§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will announce what input users will have into the new national service frameworks for the wheelchair service. [44669]
§ Mr. BoatengThe initial programme of national service frameworks will take forward the existing frameworks for cancer and paediatric intensive care and will begin to develop new frameworks for mental health and coronary heart disease. Suggestions for the next phase of the programme are welcome. However, there will usually be only one topic every year.
§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what specific guidelines have been issued by his Department or the NHS Executive on the procedures to be followed by health authorities and NHS trusts for consultation with user groups of the wheelchair service; and if he will set out those guidelines. [44663]
§ Mr. BoatengWhen National Health Service provision of electrically powered indoor/outdoor wheelchairs was introduced in 1996 the NHS Executive issued guidelines which stated that users and their representative groups should be involved in the development of local eligibility criteria. These guidelines, and the guidelines issued when the wheelchair voucher scheme was introduced in the same year, also encouraged wheelchair services to use, or consult, the specialist staff of voluntary disability organisations who may have particular expertise in dealing with people with specific disabilities.
A series of national and regional conferences has promoted the involvement of users and their representatives in the development, monitoring and evaluation of wheelchair services.
§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements have been made to ensure that funding for the wheelchair voucher scheme which has been carried 87W over to the financial year 1998–99 (a) remains ring-fenced and (b) is not diverted to mainstream wheelchair provision which is not ring-fenced. [44661]
§ Mr. BoatengNo funding made available for the wheelchair voucher scheme in 1997–98 was carried over to 1998–99.
§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what specific guidelines have been issued by his Department or the NHS Executive on the procedures for users chairing user groups on the wheelchair service. [44668]
§ Mr. BoatengNo such guidelines have been issued. The procedures adopted by user groups are for the group themselves to determine in the light of the activities which they wish to pursue.
However, the Department's national user involvement project seeks to increase the involvement of people who use community services in decisions made about what services are offered. In 1996 the project published "Community Service Users as Consultants and Trainers", a guide to user participation in community care planning.
§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements his Department has made to monitor how funding is spent in the event of an underspend of(a) the indoor/outdoor powered wheelchair funding scheme and (b) the voucher funding scheme. [44662]
§ Mr. BoatengSpending on the indoor/outdoor powered wheelchair funding schemes and the voucher funding scheme for manual wheelchairs is monitored centrally through the routine quarterly return process. In 1997–98, following evidence of a potential underspend on wheelchair vouchers, action was taken to ensure that the money was retained in the wheelchair service and used to provide chairs for more patients.
§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what consultations were held with groups in advance of communication of the Health Service Circular, wheelchair voucher scheme: funding in 1997–98 and 1998–99 (HSC 1998–004); and if he will list the groups consulted. [44660]
§ Mr. BoatengI refer the hon. Member to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Wentworth (Mr. Healey) on 4 June 1998,Official Report, column 336.