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Suicide
Mr. Peter Bottomley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to raise public awareness of the rate of suicide by young men; and what support he will give to the Doctor Patient Partnership Campaign, Suicide: Helping Men Cope. [76741]
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Mr. Hutton:
The Department continues to work in collaboration with users of mental health services, the voluntary sector and professional bodies with a view to reducing discrimination, improving the lives of people with mental health problems and contributing to a reduction in suicide rates. We welcome the campaign
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launched by the Doctor Patient Partnership. This campaign complements other efforts to focus upon the mental health needs of young men, such as the Department's own helpline Campaign Against Living Miserably, launched in December 1997 in Manchester, which targets young men at the onset of depression. We regularly meet the Samaritans, who backed the Doctor Patient Partnership campaign, to look at other initiatives to reduce suicide rates in young men.
Dr. Stoate:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the Doctor Patient Partnership's campaign Suicide: Helping Men Cope. [76577]
Mr. Hutton:
We welcome the campaign launched by the Doctor Patient Partnership to reduce suicide rates among young men. It complements other efforts to focus on the mental health needs of men such as the Department's own helpline Campaign Against Living Miserably, launched in December 1997 in Manchester and aimed at young men. The Department continues to work in collaboration with users of mental health services, the voluntary sector and professional bodies with a view to reducing discrimination, improving the lives of people with mental health problems and contributing to a reduction in suicide rates.
Mr. Andrew George:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many former nurses, who had been out of the profession for more than five years, have (a) been charged and (b) not been charged for back to nursing courses since his announcement that they should be provided free of charge. [76389]
Mr. Denham
[holding answer 12 March 1999]: The information requested is not available centrally.
Education consortiums are working with National Health Service trusts and education providers to ensure that refresher training is available free of charge to nurses seeking to return to NHS employment.
Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 9 March 1999, Official Report, column 205, concerning the Royal Commission on Long-Term Care if he will set out a timetable for his consideration of, and taking of decisions on, the Commission's recommendations. [77111]
Mr. Hutton:
There is already action in hand relating to several of the Royal Commission's recommendations. Others will require fuller consideration over the coming months.
Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 9 March 1999, Official Report, column 205, concerning the special grant for carers if the remaining £424,673 will be paid in 2000-01 and 2001-02. [77112]
Mr. Hutton:
Payment of allocations of a special grant to local authorities is dependent each year on Parliamentary approval. In the case of the carers' special grant, payment will, subject to approval by Parliament of the special grant report for 1999-2000, be dependent on a number of conditions including provision of an action plan and demonstration of progress on that plan. The
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allocations to individual local authorities of the funding of £50 million for 2000-01 and £70 million for 2001-02 will be determined according to a formula, using the most recent data available. It is therefore not possible to confirm detailed final allocations for future years at this stage.
Mr. Win Griffiths:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what changes have taken place, by health authority area, in the number of child dental registrations since June 1996; and what steps have been taken to encourage the registration of children up to five years of age with a general dental practice; [75441]
Mr. Denham:
[holding answer 15 march 1999): Information on the number of child patients registered with a General Dental Service (GDS) dentist at 30 June 1996 and 31 January 1999 by health authority (HA) in England, together with the percentage changes, has been placed in the Library.
The comparisons between June 1996 and January 1999 are affected by the reduction in the registration period to 15 months for all new registrations from September 1996 and by a reduction in the number of duplicate entries. The introduction of the Personal Dental Service (PDS) in October 1998 will also have affected figures since some GDS practices which became PDS pilots transferred their patients into the PDS.
Dentists are given monthly payments for registering children, and for children up to 5-years old these payments are higher in deprived areas to encourage dentists to register more children in these areas of high oral health need.
Mr. Win Griffiths:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list, by health authority area, the number of dental practices (a) which accept all NHS patients, (b) whose NHS lists are closed, (c) which accept on NHS lists additional family members only and (d) which accept children for NHS treatment only if their parents are private patients. [75431]
Mr. Denham
[holding answer 15 March 1999]: The information requested is not available centrally. It is the responsibility of each health authority to be aware of the availability of dental services in their area.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the independent assessors to be used to scrutinise clinical trials relating to xenotransplantation, indicating which has expertise in animal welfare issues. [76502]
Mr. Hutton
[holding answer 16 March 1999]: As is common practice in peer review, the names of independent external assessors appointed to advise on applications submitted to the United Kingdom Xenotransplantation Interim Regulatory Authority (UKXIRA), are not disclosed. As a condition of their
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appointment, all assessors are required to sign an undertaking confirming that they have no conflicts of interest which might affect their assessments.
Regulatory control of the welfare of animals potentially to be used as sources for xenotransplantation lies with the Home Office. A Code of Practice on the welfare of high health status pigs as xenotransplantation source animals is currently being developed by the Home Office (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate. In considering any application, the UKXIRA would expect to see evidence of animal welfare standards at least equal to those to be included in the Code of Practice. However, the UKXIRA also recognises that there may be circumstances in which advice on the animal welfare aspects of specific applications is required. The appointment of appropriate assessors is currently being pursued.
Kali Mountford:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he plans to respond to the recent report on the PFI Scheme at North Durham Healthcare NHS Trust. [77987]
Mr. Denham:
I have today placed copies of a response to the report in the Library.
Mr. Barnes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many beds dealing with incontinence are available in England and Wales in (a) all service hospitals, (b) general hospitals, (c) specialist hospitals, (d) teaching hospitals and (e) hospitals in other categories. [77031]
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Mr. Hutton:
The information requested is not available in the form requested. Bed data are collected by broad ward classification rather than by clinical specialty. The data are also collected only from National Health Service trusts and there is no split between the different types of hospitals. The publication, "Bed availability and Occupancy for England" contains information for individual NHS trusts along with summary tables for England.
Mrs. Browning:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to reply to the letter of 11 January from the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton in respect of Mr. N. Peed and dentistry in Crediton. [77452]
Mr. Denham:
I replied to the hon. Member on 17 March.
Mr. Field:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for each health authority the expenditure on (a) damages for negligence and (b) out-of-court settlements for each of the last five years. [77305]
Mr. Hutton:
Until recently, health authority accounts did not separate clinical negligence costs from others made under legal liability and personal injury. We cannot, therefore, give figures going back 5 years. In addition, the accounts do not distinguish between costs incurred through court awarded damages and those arising from out of court settlements. We are, however, able to give details of total clinical negligence costs by health authority (HA) for the last two years, and these are in the table.
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(2) what changes, by health authority area, have taken place in the number of dental registrations of (a) children and (b) adults since the introduction of the 15 month registration period. [75432]
Notes:
1. Clinical Negligence was not separately identified in the accounts prior to 1997-98
2. Figures in brackets are where over provision has been made in previous years accounts
Source:
Health Authority Annual Accounts 1997-98
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