Asked by: Lord Dobbs (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of UK students who have become NHS (1) doctors, (2) GPs and (3) nurses in England in each year between 2008 and 2018.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The information is not collected in the format requested.
Asked by: Lord Dobbs (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are conducting research into the (1) causes, and (2) costs of missed appointments in the NHS; and if so, when they expect to publish the results of that research.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Department is not currently conducting research into causes, and costs of missed appointments in the National Health Service.
We know, however, that patients may miss appointments for a number of reasons, including mental health and social circumstances. Patients are encouraged to cancel appointments, so they can be used by someone else. New technologies support providers in reminding patients of their forthcoming appointments to reduce missed appointments, for example, the use of text message reminder systems.
NHS Digital publishes did not attend (DNAs) for outpatient appointments annually. Data is available from 2006-07 to 2017-18. Data shows a year on year decrease in the percentage of DNAs. The equivalent data for the number of missed appointments in general practice is not available.
Information surrounding the cost of missed appointments is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Lord Dobbs (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 19 March (HL6008), why the information surrounding the cost of missed appointments at hospital out-patient services is not collected centrally.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
There is no national performance standard for missed appointments and, as stated in my answer of 19 March, the information is not collected centrally. However, this is an issue which the Minister of State for Health (Stephen Barclay) has asked Departmental officials to consider.
Costs associated with hospital appointments are determined by a range of locally determined factors including appointment duration, the workforce requirement and the clinical complexity of each appointment. This ensures out-patient services meet the needs of patients and these will differ across the country.
National Health Service staff are able to use time resulting from missed appointments productively, however. This may include undertaking a variety of additional tasks including support to other patients, or spending time on personal development and training.
Asked by: Lord Dobbs (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many patients were treated by doctors in general practice in each year between 2007 and 2017.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The number of patients treated by doctors in general practice is not collected or held centrally. The number of general practitioner (GP) appointments is not collected or held centrally. NHS Digital and NHS England are currently undergoing a review process on these appointments data. When this is published it will not include retrospective appointment data.
The number of registered patients at GP practices in England has been collected since April 2013 and is presented in the following table.
Date | Number of patients registered at a GP practice |
2013 | 56,043,609 |
2014 | 56,442,722 |
2015 | 57,011,772 |
2016 | 57,631,776 |
2017 | 58,328,549 |
Notes:
The data does not go back further than April 2013.
Asked by: Lord Dobbs (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of (1) doctors, and (2) nurses who have been dismissed for misconduct at work.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
NHS Digital publishes data on dismissals under reasons for leaving. The reasons include capability, conduct, statutory and “for some other substantial reason”. The following table shows National Health Service Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) doctors and nurses and health visitors dismissed for ‘conduct’ over the last five years, headcount.
|
| Doctors | Nurses and health visitors |
2011-12 | Q1 | 9 | 83 |
| Q2 | 13 | 108 |
| Q3 | 11 | 95 |
| Q4 | 12 | 99 |
|
|
| |
2012-13 | Q1 | 5 | 71 |
| Q2 | 4 | 105 |
| Q3 | 5 | 86 |
| Q4 | 10 | 102 |
|
|
| |
2013-14 | Q1 | 10 | 90 |
| Q2 | 8 | 98 |
| Q3 | 4 | 109 |
| Q4 | 12 | 92 |
|
|
| |
2014-15 | Q1 | 11 | 92 |
| Q2 | 9 | 100 |
| Q3 | 16 | 81 |
| Q4 | 9 | 77 |
|
|
| |
2015-16 | Q1 | 9 | 91 |
| Q2 | 4 | 88 |
| Q3 | 2 | 88 |
| Q4 | 11 | 80 |
|
|
| |
2016-17 | Q1 | 9 | 70 |
| Q2 | 10 | 83 |
| Q3 | 5 | 63 |
| Q4 | 6 | 79 |
|
|
| |
2017-18 | Q1 | 7 | 90 |
| Q2 | 7 | 67 |
| Q3 | 9 | 62 |
| Q4 | Data not released yet | Data not released yet |
Source: NHS HCHS monthly workforce statistics, NHS Digital
Notes:
- Quarter 1: 1 April - 30 June
- Quarter 2: 1 July - 30 September
- Quarter 3: 1 October - 31 December
- Quarter 4: 1 January - 31 March
- These figures are based upon information recorded in Electronic Staff Record (ESR) by organisations as part of locally managed staff leaving processes. The accuracy and quality of this data is reliant on local organisations updating each person’s records appropriately when a staff member moves or leaves.
- These figures represent NHS staff who are employed and directly paid by NHS organisations in England using ESR. Two foundation trusts do not use ESR, and these are Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Asked by: Lord Dobbs (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 19 March (HL6008), why the information surrounding the number of missed appointments at hospital out-patient services is not collected centrally.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
As stated in my answer of 19 March 2018, data for missed outpatient appointments is routinely collected and published.
Data for missed outpatient appointments in the years 2006-07 to 2016-17 is provided in the following table. This includes consultant and non-consultant-led appointments.
Year | Total outpatient appointments | Did not attend (DNA) appointments | DNA appointments as % of total appointments |
2006-07 | 63,217,226 | 5,311,966 | 8.4% |
2007-08 | 66,649,484 | 5,553,244 | 8.3% |
2008-09 | 74,853,493 | 5,993,680 | 8.0% |
2009-10 | 84,198,458 | 6,690,258 | 7.9% |
2010-11 | 87,998,505 | 6,883,886 | 7.8% |
2011-12 | 90,956,844 | 6,785,034 | 7.5% |
2012-13 | 94,091,748 | 6,860,222 | 7.3% |
2013-14 | 101,844,824 | 7,095,839 | 7.0% |
2014-15 | 107,188,423 | 7,442,949 | 6.9% |
2015-16 | 113,298,661 | 7,519,829 | 6.6% |
2016-17 | 118,578,912 | 7,938,009 | 6.7% |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS Digital
This is a count of hospital appointments, not individual patients, as the same person may have been booked into a National Health Service hospital on more than one occasion.
Information surrounding the cost of missed appointments at hospital out-patient services is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Lord Dobbs (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many doctors there were in general practice in each year between 2007 and 2017.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The information requested for 2010-17 is shown in the following table. Due to changes in the methodology, comparable data is not available prior to 2010. Headcount general practitioners (GP) numbers (excluding locums) are provided as they are comparable 2010-17.
| All practitioners (excluding locums) headcount |
2010 | 39,409 |
2011 | 40,008 |
2012 | 40,463 |
2013 | 40,236 |
2014 | 41,105 |
2015 | 40,648 |
2016 | 40,490 |
2017 | 39,843 |
Source: NHS Digital