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Accident and Emergency Departments

17. Mr. Kevin Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consultations he has undertaken into the future provision of accident and emergency departments. [23481]

Mr. Horam: Following my right hon. Friend's statement to the House on 6 March, Official Report, columns 356-68, we expect widespread consultation to be held at local level about the provision of accident and emergency services.

16 Apr 1996 : Column: 473

24. Sir Michael Neubert: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what response he has received to his recent guidance to health authorities on the provision of accident and emergency services in the north-east Thames region. [23488]

Mr. Horam: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has asked the chief executive of the national health service, Mr. Alan Langlands, to report to him at the end of June, and again at the end of September on health authorities' plans for emergency services. Responses from individual health authorities and NHS trusts are being co-ordinated by the regional offices of the NHS executive.

Mr. Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will instruct the NHS executive to investigate the comparative rates of admission into the accident and emergency departments at (a) Oldchurch hospital, Romford and (b) King George hospital, Goodmayes. [24789]

Mr. Horam: This would be a matter for the Barking and Havering and the Redbridge and Waltham Forest health authorities.

Mr. Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of accident and emergency admissions at (a) Oldchurch hospital, Romford and (b) King George hospital, Goodmayes, took place within two hours of arrival, in the last year for which figures are available. [24788]

Mr. Horam: Information is not available centrally. The hon. Member may wish to contact Mr. Geoffrey Jennings OBE and Mr. Michael J. Smith, respectively, the chairmen of Havering Hospitals NHS trust and Redbridge Healthcare NHS trust for further information.

Mr. Dykes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the range of accident and emergency facilities available to the public in NHS hospitals located in the outer London boroughs, subsequent to the changes planned for April 1997. [23810]

Mr. Horam: It is the responsibility of local health authorities, working together with local national health service trusts, to ensure that adequate facilities and services are in place to meet the accident and emergency needs of the local populace.

Market Testing

18. Mr. Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consultations he is currently undertaking about the market testing programme. [23482]

Mr. Horam: I am in regular contact with a wide range of people in the national health service, the commercial sector and voluntary sector about ways to improve NHS services for the benefit of patients.

GP Fundholders

19. Mr. Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors in Buckinghamshire are now fundholders, and what proportion of the population of Buckinghamshire are now served by these doctors. [23483]

Mr. Malone: There are currently 249 general practitioners who are fundholders in Buckinghamshire serving approximately 71 per cent. of the population.

16 Apr 1996 : Column: 474

23. Mr. Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many fundholding GPs there are in Redbridge and Waltham Forest; and what that figure represents as a percentage of GPs in the area. [23487]

Mr. Malone: There are currently 116 general practitioners who are fundholders in Redbridge and Waltham Forest. This represents approximately 50 per cent. of the GPs in the area.

District Health Authorities

20. Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the purchasing policies of district health authorities. [23484]

Mr. Malone: Regional offices of the national health service executive assess health authority purchasing plans as part of their performance management responsibilities.

Personal Social Services

21. Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on personal social services (a) in 1990-91 and (b) in the latest year for which figures are available. [23485]

Mr. Bowis: Local authority returns show gross expenditure on personal social services in England in 1990-91 was £4,698 million. In 1993-94, the latest year for which validated figures are available, gross expenditure was £6,278 million.

Elderly People (Care)

22. Mr. Eastham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he last met representatives of carers to discuss the provision of care to elderly people. [23486]

Mr. Bowis: I meet frequently with organisations representing carers to discuss a range of matters, including care of the elderly.

NHS Trusts

25. Dr. Goodson-Wickes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent consultations he has had concerning the relationship between NHS trust hospitals and social services departments. [23489]

Mr. Bowis: There have been no specific consultations, but regular meetings are held with representatives of the national health service and local authorities. We have emphasised the importance of good procedures and effective communications between local authorities, health authorities and NHS trusts about arrangements for community care.

27. Mr. McAvoy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received from NHS trusts on proposals to expand their activities involving private finance. [23491]

Mr. Horam: I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Hazel Grove (Sir T. Arnold) on 16 January 1996, Official Report, column 550.

Since that reply, a further nine schemes with a capital value of more than £1 million have been approved, taking the total capital value of approved schemes to £0.5 billion.

16 Apr 1996 : Column: 475

Mr. Loyden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the plans by NHS trusts to introduce private health plans. [23469]

Mr. Dorrell: My hon. Friend the Minister for Health recently set out the long-standing position. Trusts have wide-ranging powers to generate additional income, provided, among other things, that there is no unacceptable risk to public funds.

I have, however, made it clear that I do not believe that private health insurance plans could in any circumstances satisfy that requirement. There are therefore no such schemes on offer from NHS trusts, nor do trusts have any plans to introduce such schemes.

Community Care

26. Mr. Nigel Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Helath what estimate he has made of the level of funds transferred from his Department to (a) other Government Departments and agencies and (b) local authorities for community care in 1996-97. [23490]

Mr. Bowis: For 1996-97, my Department transferred £647.6 million to the Department of Environment which was taken into account in the calculation of local authorities' entitlements to revenue support grant. In addition, a special transitional grant for community care services of £418 million will be paid to local authorities by my Department in 1996-97, together with a number of smaller special and specific grants.

Dental Services

28. Mr. David Nicholson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the measures he has taken to ensure an adequate provision of NHS dentistry. [23492]

Mr. Malone: We are committed to an effective and accessible national health service dental service that is available to all who wish to make use of it. Our record bears this out:

At 31 December 1995 there were 15,942 NHS dentists on the lists of family health services authorities in England, the highest December figure ever. This is 516 more dentists than at 30 June 1992 and 3,796 more dentists than at 30 September 1979.
At 29 February there were 26.4 million patients registered. This is broadly in line with the position at 30 June 1992.
In 1994-95 gross expenditure on general dental services in England was £1,279 million, an increase in real terms of 57 per cent. since 1978-79.
In 1994-95 there were 3.7 million more adult dental examinations compared with 1979.

In general, the former family health services authorities have not reported difficulties in achieving our aim. Where there are local problems, health authorities have a range of options, including use of salaried dentists and the community dental service to deal with these. There are 126 salaried dentists currently employed by the health authorities.

In the short term, we are discussing with the dental profession a range of issues aimed to reform dental services. In the longer term, we aim to put in place a purchaser-provider system which will be sensitive to local needs. This needs primary legislation.

16 Apr 1996 : Column: 476

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what date dentists were first required to register their patients; and when his Department first received information on (a) total registrations with dentists and (b) total deregistrations by dentists from each family health service authority or equivalent body. [25132]

Mr. Malone: Dentists first registered patients on 1 October 1990, when the current dental contract was introduced.

Information about total registrations of patients with general dental practitioners was first received in December 1990.

Information about the number of deregistrations by general dental practitioners was first collected by the Department in July 1992.

Deregistrations are not a meaningful measure of the availability of national health service dentistry. A dentist may deregister his patients in order to transfer them to another dentist working at the same practice address. These patients still have access to national health service dentistry, but are counted as deregistrations. The arrival of a new dentist to an area may resolve the availability problem in the area, but this will not be reflected in the deregistrations.

Mr. Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (i) children, (ii) adults and (iii) people in total were registered with dentists in each family health service authority in (a) February 1993, (b) July 1993, (c) February 1994, (d) July 1994, (e) February 1995, (f) July 1995 and (g) February 1996. [25133]

Mr. Malone: This information will be placed in the Library.

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