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Waiting Times
27. Mr. Thomason: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress is being made to reduce the number of patients who have to wait over one year for treatment. [2199]
Mr. Horam: Excellent progress has been made in reducing the number of patients who wait more than a year for treatment. In September 1990 there were 202,740 people waiting over one year compared with 28,204 in September 1995.
Elderly People
29. Mr. O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to ensure that elderly people receive the same entitlement to national health service care irrespective of where they live in the country. [2201]
Mr. Bowis: We have made it clear that elderly people throughout the country should receive national health service care on the basis of clinical need.
Domiciliary Care
Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what monitoring his Department has undertaken of public and private domiciliary care. [2184]
Mr. Bowis: We take a continuing interest in the welcome growth, innovation and quality of domiciliary care services.
5 Dec 1995 : Column: 192
Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proposals his Department has to ensure registration of private domiciliary care. [2186]
Mr. Bowis: Our current review of regulation and inspection of social services will consider whether statutory regulation should be extended to domiciliary care.
Regional Health Authorities
Sir Irvine Patnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimates have been made of the savings resulting from the abolition of regional health authorities. [2187]
Mr. Malone: By 1997-98, total annual savings from the abolition of regional health authorities are expected to be around £100 million. A further £50 million has also been saved from the creation of single health authorities at local level. These substantial savings will be retained by the national health service and reinvested in patient care.
Isles of Scilly Community Health Services
Mr. Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the future for community health care on the Isles of Scilly. [3454]
Mr. Horam: The then Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, West (Mr. Sackville) gave approval for the Isles of Scilly community health services to integrate into Plymouth Community Services NHS trust from 1 April 1996.
NHS Trusts (Finance)
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what levels of surplus or deficit each national health service trust returned in each year since its inception giving the figures by region; [3246]
(2) how many trusts recorded (a) surpluses and (b) deficits in each region in each year since 1991-92. [3247]
Mr. Horam: The information will be placed in the Library.
Smoking and Drug Addiction (Children)
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the total Department of Health budget for smoking and drug addiction among children in each of the last five years. [3764]
Mr. Bowis: The tables show the amounts spent by the Health Education Authority, on behalf of the Department of Health, on teenage anti-smoking programmes over the last five years, funding provided to health authorities for drug misuse services and expenditure on drug and solvent publicity for all age ranges. Activities relating to smoking and drug addiction among children are also included within other programmes undertaken by the Department of Health, the Health Education Authority and health authorities but specific costings are not available.
5 Dec 1995 : Column: 193
| Amount spent on teenage smoking work | |
|---|---|
| Financial year | £ |
| 1991-92 | £1,746,000 |
| 1992-93 | 752,000 |
| 1993-94 | 864,000 |
| 1994-95 | 863,000 |
| 1995-96 | 880,000 |
| Funding to health authorities to provide treatment services for drug misusers | |
|---|---|
| Financial year | £ Million |
| 1991-92 | 16.999 |
| 1992-93 | 20.043 |
| 1993-94 | 24.371 |
| 1994-95 | 25.498 |
| 1995-96 | 26.748 |
In addition, £1 million has been provided in 1995-96 specifically to develop services for young people at risk from drug misuse.
| Year | £ |
|---|---|
| 1991-92 | 3,924,413 |
| 1992-93 | 4,965,023 |
| 1993-94 | 5,296,284 |
| 1994-95 | 4,443,396 |
| 1995-96 | (7)4,871,000 |
(7) Estimate.
5 Dec 1995 : Column: 194
Autologous Blood Transfusion
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to develop an autologous blood transfusion service. [3771]
Mr. Horman: We recognise the value of autologous transfusion for those patients for whom the procedures are applicable. In appropriate cases it can provide a useful supplement to the supply of blood for voluntary donors which the National Blood Service supplies to our hospitals. The medical profession is aware of autologus transfusion and advice is available from medical staff of the National Blood Service and hospital consultant haematologists. Selection of patients for this procedure has to be undertaken with extreme care to avoid any possible clinical risk to that patient.
Meningitis
Mrs. Ann Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of meningitis have been notified in each of the health districts of West Yorkshire in each year since 1990. [3695]
Mr. Horam: The information is shown in the table.
| 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | (8)1994 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All meningitis | Meningococcal | All menigitis | Meningococcal | All meningitis | Meningococcal | All meningitis | Meningococcal | All meningitis | Menigococcal | |
| Bradford | 35 | 13 | 74 | 18 | 31 | 13 | 19 | 11 | 16 | 5 |
| Calderdale | 10 | 9 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 3 |
| Kirkless | 20 | 8 | 14 | 2 | 19 | 10 | 19 | 10 | 20 | 11 |
| Leeds | 43 | 12 | 55 | 9 | 41 | 12 | 24 | 11 | 30 | 16 |
| Wakefield | 29 | 7 | 30 | 8 | 18 | 6 | 15 | 6 | 13 | 3 |
(8) 1994 figures are provisional. Information is not available at district health authority level.
5 Dec 1995 : Column: 193
GP Commissioning Group
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to finance any general practitioner commissioning groups. [3757]
Mr. Malone: This is for local determination. General practitioners involved in commissioning groups act as advisers to health authorities. It is for health authorities to secure appropriate advice in purchasing, as in other matters.
Out-patients
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his current estimate of the percentage of out-patients seen within 30 minutes; and what assessment he has made of the reliability of the data on which this figure is based. [3762]
Mr. Horam: At 30 September 1995, nationally, 89 per cent. of patients were seen within 30 minutes of their out-patient appointment.
5 Dec 1995 : Column: 194
In 1994-95, as part of the national health service performance tables exercise, the Audit Commission found that 93.6 per cent. of trusts' monitoring systems designed to collect the data for this standard were satisfactory.
General Practitioner Consultations
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what was the average annual number of consultations per general practitioner in (a) 1990 and (b) 1994; [3754]
(2) what was the total number of general practitioners consultations in (a) 1990 and (b) 1994. [3756]
Mr. Malone: The information is contained in table 21 on page 56 of the departmental report of the Department of Health and Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, published in 1995, copies of which are available in the Library.
Nitrates in Drinking Water
Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what re-assessment he has made of the research published by his
5 Dec 1995 : Column: 195
Department in CMO(85)14 on the relationship between nitrate levels in water and cancer incidence. [3489]
Mr. Horam: CMO(85)14 gave advice on the health effects of nitrates in drinking water and concluded that although a theoretical risk of a relationship between nitrate and cancer remained, the epidemiological evidence as a whole gave no support to the suggestion that nitrate was a cause of cancer of the stomach, or other organs. Since 1985 there has been no good evidence for changing this advice and this is supported by evaluations made bythe Committee on the Medical Aspects of the Contamination of Air, Soil, and Water in 1988, the World Health Organisation in 1993 and the National Research Council in the United States in 1995.
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