HC Deb 30 April 1996 vol 276 cc512-4W
Mr. Robert Banks

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the creation of the Defence Secondary Care Agency. [27628]

Mr. Soames

The Defence Secondary Care Agency will form on 30 April 1996 when secondary medical care currently provided on a single-service basis will be included within a joint service agency under the control of a chief executive. Until a decision is taken on its final location, the headquarters of the DSCA will be based in London. The DSCA will include:

  1. (a) The Royal hospital Haslar at Gosport;
  2. (b) The Duchess of Kent's hospital at Catterick;
  3. (c) Three Ministry of Defence hospital units within the NHS trust hospitals at Derriford, Plymouth, Frimley Park, Camberley, and Peterborough;
  4. (d) The Princess Mary's hospital at Akrotiri, Cyprus;
  5. (e) The defence service medical rehabilitation unit at RAF Headley Court in Surrey.

In addition, DSCA personnel will be stationed in smaller facilities at other locations, both at home and overseas.

Each service will continue to recruit to its own medical branch and will be responsible for issuing appointments and posting orders for personnel of their particular service into, within and out of the agency after agreement with the chief executive and for an agreed duration. It is expected that uniformed secondary care personnel will spend the major part of their career working within the agency.

The aim of the agency is to make available to commanders in chief appropriate medically trained secondary care service personnel, when required for training, exercises and deployments. In support of this aim the agency will deliver timely and effective treatments consistent with expected outcomes by providing the best possible medical care to all agency patients.

The chief executive, Mr. R. G. Smith, will be afforded greater responsibility and flexibility to build upon the professional ability and reputation for excellence of secondary care personnel from all three service medical branches. This will ensure that the MOD retains the capacity to deploy trained secondary care staff on military operations, to provide the best possible medical care to all agency patients, and at the same time maximise value for money in the delivery of secondary care for service personnel in order to maintain their operational readiness during peacetime.

The chief executive has been set the following key targets for the first year of the operation:

  1. (1) From within available personnel resources, to meet the services' requirements for secondary care skill mix in support of operations.
  2. (2) To maintain the most appropriate clinical environment for all staff to ensure professional recognition and accreditation by statutory bodies in the light of their continually improving standards.
  3. (3) To meet all milestones for phase 1 of project ICE—improving clinical excellence.
  4. (4) To assess the agency against investors in people criteria, within year one and produce an action plan for full accreditation.
  5. (5) To develop average prices for finished consultant episodes for each specialty, and at each site.
  6. (6) To meet an efficiency target of 4 per cent. for financial year 1996–97.

I have arranged for copies of the agency's framework document to be placed in the Library of the House.