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Heart Surgery
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many persons over the age of 65 years received major heart surgery at hospitals covering the Greater London area during 1995. [33705]
Mr. Malone: This information is not available.
St. George's Hospital, Tooting
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many private hospital beds there are currently at St. George's hospital, Tooting. [33707]
Mr. Malone: This information is not held centrally. The hon. Member may wish to contact Dr. Elizabeth Vallance, chairman of St. George's Healthcare national health service trust, for details.
Unique Patient Numbers
Mr. Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health by what procedure a hospital will be able to access the unique number for an NHS patient; if all hospitals will have such a procedure in place before the launch date of the project; and if he will make a statement. [33989]
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Mr. Horam: An acute hospital will obtain the new national health service number for a patient from one of three possible sources: the number will be included in the general practitioner's referral letter; the number will already be present on the hospital's database if this is not the first referral; or the number will be accessed via a tracing service.
It is planned for all acute hospitals to have access to these facilities by April 1997.
Mr. Gapes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of hospitals, and the number and proportion of general practitioner practices, which now have systems in place to handle the unique NHS patient number. [33990]
Mr. Horam:
No detailed estimates have been prepared of the number of hospitals which have systems in place to handle the new national health service number. It will not be possible to produce reliable estimates until suppliers of hospital patient administration systems have been able to respond to the statement of requirements which will be issued shortly.
All general practitioner practices that have been linked electronically to their health authorities now have systems in place which handle the new NHS number. At the end of May 1996, the number of practices with this capability was 5,700, which is 67 per cent. of all practices.
Mr. Simon Hughes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many parliamentary questions to his Department were referred for answer to the chief executive or other senior official of a non-departmental agency for which he has responsibility for the 1994-95 parliamentary Session. [34331]
Mr. Horam:
Following a search of the parliamentary on-line information service database, we have identified a total of 56 such parliamentary questions which were answered during the 1994-95 parliamentary Session. This represents around 1 per cent. of the total.
Mr. McFall:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of young people in the United Kingdom (a) under 15 years working (i) less than and (ii) more than 10 hours per week, and (b) under 13 years in paid employment. [33862]
Mr. Bowis:
Such information as is available centrally was published in the April 1995 edition of the Employment Gazette, copies of which are available in the Library.
Mr. Dover:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to make osteopathy services available on the national health service. [33809]
Mr. Horam:
It is for local purchasers to decide, in the light of available resources and competing priorities, on the purchase of the most appropriate forms of treatment to meet the assessed health needs of their population. The reforms we have introduced in the national health
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service have made it easier for those doctors who would like to provide osteopathy services for their patients to do so.
In April, a two-year pilot project commenced to assess whether osteopathy and chiropractic should be added to the standard list of goods and services which general practice fundholders can purchase on behalf of their patients.
Mr. Flynn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his most recent estimate of the number of deaths in the United Kingdom per annum caused by secondary smoking. [34045]
Mr. Horam:
In its fourth report, published in 1988, the Independent Scientific Committee on Smoking and Health estimated the number of lung cancer deaths in non-smokers exposed to environmental tobacco smoke over most of their lives as "several hundred deaths per year".
Mr. Flynn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the total annual cost to the NHS arising from illnesses caused by tobacco smoking. [34046]
Mr. Horam:
I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Clwyd, South-West (Mr. Jones) on 12 June, Official Report, columns 187-88.
Mr. Marlow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the conclusions of (a) the fourth report by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment and (b) the National Radiological Protection Board R-276 report, in respect of childhood leukaemia and domestic radon; and what estimate he has made of the reduction in incidence of childhood leukaemia if the radon action limit were reduced to 200 bq per cubic metre. [34056]
Mr. Horam:
The Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment's fourth report concluded that there was a continuing excess of leukaemia and other cancers in Seascale ward over four decades. This excess is unlikely to be due to chance alone. A number of possible factors which might have caused the excess have been considered but none of them, alone, could account for the increase. COMARE advised against further work specifically addressing the Seascale cluster until research indicates a new hypothesis to test. The Government accepted these conclusions.
The National Radiological Protection Board report R-276 was designed to provide input for COMARE. Its main conclusions were that the total number of fatal radiation induced leukaemias and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas in the period 1945 to 1992 was 0.36, of which most--78 per cent.--were caused by natural radiation.
The United Kingdom action level for radon is already at 200 bq per cubic metre.
Mr. Marlow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the findings of the national control case
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study of childhood cancer with regard to the effect of radon and electro-magnetic fields; and what recommendations the National Radiological Protection Board has made arising therefrom. [34053]
Mr. Horam:
The United Kingdom childhood cancer study organised by the United Kingdom Co-ordinating Committee on Cancer Research commenced in April 1992, following preliminary studies from 1 January 1992 to 31 March 1992.
Field work and the collection of data are expected to be completed by the end of 1997 with subsequent analysis of the data.
The findings of the whole report will be submitted for publication in peer reviewed scientific journals. The UKCCCR will also disseminate the results more widely after publication.
Mr. Marlow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what studies the National Radiological Protection Board has undertaken relating to the effects of electric railway conductors; and what were its findings; [34067]
(3) if he will make a statement on the current assessment of the National Radiological Protection Board advisory group in respect of non-ionising radiation and the epidemiological evidence of a link between exposure to electro-magnetic fields and the incidence of leukaemia; what recent studies it has undertaken; and what were its findings. [34504]
Mr. Horam:
The National Radiological Protection Board undertakes research into the effects of electro-magnetic fields on human health to support its advice to the Government and the publication of guidance. It has not carried out any specific studies relating to the effects of fields from electrified railway lines, although a review of magnetic fields associated with electrical transport has been published by NRPB which indicated that such exposure would not result in exceeding NRPB guidelines.
Of two studies on rodents exposed to electric fields, one found no significant effects on two indices of central nervous system arousal and the other found that mains frequency fields had no effect on electrical activity in the rat brain. Further studies on high-level electric fields did not have a mutagenic effect on male germ cells.
The Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation concluded in its 1992 report that human health--epidemiological--findings provided no firm evidence of the existence of a cancer hazard from exposure to power frequency EMF that may be associated with residence near major sources of electricity supply.
Following a review of subsequent findings, the group concluded that, although the studies did not establish that exposure to power frequency EMF is a cause of cancer, they provided weak evidence to suggest that the possibility exists. Recommendations for further research were made and the advisory group is currently carrying out a further assessment taking into account studies which have been published since its last report.
Mr. Marlow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health
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what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the attraction of radon decay product aerosols to electro-magnetic field sources. [34057]
Mr. Horam:
A study has recently been commissioned to investigate the concentration and transport of radon daughter nuclei near sources of power frequency electro-magnetic fields. This is being carried out under the Department's radiation protection research programme.
(2) what studies of the effects of exposure to electric fields have been undertaken by the National Radiological Protection Board; and with what results; [34055]
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