Asked by: Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will ensure that alternative theories of the cause of noise associated with wind turbines are considered by his Department's review of such noise.
Answered by Matt Hancock
I refer the my hon. Friend to the answers I gave him to Questions 218569, 218570 and 218571, in which I confirmed that the review will examine the available evidence on wind turbine amplitude modulation.
The Department has not selected a contractor to conduct this review. The selection criteria will be set out in the Invitation to Tender, which will be issued shortly.
Asked by: Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many Serious Incident Investigations have been undertaken by Northampton General Hospital into incidents involving stillbirths in each year since 2010.
Answered by Dan Poulter
It is the responsibility of care providers to investigate all serious incidents that take place under their jurisdiction.
Data from the Strategic Executive Information System (STEIS) shows that a total of five serious incidents involving still births were reported by Northampton General Hospital since 2010. Where a small number of cases exist the Department is unable to provide further details as the disclosure of such information could breach an individual’s confidentiality.
Asked by: Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many serious incident investigations have been undertaken by the NHS into incidents involving stillbirths in each year since 2010.
Answered by Dan Poulter
It is the responsibility of care providers to investigate all serious incidents that take place under their jurisdiction.
Data was extracted from the Strategic Executive Information System (STEIS)* and the table below shows that a total of 955 serious incidents involving still births were reported in England since 2010. Of these 829 are recorded as ‘closed’ following the conclusion of an investigation.
Serious incidents reported in England to the STEIS database as “Maternity Services - Intrapartum death” or “Intrauterine death” | |||||||
| Calendar Year | Total | |||||
STEIS incident type | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | up to 25 February 2015 |
|
Maternity Services - Intrapartum death | 43 | 70 | 43 | 55 | 54 | 4 | 269 |
Maternity Services - Intrauterine death | 64 | 113 | 140 | 171 | 181 | 17 | 686 |
Total | 107 | 183 | 183 | 226 | 235 | 21 | 955 |
*STEIS includes two categories ‘Maternity Services - Intrapartum death’, which encompass stillbirth that appeared to have occurred intrapartum (i.e. during labour) and ‘Maternity Services - Intrauterine death’, which describes death in the womb detected before labour commenced. Extracted data describes the numbers of serious incidents reported under these categories.
Asked by: Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the ratio of midwives to patients in the NHS was in each year since 2010.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The ratio of midwives to patients is not collected centrally. Annual data showing the ratio of births to midwives is collected by the Health and Social Care Information Centre and attached below for the years 2010 – 2013.
Data as at 30 September each year
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
Registered full-time equivalent (FTE) midwives |
20,126 |
20,519 |
20,935 |
21,284 |
Number of all births |
690,513 |
691,739
|
697,598 |
667,620 |
Ratio (births per FTE midwife) |
34.3
|
33.7 |
33.3 |
31.4 |
There were 21,670 registered midwives on 30 September 2014 however the ratio of (all) births per FTE midwife cannot be provided as the birth data for 2014 is not yet available.
There has been an increase of 2,231 (11.1%) FTE qualified midwives since May 2010.
Asked by: Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much has been spent by the NHS on obstetrics litigation in each year since 2010.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The NHS Litigation Authority (NHS LA) handles clinical negligence claims on behalf of its members under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST). Currently, all National Health Service trusts in England are members of the CNST.
The information is shown in the following table.
Payments made by the NHS LA on Obstetrics claims, 2010-14 (as at 31 January 2015)
Payment Year | Total (£) |
2010/11 | 329,981,439 |
2011/12 | 555,619,839 |
2012/13 | 506,249,276 |
2013/14 | 459,545,214 |
Source: NHS LA
Asked by: Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many obstetrics litigation cases in each year since 2010 involving incidents at Northampton General Hospital are still pending.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The NHS Litigation Authority (NHS LA) handles clinical negligence claims on behalf of its members under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST). Currently, all National Health Service trusts in England are members of the CNST.
The information about spend on obstetrics litigation in relation to Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust is shown in the following table.
Payments made by the NHS Litigation Authority on Obstetrics claims for Northampton General Hospital
NHS Trust from 2010 – 2014 (as at 31 January 2015) |
Payment Year | Total (£) |
2010/11 | 3,155,656 |
2011/12 | 2,712,021 |
2012/13 | 2,116,769 |
2013/14 | 757,882 |
Source: NHS Litigation Authority
In relation to the number of cases outstanding, a search of the NHS LA’s claims’ database shows that there are less than five obstetrics litigation cases in total still pending involving incidents at Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust since 2010.
Where a small number of cases exists, the Department is unable to provide a specific figure or location, as the disclosure of such information could breach an individual’s confidentiality.
Asked by: Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much has been spent on obstetrics litigation involving incidents at Northampton General Hospital in each year since 2010.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The NHS Litigation Authority (NHS LA) handles clinical negligence claims on behalf of its members under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST). Currently, all National Health Service trusts in England are members of the CNST.
The information about spend on obstetrics litigation in relation to Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust is shown in the following table.
Payments made by the NHS Litigation Authority on Obstetrics claims for Northampton General Hospital
NHS Trust from 2010 – 2014 (as at 31 January 2015) |
Payment Year | Total (£) |
2010/11 | 3,155,656 |
2011/12 | 2,712,021 |
2012/13 | 2,116,769 |
2013/14 | 757,882 |
Source: NHS Litigation Authority
In relation to the number of cases outstanding, a search of the NHS LA’s claims’ database shows that there are less than five obstetrics litigation cases in total still pending involving incidents at Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust since 2010.
Where a small number of cases exists, the Department is unable to provide a specific figure or location, as the disclosure of such information could breach an individual’s confidentiality.
Asked by: Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the ratio of midwives to patients has been in the maternity unit of Northampton General Hospital in each year since 2010.
Answered by Dan Poulter
Information on ratio of midwives to patients is not collected centrally.
Information on the number of midwives (full-time equivalent) at Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust in each year since 2010 is included in the attached table.
There has been an increase of 2,231 (11.1%) full-time equivalent qualified midwives since May 2010.
Asked by: Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) live births and (b) stillbirths have been recorded at Northampton General Hospital in each year since 2010.
Answered by Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) live births and (b) stillbirths have been recorded in England and Wales in each year since 2010.
Answered by Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.