§ Mr. TylerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) for what reason the National Poisons Information Service has not submitted its annual reports, due in July 1999 and March 2000, to his Department; and what steps he has taken to ensure that the contractual commitments of the NPIS have been delivered; [127022]
511W(2)if he will list the members of the National Poisons Information Service Board; and how details of their meeting schedule, agendas and minutes can be obtained; [127020]
(3)what were the terms of the contracts between his Department and the National Poisons Information Service between 1995 and the current year. [127023]
§ Yvette Cooper[holding answer 20 June 2000]: The National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) provides a service to health care professionals. It consists of six poison information centres situated at Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London and Newcastle, and the Tablet and Capsule Identification System (TICTAC) at St. George's. The UK Departments of Health, (in Wales the Specialist Health Services Commission on behalf of health authorities), commission the NPIS Centres to provide information and, on request, clinical advice to health care staff on the diagnosis, treatment and management of patients who have, or are suspected to have, been poisoned. The service is available 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.
The NPIS Board was set up to advise the UK Health Departments on matters such as policy and the strategic direction of the service, and to scrutinise its work. The Board's membership consists of representatives from the four UK Health Departments who have executive powers and nine non-executive members representing health professionals. The Board aims to meet quarterly (providing there is sufficient business to warrant a meeting). It is an internal management committee and as such its agendas and minutes are not published.
Formal agreements have existed between the Secretary of State for Health and providers of poisons information services over the period 1995 to 1999. The exact terms of these agreements will have varied between each year and between each NPIS Centre. Broadly, such agreements will have set out details of the levels and quality of service to be provided as well as financial arrangements.
For the calendar year 1998, NPIS Centres were required to compile a report to the Department of Health to comply with the provisions of EC Resolution 90/C 329–03. All Centres met with this requirement. Under the terms of agreements with the Secretary of State for Health for the financial year 1999–2000, the three English NPIS Centres were required to submit information for management purposes. To date, one of the Centres has submitted a written report for the year 1999–2000 and the two other Centres have been requested to provide written reports by the end of June. These reports are for internal use only and therefore are not published.
§ Mr. TylerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health since 1990, what work on pesticides has been carried out by the Medical Toxicology Unit (Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital Trust) and the NPIS (London) under contract to agrochemical companies; what equipment, facilities and staff funded by his Department have been used for this purpose; what agreements with his Department have been made to cover this activity; if he will publish details of those contracts; and if he will make a statement. [127021]
§ Yvette Cooper[holding answer 20 June 2000]: The laboratory of the Medical Toxicology Unit at Guy's and St. Thomas' National Health Service Hospital Trust has 512W never carried out any work under contract on pesticides. Any work in relation to pesticides has been part of the trust's NHS function in providing services for diagnosing poisoning.
Funding by the United Kingdom Departments of Health for National Poison Information Service services covers only the inquiry services, contribution to the maintenance and development of a poisons database (TOXBASE), and outreach to, and training of, health professionals in the use of the service. This funding is not provided for the purposes of other associated activities at the Medical Toxicology Unit (Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital NHS Trust) or at any other of the Centres.