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NHS Spending
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list by health authority area NHS spending per head of population. [23403]
Mr. Hutton: The expenditure by weighted head of population for each English health authority area for 2000–01 is shown in the table.
Note:
1. Expenditure is taken from health authority and primary care trust summarisation forms which are prepared on a resource basis and therefore differ from cash allocations in the year. The expenditure is the total spent by the health authority and by the primary care trusts within each health authority area. The majority of General Dental Services expenditure is not included in the health authority or primary care trust accounts and is separately accounted for by the Dental Practice Board.
2. Health authorities and primary care trusts should account for their expenditure on a gross basis. This results in an element of double counting where one body acts as the main commissioner and is then reimbursed by other bodies. The effect of this double counting within the answer cannot be identified.
3. Some health authorities act as lead commissioners for particular specialties which inflates their figures when compared with others and also causes differences between years. Other factors may also distort the figures so the results are therefore not all directly comparable with each other and with answers to similar questions for previous years.
Source:
Health authority audited summarisation forms 2000–01.
Primary care trust audited summarisation schedules 2000–01.
Weighted population estimates for 2000–01.
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GP Waiting Times
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he has given to GPs about reducing notified waiting times for appointments. [23433]
Mr. Hutton: Primary care trusts have been working with practices to implement plans to achieve by March 2002 the 60 per cent. milestone for patients being able routinely to see a GP within two working days. These plans were informed by advice issued to primary care trusts and groups in June 2000.
Further comprehensive guidance is being developed with key stakeholders for issue in the new year.
Cancer Screening
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to introduce a prostate cancer screening programme; and if he will make a statement. [23381]
Yvette Cooper: We are committed to introducing a screening programme for prostate cancer if and when screening and treatment techniques are sufficiently well developed. Trials for prostate cancer screening have shown that there are a number of complex issues involved. There is no conclusive evidence from any country that screening for prostate cancer would reduce the death rate from prostate cancer.
The national health Service prostate cancer programme was launched on 6 September 2000, covering research, treatment and a risk management programme specifically around improving early detection and diagnosis.
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will give a breakdown of how the money for the NHS (a) breast cancer screening programme and (b) cervical cancer screening programme is allocated; [23380]
- (2) how much money has been (a) allocated and (b) spent in the national health service on (i) breast cancer screening programmes and (ii) cervical cancer screening programmes in (A) each of the financial years since 1990 and (B) future years for which budgets have been set, broken down by regional health authority. [23379]
Yvette Cooper: The information is not available in the format requested. Funding for the national health service breast and cervical screening programmes is allocated directly to health authorities as part of their main allocations each year. It is estimated that the breast screening programme in England costs £52 million per year 1 and the cervical screening programme in England costs £132 million per year 2 .
As set out in the NHS Cancer Plan, the breast screening programme in England will be expanded by 2004 to include routine invitations for women aged 65 to 70. £1.5 million revenue and £2 million capital has been
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allocated in 2001–02 to begin the national roll-out of the expansion. Allocations for 2002–03 will be announced in due course.
- 1 Department of Health Economics and Operational Research Division 2001
- 2 National Audit Office, The Performance of the NHS Cervical Screening Programme in England (22 April 1998)
Older Homeless People
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what standards and milestones have been set to ensure that the health and social care needs of older homeless people are specifically addressed in the implementation of the National Service Frameworks for Older People and Mental Health. [24190]
Jacqui Smith: The standards and milestones for improvements in access and delivery of health and social care services set within the National Service Framework for Older People apply equally to all older people, and where appropriate younger people, whatever their housing status. The National Service Framework for Mental Health focuses on adults of working age. Like the NSF for Older People, the standards and milestones apply to all including the homeless.
Chief Medical Officer (Annual Report)
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what dates in each of the past 10 years the Chief Medical Officer published his annual report. [24093]
Mr. Hutton: The Chief Medical Officer's annual report was published in September during the years 1991–98, and specifically in recent years, on 25 September 1996, 30 September 1997 and 9 September 1998. Since then Professor Liam Donaldson, the current Chief Medical Officer, reviewed the format of the annual report and published the first one during his term of office on 10 December 2001. No report was published in the intervening years of 1999–2000 although the Chief Medical Officer has produced five major reports on specific topics during this period.
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