§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken to address the criticisms by the Council of Tribunals of the way in which the new arrangements for complaints and disciplinary issues in the NHS were dealt with by his Department. [19291]
§ Mr. MaloneThe new arrangements for complaints and discipline in the NHS were successfully introduced in April 1996 and the Council on Tribunals welcomed the separation of complaints handling from discipline issues. The complaints procedure is now more accessible,
Primary diagnosis of cataract Finished consultant episodes—cataracts, England 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 OA DC OA DC OA DC OA DC OA DC Northern RHA 7,075 197 6,992 568 7,774 1,073 6,993 2,939 5,326 4,818 Yorkshire RHA 5,853 154 6,782 411 7,907 881 7,939 1,588 8,748 2,402 Trent RHA 7,308 846 8,294 974 8,245 1,148 9,585 1,613 9,606 2,567 East Anglian RHA 3,916 358 4,160 1,258 4,313 1,603 4,139 2,020 5,300 3,789 North West Thames RHA 5,422 579 6,858 1,041 6,359 1,632 5,996 2,224 4,342 2,974 North East Thames RHA 5,133 426 4,986 783 5,311 747 4,879 1,045 8,147 5,520 South East Thames RHA 6,869 671 7,374 894 8,163 1,703 8,196 2,241 7,940 3,554 South West Thames RHA 5,955 913 6,630 1,451 6,142 2,224 5,686 3,477 4,554 5,523 Wessex RHA 6,315 538 6,425 1,216 6,227 1,514 6,632 2,299 6,650 4,229 Oxford RHA 3,542 497 4,143 516 4,271 540 4,815 785 5,088 1,489 South Western RHA 6,690 856 7,905 1,276 8,064 2,015 8,100 3,589 8,647 4,697 West Midlands RHA 10,799 499 10,401 942 10,860 1,421 11,715 2,702 11,147 5,049 Mersey RHA 5,612 306 5,470 1,006 5,613 1,251 5,609 1,797 5,646 2,594 North Western RHA 6,400 1,479 9,819 2,564 10,074 2,775 9,692 3,988 10,694 9,190 SHAs 4,424 277 4,044 1,598 3,723 1,679 3,605 1,879 — — England 93,316 8,595 100,284 16,498 103,045 22,205 103,581 34,188 101,804 58,396 Total number of ordinary admissions and day cases 101,911 116,782 125,250 137,768 160,200 Notes
Figures are rounded and may not total. Data in this table is grossed for both coverage and unknown invalid clinical data. Finished consultant episodes are defined as the period that a patient spends with the continuous care of a specific consultant in a specific health care provider (which may be more than one hospital within that health care provider).
Special Health Authorities (SHAs) were abolished on 1 April 1994.
OA = ordinary admissions.
DC = day cases.
Source
Department of Health, Hospital Episode Statistics (HES).
168Wequitable and rapid; most complaints are being resolved at local level without the need for further investigation. The disciplinary procedure enables health authorities to deal efficiently and flexibly with possible breaches of family health service practitioners' terms of service. The new arrangements are being kept under review.