§ Rev. Martin SmythTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was, for hospital services for the mentally handicapped in Northern Ireland, the number of nursing staff per occupied bed, expenditure after allowing
Mentally handicapped 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 Number of occupied in-patient beds 1,382 1,390 1,397 1,398 1,387 1,425 1,393 1,374 1,367 1,361 1,289 Number of nursing staff per occupied bed n.a. 0.65 0.71 0.70 0.74 0.77 0.76 0.81 0.79 0.77 0.78 Expenditure adjusted to allow for: £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ 1. General Inflation 14,209,491 15,048,243 15,888,936 16,438,431 17,923,363 18,364,878 18,253,126 18,237,036 18,240,959 17,941,004 17,831,572 2. H&CHS inflation 15,268,819 16,960,311 18,089,323 18,149,215 18,330,806 19,080,250 19,096,280 19,001,234 18,765,705 18,590,371 17,813,572
§ Rev. Martin SmythTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give the discharge rates for National Health Service hospitals in Northern Ireland, as a whole and for each area board, stating these as a rate per 10,000 resident population, for the years 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986.
§ Mr. NeedhamThe discharge rates for the Health Service hospitals, excluding hospitals for the mentally ill and mentally handicapped are:
1983 1984 1985 1986 Northern Ireland 1,623 1,630 1,705 1,665 Eastern Board 2,143 2,149 2,272 2,151 Northern Board 1,011 1,025 1,071 1,129 Southern Board 1,354 1,373 1,429 1,420 Western Board 1,524 1,513 1,537 1,519 Deaths are included in the discharge rates.
§ Rev. Martin SmythTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give the number of patients leaving mental illness hospitals and units after a stay of five or more years in Northern Ireland and by area board in the years 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986.
§ Mr. NeedhamThe numbers of discharges and deaths are:
1983 1984 1985 1986 Northern Ireland 186 205 197 199 Eastern Board 90 85 81 118 Northern Board 28 19 27 24 Southern Board 12 30 25 15 Western Board 56 71 64 42
§ Rev. Martin SmythTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement in tabular form containing information, broken down by health and social services boards in Northern Ireland, on identifiable90W for general inflation espenditure after allowing for hospital and community healthy service inflation and the number of occupied in-patient beds in each year since 1976–77
§ Mr. NeedhamThe information requested is as follows:
improvements in services in the National Health Service since 1983, the resources which have been made available for such service improvements and the monitoring by the Department of Health and Social Services, Northern Ireland, and health boards to ensure that money allocated for service improvements is spent on them; and if he will give information for Northern Ireland as a whole.
§ Mr. NeedhamThis information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The operational planning system, including the annual accountability reviews, is the process through which the Department determines the global allocations for each board, agrees the targets and objectives for the year ahead and in time reviews progress towards these.
§ Rev. Martin SmythTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what are his Department's guidelines for acute service targets in the following priority areas: coronary bypass, hip operations, bone marrow transplants, cataract operations and end stage renal failures; what progress has been made so far in meeting these targets; what further progress he expects health and social services boards to make within existing resources; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NeedhamThe targets which are set out in the regional strategy (1987–1992) published last August are as follows
Coronary by-pass—450 by-pass operations included in a target of 750 for cardiac surgery.Hip operations—reduction of average waiting time for admission to hospital from nine months to six months.End State Renal Failure—acceptance rate for treatment of 50 new patients per million by 1990. Bone Marrow Transplants—12 operations per year. It has not been thought necessary to set targets for cataract operations.As we are only one year into the strategy, it is too soon to expect significant improvements but I am currently reviewing progress through the present round of accountability reviews. I am confident that the target will be met.
91W
§ Rev. Martin SmythTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give figures for progress towards acute sector targets for Northern Ireland for 1983, 1986–87 and 1990.
§ Mr. NeedhamThe regional strategy for the health and personal social services 1987–1992 published in August 1987 establishes bed targets for the acute hospital sector based on 1983 data. The target for 1992 is 6,250 beds overall and by the end of 1987 the figure was 6,690.