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Residential Treatment Courses
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the percentage of dropouts from residential treatment courses in (a) the first week of treatment, (b) the first month of treatment and (c) in subsequent weeks. [19713]
Ms Blears: The periodic information requested is not held centrally. However, the latest report of the National Treatment Outcome Research Study (NTORS) showed that after a year from entering a residential treatment programme over half of the sample of clients was abstinent from all types of illicit opiates.
NTORS is a research project set up by the Department in 1995 which was established with the aim of gathering information about the treatment outcomes of a large sample of drug misusers who had been through a treatment programme.
Drugs
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the calculated weekly cost of drug treatment programmes, using (a) injectable heroin, (b) oral heroin, (c) injectable methadone and (d) oral methadone. [19715]
Ms Blears: The information requested is not available centrally. However, the table gives all prices for the various methadone and heroin products that appear in the drug tariff and which may be used in drug treatment programmes.
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Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has been made of the use of naltrexone in drug treatment programmes for heroin addicts. [19714]
Ms Blears: The expert group that produced the Department's guidelines "Drug misuse and dependence—guidelines on clinical management" (1999) reviewed the evidence for the use of naltrexone in drug treatment programmes for heroin addicts. The group concluded that because of the uncomfortable or severe opiate withdrawal symptoms if taken by an individual dependent on an opiate, naltrexone-assisted relapse prevention should be initiated only by specialists and specialised generalists experienced in this technique. More work needs to be undertaken before firm conclusions can be reached regarding how appropriate it is to use naltrexone within a community setting.
Health Bodies
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the (a) membership and (b) remit of the National Co-ordinating Centre for Health Technology Assessment. [19925]
Ms Blears: The Department holds a contract with the University of Southampton to provide a National Co-ordinating Centre for Health Technology Assessment (NCCHTA) which gives expert research management and scientific secretariat support to the health technology assessment (HTA) programme. NCCHTA staff are employed through the University. It has no membership. The membership of the HTA prioritisation and commissioning groups can be found on the NCCHTA website (www.ncchta.org) along with details of its remit and the research management processes employed.
Mixed Sex Wards
Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the progress he has made to eradicate mixed sex wards in the hospitals which serve Stourbridge constituents. [20369]
Ms Blears: We have set three specific objectives to meet our manifesto commitment to eliminate mixed sex accommodation in 95 per cent. of health authorities by the end of 2002:
- 1) Ensuring that appropriate organisational arrangements are in place to secure good standards of privacy and dignity for hospital patients;
- 2) Achieving fully the Patient's Charter standard for segregating washing and toilet facilities across the NHS; and
- 3) Providing safe facilities for patients in hospital who are mentally ill which safeguard their privacy and dignity.
I am informed that the Dudley Group of Hospitals National Health Service Trust, which serves the majority of Stourbridge constituents, has achieved objectives 1 and 3 and will achieve objective 2 by the end of December 2001.
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Accident and Emergency Ambulances/Units
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many accident and emergency ambulances/units are available broken down by (a) county and (b) London boroughs; [20619]
- (2) how many of the total number of accident and emergency ambulances/units are in active service; [20620]
(3) how many ambulances were in road accidents while on operational duty in (a) 1994, (b) 1995, (c) 1996, (d) 1997, (e) 1998, (f) 1999 and (g) 2000; and if he will make a statement; [20622]
(4) how many of the available accident and emergency ambulances/units are (a) less than one, (b) one to three, (c) three to five and (d) over five years old; and if he will make a statement. [20618]
Ms Blears: There are around 5,500 ambulance vehicles currently in service in the National Health Service. Information on the number of ambulance vehicles broken down by county, London boroughs and age and details of how many ambulance vehicles have been involved in road accidents is not collected centrally by the Department.
London Ambulance Service
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many times the London Ambulance Service called on the services of the (a) St. John Ambulance and (b) British Red Cross Society to assist in (i) 1994, (ii) 1995, (iii) 1996, (iv) 1997, (v) 1998, (vi) 1999 and (vii) 2000; and if he will make a statement. [20621]
Ms Blears: Figures are not held for the number of times the London Ambulance Service have called upon the individual services of St. John's Ambulance and the British Red Cross Society between 1994 and 2000.
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to evaluate the pilot of body armour being conducted by the London Ambulance Service. [20833]
Ms Blears: The pilot of body armour for London Ambulance Service frontline staff was completed during the summer and the results have been evaluated by the national health service trust. The evaluation shows that the majority of staff feel more confident in dealing with volatile incidents when wearing the garments, and that wearing stab vests does not hinder staff's ability to provide clinical care. The London Ambulance Service had pledged to provide stab vests to all frontline staff.
Rural Health Care
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew) of 27 November 2001, Official Report, columns 859–60W, on the Rural White Paper, how many
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(a) primary care one-stop or mobile units and (b) intermediate care beds have been made available in 2001–02; and how many will be made available in each financial year until 2004. [20031]
Ms Blears [holding answer 3 December 2001]: Data on the number of rural one-stop centres and mobile service units will be collected from next year.
A recent survey indicates growth of around 1,000 national health service intermediate care beds during the course of this year. Further growth of 1,300 beds is planned in each of the next two years in order to meet the NHS Plan target of an extra 5,000 intermediate care beds by 2003–04, compared to the 1999–2000 baseline.
Endometriosis Treatment
Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many endometriosis patients from Dorset were referred out of county for laser treatment during the data years (a) 1998–99 and (b) 1997–98. [19992]
Ms Blears [holding answer 4 December 2001]: Information from the Health Episode Statistics database shows that no patients from Dorset were referred out of the health authority area for laser treatment for endometriosis in 1998–99 and 1997–98.
Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many endometriosis patients received laser treatment at Princess Anne's Hospital, Southampton during the data years (a) 1999–2000, (b) 1998–99 and (c) 1997–98. [19994]
Ms Blears [holding answer 4 December 2001]: The information requested is not collected centrally.
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