§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of medical training courses for doctors in the UK deals with ICT in the NHS. [75510]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 21 October 2002]: Individual university medical schools determine their own undergraduate medical curriculum in the light of recommendations from the General Medical Council's (GMC) education committee, which has the statutory responsibility to determine the extent and knowledge and skill required for the granting of primary medical qualifications in the United Kingdom.
The education committee's most recent recommendations on undergraduate medical education are contained in Tomorrow's Doctors, which was published in July 2002.
The GMC's recommendations on general clinical training in the pre registration house officer (PRHO) year cover medical informatics, including how to use information storage and retrieval systems effectively. As part of their in-service training PRHOs are expected to
RPL: Worthing & Southland Hospitals NHS Trust Day Case Elective Inpatient Non-Elective Inpatient Mean Average Mean Average Mean Average HRG Code HRG Label Unit Cost £ Unit Cost £ Unit Cost £ B02 Phakoemulsification cataract extraction with lens implant 939 1,086 1,687 B03 Other cataract extraction with lens implant 719 866 N/A E04 Coronary bypass N/A N/A N/A H02 Primary hip replacement N/A 4,457 6,577 H04 Primary knee replacement N/A 4,989 6,474 Notes:
1 The following information was submitted by Worthing & Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust as part of their 2001 submission for reference costs. The figures relate to the financial year 2000–01.
2 Some procedures can be undertaken as a day case and/or inpatient, e.g. cataracts. Both have different costs, as shown above.
3 This Trust did not report any activity for coronary artery bypass grafts in 2000–01.
268Wbecome familiar with the information technology facilities of the hospital or health centre in which they are training.
The content and standard of postgraduate medical training is the responsibility of the UK competent authorities, the Specialist Training Authority for specialist medicine and for general practice, the Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice. These bodies have a vested interest in ensuring that doctors are prepared for practice— both in hospital and in general practice— including proficiency in the use of information and communication technology in the National Health Service.