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Hysterectomies
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many women in England were given hysterectomies in an NHS hospital in the latest year for which figures are available. [46698]
Yvette Cooper: The following information is extracted from the Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) system, which contains details of patients admitted to, and treated in, NHS hospitals in England.
| Number of hysterectomy operations | |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 53,132 |
| 2000–01 | (125)47,053 |
(125) Provisional. The figure for 2000–01 has not yet been adjusted for shortfalls in data. The final figure, therefore, may be higher.
NHS Appointments
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many appointments to positions and bodies within the NHS (a) he and (b) the NHS Appointments Commission have made since the inception of the NHS Appointments Commission; [46723]
- (2) how many people who have been appointed to a position within the NHS by (a) himself and (b) the NHS Appointments Commission have declared a political interest, broken down by political parties; and what proportion of the total number of appointees this represents for each political party between (i) 2 May 1997 and 31 March 2001 and (ii) 1 April 2001 and the latest available date. [46724]
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Ms Blears: Since its establishment in April 2001, the National Health Service Appointments Commission has made 1,469 executive appointments to the boards of national health service trusts, primary care trusts, health authorities and strategic health authorities. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made 421 appointments to these boards between 1 April and 2 July. This covered the period where the Commission had been formally established, but when the regional commissioners had not been appointed.
Information on the political activity of candidates appointed since 2 May 1997 is given in the tables.
| Political party | Appointees | Proportion of total appointments (percentage) |
|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 286 | 5.2 |
| Independent | 51 | 0.9 |
| Labour | 1,393 | 25.1 |
| Liberal Democrat | 218 | 3.9 |
| Other | 31 | 0.6 |
| Total declaring political interest | 1,979 | 35.7 |
| Not Politically active | 3,564 | 64.3 |
| Total Appointments for Period | 5,543 | 100.0 |
| Political party | Appointees | Proportion of total appointments (percentage) |
|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 19 | 4.5 |
| Independent | 3 | 0.7 |
| Labour | 106 | 25.2 |
| Liberal Democrat | 12 | 2.9 |
| Other | 3 | 0.7 |
| Total declaring political interest | 143 | 33.9 |
| Not politically active | 278 | 66.1 |
| Total appointments for period | 421 | 100.0 |
| Political party | Appointees | Proportion of total appointments (percentage) |
|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 66 | 4.5 |
| Independent | 14 | 1.0 |
| Labour | 389 | 26.5 |
| Liberal Democrat | 65 | 4.4 |
| Other | 7 | 0.5 |
| Total declaring political interest | 541 | 36.8 |
| Not politically active | 928 | 63.2 |
| Total appointments for period | 1,469 | 100.0 |
Tamoxifen
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost per annum of Tamoxifen for women who do not have breast cancer but are considered to be at high risk. [46722]
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Yvette Cooper: Tamoxifen is licensed for the treatment of breast cancer and the treatment of anovulatory infertility.
Tamoxifen is not licensed for the prevention of breast cancer in women who do not have breast cancer. A large international research trial is currently investigating whether tamoxifen can prevent cancer in healthy women who are considered to be at high risk. When the full trial results are published we will consider what action may be appropriate and estimate the cost implications.
Intensive Care Baby Incubators
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many intensive care baby incubators are available for use in London NHS hospitals. [46687]
Mr. Hutton: Data on the availability of intensive care incubators are not collected centrally.
The Department does however have data on the number of neonatal intensive care cots available. There are 146 intensive care cots available at London NHS hospitals.
The Department also has data on the number of cots designated for providing lesser dependency care.
There are 82 High Dependency Cots, 333 Special Care Baby cots and 38 Transitional Care Cots.
Ambulance Response Times
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average time is that it took an ambulance to reach an emergency after the initial 999 call is made in (a) England and (b) Greater London over the last 12 months. [46752]
Ms Blears: This information is not collected centrally in this format.
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Information about ambulance response times is contained in the Department of Health Statistical Bulletin "Ambulance Services, England 2000–01". A copy of the Bulletin is in the Library and available at www.doh.gov.uk/ public/sb0115.htm
Hospital Waiting Times
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many patients in each of the last 12 months had their first out-patient appointment after waiting (a) less than four, (b) less than eight, (c) less than 12, (d) less than 24 and (e) more than 24 weeks; [46712]
- (2) how many people were waiting 13 weeks or more for an out-patient appointment in England in each of the most recent three quarters; [46696]
(3) how many patients since 1997 have waited more than 26 weeks for their first out-patient appointment following GP referral; [46714]
(4) how many patients were waiting more than 13 weeks for their first out-patient appointment following GP referral in each of the last 12 months; [46702]
(5) how many patients in each of the last six years had their first out-patient appointment after waiting (a) less than four, (b) less than eight, (c) less than 12, (d) less than 24 and (e) more than 24 weeks. [46711]
Mr. Hutton: The information requested is shown in the tables.
Table 1 shows the number of patients who had first outpatient appointments (following referral by a GP) at NHS trusts in England, broken down by the available waiting time bands. This information is published on a quarterly basis.
Table 2 shows the number of patients referred by general practitioners who were on a waiting list for their first outpatient appointment at the end of the quarter, and had been waiting over 13 weeks at that time. This information is also published on a quarterly basis.
| Length of wait from GP written referral request to first outpatient appointment (weeks) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Quarter | 0 to <4 | 4 to <13 | 13 to <26 | 26 plus |
| 1996–97 | 1 | 733,000 | 854,000 | 234,000 | 50,000 |
| 1996–97 | 2 | 742,000 | 845,000 | 265,000 | 42,000 |
| 1996–97 | 3 | 773,000 | 823,000 | 273,000 | 53,000 |
| 1996–97 | 4 | 757,000 | 806,000 | 262,000 | 55,000 |
| 1997–98 | 1 | 743,000 | 867,000 | 234,000 | 61,000 |
| 1997–98 | 2 | 727,000 | 842,000 | 273,000 | 55,000 |
| 1997–98 | 3 | 747,000 | 790,000 | 284,000 | 67,000 |
| 1997–98 | 4 | 758,000 | 800,000 | 284,000 | 78,000 |
| 1998–99 | 1 | 690,000 | 809,000 | 256,000 | 72,000 |
| 1998–99 | 2 | 687,000 | 816,000 | 304,000 | 75,000 |
| 1998–99 | 3 | 696,000 | 780,000 | 329,000 | 89,000 |
| 1998–99 | 4 | 704,000 | 787,000 | 333,000 | 106,000 |
| 1999–2000 | 1 | 647,000 | 792,000 | 294,000 | 105,000 |
| 1999–2000 | 2 | 664,000 | 788,000 | 347,000 | 109,000 |
| 1999–2000 | 3 | 687,000 | 763,000 | 360,000 | 126,000 |
| 1999–2000 | 4 | 693,000 | 807,000 | 381,000 | 147,000 |
| 2000–01 | 1 | 658,000 | 823,000 | 293,000 | 111,000 |
| 2000–01 | 2 | 660,000 | 822,000 | 358,000 | 110,000 |
| 2000–01 | 3 | 695,000 | 818,000 | 372,000 | 120,000 |
| 2000–01 | 4 | 721,000 | 873,000 | 382,000 | 123,000 |
| 2001–02 | 1 | 675,000 | 850,000 | 289,000 | 81,000 |
| 2001–02 | 2 | 678,000 | 850,000 | 348,000 | 85,000 |
| 2001–02 | 3 | 718,000 | 840,000 | 385,000 | 104,000 |
Source: Department of Health form QM08
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| Quarter ending | Patients waiting over 13 weeks |
|---|---|
| March 2001 | 284,000 |
| June 2001 | 360,000 |
| September 2001 | 400,000 |
| December 2001 | 361,000 |
Source: Department of Health form QM08
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