HC Deb 13 January 1995 vol 252 c260W
Mrs. Beckett

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the projected cost of(a) the national launch, (b) the national advertising campaign and (c) copies of the charter for the planned expanded patients charter launch in January.

Mr. Malone

The estimated costs for the national launch of the patients charter is £140,000; for the national advertising campaign £160,000; and for the production of copies of the new patients charter, including a reserve stock for fulfilment of future requests £210,000.

Mrs. Beckett

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what percentage of trust hospitals failed to see patients within five minutes of attendance at casualty in the last year for which figures are available;

(2) what percentage of patients were not seen immediately and their treatment need assessed in each year since April 1991.

Mr. Malone

This information is not available in the form requested as data were not collected before the patients charter was introduced in April 1992.

The percentage of patients not assessed immediately in accident and emergency departments fell from 26 per cent. in the quarter ended 31 March 1993 to 13 per cent. in the quarter ended 31 March 1994 and, in the quarter ended 30 September 1994, the last date for which information is available, stands at 10 per cent.

Mrs. Beckett

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff are employed by the national health service; and what estimate she has made of the cost of them receiving the patients charter.

Mr. Malone

There are just under 1 million directly employed national health service staff. In addition, there are a number of agency and contracted staff working for the NHS, making an estimated total of 1.2 million staff. The estimated cost of distributing the patients charter to them is £158,000.

Mrs. Beckett

To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what previous occasions all members of staff of the NHS have received copies of the patients charter; and what was the cost on each occasion.

Mr. Malone

The original patients charter was not distributed to all national health service staff.