§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health where diagnostic and treatment centres (DTCs) will be located; what the status will be of NHS consultants employed on a sessional basis by DTCs; what formal arrangements will be concluded for aftercare; and what the budget for DTCs will be. [119486]
§ Mr. HuttonA list of the locations of the 46 national health service-run diagnosis and treatment centres (DTCs) open or in development is shown in the table. The location of the independent DTC chain units, for which a procurement process is currently underway, will depend on the response of the independent sector to the clinical requirements of the NHS and the value for money for NHS commissioners offered by the different solutions.
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Strategic health authority DTC scheme Avon, Gloucs and Wilts Swindon Weston Birmingham and the Black Country Birmingham City Hospital Dudley Good Hope Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Birmingham Cheshire and Merseyside Aintree Clatterbridge Crewe Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Southport and Ormskirk County Durham and Tees Valley Bishop Auckland Essex Princess Alexandra Greater Manchester Withington Wrightington Hampshire and Isle of Wight Chase, Bordon North Hampshire, Basingstoke Royal Haslar Hospital Southampton and Winchester Kent and Medway Dartford Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland Kettering General London Ravenscourt Park North and East Yorkshire and Lincs Goole North Central London Moorfields UCLH
Strategic health authority DTC scheme Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge Bury St. Edmunds Hinchingbrooke North West London Chelsea and Westminster South East London Bromley Hospitals Kings College Hospital Shropshire and Staffordshire Cannock South West Peninsula Royal Cornwall (Truro) Torbay Surrey and Sussex Chichester Frimley Park South West London Newham Acute Newham PCT SW London Orthopaedic Thames Valley Milton Keynes Nuffield Orthopaedic Royal Berkshire and Battle Trent Erewash West Midlands South Kidderminster West Yorkshire Pontefract The status of NHS consultants employed on a sessional basis by NHS DTCs will depend on local circumstances. Where consultants work in an NHS DTC as part of their contract with an NHS trust, their current terms and conditions of service will apply. But alternative arrangements can be agreed locally. Independent sector DTC providers will take clinical and managerial responsibility for any work carried out by NHS staff in their units.
For both NHS and independent sector DTCs, arrangements for aftercare will be agreed locally between NHS commissioners and the providers concerned.
£350 million capital has been invested in NHS DTCs. The cost of services delivered by NHS DTCs is for local agreement between the NHS provider and local NHS commissioners. The cost of services delivered through independent sector DTCs will be determined as part of the current procurement exercise.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many diagnostic and treatment centres will be(a) NHS units and (b) private hospitals; and how the decision will be taken on the criteria to be used to determine whether private bidders should be awarded contracts. [119487]
§ Mr. HuttonThere will be 46 NHS-run diagnosis and treatment centre (DTC) units: 15 of these are already open.
In December 2002, a procurement process for a set of DTCs run by the independent sector was launched. 11 of these schemes are being procured under locally-managed competitions by national health service commissioners; these supplement a national procurement process for seven chains of independent sector DTCs. The exact number of independent sector DTC units will be determined as part of the negotiations, in the light of the 574W responses to the clinical requirements of the NHS and a determination of the value for money offered to NHS commissioners.
Preferred bidders for independent sector DTCs will be selected through a bid evaluation process. Bids will be evaluated according to clinical competence, governance and quality; fit with the overarching aims of the DTC programme, such as providing extra staff for the benefit of NHS patients; the legal and financial standing of the bidder; and good value for money.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the(a) names and (b) qualifications of the National Implementation Team who will manage the procurement process for diagnostic and treatment centres; and what arrangements for after-care will be provided by NHS local hospitals. [119570]
§ Mr. HuttonThe National Implementation Team is part of the new Commercial Directorate of the Department of Health. Answering to the new Commercial Director, Ken Anderson, the team is headed by a clinician, Dr. Tom Mann, and brings together staff with a range of clinical, financial and commercial skills relevant to the procurement of clinical services.
The diagnosis and treatment centre programme, in both the national health service and the independent sector, aims to provide patients with a clearly-structured, patient-focused care pathway. Where this involves different providers taking responsibility for different parts of the care pathway, these arrangements will be agreed locally between NHS commissioners and independent sector providers.