Written question asked by John P Smith (Labour) on Thursday, 11 March 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 15 March 2010. It was answered by Ann Keen (Labour) on Monday, 22 March 2010 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Thromboembolism: Health Services

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department has issued on the implementation of the Venous Thromboembolism National Commissioning Goal to (a) strategic health authority managers, (b) primary care trust managers, (c) acute trust managers and (d) other healthcare professionals.

Answer: The following guidance and support has been made available on the implementation of the Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) National Commissioning Goal within the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) payment framework:"Details of the national CQUIN goal on VTE risk assessment for 2010-11 were included within published guidance on the CQUIN payment framework in December 2009.""www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_091443""Draft guidance on data collection was put onto UNIFY on 26 January 2010 for UNIFY users.""Some basic information on VTE and CQUIN has been put on the Department's website at:""www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/Healthprotection/Bloodsafety/VenousThromboembolismVTE/DH_113359""Inquiries on the VTE goal within CQUIN from staff in the national health service are being answered individually by the Department and the queries that come up regularly will also be used to form a Frequently Asked Questions section in guidance currently being prepared."

Secondary information