§ Mr. WilshireTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many(a) extra beds and (b) extra staff he estimates will be required at the Ashford & St Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust to enable the new chief executive to achieve the franchise plan that he has approved. [67462]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 5 July 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to my reply to him on 3 July 2002, Official Report, column 456W. The franchise plan for Ashford & St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust does not make any commitment to extra staff and beds. The Trust is assessing its capacity requirements in the longer term but plans have yet to be finalised.
§ Mr. WilshireTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many extra midwives are required by the Ashford & St. Peter's Hsospitals NHS Trust to achieve full establishment. [67461]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 5 July 2002]: I am advised by Ashford & St. Peter's Hospitals National Health Service Trust that the current funded establishment of midwives is 103 whole-time equivalents (WTE). There are currently 75 WTE staff in permanent positions. Therefore an additional 28 WTE staff are required to achieve full establishment.
1221WHowever, in addition to the current permanent WTE staff of 75, the Trust has informed me that it also has a dedicated team of midwives temporarily employed to cover the shortfall, under the new NHS Professionals initiative. This results in an overall vacancy rate of 14 per cent. at the current time.
§ Mr. WilshireTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the required reduction in expenditure arising from the merger of the Ashford Hospital NHS Trust and the St. Peter's Hospital NHS Trust was(a) in sthe year the merger took place and (b) in each subsequent year: [67464]
(2) what reduction in expenditure by Ashford & St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust was required by West Surrey Health Authority's Sustainable NHS plan. [67463]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 5 July 2002]: In 1998–99, the year the hospitals merged, West Surrey Health Authority required strategic change savings of £300,000. As a result of the merger, the Ashford & St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust actually saved £1.4 million in management costs (£1.2 million in 1998–99 and £0.2 million in 1999–2000) and £0.6 million in support service costs. The benefits of the savings have been ongoing in subsequent years. The savings made met the strategic change target and helped fund cost pressures at the Trust.
The Trust was required to contribute the sums shown in the table to the West Surrey sustainable National Health Service project on a recurring basis:
£000 1999–2000 1,072 2000–01 1,665 2001–02 324 Total 3,061 In 2000–01, the Trust received non-recurrent support of £1.24 million against the contribution of £1.665 million.