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London Hospitals
Ms Jowell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health which London hospitals she has visited during the last 12 months ; and what were the dates and times of her visits.
Dr. Mawhinney : Details of ministerial visits to hospitals in London during the last 12 months are shown in the table.
Minister |Hospital |Date ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Minister for Health |St. Bartholomew's Hospital |21 January 1993 Minister for Health |Royal London Hospital |24 February 1993 Minister for Health |Eastman Dental Hospital |3 March 1993 Parliamentary Under-Secretary |St. Mary's Hospital, |1 April 1993 of State for Health |Paddington Secretary of State |Greenwich District Hospital |19 April 1993 Parliamentary Under-Secretary |Hammersmith Hospital |5 May 1993 of State for Health Minister for Health |Guy's Hospital |13 July 1993 Parliamentary Under-Secretary |Royal Marsden Hospital |23 July 1993 of State for the Lords Secretary of State |Whittington Hospital |24 August 1993 Secretary of State |Chelsea and Westminster Hospital|22 September 1993 Parliamentary Under-Secretary |West Middlesex Hospital |3 November 1993 of State for Health Secretary of State |St. Mark's Hospital |6 December 1993 Minister for Health |St. Thomas's Hospital |9 December 1993 Minister for Health |Guy's Hospital |9 December 1993 Secretary of State |Homerton Hospital |20 December 1993
GP Prescriptions
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was, in each NHS region, the number, value and value per head, of (a) all GP prescribed prescriptions and (b) GP prescriptions prescribed generically for the years 1991-92 and 1992-93.
Dr. Mawhinney : The information available is shown in the tables.
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The number, net ingredient cost, NIC, and the net ingredient cost per head of population for all and
generic prescriptions<1>
England 1991<4>
All prescriptions Generic
prescriptions
|Items |NIC |NIC (£) |Items<2> |NIC<3> |NIC (£)
|(million) |(£ million)|per head |(million) |(£ million)|per head<3>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern |28.7 |177.6 |57.43 |12.5 |28.5 |9.22
Yorkshire |33.6 |196.5 |53.39 |13.5 |26.9 |7.30
Trent |41.6 |248.3 |52.27 |17.0 |35.1 |7.38
East Anglia |16.6 |105.6 |50.70 |6.0 |12.2 |5.84
North West Thames |25.6 |167.9 |48.11 |10.1 |21.3 |6.09
North East Thames |30.1 |190.5 |50.32 |11.8 |24.2 |6.40
South East Thames |29.8 |185.1 |49.96 |11.8 |24.3 |6.56
South West Thames |21.6 |145.4 |48.87 |8.5 |18.7 |6.28
Wessex |23.4 |151.8 |51.61 |9.3 |19.3 |6.57
Oxford |17.7 |120.5 |47.08 |6.7 |14.4 |5.61
South Western |28.4 |181.8 |52.15 |11.5 |22.9 |6.57
West Midlands |45.8 |274.1 |52.06 |18.0 |35.2 |6.68
Mersey |23.7 |142.6 |59.02 |9.3 |17.0 |7.06
North Western |39.9 |232.3 |58.35 |15.7 |28.9 |7.26
England |406.5 |2,519.8 |52.27 |161.7 |328.8 |6.82
<1> The figures include all prescriptions dispensed in the family health services authorities by
community pharmacists and appliance contractors, dispensing doctors, and prescriptions submitted by
prescribing doctors for items personally administered.
<2> Prescription items written generically.
<3> Prescription items dispensed generically.
<4> Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys 1992 based mid-year estimates for 1991 and 1992
population have been used for rates per head.
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The number, net ingredient cost and the net ingredient cost per head of population for all and
generic prescriptions
England 1992
All prescriptions Generic
prescriptions
|Items |NIC |NIC (£) |Items<2> |NIC<3> |NIC (£)
|(million) |(£million) |per head |(million) |(£million) |per head<3>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern |29.8 |199.0 |64.23 |13.7 |28.1 |9.06
Yorkshire |34.7 |220.5 |59.62 |14.8 |26.7 |7.21
Trent |43.6 |281.1 |58.86 |18.7 |34.0 |7.12
East Anglia |17.6 |121.6 |58.22 |6.5 |11.9 |5.70
North West Thames |26.8 |191.2 |54.57 |11.1 |20.5 |5.84
North East Thames |31.6 |221.6 |58.33 |12.8 |25.3 |6.65
South East Thames |31.4 |210.7 |56.74 |12.9 |23.4 |6.30
South West Thames |22.6 |167.0 |55.98 |9.3 |17.6 |5.90
Wessex |24.5 |171.7 |58.06 |10.4 |18.8 |6.35
Oxford |18.7 |136.7 |52.97 |7.4 |14.0 |5.41
South Western |29.9 |206.6 |58.99 |12.7 |22.2 |6.33
West Midlands |48.0 |308.9 |58.54 |20.0 |34.7 |6.57
Mersey |24.7 |161.5 |66.95 |10.2 |17.0 |7.05
North Western |41.4 |259.8 |65.16 |17.4 |28.6 |7.17
England |425.1 |2,858.0 |59.08 |177.8 |322.5 |6.67
<1> The figures include all prescriptions dispensed in the family health services authorities by
communities pharmacists and appliance contractors, dispensing doctors, and prescriptions submitted by
prescribing doctors for items personally administered.
<2> Prescription items written generically.
<3> Prescription items dispensed generically.
<4> OPCS 1992 based mid-year estimates for 1991 and 1992 population have been used for rates per
head.
Bjork-Shiley Heart Valves
Mrs. Bridget Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the serial numbers and types of Bjork-Shiley convexo-concave valves are recorded as part of a patient's medical history.
Mr. Sackville : The content of medical records is a matter for local decision.
Community Care, Housing and Homelessness
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the 10 local authorities participating in the study of community care, housing and homelessness undertaken by the NHS management Executive.
Mr. Bowis : This is one of a number of special studies being carried out jointly by the social services inspectorate and the NHS Management Executive as part of the Department of Health's programme of monitoring community care implementation. The Department of the Environment is jointly involved in this study.
The 10 local authorities being visited are :
Bradford
Camden
Dudley
Durham
Haringey
Hounslow
Nottinghamshire
Suffolk
Wandsworth
West Sussex
The special studies are based on social services authorities, but each of the 10 studies involves social services, health and housing agencies.
Data Protection
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the outcome of discussions held with the Data Protection Registrar relating to the use of copyright legislation to protect the privacy of individuals whose personal data are contained in medical records ; what discussions were held on whether copyright legislation would prevent the use of medical records for other purposes by another Department of State ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : There have been no discussions with the Data Protection Registrar relating to the use of copyright legislation to protect the privacy of individuals whose personal data are contained in medical records. The confidentiality of personal data in medical records is protected by the common law, health professionals' ethical responsibilities and, in the case of computerised data, the Data Protection Act 1984.
The only discussions with the Data Protection Registrar regarding copyright have been about the use of Crown copyright to ensure national health service numbers are used only for NHS purposes.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment she has made of whether the personal data
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to be contained in an NHS administrative register are more sensitive than the personal data contained in community charges registers were ; and if she will make a statement ;(2) what plans she has to protect personal data to be contained in NHS administrative registers in the same way as the Government afforded protection to personal data contained in community charge registers ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : Security and confidentiality of personal data to be held in the national health service administrative register will be carefully protected. Measures to secure this are being developed and tested. Data will be available only to those who need to know it for NHS purposes, and the Data Protection Act 1984 will be complied with.
Section 64 Funding
Mrs. Wise : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many applications were received for section 64 funding for the financial year commencing 1 April ; and how many were refused ;
(2) which organisations have received section 64 funding for the financial year commencing 1 April ; and how much has been allocated to each one.
Mr. Bowis : A total of 472 applications were received for possible support commencing 1 April 1994. They are still being processed.
Performance Standards
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of all contracts between district health authorities and provider units as at July 1993 set specific performance standards.
Dr. Mawhinney : The NHS management executive expects the NHS to improve the quality of services provided to patients through standard setting. However, details of contracts are not monitored centrally.
Waiting Times
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether she will require NHS hospitals and trusts to publish maximum waiting times from receipt of a general practitioners referral to admission as well as from first out-patient appointment to admission ; (2) what proportion of NHS hospitals and trusts had, at July 1993, published their current maximum admission times for each specialty ; and which hospital or trust had the longest and shortest waiting time at 1 April 1993 in each specialty.
Dr. Mawhinney : Information on waiting times for in-patient and day- case treatment by specialty and by district health authority and trust is given in "Hospital Waiting List Statistics : England", which is published twice yearly. The latest published figures are for March and September 1993 and copies are available in the Library. Information on waiting times to first out-patient appointment is not yet collected.
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Ambulance Response Times
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health in what proportion of cases an emergency ambulance arrived within 14 minutes in an urban area and within 19 minutes in a rural area in 1992-93.
Me. Sackville : The information is shown in the table.
Percentage of emergency responses within
patients charter standard-
95 per cent.-1992-93
|Per cent.
------------------------------------------------
Rural ambulance services |96.9
Urban ambulance services<1> |94.1
<1>This excludes information on the London
ambulance service.
Ms Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she last received a submission from the North Staffordshire district health authority in respect of a request to lower the Orcon standard for north Staffordshire ; what were the reasons for the decision on this ; and if she will place a copy of her reply in the Library.
Mr. Sackville : Ministers have received no such submission.
Ms Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will give the Orcon standard for accident and emergency service in respect of (a) the West Midland ambulance trust and (b) the Staffordshire ambulance trust for (i) 1992 and (ii) 1993.
Mr. Sackville : The national patients charter standards for these two trusts in both years are :
West Midlands ambulance trust--14 minutes
Staffordshire ambulance service--19 minutes
The reason for the difference is that the first standard relates to an urban area, and the second to a rural area.
Hospital Waiting Lists
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people had been on hospital waiting lists in England in total, and in each specialty on 1 July 1992 and on 1 July 1993 for (a) three months or less, (b) six months or less, (c) 12 months or less, (d) 24 months or less or (e) over 24 months.
Dr. Mawhinney : Information on waiting times by specialty for in- patient and day-case treatment is given in "Hospital Waiting List Statistics : England". This is published twice yearly for March and September and copies are available in the Library. Information is given in time bands of zero to five months, six to 11 months, 12 to 23 months and 24 months and over.
Provisional waiting time figures in annual time bands are published quarterly. These show that in England at 30 June 1992 there were 843, 210 patients waiting less than a one year, 925,695 waiting less than two years and 1,244 waiting over two years. At 30 June 1993 there were 952,023 waiting under one year, 1,017,488 waiting under two years and only 275 waiting over two years, all of whom were waiting for specialised infertilty treatment at a London hospital.
Selected Items
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what considerations underlie her policy not to hold information centrally in respect of the new selected items
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that have been made available to the national health service ; if she will make it her policy in future to hold a list centrally ; and if she will make a statement.Dr. Mawhinney : Under the selected list scheme, drugs may be removed from prescription at national health service expense on the advice of an independent, expert committee. Drugs and other substances which are to be added to the list of items which may not be prescribed under the national health service are listed in statutory instruments.
Patients Charters
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will list the health authorities in England which at July 1993 had published local patients charters containing detailed information on local health services, including quality standards and maximum waiting times ;
(2) how many (a) national health service trusts and (b) directly managed provider units had (i) published or (ii) not published charters containing detailed information on quality standards and maximum waiting times as at July 1993.
Dr. Mawhinney : Health authorities, national health service trusts and directly managed units are not required to publish local charters, although many have done so.
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of national health service authorities have published reports on the performance of individual local hospital and ambulance services against patients charter rights and standards in 1992-93.
Dr. Mawhinney : All district health authorities have published patients charter annual reports for 1992-93.
Dental Treatment
Mrs. Wise : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what rights the patient has by way of complaint if a dentist refuses to treat a patient under the national health service, and then the private treatment is unsatisfactory.
Dr. Mawhinney : Unsatisfactory private treatment is a matter between the dentist and his patient. It is not covered by the national health service complaints procedure.
Paediatric Speech and Language Therapy
Ms Hoey : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on paediatric speech and language therapy by each NHS purchaser (a) in absolute terms and (b) as a proportion of their total speech and language therapy budget, in the most recent financial year for which figures are available.
