Mental Health (Hansard, 7 November 2002)

§ Mr. Paul Marsden
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of health authorities have complaints procedures for mental health patients. [80000]

§ Jacqui Smith
The National Health Service complaints procedure exists to deal with complaints from any patient using the NHS (including users of mental health services) who wishes to make a complaint about the service or treatment they have received. The complaints procedure applies to all NHS organisations and services.

§ Mr. Paul Marsden
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of mental health patients are delayed from hospital discharge in 2001–02 and what the reasons are for the delays; and if he will make a statement. [79997]
536W

§ Jacqui Smith
The Department does not hold information on the proportion of mental health patients who were delayed from hospital discharge.

§ Mr. Paul Marsden
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding was given to children's mental health services in each year since 1997. [79991]

§ Jacqui Smith
Levels of funding provided by health and local authorities (LAs) for child and adolescent mental health services are not collected centrally. In the four years ending 31 March 2003, we will have made available £105 million of targeted central funding across the National Health Service and LAs in support of the Government's strategy, introduced in 1999, for developing child and adolescent mental health services. Health authorities will have been given £50 million and LAs £55 million. The latter includes provision for extended funding in support of 24 innovation projects to develop new approaches to mental health services for children and young people.

§ Mr. Paul Marsden
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the progress made to replace Shelton Hospital with a new mental health hospital. [79992]

§ Jacqui Smith
The specialist mental health services strategy for Shropshire County and Telford & Wrekin recommended the redevelopment of in-patient mental health services alongside the development of a range of community mental health services. Shropshire County Primary Care Trust is now recruiting a project manager to lead the redevelopment programme and is establishing a project board to oversee the project. It is expected that the formal business case procedures will be undertaken in 2003, with a provisional target date of Spring 2006 for the redevelopment of in-patient mental health services. This will be subject to public consultation.

§ Mr. Paul Marsden
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what proportion of health authorities have a written care plan for mental health patients; [80002]
(2) what proportion of mental health patients have been given a written copy of their own care plan in the last 12 months; [79999]
(3) what proportion of mental health patients have been given written information on (a) their condition, (b) their treatment, (c) their medical rights and (d) where to get help in an emergency in the last 12 months. [79998]

§ Jacqui Smith
People with mental health problems whose care is co-ordinated under the care programme approach (CPA) should have information about their condition, treatment and how to get help in an emergency. Progress on achieving the target set within the 2001–2 service and financial framework for specialist mental health service users on enhanced CPA to have a written copy of their care plan continues to be monitored, although it is not broken down at strategic health authority level. Data from the first quarter of 2002, the first time such information was captured, suggest that around 85 per cent. of patients had a written care plan at the time of discharge. We expect both data quality and the rate to improve with time and further information on progress will be available in due course.
537W

§ Mr. Paul Marsden
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of community treatment orders on reducing the number of homicides by people diagnosed by mental health problems. [79990]

§ Jacqui Smith
The introduction of community treatment orders will allow people to be treated in the setting which is most appropriate to their own individual needs by breaking the automatic link between compulsory treatment for a mental disorder and detention in hospital which exists under the current Mental Health Act 1983. This will also help to ensure that there are hospital beds available for those who most need them, whether to protect their own health and safety or that of others. There has been no assessment of the effectiveness of community treatment orders on reducing the number of homicides because this is not the intended purpose of the orders as proposed in the draft Mental Health Bill.

§ Mr. Paul Marsden
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of schizophrenics have asked for, but been refused, hospital admission in the last 12 months. [80001]

§ Jacqui Smith
There have been no reports of people with schizophrenia being refused hospital admission collected centrally.
The mental health national service framework explicitly states that everyone with severe mental illness should have access to the range of services they need.