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Breast Cancer
Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to instigate a national action plan on breast cancer.
Mr. Sackville: I have no plans to instigate a national action plan specifically for breast cancer. The Chief Medical Officer's expert advisory group on cancer published earlier this year a report recommending general principles to improve all cancer services. The Department is currently evaluating comments on that report; so far those are very largely favourable.
Dental Services
Mr. Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she last met representatives of the British Dental Association to discuss the Green Paper on dental services.
Mr. Malone: I met representatives from the British Dental Association on 29 September, when a range of matters were discussed.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many representations she has received within the past 18 months from individual dental surgeons and the various professional bodies which represent them.
Mr. Malone: We received many written representations from, and held many meetings with, dentists and their representatives in the 18 months to July 1994. Since then, our consultation on the Green Paper "Improving NHS Dentistry" has increased our contacts with the profession. Officials have gone to many meetings organised by local dental committees and others to listen to dentists' views. The consultation period ends on 1 November.
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health under what arrangements a dentist may reclaim a proportion of the business rates from his local family health services authority by declaring their percentage NHS private income; what details she has for the last three years of the trend in private dental income for non-completely de-registered dentists; and if she will make a statement.
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Mr. Malone: Dentists supplying treatment under the general dental services are entitled to reimbursement of non-domestic rates under determination 9 of the statement of dental remuneration. The level of remuneration is subject to annual minimum and maximum levels and reflects the percentage of general dental services income to the dentist against his total income. No information on the individual entitlement calculations is available centrally.
Performance Tables
Mr. Thurnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in the publication of performance tables in the North West region.
Mr. Sackville: Performance tables for the North West region are included in "The Patient's Charter Hospital and Ambulance Services Comparative Performance Guide 1993 94", published by the Department of Health in June, copies of which are available in the Library. Information has not been published separately for the North West region.
Infertility Treatment
Mr. Illsley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations she has received regarding the availability of infertility treatment under the NHS.
Mr. Sackville: Between 1 April 1994 and 30 September 1994 we received 92 letters about the provision of infertility treatment.
Under-16s (Pregnancies)
Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on progress in limiting the rate of conception among the under 16-year-olds.
Mr. Sackville: In 1991, the rate of conceptions among under 16s fell from 10.1 per thousand to 9.3, the first fall in 10 years. The 1992 conceptions data will be available later in the year.
Junior Doctors
Mrs. Angela Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many junior doctor posts which entail working more than 83 hours remain in the Trent region; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Malone: There are no posts contracted for more than 83 hours a week in Trent region. Those had been eliminated by 1 April 1993.
Mr. French: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many junior doctor posts which entail working more than 83 hours remain in the South West region, and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Malone: There are no longer any posts contracted for more than 83 hours a week in the South and West region.
Community Care
Mr. William O' Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received about the adequacy or resources for the provision of community care in the Yorkshire and Humberside region; and if she will make a statement.
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Mr. Bowis: We have received representations about the community care resources for Wakefield and North Yorkshire. No such representations have been received about Humberside's resources.
General Practitioners
Mr. Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners are fundholders in the North West.
Mr. Malone: There are currently 1,091 general practitioner fundholders in North West region, serving 34 per cent. of the population; more are preparing to join next April.
Ms Primarolo: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the change in the number of GPs in the London implementation group in its first two years.
Mr. Malone: The London implementation group has recently appointed two general practitioners, who practise within the capital, to provide direct advice on general practice issues. This is a shared, part-time, appointment.
Ms Primarolo: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the conditions and terms and budget of the early exit scheme for GPs in the London implementation zone.
Mr. Malone: There is no early exit scheme for general practioners in the London implementation zone.
Mental Health
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received regarding her policy on the treatment of long-term mental health patients.
Mr. Bowis: Various, from a variety of sources.
Mr. Spearing: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the names and relevant district health authority of each of the residential psychiatric hospitals (a) closed since 1979 and (b) scheduled for future closure; and if she will give for each hospital (i) the date of actual and expected closure, (ii) the numbers of sectioned and voluntary patients in each prior to any run down, (iii) the sums received for completed sales and (c) the maximum number of doctors or qualified nurses employed since 1979.
Mr. Bowis [holding answer 17 October 1994]: The information available centrally will be placed in the Library and has been compiled from data collected as part of the surveys of English mental health hospitals conducted on behalf of the mental health task force. Those surveys are confined to the 130 long stay "water tower" hospitals which were open on 31 December 1960 and information is not held on other psychiatric hospitals which may have closed or be scheduled for closure.
