HC Deb 08 September 2003 vol 410 cc155-6W
Chris Grayling

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to pilot the 'See & Treat' scheme at Royal Bournemouth Hospital at other hospital sites. [127647]

Ms Rosie Winterton

Most accident and emergency (A&E) departments now have 'See & Treat' schemes in place, specifically to target patients with minor injuries and illnesses. The British Association for A&E Medicine and the Royal College of Nursing have endorsed it as an appropriate model of clinical care. The expectation is that 'See & Treat', or something similar, should be put in place in most trusts. However, it is the trusts' responsibility to decide if, when and how to implement.

Chris Grayling

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has undertaken of the cost of implementing a 'See & Treat' scheme in A&E departments. [127648]

Ms Rosie Winterton

There may be costs associated with the implementation of initiatives such as 'See & Treat', but any costs will depend on how an individual trust implements the scheme locally compared to its existing accident and emergency department procedures.

Mr. Burns

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were admitted to NHS hospital wards from Accident and Emergency after being examined by a doctor in(a) one hour or less, (b) over two hours but less than three hours, (c) over three hours but less than four hours, (d) over four hours but less than five hours and (e) over five hours in (i) the last 12 months for which figures are available and (ii) 1997–98. [127494]

Ms Rosie Winterton

The Department collects information on total time in accident and emergency (A&E) from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge. Information is also collected and on waits for admission as an emergency via A&E from the point of decision to admit to admission. This information is published quarterly.

Information is not collected on the time from a patient being first examined by a doctor to admission.

Dr. Fox

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what targets he is planning to set for accident and emergency departments in the next year. [127318]

Ms Rosie Winterton

In 2000, the NHS Plan set the challenging improvement target that no patient should spend more than four hours in an accident and emergency department from arrival to admission, transfer or departure by the end of 2004.

Trusts will continue to be monitored on their progress towards this target, but there are no plans to set further targets for accident and emergency departments in the next year.

Dr. Fox

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the method used for measuring accident and emergency targets in March. [127319]

Ms Rosie Winterton

The Department set an internal milestone that 90 per cent. of patients in England should wait less than four hours in accident and emergency (A and E) departments by the end of March 2003.

This was not a target but an interim milestone set to assess progress towards achieving the NHS Plan target to reduce the maximum time a patient should wait in A and E from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge to four hours from December 2004.

Performance against the milestone was measured using routine data trusts provide to the Department.