§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost of procedures contracted out by the NHS to the private sector was in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [156320]
Qualified nurses1 Unqualified nurses Bank nurses2 Age group Headcount WTE3 Headcount WTE Headcount WTE 25 823 792.7 401 379.8 373 n/a 25–29 1,684 1,603.6 422 368.3 471 n/a 30–34 2,188 1,900.4 603 523.7 527 n/a 35–39 2,689 2,184.5 728 607.4 670 n/a 40–44 3,109 2.541.2 747 637.7 678 n/a 45–49 2,301 1,925.8 652 559.3 422 n/a 50–54 1,436 1,212.1 460 394.7 235 n/a 55–59 866 713.8 384 321.0 140 n/a 60–64 214 170.4 143 114.3 84 n/a 65 + 11 8.1 1 0.7 12 n/a Total 15,321 13,052.5 4,541 3,906.9 3,612 n/a 1Figures for qualified nurses include health visitors, district nurses, midwives, school nurses, community psychiatric nurses, student health visitors, student midwives and other qualified nurses 2Bank nurses maintain service delivery by covering staffing shortfalls and fluctuating workloads. Due to the variable nature of their employment it is not possible to obtain accurate whole time equivalent data with which to measure their input to the service. Some nurses, midwives and health visitors employed in HPSS organisations may also work in nurse banks—there could therefore be some double counting. 3Whole Time Equivalent Source: Human Resource Management System
§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the cost of medical negligence in Northern Ireland in 2003–04. [156326]
§ Angela SmithThe 2003–04 budget for Health and Personal Social Services includes £11 million towards the settlement of medical negligence claims.
§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many vacancies there are for speech therapists in Northern Ireland. [156381]
§ Angela SmithThe information requested is in the table.
698W
§ Angela SmithThe information requested is not available centrally.
§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what statistics his Department collects regarding requests for(a) radiological and (b) radiography investigations in Northern Ireland. [156323]
§ Angela SmithMy Department collects the number of requests received for radiological and isotope procedures in radiology, nuclear medicine and medical physics departments in each hospital on a quarterly basis.
Information on the request category is also collected and is derived from data concerning the type of request, the category of patient and the type of location from which the request emanates.
§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many nurses are employed in Northern Ireland, broken down by age group. [156325]
§ Angela SmithFigures for nurses employed within HPSS organisations as at 31 December 2003 are given in the following table.
699W
Number of speech therapy vacancies (including long-term vacancies) within all trusts as at 30 September 2003 Trust Headcount WTE1 Altnagelvin Group HSS Trust 0 0.0 Armagh and Dungannon HSS Trust 0 0.0 Belfast City Hospital HSS Trust 0 0.0 Causeway HSS Trust 1 1.0 Craigavon and Banbridge Community HSS Trust 0 0.0 Craigavon Area Hospital Group HSS Trust 0 0.0 Down Lisburn HSS Trust 1 1.0 Foyle Community HSS Trust 3 3.0 Greenpark Healthcare HSS Trust 0 0.0 Homefirst Community HSS Trust 6 N/A Mater Infirmorum Hospital HSS Trust 0 0.0 Newry and Mourne HSS Trust 0 0.0 North and West Belfast HSS Trust 6 4.0 Royal Group of Hospitals HSS Trust 0 0.0 South and East Belfast HSS Trust 0 0.0 Sperrin Lakeland HSS Trust 2 2.0
Number of speech therapy vacancies (including long-term vacancies) within all trusts as at 30 September 2003 Trust Headcount WTE1 Ulster Community and Hospital Group HSS Trust
1 1.0 United Hospitals Group HSS Trust 0 0.0 Total 20 212.0 1Whole time equivalent. 2Figure does not include Homefirst Community HSS Trust.
§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what funding was provided in each of the last three years for people in Northern Ireland with(a) severe and (b) moderate learning disabilities. [156383]
§ Angela SmithFunding for Learning Disability services in each of the last three years is detailed as follows.
Learning Disability Programme of Care £ 2000–01 100,514,349 2001–02 102,507,948 2002–3 136,357.436 It is not possible to disaggregate expenditure for people with severe or moderate learning disabilities.
§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much funding was provided in each of the last three years for people in Northern Ireland with autistic spectrum disorders. [156384]
§ Angela SmithIt is not possible to provide the information in the format requested. Funding for autistic spectrum disorders falls within the learning disability programme of care.
Funding for the last three years is detailed in the table.
Learning Disability Programme of Care £ 2000–01 100,514,349 2001–02 102,507,948 2002–03 136,357,436
§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 4 February,Official Report, column 944W, on the new maternity hospital, what factors underlie the slippage in the expected dates for (a) presentation of a business case and (b) commencement of building of the new regional maternity hospital. [156440]
§ Angela SmithThe original project was a stand alone maternity hospital on the Royal Group of Hospitals site. Since the original announcement, in order to ensure the delivery of the best possible facilities, work has been undertaken to explore opportunities for the development of an integrated mother and child hospital with a single entrance. The development of this integrated model has resulted in an extension of the initial planning time required.
The new regional maternity hospital remains to be completed by 2010. The delay in initiating construction is due to this additional planning, including the need for a complex series of construction, decant, and demolition 700W projects across the entire strategic redevelopment programme which is designed to ensure that disruption to services across the Trust is kept to a minimum.