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Written Question
Accident and Emergency Departments: East of England
Friday 5th December 2014

Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the average travelling distance to a 24-hour accident and emergency department in the East of England in the last year.

Answered by Jane Ellison

No estimate has been made by the Department.

Written Question
Dental Services: East of England
Friday 5th December 2014

Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of practising dentists in each county in the East of England are taking on new NHS patients.

Answered by Dan Poulter

The information requested is not collected centrally. The NHS Choices website, www.nhs.uk, publishes some dental practice-level information about whether National Health Service patients in various categories are being accepted for new courses of treatment. However, the relevant data collection is voluntary and not all dental practices have taken the opportunity to return this information to NHS Choices.

Written Question
Alcoholic Drinks: East of England
Friday 5th December 2014

Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many admissions to hospital through accident and emergency departments with an alcohol-related diagnosis there were in (a) Suffolk, (b) Norfolk and (c) Essex in each of the last four years.

Answered by Jane Ellison

Information is not available in the format or for the period requested.

Information on the sum of alcohol attributable fractions for admissions to hospital through accident and emergency departments in Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex from 2009-10 to 2012-13 is shown in the table below:

County

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

Suffolk

4,375

5,023

5,240

5,509

Norfolk

7,456

8,171

9,292

9,398

Essex

12,863

14,067

14,905

14,768

Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre, Hospital Episode Statistics (HES)

Note:

  1. It should be noted that this is not a count of patients as the same patient may have been admitted more than once in a year.

  1. Alcohol attributable fractions do not provide a count of episodes with an alcohol related diagnosis or cause code but rather an estimate of the numbers based on the proportion of diseases and injuries that can be wholly or partially attributed to alcohol. In addition, partial alcohol attributable fractions are not applicable to children aged under 16 years.

  1. The following trusts have been used to define activity in each of the referenced counties:

- West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (FT) (Suffolk);

- Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust (Suffolk);

- James Paget University Hospitals NHS FT (Norfolk);

- Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS FT (Norfolk);

- Queen Elizabeth Hospitals King's Lynn NHS Trust (Norfolk);

- Mid Essex Hospitals Services NHS Trust (Essex);

- Colchester Hospital University NHS FT (Essex);

- Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS FT (Essex);

- Southend University Hospital NHS FT (Essex); and

- The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (Essex).

  1. The number of alcohol-related admissions is based on the methodology developed by the North West Public Health Observatory (NWPHO), which uses 48 indicators for alcohol-related illnesses, determining the proportion of a wide range of diseases and injuries that can be partly attributed to alcohol as well as those that are, by definition, wholly attributable to alcohol. Further information on these proportions can be found at :

http://www.nwph.net/nwpho/publications/AlcoholAttributableFractions.pdf

  1. The application of the NWPHO methodology has recently been updated but is not currently available from HES.

  1. The attributable fractions have recently been updated, but this analysis uses the fractions defined in 2008 pending update of the underlying database from which this analysis was produced.

  1. The alcohol attributable fraction is set to 1 (100%) where the admission is considered to be entirely due to alcohol, e.g. in the case of alcoholic liver disease. These records are described as wholly alcohol attributable.

  1. The alcohol attributable fraction is set to a value greater than 0 but less than 1 according to the NWPHO definition, e.g. the alcohol fraction of an admission with a primary diagnosis of C00 - malignant neoplasm of lip, where the patient is male and between 65 and 74 is 0.44 - these records are described as partly alcohol attributable.

  1. These wholly and partly attributable fractions can be aggregated to supply an estimate of activity which can be considered wholly or partly attributable to alcohol.

  1. A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. Conversely, apparent increases in activity may be due to improved recording of diagnosis or procedure information.

  1. Note that HES include activity ending in the year in question and run from April to March.

Written Question
General Practitioners: Pay
Tuesday 25th November 2014

Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average remuneration for (a) part-time and (b) full-time GPs in each clinical commissioning group area was in the last three years.

Answered by Dan Poulter

I hope my hon. Friend will understand that information on the average remuneration for part-time and full-time general practitioners in each clinical commissioning group is not held centrally.

Written Question
General Practitioners: East of England
Tuesday 25th November 2014

Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average distance travelled for an out-of-hours GP appointment was in (a) Suffolk, (b) Bedfordshire, (c) Cambridgeshire, (d) Essex, (e) Hertfordshire and (f) Norfolk in each of the last 10 years; and what the average waiting time for an out-of-hours GP appointment was in (i) Suffolk, (ii) Bedfordshire, (iii) Cambridgeshire, (iv) Essex, (v) Hertfordshire and (vi) Norfolk in each of the last 10 years.

