101667]
Mr. Hutton: There were 258 or 15 per cent. more undergraduate students starting pharmacy training in 2001 than there were in 1997. Furthermore, new schools of pharmacy will provide additional graduates from 2007 onwards.
Between September 1997 and 2001, there has been an increase of 2,140 or 26 per cent. in the number of qualified pharmacists employed in the national health service. As at 30 September 2001 there were 10,630 qualified pharmacists employed in the NHS.
The Government are looking to achieve an increase in staff numbers across all scientific, therapeutic and technical staff groups, including hospital pharmacists. Delivering the NHS Plan published in April 2002 set out the Government's latest forecast for growth. By 2008, we expect the NHS to have net increase over the September 2001 staff census of at least 30,000 therapists and scientists. This includes pharmacists. This will include increasing the number of preregistration pharmacy training places in NHS hospitals. Over 550 were planned for 2002–03—at least 60 per cent. more than were available 10 years ago.
The Department of Health published a Pharmacy Workforce and Training Working Group Report in 1997. It outlined the actions necessary for the NHS to increase training places, to review skill mix and working practices, to reduce demand, and to improve the recruitment and retention of pharmacy staff. Many local initiatives have been taken as a result. Following this up, the Department has taken a number of actions to help improve the recruitment and retention of hospital pharmacy staff. These include the publication of the Improving Working Lives for Pharmacy document in July 2001, extension of NHS Careers to pharmacy staff, the development of a hospital pharmacists1 recruitment advertisement and targeted higher than average pay rises.
Community pharmacy employers have also taken action. Some pharmacy multiples have taken pro-active steps to increase staffing, eg recruiting pharmacists from abroad and by moving staff around.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many qualified pharmacy staff there are in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) the UK. [101666]
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Mr. Lammy: The information is in the table. Figures for the United Kingdom are not available, so data for England have been used.
| Whole-time equivalents | Headcount | |
|---|---|---|
| England | 9,372 | 10,633 |
| of which: | ||
| West Midlands | 850 | 993 |
| of which: | ||
| Coventry HA | 61 | 66 |
Notes:
Figures are rounded to the nearest whole number
Source:
Department of Health non-medical workforce census
Primary Care Trusts
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of and how many PCG chief executives continued their employment after 31 October 2002 as a chief executive of a PCT. [101946]
Mr. Hutton: Information on the proportion of and how many primary care group chief executives continued their employment after 31 October 2002 as a chief executive of a primary care trust is not available centrally.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff are employed within each primary care trust (a) within a general practice covered by that PCT and (b) without a general practice covered by that PCT. [100109]
Mr. Hutton: The information on general practitioners and staff employed in general practices, by current primary care trust (PCT) area at September 2001 has been placed in the Library.
The information shows staff directly employed by every PCT that was in place at September 2001. These include community health staff such as district nurses and health visitors. All PCTs with a nil return were set up after that date.
Private Health Schemes
Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 29 January 2003, Official Report, column 901W, on private health schemes, whether his Department places restrictions on national health service bodies offering private patient services. [100093]
Mr. Hutton: By law, national health service trusts and primary care trusts may offer private patient services only to the extent that doing so does not to any significant extent interfere with the performance by the trust of its functions or of its obligations under NHS contracts.
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Public Service Agreements
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many public service agreements the Department (a) has met and (b) is on course to meet in the autumn. [100676]
Mr. Lammy: The Department has recently published a supplement to its December 2002 chief executive's report to the national health service.
This report provides information on autumn performance with meeting public service agreement targets and includes details of those targets that have been met or are on course to be met.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Department has published an autumn performance report to show progress against the Department's PSA targets; and what reports it plans to publish before spring to show progress against PSA targets. [100677]
Mr. Lammy: The Department has recently published a supplement to its December 2002 chief executive's report to the national health service. This provides a fuller account of autumn performance against the Department's public service agreement targets.
The Department also plans to publish its 2003 departmental report in late April to show progress against its PSA targets.
Supplier Payments
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he has issued to trusts and PCTs on deadlines for paying suppliers. [100694]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 4 March 2003]: National Health Service trusts and primary care trusts are required to comply with the Confederation of British Industry's better payment practice code target of paying 95 per cent., of undisputed invoices within contract terms or 30 days where no terms have been agreed.
Untoward Incidents (Health Trusts)
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many serious untoward incidents were recorded in each hospital trust last year. [100550]
Mr. Hutton: The Department does not collect this information from individual trusts.
The Government have established the National Patient Safety Agency to improve the safety of national health service patient care by promoting an open and fair culture and by introducing a national reporting and learning system for adverse events. The system will be rolled out across the NHS from summer 2003. This will, in time, enable us to understand the true nature and extent of medical errors in the NHS and take action to prevent them being repeated. The reporting system will be anonymous and confidential in order to encourage local reporting and thereby enable the NHS to learn as much as possible to make systems safer. It will not therefore identify the number of incidents occurring in an individual hospital.
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