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Basildon Hospital
8. Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his Department's recent inspection of facilities at Basildon hospital. [31701]
Mr. Malone: There has been no recent departmental inspection but, as my hon. Friend knows, I recently visited Basildon hospital where I was able to see the new Mary Wright unit for general practitioner referrals. I was impressed by the way that the unit speeds up the entry of patients to hospital and reduces the pressure on the accident and emergency department.
Mr. Amess: Does my hon. Friend agree that the local hospital has been able to develop and enhance services since obtaining trust status? Will he join me in celebrating Hospice Fortnight and in congratulating the staff of St. Luke's hospice in my constituency, of Fair Haven in the constituency of my right hon. Friend the Member for Southend, West (Mr. Channon) and of Little Haven in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Castle Point (Dr. Spink) on their magnificent work?
Mr. Malone: I am happy to join my hon. Friend in his remarks. The trust in his area has an extremely impressive record. Day case activity has increased by 25.9 per cent. and the trust achieved a maximum wait of 12 months for
all day cases and in-patient treatments by the end of March 1996. No patient waits for more than 13 weeks for a routine first out-patient appointment. I also remember visiting the trust when it was awarded a citizens charter mark for excellence in service provision--which is much appreciated by all patients.
Mr. Mackinlay: Does the Minister visit hospitals prior to their being awarded charter marks or hospitals that are not awarded charter marks? If he did, he might have visited Basildon during the bad times that were endured by my constituents in Thurrock and by the people of Basildon who suffered inordinate waiting times in the accident and emergency department because of the closure of the accident and emergency department at Orsett hospital. The people of Edgware are soon to suffer a similar experience. The fact is that the Minister turns up when there is good news but he is not prepared to face patients during the bad times like those suffered by the people of Thurrock and of Basildon.
Mr. Malone: I visited the Basildon trust within a few weeks of being appointed Minister in order to see how our policies were affecting it. The hon. Gentleman is quite right: there were bad times. However, the bad times have gone and the good times are here as a result of our policies which the hon. Gentleman has persistently opposed.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
9. Mrs. Gorman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the reported incidence of CJD worldwide since 1986. [31702]
Mr. Dorrell: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease occurs worldwide at an average incidence of up to one case per million people.
Mrs. Gorman: Given the disgraceful way in which the Opposition--particularly the hon. Member for Peckham (Ms Harman)--sought to exploit the alleged connection between bovine spongiform encephalopathy and CJD, will my right hon. Friend confirm the latest results which show that the new strain of CJD is occurring in countries that are BSE-free, including many European countries? Does he agree with Dr. Paul Brown, the director of the United States Health Authority and a world expert on the subject, who has said that the incidence of three or four cases of the new strain of CJD in Europe will blow out of the water the thesis that the new strain is caused by BSE? The hon. Member for Peckham will then have to apologise.
Mr. Dorrell: I entirely agree with my hon. Friend about the disreputable behaviour of the hon. Member for Peckham in seeking to feed public fears during the early stages of the argument. As to the incidence of the new strain of CJD, so far there has been one confirmed case outside the United Kingdom in France, although, as my hon. Friend rightly says, it is important that we continue to cast the net widely. That approach was supported by the World Health Organisation in May. The work is being co-ordinated from the British Government CJD surveillance centre in Edinburgh, which is recognised as a world centre of expertise in the matter.
Mr. Wigley: Does the Secretary of State recall that, when he made his statement on this issue in March, I pressed him about resources for research into CJD? Does he therefore understand my surprise at discovering, when I visited the Western general hospital in Edinburgh a week last Friday, that, although verbal promises have been made about additional resources, it has received nothing in writing and, basically, it has the same team as was working in March; that those doctors still have to carry out their responsibilities without the certainty of additional hands to share the work; and that, in the past fortnight, only advertisements have appeared--produced jointly by the Department for Health and the Medical Research Council--for research to be undertaken by those who are dedicated to the work? Is it not time that we gave priority to that work and made resources available? It is a scandal that, three months on, that is not being done.
Mr. Dorrell: The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to say that the people doing the work are leading practitioners in the relevant medical fields. I make no apology for that, since they are best placed to make the necessary judgments to ensure that we understand the issue properly. On resources and the development of the research programme, I announced to the House in March that the Government support such development, and the hon. Gentleman has just reported the fact that that development is going ahead.
Mr. John Marshall: Will my hon. Friend confirm that the European country that has the highest incidence of CJD is Austria, and that international studies indicate that there is no correlation between the incidence of CJD and behavioural patterns, such as whether one eats beef or meat or is merely a stupid vegan?
Mr. Dorrell: My hon. Friend expresses his own views about vegans or--possibly--a particular sub-group of vegans. He underlines the fact that any link between beef eating and CJD has not been proven. Indeed, it is some way from being proven.
Prescriptions
10. Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of prescriptions issued in the last 12 months were for more than one item. [31703]
Mr. Bowis: It is estimated that 40 per cent. of prescription forms dispensed in the past 12 months were for more than one item.
Mr. Pike: Does the Minister recognise that many people on low incomes who have to pay full prescription charges for two items every month have considerable difficulty meeting that cost? They cannot afford to pay for pre-payment certificates and there is a problem. Does he also recognise that there is a particular problem with dual packs, for which people have to pay two prescription charges?
Mr. Bowis: The hon. Gentleman referred to people on low incomes. If they are on income support, they do not have to pay for prescriptions. I remind him that, when the Labour Government reintroduced prescription charges, exemptions ran at 42 per cent. The rate is now 85 per cent. A further 5 per cent. of people benefit from pre-payment certificates, to which he referred.
He can set those people's minds at rest. It is true that there are two charges for a combination pack. That is because two drugs are packed together. If it were otherwise, it would be quite unfair on people who pay for multiple prescriptions. Curiously, any change would also be a perverse incentive to manufacturers to package their drugs in combination packs.
Mr. Bellingham:
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for spelling out the exemptions. Will he explain the different categories of people who get free prescriptions?
Mr. Bowis:
Yes, I will. Those who are exempted from prescription charges are men and women aged 60 and over, children under 16, students under 19, a person or partner receiving income support, family credit or disability working allowance, people entitled to full help under the NHS low income scheme, pregnant women and women who have had a child in the previous 12 months, and people who receive a war or Ministry of Defence disablement pension who need medication for that disablement. In addition, some medical conditions carry exemption. A tremendous number of people are exempt. We have one of the most generous exemption systems in Europe, which is why we can say that the vast majority of people who cannot afford to pay are well covered by it.
Mrs. Mahon:
Is it not the case that many students, even those below income support level, do not receive free prescriptions? Would the Minister like to comment on that?
Mr. Bowis:
If the hon. Lady is saying that people below income support level are not receiving free prescriptions, they are entitled to do so. The hon. Lady has only to add up the numbers about which we are talking--[Interruption.] I am sure that she can add up. If the total adds up to the 85 per cent. of British people who are entitled to free prescriptions, and a further 5 per cent. who benefit from the pre-payment certificates, she will see that there is not a problem. She will also see that it is a much more generous system than it was when the Labour Government reintroduced prescription charges.
Mrs. Mahon:
On a point of order, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker:
Order. I take points of order after Questions.
Mrs. Mahon:
In view of the unsatisfactory nature of that reply, I give notice that I intend to raise the matter on the Adjournment--
Madam Speaker:
Order. The hon. Lady did not ask the substantive question, so I am afraid that she does not have the opportunity to do that.
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