Patient Choice Schemes

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what expenditure his Department has incurred on services enabling patients to make hospital appointments in the last 12 months; and how many people worked on these services at the latest date for which figures are available. (281872)

Expenditure incurred by NHS Direct on services to support booking of first consultant outpatient appointments through the appointments line and the number of staff working in these areas is included in the following table.

	Expenditure (including staff and non-staff costs) April 2008 to March 2009 (£ million)	Staff (in whole- time equivalents) April 2008 to March 2009	Expenditure (including staff and non-staff costs) April to May 2009 (£ million)	Staff (in whole-time equivalents) April to May 2009
National Appointments Line (NHS Direct)	7.033	213.21	1.242	240.92
Source: NHS Direct

Expenditure (including staff and non-staff costs) April 2008 to March 2009 (£ million)

Staff (in whole- time equivalents) April 2008 to March 2009

Expenditure (including staff and non-staff costs) April to May 2009 (£ million)

Staff (in whole-time equivalents) April to May 2009

National Appointments Line (NHS Direct)

7.033

213.21

1.242

240.92

Source:

NHS Direct

Volume 494: debated on Thursday 25 June 2009