Information has not been collected centrally on the numbers and status of patients in the long-stay hospitals before run down or on receipts from particular land sales.
Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the effects of the weighted capitation formula on mental health services in inner city areas such as Leeds, with particular reference to the effect of the absence of any weighting for social deprivation; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Bowis: A review of weighted capitation has taken place and the national formula is to be modified in a number of respects to take account of new information
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and better statistical techniques. The sensitivity of the formula has been improved by including a separate index of the factors which affect the need for psychiatric services. This modified formula will be applied to regions in 1995 96.Performance-related Pay
Mr. Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what specific analysis her Department has conducted on the cost and efficiency of introducing performance-related pay to the clinical grades in the national health service.
Mr. Malone: Implementation of local pay arrangements is for national health service trusts to determine, taking into account the individual health care objectives contained in their agreed business plans. The assessment of the cost and efficiency of schemes is also a local matter.
NHS Executive Building, Leeds
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the final cost of the new NHS Executive building in Leeds; how many staff it was designed to hold; how many staff it currently holds; and how many staff it will hold after the planned reductions.
Mr. Sackville: Quarry house houses staff of the Benefits Agency and Central Adjudication Services in the Department of Social Security, as well as the national health service executive. The final cost of the main construction contract was approximately £55.4 million. Quarry house was designed to hold around 2,000 staff. Current numbers are around 1,880. The forward staffing requirements of the NHS executive headquarters in Quarry house have not yet been decided.
Conception Rates
Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 21 July, Official Report, column 607, if she will give the same information on rates of conceptions for each regional health authority.
Mr. Sackville: This information will be placed in the Library.
Measles-rubella Immunisation Campaign
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the total projected cost of the schools-based measles- rubella immunisation campaign.
Mr. Sackville: The cost of the measles immunisation campaign in England has been estimated at about £20 million. This covers the cost of vaccine, syringes, other consumables, cost to the national health service of immunising children and publicity.
Children in Care
Miss Lestor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on progress made in implementing the recommendations of the 1991 Utting report on children in the public care and the 1992 Warner report on choosing with care.
Mr. Bowis: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr Kirkwood) on 24 October, Official Report, c. 446 .
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Eating Disorders
Mr. Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice she has given to health authorities on establishing help lines for families and sufferers of eating disorders; and what advice she has given to health authorities on establishing clinics dedicated to helping sufferers of eating disorders following the publication of the report on eating disorders published by the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1989.
Mr. Bowis: General advice to purchasing authorities on the development of local mental health services is given in the second edition of the mental illness key area handbook published last month. Eating disorders are mentioned among the disorders primarily affecting women for which appropriate provision should be made. Copies of the mental illness key area handbook are available in the Library.
Blood Supply
Mr. Alton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans there are for donors to be paid for blood donation; and what plans there are for introducing charges for the supply of blood.
Mr. Sackville: There are no plans for donors to be paid for blood donation. We have always supported the principle of voluntary unpaid donation which underpins the safety of the blood supply in this country. We are justly proud of our blood service, and our system of voluntary donation, which we believe to be among the best in the world.
The National Blood Service recoups, through blood handling charges, the cost of collecting, testing, processing and transporting the blood it supplies to hospitals. There is never any charge for the blood itself which is freely given by our voluntary donors.
Pain Relief
Ms Primarolo: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many specialists in pain relief there are in the NHS.
Mr. Malone: This information is not available centrally, but all doctors receive training in pain control.
VAMP Research Database
Ms Primarolo: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has for the future of the VAMP research database in primary care.
Mr. Sackville: The Department of Health is currently reviewing the use of the general practice research database for public health monitoring and other health purposes and will decide before the end of the year whether it will contribute any funding to it beyond March 1995.
Foetal Tissue
Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action she has taken as a result of the publication of the report by the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority on the use of foetal ovarian tissue for research into Parkinson's disease and other afflictions.
Mr. Sackville: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's report relates only to the genetic material in ovarian tissue which might be used to treat women who are infertile or to produce embryos for
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research. The Government have welcomed the authority's conclusions. Copies of the report have been sent by the authority to all research and treatment centres licensed under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.Guidelines on the use of foetuses or foetal material for other purposes is set out in the report of the "Review of the Guidance on the Research use of Foetuses and Foetal Material"--the Polkinghorne report. This was distributed in 1989 to all health authorities and to private sector places approved under section 1(3) of the Abortion Act 1967. Copies of both reports are available in the Library.
