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Dental Services
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons dentists are not required to provide patients with an itemised invoice for all dental work. [18445]
Mr. Malone: For most courses of dental treatment, including those involving laboratory work, dentists are required, under their terms of service, to provide treatment plans for patients, detailing the treatment they require and the likely cost. Dentists are also required by regulations to issue a receipt for the amount of the national health service charge the patients have paid.
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons he rejected the Health Committee's recommendations in its fourth report of Session 1992-93 on dental services (HC264) that laboratory fees should be ring-fenced. [18493]
Mr. Malone: I refer the hon. Member to paragraph 47 of the Government response to the fourth report from the Health Select Committee, Session 1992-93, published in August 1993 as Cm 2308.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
Mr. David Nicholson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will now hold a public inquiry in respect of patients treated with pituitary-derived human growth hormone who have contracted Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. [18944]
Mr. Horam:
I regret if I inadvertently misled the House on 24 February 1997 at column 128 in saying that the judge, Mr. Justice Morland, had actually said that the hearing was in inquisitorial examination rather than an adversarial one. He did, however, say that the Department had
"given full discovery so far as logistically possible and have not withheld any witnesses who could have given worthwhile evidence."
In practice, therefore, the court case was very much like a public inquiry, and I am not convinced that another public examination of these issues would add anything further.
Needless to say, in what is undoubtedly a tragic situation, the Department is committed to settling compensation for those who will receive it as soon as possible, as well as offering counselling and support, and financing research into the causes and nature of this condition.
Mr. Porter:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people Suffolk county council had placed under community care in its own residential homes at the most recent date for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [18292]
Mr. Burns:
At 31 March 1996, Suffolk county council was supporting a total of 1,059 adult and elderly residents in its own residential homes.
Mr. Porter:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the cost to Suffolk county council per week of a community care place in a residential home run (a) by the county council and (b) by the private sector; and if he will make a statement. [18293]
4 Mar 1997 : Column: 569
Mr. Burns:
As published in "Key Indicators of local authority social services 1996", copies of which are available in the Library, the latest available figures, for 1994-95, show gross expenditure per week by Suffolk county council on residential care per supported resident in staffed homes for older people was £268 for local authority homes and £178 for independent sector homes.
Ms Lynne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health in what circumstances patients are entitled to an NHS prescription from a private consultation; and what contractual limitations health authorities may place on general practitioners in respect of such prescriptions.[18360]
Mr. Malone:
Doctors who are consulted in a private capacity may not provide national health service prescriptions.
Mr. Tony Banks:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what data he has collated on the number of British subjects who have contracted rabies in the past five years; and where it was contracted in each case. [18363]
Mr. Horam:
The public health laboratory service collates information on human rabies cases imported into the United Kingdom. It has had no reports of clinically diagnosed rabies in British subjects in the last five years.
Mr. Barron:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the NHS trusts which will receive funds from the public capital budget to support their proposed private finance initiative projects, indicating for each the amount that will be paid in each year of these arrangements. [18482]
Mr. Horam:
The following 14 trusts have been offered funds from the support scheme:
The trusts are still negotiating with their private sector partners to finalise these projects. Therefore the amount of support being offered to each trust is commercial in confidence. However, the total cost of the support scheme is not expected to exceed £9 million a year, less than 1 per cent. of the total NHS capital budget.
4 Mar 1997 : Column: 570
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the current number of patients on waiting lists for each of the hospitals in Cheshire. [18646]
Mr. Horam:
Information on the numbers of patients waiting for admission to each of the trusts in Cheshire is given in the table.
Bishop Auckland Hospitals NHS Trust
Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust
Calderdale Healthcare NHS Trust
Carlisle Hospitals NHS Trust
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
Greenwich Healthcare NHS Trust
Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust
North Durham Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
Oxleas NHS Trust
St. James and Seacroft University Hospitals NHS Trust
Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust
Walsgrave Hospitals NHS Trust
Wellhouse NHS Trust
Worcester Royal Infirmary NHS Trust
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Warrington Hospital National Health Service Trust | 5,979 |
| Halton General Hospital NHS Trust | 1,857 |
| West Cheshire NHS Trust | 105 |
| East Cheshire NHS Trust | 1,528 |
| Mid-Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust | 6,577 |
| Countess of Chester Hospital Trust | 6,425 |
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the current average waiting times for operations for each of the hospitals in Cheshire. [18645]
Mr. Horam: Information in the form requested is not available centrally.
Blood Products (Recalls)
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions in the last 12 months blood plasma and other blood products have been recalled from hospitals by the blood transfusion service; in how many cases the cause for recall was possible contamination; and in how many cases batches of products later recalled had begun to be used by hospitals. [17535]
Mr. Horam [holding answer 25 February 1997]: The National Blood Authority, of which the former blood transfusion service forms a part, has made two such recalls in the last 12 months after the products had been issued to hospitals and had begun to be used by them. The products in question were assessed as safe for use because of the production processes to which they were subjected. The recalls were undertaken as a precautionary measure only, in order to avoid unnecessary public concern.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
BSE
Mr. Flynn: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment his Department has made of the extent of farmers concealing incidents of BSE infection; and if he will make a statement. [18147]
Mrs. Browning:
There is no evidence to suggest that farmers are concealing BSE suspect cases. The temptation to do so would be greatest on holdings where no previous BSE case had occurred, as it is these farmers who might expect to have the most to lose by reporting a case. Statistical data give no indication that this is happening. In Great Britain in 1995, 1,351 cases were reported on holdings with no previous BSE case; in 1996, 789 cases were reported; and as at 28 February 1997, 72 cases had been reported. This is in line with the overall year-on-year decline in the epidemic as a result of controls on animal feed.
4 Mar 1997 : Column: 571
Mr. Flynn:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many new cases of BSE infection have been reported in each of the last 48 months categorised by area; and if he will make a statement. [18148]
Mrs. Browning:
Details of confirmed cases of BSE by date of restriction for the last 48 months categorised by county are being placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Flynn:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cases of concealment over BSE infection (a) are currently under investigation and (b) have been reported in each of the past two years; of those investigated, how many and what percentage have resulted in (i) prosecution and (ii) conviction; and if he will make a statement. [18146]
Mr. Temple-Morris:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the Government's current estimate of the additional public expenditure attributable to BSE in (a) 1996-97 and (b) 1997-98; and what estimate he has made of the amount of this expenditure which will be reimbursed from the European Union's budget. [18432]
Mrs. Browning:
Details of BSE-related expenditure and receipts for the years in question are as follows:
| 1996-97 | 1997-98 | |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated expenditure | 1,370 | 1,010 |
| Estimated recoveries from EU | 340 | 590 |
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