House of Commons Hansard Debates for 18 Dec 1990

Home Carers

Mr. Ian Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to establish a register of home carers in the United Kingdom.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : There are no plans to set up a register of home carers in England. Plans in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are matters for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland, for Wales and for Northern Ireland.

HIV-AIDS Prevention Co-ordinator

Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many district HIV-AIDS prevention co-ordinators have been appointed ; and how their work will be monitored and evaluated.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : As at November 1990, more than 150 district health authorities in England had in place officers with responsibility for the co-ordination of district HIV prevention work. The Department has asked all district health authorities to finalise arrangements by March 1991.

Monitoring and evaluation of co-ordinators' work will, primarily, be achieved through each regional health authority's annual AIDS (Control) Act report. The Department is currently considering HIV prevention co- ordinators' continuing support and training needs in the light of a national seminar held last month which I attended.

Cancer

Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will list the number of (a) men and (b) women whose death was caused by lung cancer for each year since 1979 for England and Wales ;

(2) if he will list the number of deaths caused by breast cancer for each year since 1979 in England and Wales.

Mr. Dorrell : The number of deaths with an underlying cause of (a) breast cancer and (b) lung cancer, in England and Wales 1979-89 is shown in the table :

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Number of deaths with underlying cause (a)      

Breast cancer (b) Lung                          

cancer, England and Wales 1979-89               

Year     Breast cancer<1>Lung cancer<1>         

        |Males  |Females|Males  |Females        

------------------------------------------------

1979    |83     |12,091 |26,834 |7,926          

1980    |78     |12,167 |26,783 |8,385          

1981    |84     |12,513 |26,297 |8,430          

1982    |87     |12,405 |25,962 |8,870          

1983    |87     |12,672 |26,502 |9,070          

1984    |99     |13,310 |26,041 |9,698          

1985    |79     |13,513 |25,994 |9,798          

1986    |105    |13,641 |25,235 |10,022         

1987    |89     |13,751 |24,830 |10,308         

1988    |73     |13,723 |24,671 |10,631         

1989    |76     |14,008 |23,821 |10,760         

<1>International Classification of Disease Code 

9th revision.                                   

174 malignant neoplasm of female breast.        

175 malignant neoplasm of male breast.          

162 malignant neoplasm of trachea, bronchus and 

lung.

HIV-AIDS Funds

Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what international comparisons are available on Government funding within individual European countries for HIV and AIDS.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : This information is not held centrally.

GP Budgets

Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors have now opted for practice budgets ; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : There are currently around 325 practices undertaking the preparatory work necessary to become fund holders from 1 April 1991.

Haemophiliacs

Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent consideration his Department has given to the call for an out-of- court settlement for people with haemophilia who were infected by the AIDS virus in the course of national health service treatment.

Mr. Waldegrave : I refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Peckham (Ms. Harman) on 11 December at columns 364-65.

Diabetics (Disposable Needles)

Mr. Speed : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make available on prescription for diabetics suitable disposable needles for insulin pen-type injections.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : NHS supply arrangements for insulin pens and needles need to be considered together. Subject to our normal evaluation of individual brands, we would consider making pens and needles prescribable, as an alternative to syringes, if this could be done without additional cost. Discussions with suppliers are currently in progress.

Health Authorities (Blacklisting)

Mrs. Fyfe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received concerning blacklisting by health authorities in respect of applicants for jobs at other health authorities ; and what guidance is issued to health authority officials in respect of such practices.

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Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : No such representations have been received. Health authorities are well aware that no boycott of staff should take place.

Surrey GP Formulary

Mr. Michael Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much public money was spent on the production and distribution of the Surrey family health services authority's "General Practice Formulary 1990"; and whether the authority plans to monitor its use by NHS doctors.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The production and distribution of Surrey FHSA's "General Practice Formulary 1990" cost around £19,000. The FHSA plans to monitor the use and effectiveness of the formulary through visits and inquiries by the medical adviser and feedback to the formulary committee which is keeping the document under review.