Answered by Dan Poulter

The information requested is not collected centrally. NHS England has delegated the commissioning of out of hours services for general practitioner practices to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). The hon. Member might therefore wish to contact local CCGs for information about out of hours performance.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 24 Jun 2014
Patient Safety

"I commend the Secretary of State for these practical and sensible reforms on patient safety, and I look forward to discussing them with staff at West Suffolk hospital—the biggest district general hospital in my area. Does he agree that the sensible and deliverable transparency reforms will ensure that the conspiracy …..."
David Ruffley - View Speech

View all David Ruffley (Con - Bury St Edmunds) contributions to the debate on: Patient Safety
Written Question
Clinical Commissioning Groups: Suffolk
Monday 23rd June 2014

Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of running and administering the (a) West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group and (b) East Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group.

Answered by Dan Poulter

NHS England advises that the Final Annual Reports 2013-14 for the West Suffolk and Ipswich and East Suffolk clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) show the following spend on administration costs:

Statement of comprehensive net expenditure for the year ended 31 March 2014 – administration costs

Ipswich and East Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group

West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group

£ million

£ million

Net administration costs before financing

7.3

5.2

From 2013-14, the running costs allowance for CCGs is expected to be £25 per head of population per annum. At this level, running costs allowances will be consistent with the requirement to reduce administration costs by one-third.

Written Question
Accident and Emergency Departments
Monday 23rd June 2014

Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the average travelling distance to a 24-hour accident and emergency department for people in (a) Bury St Edmunds constituency, (b) Suffolk and (c) England and Wales.

Answered by Jane Ellison

No estimate has been made by the Department. NHS England has, however, published best practice guidance ‘Planning and delivering service changes for patients'. In the guidance, commissioners are reminded that where any changes are proposed to urgent and emergency care services they need to provide analysis of travelling times and distances, identifying the impact on pedestrians and public and private transport users, as well as the ambulance service where relevant.

Written Question
Hospital Beds
Wednesday 11th June 2014

Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many hospital beds per head of population there were in (a) Bury St Edmunds, (b) Suffolk and (c) England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Answered by Jane Ellison

Information is not collected centrally on the catchment populations served by National Health Service hospital trusts in order to estimate beds per head of population at this level. Such information as is available is shown in the following table.

Estimated hospital beds per 1,000 population1, England2 and Suffolk3, 2009-10 to 2013-14

England

Suffolk

Beds in wards
open overnight

Beds in wards
open day only

Beds in wards
open overnight

Beds in wards
open day only

2009-
10

3.04

0.21

1.80

0.19

2010-
114, 5

2.71

0.21

1.92

0.15

2011-
12

2.61

0.21

1.77

0.14

2012-
13

2.56

0.22

1.70

0.14

2013-
14

2.53

0.22

1.74

0.15

Notes:

1The response uses Office for National Statistics (ONS) resident populations. However, patients may choose any hospital in England that offers NHS services for their first consultant-led outpatient appointment. Their subsequent inpatient treatment may then be in the same hospital. Locally, NHS hospital trusts will estimate the number of patients they expect to treat (the catchment population), but this information is not collected centrally.

2Data has been provided for England only. Health is a devolved matter in Wales.

3Data for Suffolk includes the number of beds in West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust and Ipswich Hospitals NHS Trust. Population data are for the former Suffolk Primary Care Trust for 2009 to 2012, and for the West Suffolk clinical commissioning group (CCG) and Ipswich and East Suffolk CCG. No suitable NHS geography exists for Bury St Edmunds.

4Bed availability and occupancy data were collected annually before 2010-11. Data have been collected quarterly since 2010-11. Annual figures have been calculated, weighted for the number of days in each quarter.

5The lower England figure for 2010-11 may reflect a change in the basis of the collection from annual to quarterly. The quarterly data are collected in the month following the end of the quarter, which is timelier and requires less estimation than the previous annual collection.

Sources:

NHS England, bed availability and occupancy data, 2009-10 to 2013-14

ONS national and subnational population estimates, 2009 to 2012

ONS 2012-based national and subnational population projections, 2013

Written Question
Nabiximols
Wednesday 14th May 2014

Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost was of translation and interpreter services used by each individual NHS trust in England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Answered by Norman Lamb

This information is not held centrally. National Health Service organisations have duties under equality legislation which include making sure that their communities can understand information about NHS services and that patients and clinicians can communicate with each other. However, the Department would encourage NHS organisations to be efficient and save money where possible by working together and sharing resources.