§ Mr. RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many GP referrals were there of people with mental health problems in each of the last 10 years. [105120]
§ Mr. HuttonThe Department does not keep central records of the diagnosis given by General Medical Practitioners to their patients. However, records have been kept since 1995–96 of the number of written referrals to specialised NHS mental health services. These show:
GP written referrals to mental health specialities 1995–96 to 1999–2000 Year Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total 1995–96 54,014 53,527 51,908 59,627 219,076 1996–97 57,551 54,843 59,227 60,392 232,013 1997–98 61,771 58,307 59,549 62,183 241,810 1998–99 56,819 55,901 57,570 61,463 231,753 1999–2000 56,966 55,667 — — — Source:
QM08 quarterly return from NHS trusts
§ Mr. RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what were the sickness rates of staff employed in NHS mental health services for each of the last 10 years. [105122]
§ Mr. DenhamAccording to a survey conducted by the Department in 1998–99 the average sickness absence rate for staff directly employed by National Health Service trusts was 4.6 per cent. This is equivalent to approximately eight million out of the 176 million days worked each year by National Health Service staff. Details of the survey can be found in Health Service Circular 1999/229, "Managing Violence, Accidents and Sickness Absence in the NHS", copies of which are available in the Library. Similar information for earlier years, and information about staff working in mental health services, is not collected centrally, but may be held292W locally by individual National Health Service employers. We have agreed improvement targets for health authorities and NHS trusts to
achieve year on year improvement in sickness absence rates" of 20 per cent. by 2001 and 30 per cent. by 2003.
§ Mr. RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what was the staff-to-patient ratio in NHS mental health services for each of the past 10 years; [105119]
(2) what was the ratio of National Health Service employees working with people with mental health problems per 100,000 of the population, in each of the past 10 years. [105084]
§ Mr. HuttonThe information requested is not available centrally.
§ Mr. RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the average annual caseload for(a) mental health social workers, (b) mental health occupational therapists, (c) psychiatric nurses and (d) psychologists for each of the last 10 years. [105123]
§ Mr. HuttonThe information in the form requested is not collected centrally.
Information about the number of patient contacts with the Occupational Therapy Services, Community Psychiatric Nursing Services and Clinical Psychology Services is collected annually and published by the Department. The latest information is contained in the following summaries which are available in the Library; "Occupational Therapy Services, Summary Information for 1998–99, England", "Patient Care in the Community, Community Psychiatric Nursing, Summary Information for 1998–99, England" and "Clinical Psychology Services, Summary Information for 1998–99, England". Information about patient contacts made by mental health social workers is not collected centrally.
§ Mr. RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how much of the additional money allocated for the NHS in the Comprehensive Spending Review has been earmarked for NHS mental health services. [105118]
§ Mr. Hutton"Modernising Mental Health Services" set out our vision for safe, sound and supportive mental health services for working age adults. In launching the strategy we announced additional funding over the 3-year Comprehensive Spending Review period of £700 million for health and social services.
Over the 3-year Comprehensive Spending Review period (1999–2000 to 2001–02) at least £500 million will be ear-marked for mental health services from within the modernisation funds for health and social services. Of this over £300 million will come from the National Health Service modernisation fund.
§ Mr. RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the total number of staff working in NHS mental health services in each of the last 10 years. [105121]
293W
§ Mr. DenhamThe information requested is not held centrally. The Workforce Action Team charged with taking forward the Mental Health National Service Framework workforce, planning, education and training underpinning programme, is seeking to map the mental health workforce.