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Diabetes
Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will publish the national service framework for diabetes; and if he will make a statement. [15601]
Jacqui Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Bethnal Green and Bow (Ms King) on 15 October 2001, Official Report, column 1046W.
GPs (Computers)
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his estimate is of the proportion of general practitioners using a computer as part of their daily work. [15399]
Mr. Hutton: 98 per cent. of general practitioners have access to clinical computer systems in their practices and 95 per cent. have this available at their own desks.
As a result of project connect more than 95 per cent. of GP practices have access to NHSnet, the Internet and email.
Prostate Cancer
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps are being taken to promote awareness of prostate cancer nationally; and if he will make a statement; [16210]
- (2) what percentage of men (a) in England, (b) in the north-east region and (c) in the Middlesbrough, South and Cleveland, East constituency have been checked for prostate cancer in the last 12 months. [16209]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 19 November 2001]: The national health service prostate cancer programme was launched on 6 September 2000. The programme covers research, treatment and a risk management programme specifically around improving early detection and diagnosis. One element of the risk management programme is the informed choice project aimed at raising awareness among men about prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing. This education project is developing materials for patients, the public and professionals which can be given to any man requesting a PSA test, to help him make an informed choice about whether to proceed with the test or not.
Information on what percentage of men have been checked for prostate cancer is not collected.
30 Nov 2001 : Column: 1196W
Personal Social Services Grants
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the change in the level of local authority personal social services grants from 2001–02 to 2002–03. [17166]
Jacqui Smith: The level of personal social services grants that will be available to local authorities in 2002–03 will be announced as part of the local government finance settlement.
Hospital Providers
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to draw up a list of approved hospital providers in the EU. [16851]
Mr. Hutton: The Department will begin a tender exercise to establish a list of approved providers in the new year, drawing on the experience of the three test-bed sites in the south-east of England which are currently working to send national health service patients overseas. This tender exercise will of necessity take several months.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how the Commission for Health Improvement will assist him in drawing up a list of approved hospital providers in the EU. [16854]
Mr. Hutton: We are considering how the Commission for Health Improvement could best assist in this process.
The commission's involvement will be planned within the context of the commission's overall priorities in relation to helping to improve the quality of care to all national health service patients.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with which hospital providers he has (a) had meetings and (b) corresponded in (i) Austria, (ii) Belgium, (iii) France, (iv) Greece, (v) the Netherlands, (vi) Germany, (vii) Portugal, (viii) Spain and (ix) Norway. [16850]
Mr. Hutton: Officials and members of the three test-bed sites working to send national health service patients overseas have had meetings with several providers based in Germany and a provider based in Greece.
In addition, officials have corresponded with a large number of hospital providers. Details will be placed in the Library shortly.
Treatment Abroad
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he notified the European Commission of his decision to amend domestic legislation to clarify that health authorities and trusts may commission treatment from other member states of the EEA. [16855]
Mr. Hutton: Following my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's public statement on 27 August, my noble Friend Lord Hunt of Kings Heath wrote to European Commissioners Byrne, Bokelstein and Diamontopolou on 4 September 2001.
30 Nov 2001 : Column: 1197W
Golden Hello Scheme (GPs)
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money was discharged to general practice under the Golden Hello scheme up to and including 16 November. [16845]
Mr. Hutton: We concluded consultation with the General Practitioners Committee of the British Medical Association on the detail of the scheme on 1 November and issued guidance to health authorities and primary care trusts the following day.
Entitlement is backdated to 1 April 2001 so that any general practitioner who has taken up an eligible post on or after that date qualifies for a payment.
Most payments are being made by health authorities from the national general medical services non-cash- limited budget and the next quarterly monitoring data on that budget are not due until January. We expect, however, expenditure on this new scheme to exceed £10 million this year.
Good Hope Hospital, Sutton Coldfield
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have waited for more than one year for (a) in-patient and (b) out-patient treatment at the Good Hope hospital, Sutton Coldfield, in each month in each of the last five years. [16782]
Mr. Hutton: The national health service does not collect information on the number of out-patients waiting over one year. The NHS however does collect routinely the number of outpatients waiting over 26 weeks (six months).
In-patient monthly data have only been collected since April 1998. Prior to this they were only available quarterly. Out-patient data have not been collected on a monthly basis, being only available by trust quarterly.
Notes:
1. Data on the number of out-patients waiting over 12 months are not collected
2. Out-patient data shown are number of patients still waiting for a first out-patient appointment following GP referral who have waited over 26 weeks (six months)
Source:
KH07, QM08 quarterly returns, monthly waiting times returns—Department of Health
30 Nov 2001 : Column: 1198W
Hillingdon Local Modernisation Review
Mr. Gareth R. Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 19 November 2001, Official Report, column 112W, when he expects the Hillingdon local modernisation review to publish its conclusions. [17128]
Mr. Hutton: Reports on phase 2 of the local modernisation review are due to be shared with the Department by 30 November 2001. We expect to see detail of the key actions from local modernisation reviews in the health improvement and modernisation plans that all health authorities are required to publish in spring 2002.
30 Nov 2001 : Column: 1199W
Randomised Controlled Trials
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to restrict treatments available in the NHS which have not been subjected to randomised controlled trials. [17122]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 22 November 2001]: We have no such plans.
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