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2 Jul 1996 : Column: 367

Written Answers to Questions

Tuesday 2 July 1996

HEALTH

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Mr. Alan W. Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 17 June, Official Report, column 349, if his Department will release figures on highly suspect cases of the new strain of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease on a monthly basis; and what are those figures for 1995 and 1996 to date. [34511]

Mr. Horam: The information has, until now, formed part of the annual report of the national Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease surveillance unit. They will now be published quarterly in the chief medical officer's update.

In 1995 there were three deaths from the new variant of CJD while in 1996, to the end of May, there had been six deaths.

NHS Cardiac Units

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the number of NHS cardiac units in hospitals within the Greater London area on 30 March. [34595]

Mr. Malone: All major acute hospitals in Greater London have a coronary care unit. In addition, there were eight national health service specialist cardiac units in Greater London as of 30 March 1996.

Patient Care (Doncaster)

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the impact on patient care of the cuts proposed by Doncaster health authority in the budget of the Doncaster Healthcare NHS trust; [35017]

(2) what assessment he has made of the impact on patient care of the cuts proposed by Doncaster health authority in the budget of the Doncaster Royal Infirmary and Mexborough Montagu NHS trust. [35016]

Mr. Horam: This is a matter for Doncaster health authority and the trusts concerned. The hon. Member may wish to contact Mr. Keith Jones, chairman of the authority, for details.

Private Finance Initiative

Mr. Chris Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS trusts have indicated that they may intend to seek approval for capital investment under the private finance initiative. [34885]

Mr. Horam: All national health service capital schemes are tested to see if private finance offers the best value for money. At present, 118 national health service

2 Jul 1996 : Column: 368

trusts are testing schemes worth over £1 million each for which approval of the outline business case has been given.

Information is not available on schemes worth under £1 million each that are currently being tested, or on schemes for which the outline business case has not yet been prepared.

National Vocational Qualifications (Carers)

Mr. Thurnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received on the adequacy of the NVQ qualifications for carers; what priority his Department accords to the training of carers; and if he will make a statement. [34945]

Mr. Bowis: A number of representations have been received on this subject.

The Government place a high priority on the training of carers. The personal social services training strategy for England seeks to improve the training of the existing PSS work force at professional and vocational levels. This Department is supporting the updated set of lifetime learning targets to achieve specified national vocational qualification--NVQ--targets by 2000 by targeting part of the training support programme on the achievement of NVQs in care. In addition, the document "Building Partnerships for Success", published in September last year, identifies staff training and development as part of the essential foundation for the development of community care. For the future we propose to increase the proportion of staff with appropriate qualifications by extending opportunities to acquire NVQs.

Beta-interferon

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the relationship between the rate of incidence of multiple sclerosis in health authority areas and the likelihood of sufferers being prescribed beta-interferon. [34996]

Mr. Malone: None. Data on the incidence of multiple sclerosis by health authority region are not available centrally. Decisions about prescribing beta-interferon in individual cases are for the clinical judgment of the doctor concerned.

NHS Trusts (Doncaster)

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what discussions officials from his Department have had with the management of Doncaster Royal Infirmary and Mexborough Montagu NHS trust and Doncaster health authority in relation to the budget for the trust; [35020]

(2) what discussions officials from his Department have had with the management of Doncaster Healthcare NHS trust and Doncaster health authority in relation to the budget for the trust. [35019]

Mr. Horam: National health service executive officials have regular contact and discussion with Doncaster health authority and with trusts in Doncaster about a variety of matters including funding.

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Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures he intends to take to ensure that no job losses or reductions in service occur in 1996-97 at (a) the Doncaster Royal Infirmary and Mexborough Montagu NHS trust and (b) the Doncaster Healthcare NHS trust. [34995]

Mr. Horam: These are matters for the trusts themselves. The hon. Member may wish to contact the chairmen of the trusts, Mr. Redmond Tonkinson and Mr. David Bertram, for details.

Community Health Councils

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which districts in England and Wales are not currently represented by a community health council; and if he will make a statement. [34985]

Mr. Horam: All districts in England and Wales have a community health council.

Dispute Procedures

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what procedures exist within the national health service for resolving disputes between a national health service trust and a health authority on a national health service trust's budget. [35005]

Mr. Horam: A copy of the latest guidance is available in the Library. This guidance, EL(91)11, will be updated shortly.

North Western Regional Health

Authority (Compensation)

Mr. Callaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful claims for compensation have been made against the North Western regional health authority during each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [35062]

Mr. Horam: There were no traceable claims for compensation in this period.

Blood Disorders

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will introduce a screening programme covering all races in respect of (a) sickle cell anaemia and (b) thalassaemia; and if he will make a statement. [35104]

Mr. Horam: Individual health authorities are responsible for assessing the needs of their resident populations and for purchasing services, including haemoglobinopathy screening, to provide for those needs. In doing so, we would expect them to have regard to the recommendations in the report of the Standing Medical Advisory Committee working party on sickle cell, thalassaemia and other haemoglobinopathies, published in February 1994.

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list, by health authority region for the last 12 months, the number of white caucasians who have been diagnosed as carrying (a) the sickle cell anaemia gene and (b) the thalassaemia gene; and if he will make a statement. [35103]

Mr. Horam: This information is not available.

2 Jul 1996 : Column: 370

Health Care Purchases

Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 25 March, Official Report, column 429, on purchasing health care from non-NHS bodies, if he will provide a breakdown of the services bought and the sources of provision. [35367]

Mr. Malone: This information is not available centrally.

Rabies

Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of human rabies have been recorded in the United Kingdom between 1971 and 1995. [35082]

Mr. Horam: There have been seven reported cases of rabies in the United Kingdom since 1976: two in 1977 and one in each of the years 1978, 1981, 1986, 1987 and 1988. All these were in people who were infected abroad.

Rabies became a notifiable disease only in 1976 and, therefore, figures for the years 1971 to 1975 are not available.

Health Funding

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much public money, expressed both in cash and in real terms, has been spent on the NHS in each financial year since 1978-79; and if he will make a statement. [35290]

Mr. Horam: The information is in the table.

National Health Service total net expenditure, England£ million

Year	Cash	Real terms (1994-95 prices)
1978-79	6,273	18,284
1979-80	7,447	18,598
1980-81	9,700	20,474
1981-82	10,854	20,889
1982-83	11,819	21,234
1983-84	12,494	21,451
1984-85	13,407	21,932
1985-86	14,176	21,970
1986-87	15,173	22,827
1987-88	16,668	23,808
1988-89	18,413	24,652
1989-90	19,855	24,847
1990-91	22,326	25,865
1991-92	25,354	27,647
1992-93	27,971	29,308
1993-94	28,951	29,483
1994-95	30,581	30,581
1995-96(1)	31,985	31,129

(1) Forecast outturn

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