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Tooth Whitening Products

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the availability to patients in dental surgeries of tooth whitening products. [109339]

Mr. Hutton: Products are available to patients for the whitening of teeth in dental surgeries. Products containing or releasing more than 0.1 per cent. hydrogen peroxide used for oral hygiene products are prohibited from supply under the European Council Directive on cosmetics products, 76/768/EEC.

NHS Professional Staff

Mr. Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the number of (a) nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff and (b) members of professions allied to medicine who will qualify and join the NHS in each of the next five years. [109260]

Mr. Denham: The available estimations are shown in the table.

Training courses for nursing, midwifery and the professions allied to medicine are usually of three years in length and we are therefore only able to provide estimates of new qualifiers up to 2002-03 based on entrants to training in 1999-2000.

Health visitor training is in the main one-year post registration. The numbers of newly qualified health visitors up to 1998-99 is provided. Entrants to training in 1998-99 are subject to validation; entrants to training in 1999-2000 are still planned. However, we expect the

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trend of just under 600 new qualifiers each year to continue. Not all qualifiers necessarily take up employment in the National Health Service.

Estimated number of new qualifiers

	Nursing and midwifery	Professions allied to medicine	Health visitors
1997-98	9,416	3,100	583
1998-99	10,184	3,200	593
1999-2000	12,000	3,400	--
2000-01	13,200	3,600	--
2001-02	13,800	3,900	--
2002-03	14,500	4,300	--

Cancelled Operations

Mr. Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish figures showing the index for patients with operations cancelled for non-medical reasons in (a) 1997-98 and (b) 1998-99 for (i) England, (ii) East and North Hertfordshire, (iii) West Hertfordshire and (iv) the health authority in the prospering growth area with the (1) lowest figure and (2) highest figure. [109746]

Mr. Denham: The 1997-98 figures were published in "Quality and Performance in the NHS: High Level Performance Indicators" in June 1999. Figures for 1998-99 will be published later this year.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures he proposes to take to clear the backlog of operations arising as a result of (a) cancellations over the Millennium holiday period and (b) the flu outbreak. [111374]

Mr. Denham: The seasonal rise in waiting lists is expected, reflecting the planned priority the NHS has given to emergencies. This is anticipated in our plans to achieve our manifesto waiting list target. Trusts will continue to work to ensure the target is achieved.

Amputations

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many healthy limbs have been amputated as part of treatment for a mental health problem in each year since 1990; and if he will make a statement. [109587]

Mr. Hutton: Information is not collected centrally about how many healthy limbs have been amputated as part of treatment for a mental health problem.

Doctors' decisions about treatment and care for a patient are based on a thorough assessment of the individual's condition, taking account of the patient's needs and wishes, the evidence base for the effectiveness of treatment, and the resources available.

Rickets and TB

Mr. Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many reported cases of (a) rickets and (b) tuberculosis there were in each of the past 10 years in each health authority area; [109765]

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(2) if he will list, in descending order, the 10 health authorities with the highest incidence of (a) tuberculosis and (b) rickets over the past 10 years. [109764]

Yvette Cooper: Information on cases of tuberculosis is not collected by health authority but by local authority. A table giving the number of cases of tuberculosis notified

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in each of the past 10 years by local authority has been placed in the Library. The ten local authorities with the highest total number of notifications of tuberculosis over the past 10 years in England and Wales are given in the table. The table gives absolute numbers and not population based rates. Information on the incidence of rickets is not collected centrally.

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The 10 Local Authorities in England and Wales with the highest number of tuberculosis notifications years 1989-1998

Local authority	Year										Total	Average
	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
Birmingham	311	289	326	349	319	263	239	275	252	258	2,881	288.1
Newham	123	133	154	132	137	206	194	186	174	213	1,652	165.2
Brent	138	95	162	178	129	162	193	190	195	163	1,605	160.5
Bradford	152	150	191	143	164	124	158	142	144	133	1,501	150.1
Leicester	153	152	146	136	162	144	164	157	130	149	1,493	149.3
Ealing	93	87	96	109	125	117	127	130	162	212	1,258	125.8
Hackney	88	78	67	104	97	102	106	129	117	121	1,009	100.9
Tower Hamlets	80	94	88	99	109	103	97	87	136	104	997	99.7
Lambeth	68	77	85	97	118	94	104	110	94	102	949	94. 9

Source:

PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre.

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NHS Trusts (Shropshire)

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for each year from 1992 to date the number of (a) nurses, (b) doctors and (c) consultants employed by NHS trusts in Shropshire; and if he will make a statement. [110133]

Mr. Denham: Although the numbers of nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff in Shropshire declined over the years 1994-1997, the numbers have increased for 1998. The numbers of hospital medical doctors employed in Shropshire has steadily increased since 1993. However, as new classification methods were introduced in 1995, information for later years is not directly comparable with earlier years (see notes).

NHS hospital and community health services (HCHS): nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff and hospital medical staff, employed within Shropshire

	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff (15)(16)		Hospital medical doctors(17)
	Whole time equivalents	Numbers (headcount)	Numbers (headcount)	Of which Medical Consultants
1992	2,330	2,930	220	--
1993	2,350	3,160	270	40
1994	2,370	3,040	360	130
1995	2,170	2,720	390	140
1996	2,130	2,680	420	140
1997	2,100	2,630	440	150
1998	2,190	2,770	460	160

(15) 1992, 1993 and 1994 figures include agency staff and exclude learners

(16) 1995 to 1998 figures exclude agency staff and learners

(17) Includes all hospital medical staff employed within the Shropshire Health Authority area (but before 1996, some doctors were employed directly by West Midlands Regional Health Authority, and are not included in these figures).

Notes:

Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 and are as of 30 September every year. A new classification of the non-medical workforce was introduced in 1995. Information based on this classification is not directly comparable with earlier years.

Sources:

Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census

Department of Health Medical and Dental Workforce Census

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Waiting Lists (Durham)

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of patients on waiting lists have been waiting over one year in (a) 1979, (b) 1989, (c) 1995 and (d) the latest date for which figures are available in Durham Health Authority; and how many patients this represented. [110225]

Mr. Denham: The information is given in the table.

	Waiting list
1979	No data available
1989	No data available
1995	49 out of 12,575 patients waiting as at the end of December
1999	141 out of 12,946 patients waiting as at the end of December

Notes:

1. Resident health authority based waiting times data were collected for the first time in Q1 1994-95 so data are not available for 1979 and 1989.

2. In December 1995 County Durham Health Authority did not exist. Up until April 1996 it was composed of North Durham District Health Authority and South Durham District Health Authority.

3. The figure for 1995 is for patients waiting at the combined North and South Durham District Health Authorities.

Source:

QFO1 Return

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