Asked by: Frank Dobson (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he first contacted GSK about the price of the meningitis B vaccine.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Negotiations for the supply of the meningococcal B vaccine, Bexsero commenced on 11 March 2015. Since then, there has been contact between GSK and the Department.
Asked by: Frank Dobson (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children died of meningitis B in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The table below shows the confirmed number of deaths from meningitis and septicaemia caused by meningococcal B in children aged up to and including 14 years of age in England and Wales for the last five years for which figures are available (2009 to 2013) sourced from enhanced surveillance conducted by Public Health England.
Age | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
Total | 31 | 26 | 26 | 14 | 10 |
Asked by: Frank Dobson (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of callers to (a) NHS Direct and (b) NHS 111 were (i) referred to hospital accident and emergency departments and (ii) sent to such departments by ambulance in each year from 2005-06.
Answered by Jane Ellison
This information is not available in the format requested.
Around a quarter of calls to NHS Direct over the period 2007/08 to 2011/12 resulted in an emergency or urgent referral.
For the period 2011/12 – 2013/14, the proportion of calls triaged by NHS 111 which resulted in an ambulance being dispatched or the caller being recommended to attend accident and emergency (A&E) was 18.3%.
However, the figures on NHS Direct from NHS Direct’s Annual Reports contain the percentages of urgent and emergency onward referrals; these comprise not just calls referred to A&E, but also to 999, and urgent primary care referrals. In the NHS 111 data collection published by NHS England, referrals to primary care are separate from A&E referrals and from ambulance dispatches. Therefore, the percentages for the two services cannot be directly compared.
The following table lists the proportion of calls to NHS Direct which have resulted in emergency and urgent referrals for each financial year from 2007/08 to 2012/131.
Period | % of emergency and urgent referrals |
2007/08 | 28% |
2008/09 | 24% |
2009/10 | 26.4% |
2010/11 | 24.9% |
2011/12 | 27% |
2012/13 | 34.7% |
Source: NHS Direct National Health Service Trust, Annual Report & Accounts for financial years 2007/08 to 2012/13
The table below shows counts of NHS 111 calls where (i) callers are recommended to attend hospital accident and emergency departments, and (ii) an ambulance is dispatched2, from August 2010 to November 2014. The figures are averages from published monthly data.
2010-11 (August 2010 – March 2011) | 2011-12
| 2012-13
| 2013-14
| 2014-15 (April 2014 – November 2014) | |
Calls offered | 187,630 | 616,155 | 1,894,057 | 8,785,341 | 8,150,979 |
Calls where person triaged | 112,388 | 425,815 | 1,254,339 | 7,064,219 | 6,565,416 |
Calls where A&E recommended | 7,444 | 28,560 | 80,232 | 526,520 | 515,593 |
Of calls triaged, proportion where A&E recommended | 6.6% | 6.7% | 6.4% | 7.5% | 7.9% |
Calls where ambulance dispatched | 13,618 | 54,145 | 151,014 | 756,768 | 720,656 |
Of calls triaged, proportion where Ambulance dispatched | 12.1% | 12.7% | 12.0% | 10.7% | 11.0% |
Source: NHS England – NHS 111 Minimum Data Set (www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/category/statistics/nhs-111-statistics)
Notes
1. The NHS Direct National Health Service Trust, Annual Report & Accounts reports list the following Key Performance Indicators in the Appendix in describing how the measure was calculated.
KPI Name | Purpose | Data Source | Definition | Calculation |
% Urgent and | Value to Patients and | Clinical Assessment System (CAS) | % of emergency and urgent | (The number of calls referred to |
111 Calls Requiring | Measure Value to NHS | Pathways | Proportion of symptomatic | 999 + A&E + PCS urgent ÷ |
2. The proportions of calls where an ambulance is dispatched, and where the caller is referred to A&E, are calculated out of the number of calls triaged. The total number of calls offered includes calls which are answered but not triaged (such as callers following up previous calls, or seeking contact details for specific health services, or not wanting or not able to give details about the specific health condition, or where the patient recovers); along with calls which are abandoned before being answered.
3. Both NHS Direct and NHS 111 percentages in this answer are calculated as proportions of all calls with clinical dispositions, or in other words, all calls that are triaged.
Asked by: Frank Dobson (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the change in annual transaction costs in the NHS as a result of implementation of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The Department’s use of the term ‘Transaction costs’ relates to those costs paid in support of National Health Service provider transactions such as mergers, acquisitions or separations. Specifically, they are the costs of planning, preparing and undertaking the transaction itself and achieving contractual close.
The Department does not make estimates of these costs. Transaction costs are considered by the Department on a case by case basis in the context of the overall value for money of the wider transaction.
Asked by: Frank Dobson (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the annual costs of the new central institutions established under the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
Answered by Dan Poulter
Two new central institutions were established under the Health and Social Care Act 2012: Public Health England (PHE) and the National Health Service Commissioning Board. In addition, the reforms associated with the Act led to the establishment of Health Education England (HEE) and the National Health Service Trust Development Authority.
Administration costs across the health system in 2014-15 are a third lower than in 2010-11. The reforms as a result of the Health and Social Care Act have delivered annual savings in excess of £1.5 billion.
The annual administration cost of these organisations is set out in Table 1.
ADMINISTRATION COSTS | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
| Annual costs | Budget | |
| £ million | £ million | £ million |
NHS Commissioning Board (excluding clinical commissioning groups) | 43.40 | 663.00 | 466.00 |
Public Health England |
| 138.70 | 127.60 |
Health Education England | 2.69 | 80.31 | 81.90 |
NHS Trust Development Authority | 2.40 | 27.19 | 31.88 |
Total | 48.49 | 909.20 | 707.38 |
Full costs associated with these organisations are published in their Statutory Accounts.
Asked by: Frank Dobson (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the chief executive of NHS England is permitted under his contract to publicly welcome financial commitments to the NHS made by the Shadow Secretary of State for Health.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The contract of employment for the Chief Executive of NHS England is held between NHS England and the Chief Executive. The Department of Health does not comment on the terms of individual contracts held between NHS England and its employees.
Asked by: Frank Dobson (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 16 December 2013, Official Report, column 524W, on NHS: public appointments, where the data showing the gender of people appointed to the boards of NHS foundation trusts is held.
Answered by Jane Ellison
This information is not collected centrally. Information on the constitution of individual National Health Service foundation trust boards is available in the annual report of each foundation trust.