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Temazepam
Mrs. Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the amount of Temazepam per capita distributed annually in England; and if he will make a statement. [1542]
Mrs. Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many deaths in each of the past five years are attributable to the abuse of Temazepam (a) in England and (b) in each health region. [1543]
Mr. Bowis: The table shows the numbers of deaths due to Temazepam abuse, alone or with other drugs--ICDs 1
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304.1, 304.7, 304.8 305.4, 305.9--by year of occurrence for the latest five-year period available in England and each regional health authority.
| 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 12 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 19 |
| Regional health authority | |||||
| Northern | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Yorkshire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Trent | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| East Anglian | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| North West Thames | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| North East Thames | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| South East Thames | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| South West Thames | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Wessex | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Oxford | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| South Western | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| West Midlands | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Mersey | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| North Western | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
(25) International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision.
Waiting Times
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is his policy on waiting times for initial appointments in NHS trust hospitals; [1170]
(2) if he will make a statement on waiting times for hospital appointments (a) in the NHS and (b) in private medical care. [1171]
Mr. Malone: Decisions on how quickly patients are seen following out-patient referral must be based on an assessment of clinical priority made by doctors. The revised patients charter, which came into effect on 1 April 1995, contains a national standard for the maximum time patients should have to wait for their first out-patient appointment: all patients should be seen within 26 weeks of written referral by their general practitioner, and nine out of 10 patients in each trust should be seen within 13 weeks.
The latest information available shows that in the quarter ended 31 June, 85 per cent. of patients seen had waited less than 13 weeks and 97 per cent. had waited less than 26 weeks. Where the standard is not being met, hospitals are required to have in place an action plan to reduce the waiting time to the charter standard.
No information is available centrally on appointments taking place in the private sector.
Mr. Robin Cook:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what was the number of long-stay beds in the national health service in 1990 for (a) the elderly, (b) psychiatry, (c) those with learning difficulties and (d) the chronically sick young; and what the figures are under these categories for 1 April. [1140]
(2) if he will estimate the number of available long-stay beds in the National Health Service by 1 April 1998 and 1 April 2000 for (a) the elderly, (b) psychiatry, (c) those with learning difficulties and (d) the chronically young sick. [1141]
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Mr. Bowis:
The information available is published in "Bed availability for England", copies of which are available in the Library.
Mr. Cohen:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what alternative arrangements apply in circumstances when a major hospital is closed to admissions and victims of major accidents; and if he will make a statement. [1151]
Mr. Sackville:
Such closures are infrequent and generally of short duration. If national health service hospital trusts have to place restrictions on the cases that they can deal with, they should collaborate with health authorities, ambulance services and other hospitals to ensure that appropriate contingency measures are in place.
Mr. Battle:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made towards cutting energy consumption in Government buildings for which he has responsibility in each year since 1990. [1444]
Mr. Sackville:
I refer the hon. Member to the reply that my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Construction and Planning gave my hon. Friend the Member for Surrey, East (Mr. Ainsworth) on 17 May Official Report, columns 259-62, for energy consumption figures for the Department of Health.
Additional figures for 1994-95 will be published shortly. These are expected to show a decrease of 8 per cent. over the previous year, as a result of our continuing efforts to reduce energy consumption.
Mr. Redmond:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) who will be responsible for the appointment of a chairman and non-executive directors to the Doncaster health authority in the period from 1 April 1996; [1820]
(2) who is responsible for the appointment of those non-executive directors of the Doncaster Healthcare trust and the Doncaster Royal Infirmary trust for whom he is not responsible. [1821]
Mr. Sackville:
From 1 April 1996, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health will be responsible for the appointment of the chairman and all non-executive directors to national health service trusts and health authorities. Trent regional health authority is at present responsible for the appointment of two of the non-executive directors at the Doncaster Healthcare trust and at the Doncaster Royal Infirmary and Montagu Hospital NHS trust.
Mr. Redmond:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how long the former chief executive of the Cheviot and Wandsbeck NHS trust had been in post; and what reasons were given for his early retirement. [2232]
Mr. Sackville:
This is a matter for Cheviot and Wandsbeck National Health Service trust. The hon. Member may wish to contact the chairman of the trust, Mr. Roger Baker for details.
23 Nov 1995 : Column: 329
Mr. Peter Atkinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will announce the boundaries of the new health authorities. [2560]
Mr. Malone:
We are today announcing decisions on the boundaries of new health authorities in England which will come into operation on 1 April 1996. Details of the new boundaries will be placed in the Library.
Mrs. Ann Winterton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the ethical issues arising from the Medical Research Council project at the Centre for Brain Repair involving the use of tissue from aborted babies; what steps are taken to ensure that the mothers of those babies are made aware of the purpose for which their dead children are being used; if he will indicate the cost of the project; and he will list the consultations which were undertaken with the public and interested organisations before the granting of the necessary approval for the project to proceed. [1343]
Mr. Sackville:
I understand that the project is still at the planning stage and as yet no human tissue has being used, but future studies using human fetal tissue are being considered. Any such studies will follow the strict guidelines of the Polkinghorne report, Cm 762. Its recommendations, which were accepted by the Government and the British Medical Association, were that such tissue could be used for research and treatment. Such experimental proposals will be subjected to the appropriate scrutiny when they are submitted to the local research ethics committee.
Mrs. Winterton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will list all those projects for which licences have been issued in each of the last five years and which have involved the use of tissue from aborted babies, indicating in each case the number of aborted babies involved; and if he will list the steps which his Department has taken in each of those cases to ensure that the provisions of the Polkinghorne report have been implemented; [1344]
(2) what administrative and reporting procedures are undertaken by his Department to monitor the issuing of licences for projects involving the use of tissue from aborted babies. [1345]
Mr. Sackville:
Local research ethics committees-- LRECs--advise within every health district on the acceptability of research proposals involving human subjects and human foetal tissue. Departmental guidance on the functions of LRECs includes the Polkinghorne code of practice, copies of which are available in the Library. The Department of Health does not collect information about research proposals approved by LRECs.
Mrs. Ann Winterton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on the implications for public policy of developments in pre-natal genetic screening; [1346]
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(2) if he will make a statement on the implications for public policy of developments in post-natal genetic screening. [1347]
Mr. Sackville:
These issues are being considered in the light of the Select Committee on Science and Technology's report on human genetics. The Government's position will be set out in the published response to the Select Committee's report.
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