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Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many (a) named day written questions and (b) ordinary written questions to his Department tabled before 30 November 2001 have yet to receive a substantive reply; [33708]

(2) what the tabling date was of the earliest written question to his Department which is still awaiting a substantive reply. [33709]

Ms Blears: Our records show that 25 ordinary written questions and 16 named day questions tabled before 30 November 2001 have yet to receive a substantive reply.

The earliest tabling date was 18 October.

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reason he has not replied to the written question on stroke research ref. 14028, from the hon. Member for Coventry, South. [32658]

Jacqui Smith: I replied to my hon. Friend on 1 February.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will state (a) the reasons why he has not replied to question 19322 tabled by the hon. Member for Aylesbury on 26 November 2001 and (b) when he intends to provide a reply. [33710]

Ms Blears: I replied to the hon. Member today. I am sorry that the hon. Member did not get an earlier substantive reply; this was due to an administrative error within the Department.

Out-patient Treatment

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list in (a) rank and (b) alphabetical order of NHS trust, by NHS region, the (i) proportion and (ii) numbers of patients waiting (A) over 12 and (B) over 18 months or more for out-patient treatment (1) at the latest available date, (2) in March 1997 and (3) in June 1997. [17928]

Mr. Hutton: Data are only collected on the number of patients waiting over six months for a first out-patient appointment. Beyond this time period, data are not broken down into those patients waiting over 12 or 18 months.

Diabetes

Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received from Leicester University hospitals about the timescale for delivering a diabetes national service framework; and if he will make a statement. [18479]

Jacqui Smith: To date, we have received seven letters from local hon. Members enclosing a letter from a consultant at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust about the delayed implementation of the diabetes national service framework.

5 Feb 2002 : Column 920W

Digital Hearing Aids

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have (a) been tested for digital hearing aids and (b) had them fitted under the NHS in (i) England and (ii) Middlesbrough, South and Cleveland, East constituency. [19058]

Jacqui Smith: By the end of December 2001, 19,353 adult patients had been assessed for digital hearing aids and 14,856 adult patients had been fitted by the 20 trusts involved in the pilot project. There are currently no pilot sites in the Middlesbrough, South and Cleveland, East constituency.

I announced on 24 December 2001 that a further £20 million would be made available in 2002–03 so that a further 30 NHS sites can join the modernising hearing aids project during that year. Decisions on which sites will become involved in the project from April will be made shortly.

Critical Care Beds

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many funded critical care beds were closed in (a) each health authority area and (b) England at the latest available date. [19322]

Ms Blears [holding answer 29 November 2001]: The number of funded critical care beds that were closed in each health authority is not collected.

The latest published figures showed that there were 3,011 available adult critical care beds in national health service trusts in England at midnight on the 29 November 2001. Details are available along with the results of the census of general and acute beds that was carried out as at midnight on Thursday 29 November 2001.

Elderly Patients (Emergency Re-admissions)

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the level of emergency readmissions of elderly patients for each quarter of the last five years. [20866]

Mr. Hutton: The table shows the rate of emergency re-admission within 28 days for people aged 75 and over.

Quarter	Percentage(34)
1996–97
Q1	6.7
Q2	6.6
Q3	6.8
Q4	7.0
1997–98
Q1	7.2
Q2	6.7
Q3	8.0
Q4	8.2
1999–2000
Q1	7.7
Q2	7.3
Q3	7.2
Q4	7.6
2000–01
Q1	7.4
Q2	7.1
Q3	7.3
Q4	7.7
2001–02
Q1	7.3
Q2	7.1

⁽³⁴⁾ Percentage of people aged 75 and over re-admitted as an emergency within 28 days of discharge from hospital.

5 Feb 2002 : Column 921W

Mental Health

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if

5 Feb 2002 : Column 922W

he will inquire of the NHS acute trusts in London in order to ascertain the occupancy rate of beds in acute mental health wards in each London hospital; and if he will make a statement. [22085]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 13 December 2001]: The latest data available are for 2000–01 and are shown in the table.

The data are collected annually at national health service trust level, rather than by individual hospital site.

Trust(35)	Available beds	Occupied beds	Occupancy rate (percentage)
2000–01
Barnet Community Health Care NHS Trust	207	187	90.5
BHB Community Health NHS Trust	245	223	91.3
Brent, Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster Mental Health NHS Trust	732	621	84.8
Camden and Islington Community Health Service NHS Trust	358	352	98.2
Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham Mental Health NHS Trust	567	543	95.8
East London and the City Mental Health NHS Trust	514	480	93.4
Enfield Community Care NHS Trust	262	244	93.1
Forest Healthcare NHS Trust	213	190	89.0
Great Ormond Street Hospital For Children NHS Trust	8	6	77.1
Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust	72	65	90.4
Haringey Healthcare NHS Trust	240	235	98.1
Harrow and Hillingdon Health Care NHS Trust	83	81	97.7
Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust	116	109	93.9
Hounslow and Spelthorne Community and Mental Health NHS Trust	164	162	98.8
Kingston and District Community NHS Trust	308	289	94.0
Oxleas NHS Trust	391	354	90.7
Redbridge Health Care NHS Trust	245	203	83.2
Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust	122	114	93.4
South London and Maudsley NHS Trust	947	916	96.7
South West London and St. Georges Mental Health NHS Trust	595	541	90.9
University College London Hospitals NHS Trust	13	10	75.2

⁽³⁵⁾ Pre-April 2001 trust configurations

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what proportion of (a) men and (b) women aged over 65 years have clinical depression; [24540]

(2) what proportion of (a) men and (b) women aged over 65 years with clinical depression live (i) alone, (ii) alone in private households and (iii) in residential care. [24536]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 8 January 2002]: The information requested is not available centrally.

It is estimated that around 10–15 per cent. of the population aged 65 and over have depression. More severe states of depression affect about 3–5 per cent. of older people.

The recent Office for National Statistics report "Psychiatric morbidity among adults living in private households, 2000" contains information about the prevalence of mental disorders among adults in private households.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in the UK have dementia; and how many of them are (a) over and (b) under 65 years. [24537]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 8 January 2002]: The information requested is not available centrally. The 1998 Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Ageing Study estimated that around 600,000 people in the United Kingdom suffer from dementia, including around 17,000 people under the age of 65.

"Winning the Generation Game"

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will set out for each of the conclusions in section 6.4 of the Performance and Innovation Unit report, "Winning the Generation Game", (a) what progress his Department has made and (b) what future plans his Department has for acting on them; and if he will set out against each of the conclusions the targets and deadlines that have been set. [24209]

Ms Blears: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Cabinet Office on 19 December 2001, Official Report, column 335W.

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