Mr. Bowis : Expenditure on speech and language therapy services in England has increased by 184 per cent. in real terms since 1978-79 to £60.4 million in 1991-92 ; expenditure on paediatric and adult services cannot be separately identified. Some 66 per cent. of new episodes of treatment commenced in 1991-92 were with children aged from birth to 15 years.
Mentally Ill People
Dr. Lynne Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information she has on the changes in the number of beds in mental hospitals and hospitals for people
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with learning disabilities (a) in the South Birmingham health authority area, (b) in the West Midlands health authority area and (c) in England in each of the last five years.Mr. Bowis : The information requested is contained in the annual publication "Bed Availability for England", financial year 1992-93. Copies of this publication are available in the Library.
Care Plans
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of social services clients had an individual care plan on (a) 1 April 1992 and (b) 1 April 1993.
Mr. Bowis : This information should be held by social services departments of local authorities.
NHS Complaints
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of NHS complaints received between 1 April 1992 and 31 March 1993 were dealt with within (a) one week, (b) one month, (c) three months and (d) more than three months.
Dr. Mawhinney : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Pendle (Mr. Prentice) on 7 February at column 43.
Operations (Cancellation)
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients had their operations cancelled on the day they were due to arrive in hospital in 1992-93.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information is not collected centrally. Information is, however, collected on performance against the patients charter standard on twice cancelled operations, and is available in the NHS management executive annual report 1992-93, copies of which are in the Library.
Chemical Entity Products
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what considerations underlie her policy not to hold information centrally in respect of the new chemical entity products made available to the national health service since February 1993 that would have been covered by the selected list scheme ; if she will make it her policy in future to hold a list centrally ; and if she will make a statement.
Dr. Mawhinney : All drugs, including those containing a new chemical entity, must be licensed by the Medicines
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Control Agency before they may be prescribed for patients under the national health service. Once a product is licensed it is the manufacturer who decides when to bring it on to the market. Manufacturers do not need to notify the Department of this decision.Juvenile Offenders
Mr. Marland : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will issue guidelines to local authorities to prevent juvenile offenders from being sent abroad during their punishment.
Mr. Bowis : We intend to issue guidance shortly.
Mr. Marland : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he issues to social services departments to ensure that juveniles in their care attend at court hearings on the day they are due to appear.
Mr. Bowis : Volume 1 of the Children Act 1989 guidance and regulations makes it clear that it is the responsibility of a local authority to ensure that any juvenile remanded to local authority accommodation is produced in court at the date, place and time specified by the court. A copy of the guidance and regulations is available in the Library.
Mr. Marland : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many local authorities use private residential homes in the treatment of juvenile offenders ;
(2) if he will provide a breakdown by local authority of the number of young offenders in (a) council-run secure accommodation and (b) private residential homes or schools at the latest available date.
Mr. Bowis : Information available centrally about the number of children and young people accommodated compulsorily by local authorities relates to the legislation under which they are held and not to offences committed or alleged.
The numbers in secure accommodation at 31 March 1992 who were admitted on remand or detained or subject to a care order in criminal proceedings are given in table A.
Numbers of children and young people who were accommodated compulsorily by local authorities in private residential homes or schools at 31 March 1992, and were on remand or detained or subject to care order in criminal proceedings, are given in table B. Only local authorities that submitted valid data for the period ending 31 March 1992 and had at least one child accommodated in this way at 31 March 1992 are listed.
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Table A: number of children in secure accommodation at 31 March 1992, admitted subject to a care order in
criminal proceedings,
remanded or detained, by local authority and legal status
|Subject to care|Remanded |Remanded to |Detained |Detained S53
|order made in |Section 23, |LA accom- |Section 38(6) |CYPA Act
|criminal pro- |CYPA<1> 1969 |modation |CYPA<1> Act |1933
|ceedings |1984
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
England |15 |4 |69 |1 |81
Avon |1 |- |3 |- |9
Cambridgeshire |- |- |- |- |2
Cheshire |- |- |4 |- |2
Coventry |- |- |5 |- |-
Derbyshire |- |- |2 |- |1
Devon |1 |- |1 |- |4
Durham |7 |3 |6 |- |8
East Sussex |- |- |1 |- |-
Hammersmith |- |1 |6 |- |6
Hampshire |- |- |5 |- |-
Hillingdon |- |- |- |- |1
Lancashire |2 |- |4 |- |23
Leeds |2 |- |7 |- |15
Lincolnshire |- |- |1 |1 |1
Liverpool |1 |- |3 |- |1
Newham |- |- |4 |- |-
Northumberland |1 |- |2 |- |-
Nottinghamshire |- |- |1 |- |4
Oxfordshire |- |- |3 |- |-
Salford |- |- |5 |- |2
Southwark |- |- |5 |- |2
St. Helens |- |- |1 |- |-
<1> Children and Young Persons Act.
