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Tuberculosis

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been diagnosed with tuberculosis in the Buckingham constituency in each year since 1990. [17858]

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Ms Blears: Information on statutory notifications of tuberculosis (excluding chemoprophylaxis) is available from the Public Health Laboratory Service.

The Department collects information on tuberculosis as part of the hospital episode statistics (HES) system, which contains details of patients admitted to and treated in national health service hospitals in England. The numbers of patients in Buckinghamshire health authority are shown in the table.

	Number
1990–91	24
1991–92	44
1992–93	51
1993–94	34
1994–95	27
1995–96	21
1996–97	21
1997–98	20
1998–99	21
1999–2000	33
2000–01	26

Notes:

1. A finished consultant episode is defined as a period of patient care under one consultant in one health care provider.

2. The figures do not represent the number of patients, as one person may have several episodes within a year.

3. The main diagnosis is the first of seven diagnosis field in the HES data set, and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.

4. The table uses ICD9 codes: 010–018 (1990–91 to 1994–95) and ICD10 codes A15-A19 (1995–96 to 2000–01).

5. Data in this table are grossed for both coverage and unknown/invalid clinical data, except for 1998–99 to 2000–01 which are ungrossed.

Source:

Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) Department of Health

MMR Inoculations

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of children aged (a) one to two, (b) two to three and (c) three to four years have been given MMR inoculations in the Arundel and South Downs constituency. [18615]

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of children aged (a) one to two, (b) two to three and (c) three to four years have been given MMR inoculations in the Buckingham constituency. [17860]

Ms Blears: The information available about children immunised against measles, mumps and rubella is contained in the Statistical Bulletin "NHS Immunisation Statistics, England: 2000–01". A copy of the bulletin is in the Library and can also be found on the Department of Health website www.doh.gov.uk/public/sb0121.htm.

MRSA

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is (a) the level in the last 12 months and (b) the trend of the incidence of MRSA; what the average incidence per trust area has been in the last five years; which six trust areas have the highest and at what level of incidence; what action is being taken to tackle MRSA (i) in the above average trusts and (ii) generally; and if he will make a statement. [18078]

Mr. Hutton: Information is not available in the format requested.

4 Dec 2001 : Column 183W

The tables give aggregate data on trends and numbers of incidents of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) voluntarily submitted by national health service trusts for specialist microbiological tests since 1995. These data are currently available on a regional basis only. Data on staphylococcus aureus bacteraemias (blood infections) showing the proportion resistant to methicillin in England and Wales are published quarterly by the Public Health Laboratory Service in the Communicable Disease Report. Copies are available in the Library.

More comprehensive information about bacteraemias, including MRSA, has been collected from all acute trusts since 1 April 2001 and this will be published showing individual trust data from 1 April 2002.

Instructions to the NHS have been issued to ensure that hospital acquired infection is being tackled throughout the organisation. All acute trusts are required to adhere to national standards for infection control and to have specialist infection control teams whose primary responsibility is for all aspects of surveillance, prevention and control of hospital infection including MRSA.

Evidence based, multi-professional guidelines on the general principles for preventing hospital acquired infection were developed with the support of the Department and were published in January this year.

Incidents of MRSA between 1995–2000

	1995	1996	1997	1998
Anglia and Oxford	142	237	297	223
North Thames	566	539	544	289
North West	65	176	259	215
Northern and Yorkshire	90	150	224	202
South and West	80	206	254	101
South Thames	377	421	385	220
Trent	52	99	123	109
West Midlands	128	121	102	69
Wales	116	158	176	169
Total	1,616	2,107	2,364	1,597

	1999	2000
Eastern	80	60
London	290	170
Northern and Yorkshire	170	70
North West	180	90
South East	170	100
South West	40	10
Trent	100	30
West Midlands	30	50
Wales	130	40
Total	1,190	620

Notes:

For 1995 and 1996 and the first half of 1997 data have been amalgamated to the approximate boundaries of the new regional office areas. This allows for comparison with subsequent years.

An incident is three or more patients infected or colonised by the same strain of MRSA in the same month from the same hospital.

The criteria for submission of isolates of MRSA (and other isolates of staphylococcus aureus) to the PHLS for specialist tests have been revised twice since 1996 (in January 1998 and in January 2000).

These revised criteria have led to a fall in the number of incidents of MRSA that were reported to the PHLS.

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Volunteers' Charter

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will establish a volunteers' charter to address the rights of volunteers. [20346]

Jacqui Smith: We already have in place an agreement to respect and promote the rights of volunteers under the Volunteering Code of Good Practice. This code forms part of the Compact agreement between all Government Departments and the voluntary sector. The code was launched in October 2001 and the Department is represented on the implementation group. This group recently met for the first time to agree on methods for the promotion of the principles and good practice set out in the code.

Health Spending

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what basis his Department has calculated the European average for health spending as a percentage of GDP; and what are the relevant figures for each country. [20687]

Mr. Hutton: The European average is calculated using the arithmetic mean of the member countries health expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product. The relevant figures are provided in the table for the most recent data available.

Total expenditure on health

1998	Percentage gross domestic product
Austria	8
Belgium	8.6
Denmark	8.3
Finland	6.9
France	9.3
Germany	10.3
Greece	8.4
Ireland	6.8
Italy	7.7
Luxembourg	6
Netherlands	8.7
Portugal	7.7
Spain	7
Sweden	7.9
United Kingdom	6.8

Source:

Copyright OECD health data 2001

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what figures for expenditure on health care in the UK from different sources his Department bases its figures for health spending as a percentage of GDP. [20688]

Mr. Hutton: Total expenditure on health care in the United Kingdom as a percentage of gross domestic product is based on the following.

(i) UK gross NHS expenditure in cash terms—based on figures from the Department of Health and the devolved Administrations,

(ii) Private health care expenditure—projections based on data published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and,

(iii) Gross domestic product on a cash basis—provided by Her Majesty's Treasury.

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Registered General Practitioners

(Criminal Convictions)

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will require registered practitioners in England and Wales to disclose any criminal conviction in any jurisdiction. [17397]

Mr. Hutton: Regulations under sections 29A, 29B and 43D of the National Health Service Act 1977 were made, and laid before the House, on 22 November 2001 that will require general medical services general practitioners in England to disclose all criminal convictions anywhere in the world.

The regulations are:

the National Health Service (General Medical Services) Amendment (no. 4) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 3742);


the National Health Service (General Medical Services Supplementary List) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 3740).

Similar measures will be introduced for doctors in personal medical services pilots shortly.

General practitioners in Wales are a matter for the National Assembly for Wales.

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