§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on the issue of HSG(92)91 to health authorities; and what information is to be collated by this guidance; [4232]
(2) what information is retained by his Department in respect of HSG(92)91; [4233]
(3) if the appropriate bodies within the national health service have supplied the information they are obliged to under HSG(92)91; and what action his Department has taken in respect of those authorities not complying with this guidance. [4234]
§ Mr. HoramHSG(92)21, issued in March 1992, required regional health authorities to establish a health information service for the public in their region from 1 April 1992, accessible by an 0345 telephone line. In January 1993, these regional services became the national health information service, accessible by the public through an 0800 telephone line. All regional health authorities established a service and continue to run them as required by the guidelines.
The health information service is required to provide information about local services, patients charter standards, waiting times, common diseases and conditions, how to complain about NHS services and maintaining and improving health.
The Department holds information about the cost of and numbers of calls to the health information service.
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§ Mr. HoramThe information available centrally is shown in the table. This information covers only admissions to hospital.
Revised guidelines, HSG(95)44, issued on 18 September 1995, supersede HSG(92)21 and should be implemented by health authorities from April 1996.