§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will give the total cost of producing hospial activity figures; what are the benefits to patients resulting from these figures; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. SackvilleHospital activity statistics are produced largely as a by-product of operational systems in the health service. This ensures that costs are kept to a minimum, but as a result the extra cost of producing the figures is impossible to quantify.
The statistics are used at all levels in the national health service and the Department of Health for contracting, monitoring performance and for planning health care. Central statistics are used for—inter alia—monitoring efficiency, securing and distributing NHS funds, accountability to Parliament and the public, support for policy initiatives such as the inquiry into London's health services, and for feeding back comparative performance measures to the NHS in health service indicators.
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