You are here: Parliament home page > Parliamentary business > Publications and Records > Hansard > Commons Debates > Commons Debates by date > Commons Debates - previous sessions > Bound Volume Hansard - Written Answers
Previous Section Index Home Page

Stroke Units

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the contribution which (a) specialist stroke units and (b) conventional wards are making to the treatment of stroke sufferers. [100869]

Yvette Cooper: In October, the Royal College of Physicians published a report arising from the National Sentinel Audit of Stroke 1998, "Regional variations in stroke care". The Department, as part of the clinical effectiveness programme, funded this programme.

The New National Health Service and a First Class Service introduced a range of measures to raise quality and decrease unacceptable variations in service including the National Service Frameworks (NSFs). The NSF for

12 Jan 2000 : Column: 189W

older people was announced last year. A number of task groups are supporting the External Reference Group for this NSF and one of these is looking at strokes. The NSF will be evidence based, and where this is not possible it will be based on the consensus of best clinical practice. Findings from the National Sentinel Audit have been made available to the External Reference Group on strokes.

MRSA

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to monitor (a) outbreaks of MRSA in NHS acute trusts and (b) how NHS trusts prevent and control the MRSA infection. [102243]

Yvette Cooper: Chief executives of National Health Service trusts are responsible for ensuring that there is an effective infection control programme within their trusts. Individual trusts manage arrangements for controlling hospital infection, including MRSA, in the light of local circumstances. This includes having an infection control team which has primary responsibility for all aspects of surveillance, prevention and control of hospital infection. The new risk management and organisational control standards for the NHS, which were launched on 22 November by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Health, include standards for hospital infection control. These standards reinforce chief executives and trust board members' responsibilities. The Public Health Laboratory Service maintains a record of outbreaks of MRSA that are reported to it and publishes aggregated data at regular intervals.

Mr. Rowe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much is being spent on research into the causes and elimination of MRSA in the current financial year. [102857]

Yvette Cooper: The Department is currently spending £91,000 on a systematic review of isolation policies and screening practices in MRSA management, which started in April 1999. In addition, the Medical Research Council (MRC), which receives most of its income via grant in aid from the office of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, funds medical research as part of the Government's funding of the science and engineering base. The MRC spent a total of £433,383 on research related to MRSA in 1998-99 and has also agreed funding for two new projects in this area for 2000-01, totalling approximately £91,260. The Staphylococcal Reference Unit at the PHLS Central Public Health Laboratory is also engaged in research, estimated to cost £40,000, on why some strains of MRSA are epidemic.

Mr. Rowe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the estimated annual cost to the NHS of MRSA (a) in each of the last three financial years and (b) estimated for the current financial year; and how many NHS trusts in Kent are in financial difficulties as a result of MRSA. [102856]

Yvette Cooper: The information requested is not held centrally. In any individual patient, it is usually very difficult to assess the contribution of any infection acquired in hospital on the outcome, since many patients are already seriously ill from other conditions.

Mr. Rowe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many NHS (a) beds and (b) wards are currently out of service due to MRSA; [102854]

12 Jan 2000 : Column: 190W

Yvette Cooper: The information requested is not available centrally.

Mr. Rowe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients died in 1997 and 1998 as a result of MRSA. [102858]

Yvette Cooper: Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection can take the form of many different diseases from trivial skin infections to pneumonia or septicaemia. Often the causative micro- organism is not specified on the death certificate. MRSA does not have a distinct code within the International Classification of Diseases used for encoding death registration data at the Office for National Statistics. Consequently there are no centrally held statistics on deaths from this cause.

HIV Positive Babies

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many babies were born HIV positive in each year from 1989 to 1999 in (a) Shropshire and (b) England; and if he will make a statement. [102390]

Yvette Cooper: Between 1989 and 1999 there have been no reports of children with maternally acquired HIV infection born in Shropshire recorded in national surveillance data. The number of children with maternally acquired HIV infection reported in England as a whole is shown in the table. Also shown is the number of children for whom the reported infection status is indeterminate who were born to HIV infected mothers. This is high for recent years as it often cannot be established whether such a child is infected until it is eighteen months old.

There will be further HIV infected children born in England between 1989 and 1999 whose infection will be discovered only when they become ill.

Children born in England to HIV infected mothers by child's year of birth

Year of birth (9)Infection statusInfectedIndeterminate or lost to annual follow up
1989--123
1990--387
1991--3113
1992--4611
1993--3917
1994--3715
1995--3913
1996--3420
1997--3924
1998--2243
1999(10)--698

(9) Numbers, particularly for recent years will rise as delayed reports are received.

(10) Reported by 31 October 1999.


Alcohol Abuse

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the (a) NHS and (b) Social Service budget for alcohol rehabilitation programmes in the current year. [102552]

12 Jan 2000 : Column: 191W

Yvette Cooper: There are no specific allocations to either the National Health Service or social services for alcohol rehabilitation. Health authorities purchase substance misuse services from general Hospital and Community Health Service allocations. Local authorities purchase the majority of alcohol services from the generality of community care funding. Information on what the authorities spend on alcohol services from these allocations is not collected centrally. In addition, the Drug and Alcohol Specific Grant provides £1.78 million in 1999-2000 to develop local voluntary sector services for drugs and alcohol.

