§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the travel cost, were of civil servants in(a) his Department and (b) its related agencies in each year since 1997. [183902]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonExpenditure on travel and subsistence by the Department and Agencies has been as follows:
§ Mr. HuttonNottingham Emergency Medical Services (NEMS) has been integrated with NHS Direct since 1998. NEMS is developing additional capacity with NHS Direct to support local out-of-hours care and to extend the range of coverage of this model to 100 per cent. of the Nottingham population in October. NEMS currently provides care for 80 per cent. and the remainder of Nottingham practices use the Sheffield and Birmingham based triage services of Primecare, a national commercial deputising service.
Since 2001, NEMS has been an out-of-hours exemplar site, with clinical integration of NHS Direct and the out-of-hours service. NEMS triage will continue to be that recommended by the review of general practitioners (GP) out-of-hours services in 2000, of using NHS Direct nurse assessment, followed by contact with a GP or other health professional, as required.