Operations (Hansard, 19 April 2004)

§ Mr. Burstow
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many operations were cancelled but rescheduled within 24 hours, in the NHS in(a) England, (b) each region and (c) each strategic health authority in each year since 1996. [156298]

§ Mr. Hutton
Quarterly data are collected on the number of operations cancelled by the hospital for non-clinical reasons 'at the last minute' (that is on the day patients are due to arrive, or after arrival in hospital, or on the day of their operation).
Cancelled operations data at England level and by National Health Service trust and Strategic Health Authority level are available in the Library and on the Department's website at http://performance.doh.gov. uk/hospitality
Data on the number of operations postponed by hospitals for periods of less than 24 hours are not collected centrally by the Department.

§ Bob Spink
To ask the Secretary of State for Health which operations are being purchased from the private sector. [164693]

§ Mr. Hutton
During recent year s the national health service has purchased a range of operations from the private sector under the 'Concordat' arrangement. These have largely been less complex procedures, mainly in ophthalmology, general surgery and orthopaedics. Information is not held centrally on which operations have been commissioned under the Concordat this year, but is available for 2002–03. An analysis has been placed in the Library.
To ensure that waiting time tat gets are met, patient choice increased and value for money improved, the NHS will be making much greater, but more structured use of the independent sector from next year. This will be done under the aegis of the independent treatment center programme. The procedures purchased will be diagnostic and less complex surgical procedures (such as cataract treatment, hernia repairs, primary hip and knee replacement, arthroscopies, endoscopies), mainly in general surgery, ophthalmology and orthopaedics.
When fully operational, we expect the independent sector treatment center programme to treat 250,000 patients per annum across a range of simple and day care procedures.
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In addition to this main programme, the Department is also currently negotiating a supplementary procurement (announced in July 2003) of an extra 125,000 operations for the NHS over the next five years, principally for additional orthopaedic operations. Two services are already working: a treatment center at Daventry (cataracts) and the mobile cataract treatment service provided by Netcare.

§ Bob Spink
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the price paid was for each class of operation purchased from the private sector; and what the equivalent NHS cost of those operations is. [164822]

§ Mr. Hutton
Information relating to the number of operations purchased from the private sector is not available.
Details of the finished consultant episode (FCE) activity that the national health service sub-contracted to, or directly commissioned from non-NHS providers during the financial year 2002–03, can be found in Appendix SRC5 of the Payment by Results: Core Tools 2004 publication, available on the Department's website at http://www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/ OrganisationPolicy/FinanceAndPlanning/NHSReferenceCosts/f s/en.
This activity includes both operative and non-operative procedures and treatments, for elective and emergency admissions to hospital. Comparable details of the cost of such activity incurred by NHS trusts can be found in Appendix SRC1 of the publication.
The information is also available on the CD, "Payment by Results: Core Tools 2004". The CD contains unit cost information for each NHS provider in 2002–03 for designated procedures, diagnoses and treatments.