Question - 01/07/08 

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety if his target date of 30 June for Health and Social Care Employers to have all staff on ‘Agenda for Change’ rates of pay has been met.
 
Answer

Yes, the target date of 30 June 2008 for the assimilation of staff to the new Agenda for Change rates of pay has been met. Health and Social Care employers are continuing with the process of calculating arrears due to staff from 1 October 2004. There is a small number of staff where there are grading issues to be resolved and they are most likely to be subject to job evaluation; for those staff the process continues. There is also a number of staff that have requested that their employer carries out a review of their grading and for those staff this part of the implementation process also continues.

Question - 07/04/08

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the steps he is taking to ensure that no further early closures will take place at the Accident and Emergency Unit at the Mid-Ulster Hospital.

Answer

The decision to close Mid-Ulster Hospital’s A&E department early on the weekend of 4 April was taken in the interest of patient safety due to staff shortages.

To address this issue the Trust has recently completed a recruitment exercise for staff grade doctors in A&E and it is anticipated that the outcome of this will provide the appropriate medical cover to enable the A&E Department to maintain its normal level of service.

Question - 07/04/08

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the reasons for the closure of the Accident and Emergency Unit at the Mid-Ulster Hospital at 5pm on Friday 4 April 2008.

Answer

The A&E Department at the Mid-Ulster Hospital normally opens from 9:00am to 11:00pm each day. To provide this service, the A&E Department at the Mid-Ulster Hospital depends on a team of 4 staff grade doctors. However currently only 2 of these posts are filled permanently and the Trust is therefore heavily dependent on locum doctors to provide input. Obtaining appropriately skilled locum cover at weekends can be problematic and on Friday 4 April the Trust found it impossible to arrange suitable cover, despite repeated efforts.

In light of the absence of appropriately skilled medical staff the decision to close the A&E Department early was taken to address an immediate issue of patient safety.

Question - 07/04/08

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the salary levels of locum doctors in each hospital.

Answer 

The salary levels of locum doctors employed directly by trusts are set out in the Pay and Conditions of Service for junior doctors and consultants. Salaries for junior doctors are paid at an hourly rate. The basic hourly rate depends on the grade of doctor and ranges from £10.90 an hour for an F1 doctor to £17.97 an hour for a specialty registrar (at 2007-2008 rates). In addition, there may be banding supplements depending on the working pattern of the doctor. The salary level for a locum consultant is related to the pay of a consultant and is dependent on whether or not the locum consultant is in a substantive consultant post. The minimum point on the salary scale is £73,510 per annum.

The above salary levels do not include doctors recruited from locum agencies. In circumstances where it is difficult to recruit locum doctors directly, for example in specialties where there are particular shortages, trusts may agree higher salary levels with the locum agency. These salary levels will vary across locum agencies.
 

Question - 07/04/08

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to confirm that he has no plans to reduce the service provision at the Mid-Ulster Hospital, in light of the recent early closure of the Accident and Emergency Unit.

Answer 

The recent early closure of the Accident and Emergency Unit has not affected our plans for future services at the Mid-Ulster Hospital.

Those plans, as set out in Developing Better Services, include the development of the Mid-Ulster as a local hospital supporting the services provided by Antrim Area Hospital and Causeway Hospital. However, those changes will only be made when robust alternative arrangements are in place at other hospitals to ensure that safe, high quality services can be provided to people of the Mid-Ulster area.

In the meantime, subject to patient safety issues, the Mid-Ulster Hospital will continue to provide its current range of services.

Question - 22/01/08

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the number of emergency requests for ambulances made in the (i) Cookstown District Council; and (ii) Magherafelt District Council areas, in each of the last 3 years.

Answer 

The information requested is as follows:

The discrepancy between calls received and attended is as a result of hoax/malicious calls or callers hanging up before giving details.

Question - 04/12/07

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the number of people who receive vene section treatment for haemo-chromatosis in (i) home visits; (ii) clinic visits; and (iii) hospital day units, in the past year.

Answer
 

The number of people who receive vene section treatment for haemo-chromatosis during a home visit or during a clinic visit in Northern Ireland is not currently available. However, information is available on the number of people receiving vene section treatment for haemo-chromatosis during a day case admission to hospital.

The total number of day case admissions to hospital were the patient has a primary diagnosis of haemo-chromatosis and received vene section treatment during 2005/06 is 1,238. It is estimated that this equates to 260 individuals based on the patients’ case notes.

It is possible that any individual could be admitted to hospital more than once in any year and will thus be counted more than once as an admission.

Question - 20/11/07

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail what facilities are available in the Mid Ulster area for all types of respite care.