Mr. Michael Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has any plans to monitor the use and effectiveness of the general practitioners' formulary produced and distributed by the Surrey family health services authority.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Family health services authorities should encourage voluntary formulary development and use. Where, like Surrey, FHSAs provide GPs locally with a core formulary it is their responsibility to monitor its use and effectiveness.

Pharmaceutical Products

Mr. Michael Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his assessment of the likely effects of health authorities wholesaling pharmaceutical products to family health services authority contractors.

Mr. Dorrell : We are currently considering whether to issue guidance to health authorities.

Health Authorities (Deficits)

Mr. Michael Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Health which district health authorities have underlying deficits in 1990-91 ; and which will not have cleared these by the start of 1991-92.

Mr. David Young : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will indicate, on the basis of figures presently available to him, the district health authorities likely to run into deficit at the end of the present financial year ; and if he will give in each case his estimate of that deficit.

Mr. Dorrell [holding answer 17 December 1990] : An underlying deficit is a measure of the extent to which health authorities have been incurring recurrent expenditure in excess of their recurrent income. This represents bad financial management and has been criticised by the Public Accounts Committee of the House. In the planning guidance for 1990-91 issued in July 1989 health authorities were advised to eliminate such imbalances. As a result, the number of districts in deficit has fallen from 122 in 1989-90 to an end-of-September estimate of 51 for 1990-91. The districts forecasting deficits together with an estimate of the deficit at that date are set out in the table.

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All of these are taking action in 1990-91 to tackle their problems. It is not yet possible to reach a definite view, but we believe that nearly all will have cleared deficits by the start of 1991- 92. This is a major achievement and means that nearly all districts will enter 1991-92 on a sound financial basis which will enable them to take full advantage of the opportunities which the reforms to the NHS offer to improve the health of their residents.

Districts in Deficit by Regional Health Authority--

Northern

Hartlepool (£0.6 million)

North Tees (£0.7 million)

Darlington (£0.3 million)

Yorkshire

Hull (£0.1 million)

Scunthorpe (£0.5 million)

Leeds Eastern (£0.7 million)

Leeds Western (£1.5 million)

Pontefract (£0.2 million)

Airedale (£0.4 million)

East Anglian

Peterborough (£0.1 million)

West Suffolk (£0.5 million)

East Suffolk (£0.6 million)

Norwich (£1.2 million)

North West Thames

North West Hertfordshire (£0.7 million)

Ealing (£0.2 million)

Parkside (£1.7 million)

North East Thames

Basildon and Thurrock (£1.3 million)

North East Essex (£0.6 million)

West Essex (£1.5 million)

Bloomsbury (£1.7 million)

City and Hackney (£1.2 million)

Waltham Forest (£0.8 million)

South East Thames

Brighton (£0.7 million)

South East Kent (£0.3 million)

Dartford (£0.1 million)

Maidstone (£0.7 million)

Medway (£0.8 million)

Tunbridge Wells (£1.0 million)

Bexley (£0.6 million)

Bromley (£0.1 million)

West Lambeth (£3.1 million)

Camberwell (£2.3 million)

Lewisham and North Southwark (£3.6 million)

South West Thames

West Surrey and North East Hants (£0.2 million)

East Surrey (£2.3 million)

Oxford

East Berkshire (£0.7 million)

West Berkshire (£0.3 million)

Aylesbury Vale (£0.6 million)

Wycombe (£0.1 million)

Oxfordshire (£0.6 million)

West Midlands

Worcester (£0.3 million)

Shropshire (£1.2 million)

Central Birmingham (£0.7 million)

South Birmingham (£1.1 million)

West Birmingham (£0.4 million)

Sandwell (£0.1 million)

Mersey

Chester (£0.2 million)

Halton (£0.1 million)

Liverpool (£0.7 million)

North Western

Burnley (£0.4 million)

Trafford (£0.1 million)

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