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Breast Cancer

Ms Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the organisations that have appealed against the final appraisal determination on the use of taxanes for the treatment of breast cancer in the NHS, indicating the patient groups among them. [122468]

Yvette Cooper: Appeals against the National Institute for Clinical Excellence's draft guidance on the use of taxanes for the treatment of breast cancer were received from Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and from the patient group CancerBACUP

Ms Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when he expects NICE to publish the guidance on the use of taxanes for the treatment of breast cancer in the NHS; [122469]

(2) what reasons underlie the length of time taken by NICE to publish guidance on the use of taxanes for the treatment of breast cancer in the NHS. [122467]

Yvette Cooper: National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidance on taxanes has been delayed because of a successful appeal. The Appraisal Committee will be reconvened as soon as possible to reconsider its guidance on taxanes in breast cancer in the light of the findings of the appeal panel. Interested parties will then have a further opportunity to consider the revised guidance. It is expected that NICE will issue guidance around the end of June.

Ms Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the financial impact on health authorities and trusts of NICE guidance supporting the use of taxanes for the treatment of breast cancer; and what plans he has to ensure that sufficient funding is available in the NHS drugs budget to implement such guidance. [122472]

Yvette Cooper: We have not received the National Institute for Clinical Excellence's recommendations on the use of taxanes for breast cancer. The additional £600 million allocated to health authorities following the recent budget is intended, among other things, to enable health authorities to fund recommendations from NICE.

Osteoporosis

Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proposals his Department will be making to the World Congress on Osteoporosis to be held in Chicago in June. [122752]

Yvette Cooper: Neither Department of Health Ministers nor officials have been invited to contribute to this Congress.

Hospital Waiting Times

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average waiting time for a hip replacement operation at a NHS hospital in the Greater London area. [123045]

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Mr. Denham: The requested information is not collected by local authority area so the information given is that for the health authority areas covered by the London Regional Office of the National Health Service Executive.

The mean waiting time for a hip operation in a London Hospital in the financial year 1998-99 was 236 days (approximately eight months). The median waiting time for the same period was 191 days (approximately six and a half months).

Race Equality

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate his Department has made of the percentage of the London ethnic minority population who will have access to the initiatives introduced by the London NHS Race Equality Unit; [123084]

(2) how much funding has been allocated to the London NHS Race Equality Unit in the current financial year. [123086]

Mr. Denham: The National Health Service Executive London Regional Office has established a London NHS Race Equality Group, not Unit. It will not be funding projects or local initiatives, but through its advice to the regional chairman and director it will promote the adoption of good practice on race and health throughout London's NHS, and ensure that the issue of race equality in health and health services remains high on the agenda. The London NHS Race Equality Group's work will aim to ensure that the appropriate services are in place in every health authority, NHS trust and primary care group across London.

The NHS Executive London has also worked with the Association of London Government Race, Health and Social Exclusion Commission during 1999, and contributed to their report 'Sick of being excluded' (about to be published). This report made recommendations on:

Improving access


Better employment practice


Clear leadership


Direct involvement of black and minority ethnic people


Involvement of community organisations and partnership with communities.

The London NHS Race Equality Group is being established in response to the 1999 survey of NHS initiatives addressing black and minority ethnic health in London. The funding to support these initiatives is already included in local health authority allocations and the group's role will be to ensure that black and ethnic minority populations are getting a fair and appropriate share of these resources, in relation to their needs.

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the adequacy of existing guidance on the use of not for resuscitation orders; and if he will make a statement. [122794]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 22 May 2000]: Clear guidelines on Decisions Relating to Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation were first published in 1993 in a joint statement issued by the British Medical Association, the Resuscitation Council (United Kingdom), and the Royal

5 Jun 2000 : Column: 26W

College of Nursing. A revised version was published in June 1999. The joint statement gives general guidelines on the basic principles within which decisions regarding local policies on cardiopulmonary resuscitation may be formulated. It makes clear that all acute hospital trusts should establish local resuscitation policies, a point which was also emphasised by the Chief Medical Officer of the time to all consultants in England in 1991.

We are committed to ensuring the development of best practice in resuscitation decision-making throughout the National Health Service.

CJD

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions his Department has had with the French health authorities over exchange of information on new variant CJD. [123106]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 22 May 2000]: The Department has regular contacts with the French authorities at European Union meetings of the Health Council and its working Groups, and at meetings of EU Chief Medical officers, at which variant creutzfeldt jakob disease issues are, from time to time, discussed. The National CJD Surveillance Unit funded by the Department takes a leading role in co-ordinating the surveillance of CJD in EU member states, including through the EUROCJD group, of which France is an important member. A principal aim of this group is to ensure systematic surveillance is undertaken so that cases of CJD are identified, and then any variant CJD cases arising as a sub-set of these are picked up. In addition, the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee which advises the Government on bovine spongiform encephalopathy and CJD issues has met twice with its French counterpart, the Dormont Committee, in February 1996 and September 1998.

Trainee Doctors

Mr. McWalter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of whether the number of doctors in training will be sufficient to meet NHS needs and Government waiting list targets, with particular reference to the years from 2001 to 2006. [123300]

Mr. Denham: We aim to ensure through the national workforce planning processes that there will be sufficient doctors in training to meet the future requirements of the National Health Service. Assessments about future staffing needs, including the implications of waiting list targets and other service initiatives, are reviewed annually and the numbers of doctors adjusted accordingly.

On 6 April I announced plans to train almost 400 extra hospital specialists. Added to more specialist doctors already in training, the increase of 393 training places means there should be an additional 13,000 fully trained hospital specialists in the NHS by 2006-07. The additional places will take forward our plans to increase capacity in the NHS, so patients have easier access to faster, fairer and more convenient services.

Teenage Pregnancies

Ms Kelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list (a) the level of expenditure in each year since 1997 allocated to projects designed to reduce the

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number of teenage pregnancies and (b) the actual and forecast impact of this expenditure on reducing teenage pregnancies. [123158]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 23 May 2000]: From 1997 to 1999, funding to reduce teenage pregnancy formed part of the overall allocation to improve the sexual health of young people.

In June 1999, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced a £60 million package over three years, with the goal of halving the rate of conceptions among under-18s by 2010, and getting more teenagers into education, training and employment.

NHS Walk-in Centres

Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS walk-in centres have been established; how many are in the North West Region; and if he will make a statement. [123526]

Mr. Denham: A total of 36 National Health Service walk-in centres have been approved nationally; 15 of these were open by the end of May 2000 and the rest by the end of the year. The North West has produced six successful bids, one of which is already open in Liverpool. Walk-in centres are part of a wider plan to modernise and improve access to, and the convenience of,

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NHS services. They are intended to help people make better use of the health service, help professionals make better use of their skills and respond to modern lifestyles.

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