| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Mental Health
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to address the shortage of mental health beds. [37216]
Jacqui Smith: The NHS Plan referred to the creation of almost 500 extra secure psychiatric beds and 320 24-hour staffed beds by April 2001. These targets were achieved. Work is on-going to meet the further NHS Plan commitment to develop 200 long-term secure beds by 2004.
It is also important to provide alternatives to in-patient care so that patients can benefit from appropriate care and treatment in the least restrictive environment consistent with their needs, including in their own homes where this is clinically appropriate and preferred by the patient. The NHS Plan contained a commitment to create 335 crisis
4 Mar 2002 : Column 126W
resolution teams, 50 early intervention teams and a further 50 assertive outreach teams by April 2004 so that patients can benefit from these alternatives to in-patient care. We envisage that crisis resolution teams alone will treat around 100,000 people every year who would otherwise have to be admitted to hospital.
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will conduct a national audit of mental health beds. [37217]
Jacqui Smith: Information about the availability and usage of mental health beds is already collected through annual returns obtained by the Department from providers of services. The returns are made on a financial year basis and the latest year for which data are available is 2000–01. Figures are taken from the annual Korner return KHO3—"Bed Availability and Occupancy". A more
4 Mar 2002 : Column 127W
detailed national audit of mental health beds would not be appropriate at this stage because we are in a phase of rapid change. Local services are currently engaged in the implementation of new service models such as early intervention, assertive outreach and crisis resolution, which aim to provide alternatives to in-patient care. Forthcoming departmental guidance on acute in-patient mental health care will advise local services to map their strengths and weaknesses and to plan accordingly.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 23 January 2002, Official Report, column 958W, what steps he has taken to ensure that (a) the £50 million allocated to health authorities and (b) the £35 million allocated to local authorities has been spent on child and adolescent mental health services; and if he will make a statement as to the effectiveness of ring fencing of the allocations. [39844]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 1 March 2002]: The funding for health authorities is now in their baseline allocations and is not specifically audited. However we expect health authorities, and their successors, to continue to devote these funds to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). The local authority grant is a specific grant scheme and is audited to ensure that the grants are expended on CAMHS in line with the conditions of the grant.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many young offender institutions will have no mental health in-reach services by 2004. [39685]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 1 March 2002]: The exact distribution of new mental health in-reach services to 2004 has not yet been finalised, but young offender institutions are being treated as a priority for the development of these services.
Cervical Cancer
Mr. Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to introduce human papilloma virus screening to test for cervical cancer. [38086]
4 Mar 2002 : Column 128W
Yvette Cooper: As yet, there is insufficient evidence to support the use of human papilloma virus (HPV) testing as a primary screening tool. The health technology assessment (HTA) review of research into HPV testing, published in September 1999, concluded that the evidence might support testing for HPV only in certain situations, such as the management of borderline screening test results.
A Government funded pilot study of HPV and liquid based cytology testing as triage for women with mild or borderline abnormalities began in April 2001. The HPV arm of the pilot will end in September 2002. Analysis of the data will begin in October 2002 and a report of the evaluation of the pilot will be submitted in early 2003.
BSE
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people who have consumed meat from the offspring of BSE-infected cows since 1 November 2001. [37867]
Yvette Cooper: No estimates are available, but the number of cases of BSE arising in cattle born since August 1996, and considered to be attributable to maternal transmission, is below expectations. In addition, certain key control mechanisms help protect consumers if there is a failure of the controls which exclude BSE offspring from the food chain. These include the ban on specified risk material from being used for human consumption and the over-thirty-months rule which prohibits older animals more likely to harbour infectivity from entering the food chain.
Cancer Treatment
Mr. Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the health authorities that (a) have and (b) do not have the facilities to administer radiotherapy for cancer patients. [37908]
Yvette Cooper: All health authorities commission radiotherapy services for cancer patients. These services may be provided from a radiotherapy centre located within that health authority itself, or one nearby.
4 Mar 2002 : Column 129W
Health authorities without radiotherapy centres located in its boundaries.
Bedfordshire
Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich
Brent and Harrow
Croydon
Hillingdon
Kingston and Richmond
Merton Sutton and Wandsworth
Redbridge and Waltham Forest
Bury and Rochdale
East Lancashire
Liverpool
Morecambe Bay
North Cheshire
St. Helens and Knowsley
Salford and Trafford
Sefton
South Lancashire
South Cheshire
Stockport
West Pennine
Wigan and Bolton
Bradford
Calderdale and Kirklees
County Durham and Darlington
Gateshead and South Tyneside
North Yorkshire
Northumberland
Sunderland
Wakefield
North and Mid Hampshire
West Sussex
Somerset
Wiltshire
4 Mar 2002 : Column 130W
Barnsley
Doncaster
Buckinghamshire
East Kent
East Surrey
North Nottinghamshire
North Derbyshire
Rotherham
South Humber
Dudley
Herefordshire
Sandwell
Solihull
South Staffordshire
Walsall
Warwickshire
Worcestershire.
Mr. Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what proportion of cancer patients are prescribed anti-blood infection drugs to treat neutropenia contracted while undergoing chemotherapy; [38080]
- (2) what proportion of cancer patients are receiving reduced chemotherapy doses to avoid the onset of neutropenia; [38081]
(3) what (a) the average cost per patient and (b) the total cost has been over the last 12 months to each health authority of prescribing Neupogen to patients undergoing chemotherapy. [38085]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not available centrally.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |