§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what proposals he has for the future operation of the Regional Task Force on junior doctors' hours; and if he will make a statement. [15838]
§ Mr. MilburnRegional task forces will continue to advise National Health Service trusts on reducing junior doctors' hours and to monitor progress. They will also promote action to improve junior doctors on-call accommodation and out-of-hours catering facilities.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health announced on 29 October 1997 that £1.233 million had been allocated in 1998–99 to support both regional task forces and local medical workforce advisory groups (LMWAGs). Copies of the 1998–99 Health Authority Cash Limits Exposition Book, which contains this information, have been placed in the Library.
The precise allocation between task forces and LMWAGs will be decided in December.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of posts in each NHS trust comply with the recent agreement on junior doctor's hours, indicating the compliance figure issued by the trusts concerned prior to its revision following the involvement of the Regional Task Force. [15839]
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§ Mr. MilburnThe set of returns from regional task forces for 30 September 1997 show overall compliance with limits on junior doctors' hours at 80.5 per cent. This represents 23,808 juniors out of a total of 29,572 in England. This information is derived from monitoring data collated by the 10 English task forces based on validated returns from the National Health Service trusts in their area.
Part of the monitoring process conducted by task forces is to check and verify returns from individual trusts. Task forces may challenge returns and agree amendments with trusts if necessary. We do not keep separate returns to show the unchecked position before task forces have completed their monitoring function. We shall place a list of all NHS trusts and their agreed compliance rate in the Library.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice his Department gives to individual trusts concerning methods of monitoring the hours worked by junior doctors. [15840]
§ Mr. MilburnWe monitor junior doctors' hours every six months and detailed guidance notes on the completion of monitoring forms is made available to National Health Service trusts via our regional task forces at the same time.
It would not be appropriate to prescribe centrally one single method of monitoring hours. Task forces will advise individual trusts on the most suitable local method. Trusts are required to have their progress reports validated by a junior doctor representative locally to ensure that accurate monitoring has taken place. Also, before a trust can be accredited as complying in full with junior doctors' hours' limits the task force must be satisfied that robust internal monitoring is in place.