Table B
Number of children looked after at 31 March 1992 in private residential
accommodation and schools, subject to a care order in criminal
proceedings or remand
Local authorities |Criminal |Remand
|care
|order
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total<1> |24 |6
Bedfordshire |1 |-
Birmingham |2 |1
Coventry |1 |-
Derbyshire |- |1
Devon |1 |-
Dorset |1 |-
Gateshead |1 |-
Greenwich |- |1
Havering |1 |-
Hereford and Worcester |1 |-
Lambeth |- |1
Lancashire |1 |-
Newham |2 |-
Oxfordshire |- |1
Sheffield |1 |-
Somerset |2 |-
South Tyneside |1 |-
Staffordshire |3 |-
Stockport |1 |-
Suffolk |- |1
Tameside |1 |-
Wiltshire |1 |-
Wolverhampton |2 |-
<1>The total of the 90 authorities with validated returns.
Mr. Marland : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to change the guidance his Department issues to local authorities regarding the placement of young offenders.
Mr. Bowis : Current guidance to local authorities derives from a number of sources. It is kept under review to reflect changing circumstances.
Orthodontic Treatment
Ms Janet Anderson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice her Department gives to health authorities about the provision of orthodontic treatment and the recruitment of orthodontists in the national health service.
Dr. Mawhinney : The planning and provision of dental treatment including orthodontic treatment is a matter for
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district health authorities to undertake jointly with family health services authorities. Recruitment is a matter for local decision. Much orthodontic treatment is provided by general dental practitioners who are independent contractors.Departmental Press Release
Dr. Lynne Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 27 January, Official Report, column 377, what is the significance of the reference number H93/1145 heading the Department of Health press release of 31 December entitled "Your Health Matters More in '94."
Mr. Sackville : There is not any significance. A technical problem early in 1993 meant the first press releases could not be consecutively numbered from H93/1. The number of the first press release in 1993, H93/472, continued from 1992. The number of the last press release in 1993, the 675th, was H93/1145.
Cannabinol
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will seek a report from the Committee on Safety of Medicines concerning the alleged therapeutic uses of cannabinol ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : We are aware of recent claims about the therapeutic value of cannabinoids in the treatment of multiple sclerosis and other conditions.
The Medicines Control Agency would seek the advice of the Committee on the Safety of Medicines on the receipt of an application for a licence to treat these conditions with cannabinoids.
Care in the Community Grant
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when she expects to have completed her examination on the need for damping the alterations to the grant for care in the community for the Isle of Wight ;
(2) when she expects to respond to the Department of the Environment Minister's letter about the effect of the care in the community grant for 1994-95 for the Isle of Wight ;
(3) when she will make a response to the deputation on the grant for 1994- 95 for care in the community in the Isle of Wight.
Column 203
Mr. Bowis : I have carefully considered the representations made by the Isle of Wight county council in response to its indicative allocation of the special transitional grant for 1994-95. I understand that similar representations were made to Ministers at the Department of the Environment. I have concluded that the distribution method announced on 2 December 1993 remains the most sensible and appropriate, and in the best interests of community care across the country as a whole. This decision was notified in writing to the hon. Member and to the Isle of Wight county council on 2 February 1994.
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what her calculations reveal on the effect of the standard spending assessment for care in the community in 1995-96 as a result of the alterations in the grant for 1994-95 for the Isle of Wight.
Mr. Bowis : The personal social services element of the standard spending assessment for the Isle of Wight for 1994-95 has been set at £14.12 million, an increase of almost 18 per cent. over the current year. The figures for 1995-96 will be announced in due course.
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list those local authorities who find themselves in a similar position to the Isle of Wight with their grant for 1994-95 for care in the community.
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