Answer

Respite care can be provided in a range of different settings depending on the needs and preferences of the service user and/or their carer. In Mid Ulster the Northern Health and Social Care Trust provides respite care in Hollybank and Westlands, both statutory units, and in private residential and nursing homes as well as three day centres. Alongside these facilities, the Trust has 16 family based respite carers in the Mid Ulster area and a range of contracts with domiciliary care providers to provide respite care in a peoples own homes.

Question - 13/11/07

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to outline the number of people in Northern Ireland who have been diagnosed with haemo-chromatosis.

Answer

The number of people who have been diagnosed with haemo-chromatosis in Northern Ireland is not currently available. However, information is available on the number of people with a diagnosis of haemo-chromatosis who have been admitted to hospital.

The total number of admissions to hospital with a primary diagnosis of haemo-chromatosis for 2005/06 is 1,292. It is estimated that this equates to 274 individuals based on the patients’ casenotes.

It is not possible to report on how many of these admissions are new diagnoses, or how many people have been diagnosed, but are not being treated in an inpatient setting. Discharges from hospital and Deaths in hospital are used as an approximation to admissions. It is possible that any individual could be admitted to hospital more than once in any year and will thus be counted more than once as an admission.

Question - 12/10/07

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety what representations he has received requesting early decisions to be taken on reformed health structures.

Answer

To date I have received letters from the Chairman of the British Medial Association (NI) dated 13 September and from the Chairman of the General Practitioners Committee of the BMA(NI) dated 27 September 2007 regarding the impact of any delay in taking decisions on the new health and social care structures. In response to these letters, I met with representatives of the British Medical Association on 11 October and plan to meet representatives of the General Practitioners Committee to discuss, amongst other things, their concerns in this regard.

Questions - 12/10/07 

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to give his assessment of the benefits of practice-based commissioning in Northern Ireland.

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to provide an update on the progress of the work of local commissioning groups.
 

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to give his assessment of the benefits of establishing community commissioning associations.

Answer

I am currently considering the future shape of our health and social care systems in Northern Ireland. While I agree that changes need to be made, it is unlikely that there will be further changes before April 2009 because of likely legislative requirements and practical considerations around restructuring.

I want to be sure that the changes we make will deliver the best outcome for the people of Northern Ireland. Health and social care structures must meet local needs and must be sustainable in the long-term.

The current integrated health and social care system in Northern Ireland has many strengths and I want to capitalize on those strengths. As part of this process I will consider how the various methods of commissioning could contribute to this.

Question - 07/06/07 

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety how many information packs, which included no smoking signs, were issued by the Health Promotion Agency to businesses in Cookstown and Magherafelt prior to, and since, the smoking ban came into effect on 30 April 2007.

Answer

The company responsible for issuing the packs, which included sample signage, distributed 2,078 in Magherafelt and 1,746 in Cookstown. Advertisements were also placed in the main newspapers on 23 April informing employers who had not received packs that they could be obtained from their district council’s Environmental Health Department.
The advertisement also stated that the pack, signage and information on smoke-free legislation was available for downloading from the Health Promotion Agency’s "Space to Breathe" website - www.spacetobreathe.org.uk
Magherafelt District Council issued 10 packs on request, post-30 April, while Cookstown District Council did not record the number of requests received.

Question - 07/06/07

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail how many places are available for respite care, catering for the needs of those with severe learning and/or physical disability, broken down by Health and Social Services Board area.

Answer

The following table sets out the number of places currently available for respite care, in terms of available beds, for those with severe learning and / or physical disability, broken down by the four Health and Social Services Board areas. 

Each place represents respite provision for many clients, depending on their individual level of need. Respite care can also be provided in different settings, including family based and domiciliary respite services. In all the Board areas additional respite provision is purchased as necessary.

Question - 07/06/07 

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety if he will carry out a risk assessment of the Mid-Ulster hospital, in light of the removal of maternity services and night-time A&E services

Answer

In spring 2005 the former United Hospitals Trust and the NHSSB commissioned an independent assessment of the risks associated with the maintenance of key acute services at Mid Ulster Hospital. In November 2006, following a period of public consultation, the Trust approved proposals for changes to services which included the transfer of obstetric services to Antrim Area Hospital and a reduction of Mid Ulster Accident and Emergency opening hours.
No further risk assessment is currently planned. The Northern Trust will continue to monitor service provision at the Mid Ulster Hospital to ensure safety and sustainability of services during its transition to a local hospital as set out in Developing Better Services.

Question - 07/06/07 

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety if he will consider a midwife-led maternity service for the Mid-Ulster Hospital.

Answer

It is for the Health and Social Services Boards and Trusts in conjunction with their local communities to decide on the most appropriate pattern of local maternity services provision.