Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Lord Lansley (Conservative) on Tuesday, 29 April 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 1 May 2008. It was answered by Ann Keen (Labour) on Wednesday, 14 May 2008 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Medical Equipment: Hygiene

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what guidance his Department has issued to the NHS on the use of private sector decontamination services for surgical equipment;
Answer

The Department can confirm that it has not issued formal guidance on the use of independent sector decontamination services. However, a statement has been made on overall policy in the area of surgical equipment decontamination. This is contained in the ““2007 Clarification and Policy Summary—Decontamination of Re-Usable Medical Devices in the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Care Sectors (NHS and Independent providers)””. This document sets out guidelines to ensure universally high standards of decontamination practice and outcome, whether the provider of the decontamination service is an independent sector supplier or within the national health service. Copies of the document have been placed in the Library and are also available from the Department's website at:"www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_074722"Capital allocations made by the Department to the NHS for improving decontamination services, during the period referred to, are shown in the following table.

Capital allocations 2000-01 to 2007-08
£ million
2000-01 0.00
2001-02 25.26
2002-03 59.76
2003-04 29.00
2004-05 70.00
2005-06 29.85
2006-07 21.59
2007-08 8.72
Total 244.18

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
203407; 475 c1651-2W
Session
2007-08
Related items
Deposited Paper DEP2008-1264
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
Deposited papers
House of Commons
Subjects
Hygiene Medical equipment
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk