§ Mr. LansleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when his Department received an application from the Norwich and Norfolk hospital for contingency funding, and when such a grant was approved; [27013]
(2) for what purpose and for what reasons he approved the grant to the Norwich and Norfolk hospital on 9 January. [27014]
§ Mr. MilburnOfficials within the Department have control over a small fund to deal with particular pressures on local health services. £75,000 was agreed for the Norfolk and Norwich Health Care National Health Service Trust on 21 December 2001 to cover significant staff sickness. The money was used to fund extra shifts and additional child care costs of staff with family responsibilities to extend their hours. £250,000 was agreed on 9 January 2002 to buy operations in the private sector to free up capacity for emergencies in the trust and to reduce waits for elective surgery, prior to the opening of an additional 144-bed unit later this year on the new hospital site. This is in line with well-established procedures for monitoring local health services. A number of other NHS trusts have already received support through this fund. Others will receive support throughout the year.