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the estimated cost to the NHS of alcohol-related illness and accidents for each of the last five years. [102559]

Yvette Cooper: Estimates of the cost to the National Health Service of alcohol-related illnesses and injuries vary widely; the most recent academic estimate of which we are aware is for the costs of alcohol misuse in the NHS in England and Wales in 1992 and is reproduced in the table.

£ million
Inpatient costs--direct alcohol diagnosis40.8
Inpatient costs--other alcohol related diagnosis120.2
General practice costs3.1
Total164.0

Source:

Health Education Authority: Health Update: Alcohol (1997)--after Godfrey, C and Hardman, G. (1994))


Drug Addiction Centres

Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list (a) the centres which are currently open for in-patient treatment for drug addiction within the NHS and (b) those that have closed in the last five years, with dates of closure. [102698]

Mr. Hutton: The 185 NHS Trusts in England that provided in-patient treatment for patients with a primary diagnosis of mental and behavioural disorders due to use of opioids--dependence syndrome (ICD10 F11.2), in 1997-98, are shown in the following list. Information is not available centrally on those that have closed in the last five years.



12 Jan 2000 : Column: 192W


    Derbyshire Royal Infirmary


    Dewsbury Health Care NHS Trust


    Doncaster Healthcare NHS Trust


    Doncaster Royal Infirmary and Montaqu Hospital


    Dorset Community NHS Trust


    Dorset Healthcare NHS Trust


    Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS


    Dudley Priority Health NHS Trust


    East Cheshire NHS Trust


    East Gloucestershire NHS Trust


    East Hertfordshire NHS Trust


    East Surrey Hospital and Community Healthcare


    East Wiltshire Health Care


    Eastbourne and County Healthcare


    Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust


    Exeter and District Community Health Services


    Forest Healthcare NHS Trust


    Frenchay Healthcare NHS Trust


    Frimley Park Hospital NHS Trust


    Greenwich Healthcare NHS Trust


    Guys and St. Thomas's NHS Trust


    Haringey Health Care NHS Trust


    Harrogate Health Care NHS Trust


    Hartlepool and East Durham NHS Trust


    Hastings and Rother NHS Trust


    Heathlands Mental Health


    Herefordshire Community Health


    Hinchingbrooke Healthcare


    Hounslow and Spelthorne Community & Mental Health


    Isle Of Wight Healthcare NHS Trust


    James Paget Hospital NHS Trust


    Kent and Canterbury Hospitals


    Kings Lynn and Wisbech Hospitals


    Kingston Hospital NHS Trust


    Lambeth Health Care NHS Trust


    Lancaster Priority Services


    Leeds Community and Mental Health


12 Jan 2000 : Column: 193W


    Northampton Community Healthcare


    Northern Birmingham Mental Health


    Northern Devon Healthcare NHS


    Northern General Hospital NHS


    Northumberland Mental Health


    Nottingham Healthcare NHS Trust


    Nottingham University Hospital


    Oldham NHS Trust


    Oxleas NHS Trust


    Pathfinder NHS Trust


    Peterborough Hospitals NHS Trust


    Pinderfields and Pontefract Hospitals


    Plymouth Community Services


    Portsmouth Healthcare NHS Trust


    Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust


    Preston Acute Hospitals NHS Trust


    Priority Healthcare Wearside


    Redbridge Health Care NHS Trust


    Riverside Mental Health NHS Trust


    Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust


    Rockingham Forest NHS Trust


    Rotherham Priority Health


    Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals


    Royal Hull Hospitals NHS Trust


    Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Hospitals


    Royal United Hospitals, Bath NHS


    Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust


    Salisbury Health Care NHS Trust


12 Jan 2000 : Column: 194W


    Stockport Healthcare NHS Trust


    Surrey Heartlands NHS Trust


    Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust


    Tameside and Glossop Acute Services


    Tameside and Glossop Community & Priority Services


    The Bethlem and Maudsley NHS Trust


    The Foundation NHS Trust


    The Mid Cheshire Hospital NHS


    The Princess Royal Hospital


    The Royal Free Hampstead


    The Royal Victoria Infirmary and Assoc Hospitals


    The Royal Wolverhampton Hospital


    The United Bristol Healthcare


    Tower Hamlets Healthcare NHS Trust


    Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust


    United Leeds Teaching Hospitals


    Wakefield and Pontefract Community


    Walsall Community Health NHS Trust


    Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust


    Walsgrave Hospitals NHS Trust


    West Berkshire Priority Care Services


    West Cumbria Health Care NHS Trust


    West Herts Community NHS Trust


    West Lancashire NHS Trust


    West London Healthcare NHS Trust


    Weston Area Health NHS Trust


    Wigan and Leigh Health Services


    Wirral and West Cheshire Community


    Wirral Hospital NHS Trust


    Worcestershire Community Healthcare


    York Health Services NHS Trust.

Next Section Index Home Page