§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the cost of running, and the number of staff employed by each regional health authority and management executive outpost in each of the last five years.
§ Dr. MawhinneyThe cost of running regional health authorities is shown in table 1.
749WInformation on the numbers of staff employed by regional health authorities given in table 2 are not directly comparable as they include centrally managed functions—see note 4 to table. Figures for 1991 are not available centrally. For information for 1992 I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Ludlow (Mr. Gill) on 4 March at column 221 which
Table 1. Total Revenue Expenditure of Regional Health Authorities (RHAs) £000 (cash) RHA 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 Northern 20,978 22,455 25,813 27,479 63,474 Yorkshire 30,709 31,733 34,349 42,094 65,093 Trent 26,612 28,158 29,354 21,982 174,283 East Anglian 10,898 12,664 14,103 19,694 45,648 North-West Thames 8,672 12,454 14,529 18,672 57,619 North-East Thames 17,678 20,723 22,791 26,710 189,715 South-East Thames 17,374 20,816 25,964 32,250 250,032 South-West Thames 59,311 63,240 72,403 70,499 149,077 Wessex 9,468 10,019 11,992 14,665 25,017 Oxford 9,897 10,871 13,189 15,816 49,363 South Western 12,114 13,229 15,612 13,756 86,185 West Midlands 37,060 38,811 47,626 53,917 111,013 Mersey 19,023 10,660 12,773 14,706 23,961 North Western 41,133 40,314 42,576 26,804 65,151 Source: Annual accounts of regional health authorities (RHAs) 1987–88 to 1991–92.
Notes:
1. The figures cover the total revenue expenditure of the authorities including that incurred on headquarters administration and on the management and provision of services in the years concerned.
2. The extent to which RHAs are involved in directly managing and accounting for ambulance and other services varies from region to region. The expenditure of individual RHAs is also influenced by other factors including variations in the size of the total populations served and the number of district health authorities comprising each region.
3. The figures for 1991–92 are not comparable to those for the earlier years, which predate the NHS reforms. In particular, many RHAs are directly involved in the purchase of healthcare and related services for their region and their 1991–92 expenditure includes substantial costs for patient treatment incurred under contracts with health care providers.
Table 2 Staff employed by regional health authority headquarters and headquarter units as at 30 September Whole-time equivalents 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 Northern 2,630 2,670 2,710 2,710 2,740 Yorkshire 3,090 3,160 3,130 3,190 3,050 Trent 3,340 3,070 3,440 3,380 3,340 East Anglian 1,180 1,290 1,320 1,320 1,330 North West Thames 1,540 2,300 1,530 1,560 1,750 North East Thames 2,370 2,450 2,600 2,650 2,710 South East Thames 2,070 2,120 2,140 2,130 2,210 South West Thames 1,790 1,790 1,830 1,900 2,080 Wessex 1,310 1,350 1,360 1,300 1,430 Oxford 2,630 1,650 1,630 1,600 1,670 South Western 1,710 1,680 1,710 1,680 1,800 West Midlands 4,430 4,920 4,850 4,860 4,640 Mersey 2,260 2,300 1,690 1,730 1,740 North Western 3,870 4,140 4,250 4,210 3,130 TOTAL 34,210 34,890 34,190 34,230 33,650 Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
2. Figures are expressed as whole-time equivalents.
3. Consultants and senior registrars, whose contracts are held by the regional health authority, are also included in the figures.
4. The services provided by each regional health authority headquarters can be different. Some have the blood transfusion service, ambulance services etc. centralised, whereas in other regions these services are devolved to district health authorities. In some cases, these services may be centralised in some years and devolved in others.
750W
Table 3 Outpost Number of staff North West 8 North East 8 East 11 South 10 gives figures for staff employed on core regional services produced by a special exercise conducted in mid 1992. Similar figures are not available for earlier years.
The management executive outposts have been operational only since April 1992. Their running cost budget for 1992–93 is £3 million and they currently have 56 staff in post as shown in table 3.
Outpost Number of staff South West 10 Midlands 9 Total 56