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21 Oct 2002 : Column 121W—continued
Alzheimer's
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received regarding the mechanisms in place to ensure equitable uptake for new treatments for Alzheimer's; and if he will make a statement. [74208]
Jacqui Smith: According to our records we are not aware of any recent representations regarding the mechanisms in place to ensure equitable uptake for new
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treatments for Alzheimer's. In January 2001 the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommended that donepezil, rivastigmine and galantamine should be made available on the National Health Service as one component of the management of those people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. Patients whose clinicians prescribe the drugs in line with NICE'S guidance should now receive the appropriate treatment.
Implementation of the national service framework for older people will ensure that people with Alzheimer's receive the treatment and care they need.
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent in the last 12 months on Alzheimer's treatments; how many patients benefitted from Alzheimer's treatments in that period broken down by (a) health authority and (b) health trust; and if he will make a statement. [74207]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not routinely collected. Information is, however, available on the cost of the three drugs—donepezil, rivastigme and galantamine—currently used for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer's and on the number of finished consultant episodes where the primary diagnosis is Alzheimer's.
The 2001–02 cost of the three drugs (excluding discounts) dispensed in the community was around #13.3 million (information is not available on their cost when dispensed in hospitals). The 2000–01 information for finished consultant episodes has been placed in the Library.
Transplants
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice he has received about the viability of existing NHS hospitals providing open transplant surgical facilities. [74239]
Mr. Lammy: United Kingdom Transplant regularly publishes reports on transplant activity in each organ transplant unit in the UK. The most recent comprehensive report is the Transplant Activity Report 2001, which gives details of organ donation and transplant rates by centre for renal, cardiothoracic (heart and lung/heart/lung) and liver transplantation. The Department also receives annual reports on renal transplantation from regional specialty commissioning groups. The national specialist advisory group produces an annual report on national services, including cardiothoracic and liver transplantation.
Treatment Options
Mr. Havard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how he plans to ensure that clinicians provide patients with full information about treatment options available to them. [73941]
Mr. Lammy: In March 2001 the Department published a ''Reference Guide to Consent for Examination or Treatment'', setting out the current law on consent to treatment. In November 2001 we published, with a Health Service Circular (HSC 2001/023) the ''Good Practice in Consent Implementation Guide'', which contains model consent forms. These
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documents make clear the requirement that patients should be given full information about what is proposed and the treatment options that are available to them.
Wheelchairs
Mr. Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans he has to ringfence grants to fund purchases of wheelchairs and other community equipment; [74502]
- (2) what his response is to the Audit Commission's, Fully Equipped 2002: Assisting Independence—and if he will make a statement; [74513]
(3) what action he has taken to ensure that funding given to health authorities, hospital trusts, primary care trusts and social services to improve community equipment services, prosthetics departments and wheelchair services has increased capacity in all areas; [74512]
Jacqui Smith: The government welcomes the Audit Commission's report Fully Equipped 2002: Assisting Independence. Since the Audit Commission's original Fully Equipped report in 2000, we have set up a programme to improve disability services. The programme includes NHS Plan targets for integrating community equipment services and for increasing the numbers of equipment users by 50 per cent., both by 2004. The latter target has recently been extended to cover a further 250,000 people by 2006. The follow-up report Fully Equipped 2002 indicates that at this half way stage progress has clearly been made in areas such as community equipment services, hearing aid services and neonatal hearing screening. However, it highlights other areas where further work is needed and where we are now taking action such as wheelchairs, prosthetics and orthotics.
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Funding is given to the National Health Service with which to commission community equipment services, prosthetics, orthotics, hearing aid and wheelchair services. We have made available to the NHS an additional #105 million to improve community equipment services alone in the previous, current and next financial years. It is for local commissioners of services to determine how best to meet national priorities for improving health, tackling inequalities and modernising services and the extra investment in health and social care will help them do that.
In addition to the current tranche of additional NHS funding for community equipment services, local councils have also received an additional amount in the personal social services settlement to improve their community equipment services. Furthermore, on 23 July 2002, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made a statement to the House on older people and the reduction of delayed discharges from hospital. In it he indicated that community equipment has an important role to play in facilitating discharges and that there will be additional ring fenced funding for community equipment and minor adaptations for social services in the years 2003–04 to 2005–06. In the same statement, my right hon. Friend announced both the intention to remove the power of councils to charge for the loan of community equipment (subject to legislation) and new targets to speed up the time it takes to deliver equipment and to make minor adaptations. All these measures will directly benefit people who need such items.
Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were waiting (a) for in-patient treatment in each of the last three months and (b) over 13 weeks for an out-patient appointment in the last two available quarters in the Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust area. [75691]
Mr. Hutton: The information requested is given in the table. In–patient data is available monthly, but out–patient data is only published quarterly.
| Month | Total waiting | Patients waiting for admission by month waiting | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0–2 | 3–5 | 6–8 | 9–11 | 12–14 | 15 plus | ||
| Mar–02 | 9,732 | 4,427 | 2,625 | 1,526 | 834 | 320 | 0 |
| Apr–02 | 9,874 | 4,462 | 2,616 | 1,662 | 865 | 269 | 0 |
| May–02 | 9,986 | 4,352 | 2,607 | 1,880 | 915 | 232 | 0 |
| Jun–02 | 9,838 | 3,946 | 2,884 | 1,690 | 1,061 | 257 | 0 |
| Jul–02 | 9,928 | 4,096 | 2,923 | 1,590 | 1,103 | 216 | 0 |
| Aug–02 | 9,804 | 4,108 | 2,763 | 1,569 | 1,156 | 208 | 0 |
Source:
Department of Health form KH07 and Monthly Monitoring
| Quarter | 13 to 26 weeks | 26 plus weeks | Total over 13 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar–02 | 794 | 0 | 794 |
| Jun–02 | 1,241 | 0 | 1,241 |
Source:
Department of Health form QM08
Hospital Building Programme
Mr. Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department's assessment is of the likely financial and staffing implication for the new building criteria for new hospitals. [74954]
Mr. Hutton: Affordability of all hospital building schemes, whether public finance initiative or publicly funded, has to be assessed alongside the resources for the clinical service commitments involved at new
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hospitals, following guidance set out in the NHS Capital Investment Manual (1994). The commissioners have to clearly set out in the outline business case that they agree to the level, mix and cost of clinical services upon which the business case is based and that they can afford to pay for the services along with costs arising from the building project.
Delayed Discharge and Emergency Readmission
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place copies of the Quarter two delayed discharge and emergency readmission figures in the Library. [74543]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 16 October 2002]: The quarter two (September 2002) figures on delayed discharge and emergency readmission are not yet available. I am placing in the Library all the available information on delayed discharge and emergency readmission for June 2002, which is the latest available.
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