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Depression

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will commission a study into the efficacy of Flesinoxan in the prevention of relapse during the continuation phase following acute treatment of a major depressive episode; and if he will make a statement. [39215]

Mr. Bowis: No. Clinical trials to determine the safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products are usually commissioned by the companies that own them.

Wheelchairs

Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average charge made to patients provided with wheelchair by hospitals. [39257]

Mr. Bowis: Wheelchairs provided by the national health service are issued free on loan.

Mr. Alfred Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 27 June, Official Report, column 194, about guidance to wheelchair centres, what guidance has been issued concerning the changes to the provision of indoor-outdoor wheelchairs announced on

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23 February, beyond the NHS Executive document HSG(96)34; and when disabled people can expect to benefit from these changes. [39173]

Mr. Bowis: Health authorities and wheelchair service centres are now setting up local arrangements in accordance with the guidance in HSG(96)34. We expect that the first powered indoor/outdoor wheelchairs will be available very soon.

NHS Pensions Agency

Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the annual report and accounts of the NHS Pensions Agency. [39552]

Mr. Horam: I have approved the report and accounts which has today been laid before both Houses of Parliament in accordance with the requirements of section 5(2) and 5(3) of the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1921. Copies have also been placed in the Library.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what surveys have been conducted on the health of health care workers who have tended CJD patients. [36938]

Mr. Horam: No such surveys have been conducted. The national Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease surveillance unit investigates the incidence and epidemiology of CJD, paying particular attention to occupation and eating habits so that any change in the pattern of CJD following the advent of BSE can be detected. This includes details of a patients' occupation and the latest results are published in the unit's fourth annual report, copies of which are available in the Library, and do not show any evidence of an occupational link.

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his Department's definition of a highly suspect case of CJC. [36939]

Mr. Horam: The term "highly suspect case" is not used in respect of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. This disease can be definitely confirmed only by electron microscope examination of brain tissue. This is usually done post mortem although rarely it may be possible to establish a definite diagnosis by brain biopsy while the patient is still alive. In other cases CJC can be no more than a possibility, greater or lesser according to the number and degree of clinical features a patient exhibits.

Private Finance Initiative

Mr. Alfred Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the implications of the court ruling relating to Credit Suisse and Allerdale borough council on PFI funding for NHS trusts. [37818]

Mr. Horam: National health service trusts are aware of the need to confirm with their lawyers that contractual agreements entered into in the course of private finance initiative projects are within their statutory powers.

Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970

Mr. Alfred Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what additional guidance he plans to issue on the impact of the Appeal Court judgment in the case of Michael Berry and Gloucestershire county council on the

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legal duties of local authorities under section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970; and if he will make a statement. [38298]

Mr. Bowis: Leave to appeal to the House of Lords has been granted in this case. The Department will consider whether to revise any of its guidance in the light of the House of Lords judgment.

Latex Surgical Gloves

Mr. Congdon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what recent research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated in respect of protein levels in latex surgical gloves; and if he will make a statement; [38267]

(2) what routine monitoring his Department undertakes in respect of allergic reactions experienced by NHS staff to proteins in latex surgical gloves; [38268]

(3) what assessment he has made of the levels of proteins in latex surgical gloves purchased by the NHS. [38269]

Mr. Horam: No specific research has been commissioned on protein levels in latex surgical gloves. The available information on the subject has been evaluated and relevant experts in the field have been consulted. The Medical Devices Agency published a device bulletin entitled "Latex Sensitisation in the Health Care Setting (Use of Latex Gloves)", copies of which are available in the Library. The Department does not undertake specific monitoring of allergic reactions experienced by national health service staff to proteins in latex surgical gloves. However the Medical Devices Agency has a system for investigating adverse incidents associated with all medical devices.

Operations (Children)

Mr. Congdon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many procedures were carried out per 100,000 children aged up to 16 years old for each of the last 10 years for (a) myringotomy, (b) adenoidectomy and (c) tonsillectomy. [38270]

Mr. Horam: The information available for national health service hospitals in England is shown in the table. The latest year for which information is available is 1994-95; prior to 1989-90, data to the level of detail requested were not held centrally.

	Myringotomy	Adenoidectomy	Tonsillectomy
1989-90	51	173	449
1990-91	51	162	466
1991-92	68	173	501
1992-93	61	169	510
1993-94	38	155	522
1994-95	35	162	534

Source:

Hospital Episode Statistics--as related to Child population.

Prodigy System

Mr. Congdon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if the drugs and preparations listed in each therapeutic area covered by Prodigy match those in the British National Formulary. [38271]

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(2) what assessment he has made of the choice provided to general practitioners by the Prodigy system in each therapeutic area; [38272]

(3) if at the preparation stage of the database incorporated into Prodigy, and before the list was reviewed by the Royal College's (a) medical experts in particular therapeutic areas and (b) patients and patients group were given the opportunity to provide input into the preparation of the drugs list specific to those areas. [38274]

Mr. Malone: The therapeutic recommendations used for phase 1 of the Prodigy trial were intended to permit a realistic test of the concept of computerised decision support for general practitioner prescribing. To ensure that they were suitable for this purpose and had the support of a substantial body of medical opinion, an expert group nominated by the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Physicians, the General Medical Services Committee of the British Medical Association, and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, was commissioned to validate them. A number of sources were used including the British National Formulary. The recommendations will be further developed in the course of the trial in the light of comments from the GPs participating.

If at the end of the trial it is decided to develop a system for more widespread use, based on the experience gathered in the Prodigy trial, there will be extensive consultation in which all interested parties will have the opportunity to provide input.

Mr. Congdon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on progress with the pilot study of the Prodigy system. [38273]

Mr. Malone: Phase 1 of the Prodigy project on computerised decision support for general practitioner prescribing has been running in 140 GP practices since the end of 1995. An interim report, together with hard copy of the therapeutic advice and prescribing recommendations used in the initial phase of the evaluation, will be published next week; copies will be placed in the Library.

Patient Information Leaflets

Mr. Congdon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of ways of presenting the benefits of medicines to patients as well as their known side-effects in the proposed patient information leaflet. [38286]

Mr. Malone: Patient information leaflets are drawn up in line with European directive 92/27/EEC which prescribes the information which must be conveyed to the patient in such a leaflet. Guidance for the pharmaceutical industry on the preparation of leaflets was provided in 1993.

Mr. Congdon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to proceed with the patient information leaflet initiative; and what have been the reasons for the delay. [38285]

Mr. Malone: European directive 92/27/EEC requires that a patient information leaflet be supplied with all medicines within five years of its implementation on 1 January 1994. Agreement was reached with the pharmaceutical industry to introduce the information

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prescribed by the directive for the products in each therapeutic category of medicine simultaneously. A phased programme to do this began in December 1995 and will continue until the end of 1998.

Mr. Congdon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who is responsible for deciding the suitability of the content of patient information leaflets. [38287]

Mr. Malone: Patient information leaflets provided with medicinal products are drawn up by the marketing authorisation holder and are approved for use by the Medicines Control Agency.

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