Mrs. Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for health (1) if she will make a statement setting out the reasons for her Department's policy in respect of the making available of alternative vaccines for parents who do not wish their children to be vaccinated with products manufactured using the tissue of aborted babies; (2) upon what dates she received letters from the hon. Member for Congleton registering concern about the use in vaccines of tissue from aborted babies; and what action he took as a result of those warnings to ensure that alternative products were made available.
Mr. Sackville: A letter was received from the hon. Member for Congleton (Mrs. Winterton) on 7 October 1994 about the growth of rubella vaccine on a cell line derived from cells taken from an aborted foetus in 1966. All rubella vaccine is grown in this way and so no alternative can be made available. To develop rubella vaccine grown in an alternative cell line would require full safety and efficacy testing as this would be a completely new vaccine. Even if successful, this would take seven to 10 years.
Rubella and oral polio are the only vaccines in the childhood immunisation programme which are grown in human cell lines. Where there is an alternative vaccine source which is not grown in a human cell line, it can be offered. That applies to oral polio vaccine. For rubella vaccine, there is no alternative source.
Operations
Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many operations will be performed at (a) Ealing hospital and (b) other national health service trust hospitals during the current year; what were the figures for the final year before they became national health service trust hospitals; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville: Information about prospective operations is not available centrally. Ealing hospital national health service trust had 8,070 operating theatre cases in 1992 93 compared with 7,626 in 1991 92 before its establishment as a NHS trust. Corresponding figures for the NHS in England are 3,543,119 in 1992 93 and 3,514,751 in 1991 92.
National Blood Authority
Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consultancies have been engaged by the National Blood Authority; for what purposes; and at what cost in each case.
Mr. Sackville: The National Blood Authority was established to tackle the acknowledged duplication of effort and inconsistency which previously existed. The authority operates with a small headquarters organisation, preferring to employ expert consultancies for limited
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periods to undertake particular tasks rather than increase its headquarters management posts. The following consultancies have been engaged by the headquarters of the National Blood Authority since its formation on1 April 1993.
|£
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bain & Co.
To assist with a major review of Bio Products
Laboratory | 350,000
Bain & Co.
To assist with a major strategic review of the
Transfusion Service |682,000
Butler Bloor
To review the Information Technology systems in
place at all Regional Transfusion Centres |20,000
CSC
To assist in the formulation and implementation of a
new Information Technology strategy for the
Transfusion Service |152,000
Fitch & Co
To assist the Authority in formulating and implementing
an identity and communications review |46,000
Comind
To assist with the preparation of standard operating
procedures in the Transfusion Service |7,000
The proposals for the future structure of the transfusion centre network, if implemented in full, are expected to produce savings available to the National Health Service for improved blood collection and lower handling costs to hospitals for blood and blood products, for £10 million per year.
Press Officers
Mr. Grocott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the number of press officers currently employed by her Department who are normally based (a) in the Department in London, (b) in the House and (c) at each other location.
Mr. Sackville: A total of 15 press officers are currently employed in the Department. They are all based in London. None are based in the Palace of Westminster.
Care of the Elderly
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence she has of elderly residents of private care or nursing homes being transferred to more specialised units in the ownership of the same company some considerable distance from where they originate, when similar units exist in the ownership of other companies either in their home area or nearer to it; and if she will make a statement.
Air Pollution
Mr. William O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish details of the effects of air pollution from road transport on the health of people (a) in towns and cities and (b) in rural areas.
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Mr. Sackville: Road transport generates a range of air pollutants including oxides of nitrogen, volatile organic compounds and particulate material. The Department of Health advisory group on the medical aspects of air pollution episodes--MAAPE--has considered the effects on health of certain traffic-related pollutants and the Department has published its reports. Those are on ozone, 1991, sulphur dioxide, acid aerosols and particulates, 1992, and oxides of nitrogen, 1993. Copies of the reports are available in the Library. MAAPE is currently considering the health effects of combination of air pollutants. Its report is expected in the first quarter of 1995. The Department of Health expert committee on the medical effects of air pollutants is keeping the health effects of air pollutants under review, and will report on the findings of its two sub-groups, on asthma and particles respectively, in late 1994 and early 1995. In rural areas, the air pollutant of most concern is ozone; levels in summer sometimes exceeding those at which effects upon health would be expected in some individuals.
