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Pressure Ulcers
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will commission a study into the effects of IodoflexR versus IntraSiteR gel in the treatment of pressure ulcers; and if he will make a statement. [39210]
24 Jul 1996 : Column: 507
Mr. Malone: The Department of Health, and the Medical Research Council, which is the main agency through which the Government support biomedical and clinical research, normally commission studies which compare the effectiveness of a broad range of possible treatments and interventions. The Department and the MRC are, however, always willing to consider soundly based scientific proposals in competition with other applications.
St. Ann's Hospital
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what reports he has received about patients sleeping on the floor at St. Ann's hospital in north London. [39258]
Mr. Malone: A recent Mental Health Act Commission report on a visit to St. Ann's hospital criticised Haringey Healthcare NHS trust for the inappropriate use of seclusion rooms. The trust has now addressed this problem and patients no longer use the seclusion rooms as temporary bedrooms.
General Practice
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the extension of the NHS performance guide to include general practices. [39268]
Mr. Malone: The 1995-96 NHS performance guide includes information on four primary care indicators at health authority level. We have no plans to extend the NHS performance guide to include figures for individual practices.
NHS Board Members
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses are on the board of (a) the NHS executive and (b) the NHS policy board. [39272]
Mr. Malone: The national health service director of nursing, Mrs. Yvonne Moores, is a member of both the NHS executive and the NHS policy boards.
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many executive and non-executive directors of health authorities are qualified nurses. [39271]
Mr. Malone: Information about the executive membership of health authorities is not available centrally. Our records show that 13 non-executive members of health authorities have a background in nursing.
Road Accidents (Children)
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (i) proposals he has and (ii) targets he set for reducing death and injuries to children on the road. [39280]
Mr. Malone: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Transport on 23 July, Official Report, columns 139-40.
Epilepsy
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will commission a multi-centre trial to assess the effect of a once-daily Epilim Chrono regimen in epileptic patients established on a twice-daily enteric-coated tablet regimen; and if he will make a statement. [39212]
24 Jul 1996 : Column: 508
Mr. Malone: The Department of Health, and the Medical Research Council, which is the main agency through which the Government support biomedical and clinical research, normally commission studies which compare the effectiveness of a broad range of possible treatments and interventions. The Department and the MRC are, however, always willing to consider soundly based scientific proposals in competition with other applications.
The Department's health technology assessment programme intends to call for proposals for research comparing the effectiveness of new anti-epileptic drugs and existing therapies.
Blood Pressure
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will commission a study into (a) a comparison of patient self-measurement of blood pressure using automatic sphygmomanometers with general practitioner measurements and its relevance to therapeutics decision making and (b) general practitioner use of Coversyl as standard treatment; and if he will make a statement. [39214]
Mr. Horam: Clinical studies are normally matters for the Medical Research Council which receives it grant in aid from the office of my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade, and other bodies which fund clinical research.
Nurse Prescribing Scheme
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement about progress on the nurse prescribing scheme. [39274]
Mr. Malone: The nurse prescribing trial was extended on 1 April 1996 to a further 60 general practitioner sites in Bolton. The evaluation of the original eight pilot sites will be published in the autumn. The extended pilot will be evaluated separately, with a report due in late 1997.
Consultant Psychiatrists
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the number of consultant psychiatrist vacancies. [39260]
Mr. Malone: The available information is contained in the Department of Health annual medical and dental work force census, 30 September 1994, copies of which are available in the Library.
Teenage Mothers
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the proportion of teenagers having babies in each EU country. [39259]
Mr. Horam: The fertility rates per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 for 1990, the most recent year for which comparable data are available, are shown in the table.
| Fertility rate | |
|---|---|
| England and Wales | 33.3 |
| Scotland | 31.9 |
| Northern Ireland | 29.3 |
| Portugal | 24.6 |
| Greece | 21.8 |
| Austria | 21.3 |
| Republic of Ireland | 16.2 |
| Sweden | 14.1 |
| Spain | 13.4 |
| Finland | 12.4 |
| West Germany | 11.6 |
| Italy | 9.8 |
| Belgium | 9.3 |
| Denmark | 9.1 |
| France | 8.8 |
| Netherlands | 6.4 |
| Luxembourg | no data |
Source:
Population Trends No. 74.
24 Jul 1996 : Column: 509
Hospital Bedside Televisions
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average charge to patients for bedside televisions in NHS hospitals. [39269]
Mr. Horam: Arrangements and charges for optional personal bedside television are a local management matter on which information is not available centrally.
Nurses (Redundancies)
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses have been made redundant under his initiative to reduce management levels. [39273]
Mr. Malone: The information is not available centrally.
Emergency Bed Service (London)
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the cost of the London emergency bed service in each of the last five years; and what were the sources of its budget. [39279]
Mr. Malone: This information is not available centrally.
Assaults on NHS Staff
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS staff have been assaulted on NHS premises in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [39267]
Mr. Horam: This information is not available centrally.
Oral Contraceptives
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will commission an open-label, multi-centre study to determine the efficacy and safety of a 24-day regimen of monophasic oral contraceptive preparation of gestodene 6g and ethinyl estradion 15g; and if he will make a statement. [39217]
Mr. Malone: We have no plans to do so.
24 Jul 1996 : Column: 510
Mental Health Tribunals
Mr. Cann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he has taken since March with regard to the constitution of mental health tribunals. [39244]
NHS Doctors
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) GPs and (b) hospital doctors are currently in post in the NHS. [39823]
Mr. Malone: There were 26,702 unrestricted principals in England on 1 October 1995 and there were 44,660 whole-time equivalent hospital doctors on 30 September 1994.
Pisces Project
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what arrangements were made to advertise the Pisces project in the contract supplement of the Official Journal of the EU; [39807]
- (2) if he will list the cost of the Track software acquired for the Pisces project from the Intelligent Office Company Ltd. of Hammersmith and the process by which it was selected; [39799]
(3) what was the original estimated cost of the Pisces project; and what is his latest estimate of the outturn cost;[39809]
(4) if he will list the methods used to select the project manager for Pisces; [39808]
(5) if he will list the principal expected benefits from the Pisces project and the years in which they were expected to arise. [39810]
Mr. Horam: The Pisces project is an initiative of Liverpool health authority. The hon. Member may wish to contact the chairman for details.
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