The Transport Select Committee is publishing today its report on transport- related air pollution in London, to which the Government will respond in due course.
Asthma
Mr. William O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice her Department gives to health authorities to ensure that carers for children with asthma require the best possible training; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville: The Department has established a programme of chronic disease management for asthma. The objective of this programme is to make the treatment of patients with asthma more systematic. Approximately 90 per cent. of all general practitioners have been approved to take part in the programme. Those doctors give advice to the parents of children with asthma, who in turn give the vast majority of day-to-day care. To qualify, the programme must include a call and recall system from a register of patients, the education of newly diagnosed patients, or their carers when appropriate, and continued education. GPs must ensure that all patients with asthma, or their carers as appropriate, receive relevant continuing education, including supervision of inhaler technique if appropriate. GPs are also responsible for the preparation of individual management plans for each patient which are generally subject to review every six months.
Mr. William O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health is she will make a statement on co-operation with the Department of Education in ensuring that all schools have an active asthma policy, taking into consideration the total school environment.
Mr. Sackville: It is our joint policy that teachers should, in consultation with parents and with advice from general practitioners and the school health service, do all that is reasonable to enable children with medical conditions such as asthma to obtain maximum benefit from education and to participate as fully as possible in school life. As far as is practicable, children are encouraged to manage their own conditions.
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Ministerial Meetings
Mrs. Jane Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions in the past two years she or her ministerial colleagues met representatives of local authorities to discuss local health matters; on what date such meetings were held; and with which local authorities.
Mr. Bowis: The level of detail requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Ministers meet frequently with individual local authorities and with local authority associations to discuss a very wide range of issues. National health service health authorities liaise with local authorities to discuss local health matters.
Long-term Health Care
Mr. Madden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many comments have, to date, been received on the draft guidance to health authorities on clarifying responsibilities for long-term health care; when she expects to issue final guidance to health authorities; and if she will make a statement.
Health Care International
Mr. Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the estimated cost of the west midlands regional health authority's plans to transfer patients awaiting treatment at west midlands hospitals to Health Care International medical centre in Glasgow analysed between (a) travel costs, (b) hospital costs and (c) hotel costs.
Mr. Sackville: This is a local matter. The hon. Member may wish to contact Mr. Bryan Baker, chairman of West Midlands regional health authority, for details.
SCOTLAND
Civil Servants (Sport)
Sir Nicholas Fairbairn: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the current cost to the public purse of providing all forms of sports facilities for civil servants in Scotland.
Mr. Lang: I can speak only for the Scottish Office. There is currently no direct expenditure by my Department on sports facilities for civil servants by accommodation is made available in some buildings for sports and recreational activities. The cost of this accommodation, calculated by reference to the area as a proportion of the total floor area of the building, is estimated to be, £35,000.
Forestry
Mr. Morley: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how he intends to make sure that the "Forestry Enterprise" framework document will be subject to parliamentary scrutiny.
Sir Hector Monro: As is usual with framework documents, it will be placed in the Library of the House. Hon. Members will be able to raise it, like any other published document, in the House.
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Official Hospitality
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what has been the total amount spent on official hospitality by (a) his Department and (b) his agencies for each year since 1990.
Mr. Lang: The total expenditure on official hospitality for the Scottish Office for the years in question is shown in the table.
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Year |£ -------------------------------- 1990-91 |65,123 1991-92 |62,800 1992-93 |94,385 1993-94 |49,115 1994-95 (to date) |20,300
The total expenditure for agencies is as follows:
Year |SASA |SFPA |ROS |HS
|£ |£ |£ |£
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1990-91 |<1>- |<1>- |3,586 |772.85
1991-92 |<1>- |400 |2,513 |2,591.80
1992-93 |3,235 |300 |5,536 |7,778.65
1993-94 |6,244 |450 |4,374 |8,012.47
1994-95 (to date) |not available|not available|not available|8,012.47
<1> Figures for these years are included on the table for The Scottish Office
hospitality.
Figures for other agencies are included in the departmental hospitality table and any
other agencies were not in existence on the dates specified.
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Health Care International
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what information he has about the numbers (a) of in-patients at Health Care International in Clydebank in each week since it opened, (b) patients from overseas and (c) patients in Britain.
Mr. Stewart: Information about non-NHS patients is commercially confidential to the company. Information on NHS patients treated is not held centrally and can be obtained from individual health boards.
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