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14 Jul 2003 : Column 125W—continued
NHS Recruitment
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much it cost the (a) Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership, (b) Lancashire Care and (c) South West London and St. George's Mental Health NHS Trusts to place the job advertisement in the Nursing Times on 17 June. [122403]
Mr. Hutton: This information is not collected centrally.
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made towards the targets of (a) 7,500 consultants and 2,000 general practitioners by 2004 and (b) 15,000 consultants and general practitioners by 2008. [120441]
Mr. Hutton: Between September 1999 and September 2002, the number of consultants working in the National Health Service increased by 3,749 from 23,321 to 27,070.
Between September 1999 and September 2002, the number of general practitioners working in the NHS increased by 735 from 28,467 to 29,202.
Out-patient Appointments
Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of (a) new and (b) follow-on out-patient appointments were cancelled at (i) Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust, (ii) Royal Bolton hospitals, (iii) Salford Royal hospitals and (iv) Warrington hospital in each year since 1999. [123660]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 4 July 2002]: The number of cancelled out-patient appointments, either by the hospital or by the patient, is not collected centrally by the Department of Health.
Information is available for each national health service trust and primary care trust on the number of patients who do not attend their out-patient appointment without giving prior notice. This information is published on the Department's website at http://www.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity.
Private Healthcare
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what areas of private healthcare are to be transferred to the new Commission for Healthcare Audit and Improvement under the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill; [123038]
- (2) what areas of private healthcare are regulated by the National Care Standards Commission; [123039]
(3) what steps he is taking to ensure a comprehensive system of regulation for all private healthcare is in place. [123040]
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Ms Rosie Winterton: Under the Care Standards Act 2000 the National Care Standards Commission (NCSC) is responsible for the regulation of independent health care and social care. The term 'independent health care' refers to private or voluntary establishments or agencies that provide care by medical practitioners, and such providers are registered as independent hospitals, independent clinics or independent medical agencies. Subject to Parliamentary approval of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill, the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (CHAI) will take over responsibility for the regulation of independent health care from April 2004.
The NCSC is also responsible for the regulation of care homes in which nursing is provided, and nurses' agencies, but these are classified as social care and responsibility for their regulation will transfer to the Commission for Social Care Inspection from April 2004.
The Government have already ensured that a comprehensive system of regulation of private health care is in place by introducing the Care Standards Act, which has made unprecedented improvements on previous regulatory schemes. These include increased scope of regulation, a single regulator to promote consistency of application, national minimum standards and powers to inspect clinical performance. This will continue under CHAI.
Ritalin
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in each primary care trust aged up to four have been prescribed Ritalin in each of the last five years. [124236]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to him on 8 July 2003, Official Report, columns 783–84W, on age-related prescribing of methylphenidate hydrochloride (Ritalin) in primary care trusts. Additionally, this controlled drug is licensed for use in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder only in children aged six years and above.
Sexual Health
Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to design NHS sexual health services which are aimed at appealing to young men. [125159]
Miss Melanie Johnson: In implementing the national strategy for sexual health and HIV, the Department of Health has published a sexual health promotion toolkit, which provides practical advice to those working in the field of sexual health promotion with young men, to ensure that they are proactively targeted and that services are open and welcoming. Also, the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy recognises that increasing the involvement of boys and young men in decisions about sexual health is crucial and young men are, therefore, included in all aspects of the strategy. The Department is also funding the Men's Health Forum to investigate men's perceptions and attitudes towards chlamydia and to identify the best way to target men, both with information and for screening.
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Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will introduce a chlamydia screening programme for young women. [125160]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Department is already rolling out a national chlamydia screening programme for young women. Indeed, screening for chlamydia is now widely available in local national health service sexual health (genito-urinary medicine) clinics. Following the successful completion of a pilot study, 10 areas, covering 30 primary care trusts and over 400 individual testing sites, are developing an improved screening programme within a standard framework, which we are extending further.
Smacking
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research has been commissioned on the percentage of parents who smack their children. [122446]
Margaret Hodge: In January 2000, the Government consulted on what the legal position should be on the physical punishment of children, in Protecting Children, Supporting Parents. There were over 830 responses to the consultation in England, over 500 of these from individuals. The consultation did not specifically ask about smacking behaviour. However, the results showed that about 70 per cent. of individual respondents were in favour of keeping the status quo with regard to the smacking of children by parents.
A 1998 Office for National Statistics (ONS) Omnibus Survey of attitudes towards physical punishment found that 88 per cent. of respondents agreed that it is sometimes necessary to smack a naughty child.
Smoking
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people who (a) took up smoking and (b) permanently stopped smoking in each year since 1997. [122457]
Miss Melanie Johnson : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for public health, my hon. Friend the Member for Salford (Ms Blears) to my hon. Friend the Member for Newport, West (Mr. Paul Flynn) on 6 February 2003, Official Report, columns 454–55W.
Tranquillisers/Anti-depressants
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the net ingredient cost of GP prescribed (a) tranquillisers and (b) anti-depressants was (i) in total cash terms and (ii) per head of population in each primary care trust in England in 2002; and what the (A) total cost and (B) average per head cost was for England in 2002. [125629]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Information has been placed in the Library which shows the number of prescription items, the net ingredient cost and the net ingredient cost per 1,000 people, of all hypnotic and anxiolytic drugs, and anti-depressant drugs, prescribed in general practitioner practices in England and dispensed in the
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community in 2002, by primary care trust. Information on total cash and total cost figures are not available and have been substituted with net ingredient costs.
Tuberculosis
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance is available to the health service on the treatment of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis; and what monitoring systems are in place to ensure compliance with such guidance. [120080]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Interdepartmental Working Group on Tuberculosis publication entitled "The Prevention and Control of Tuberculosis in the United Kingdom": UK Guidance on the Prevention and Control of Transmission of
- 1. HIV-related tuberculosis
2. drug resistant tuberculosis (1998)
All forms of TB are compulsorily notifiable by the physician making or suspecting the diagnosis under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984.
In addition, the Public Health Laboratory Service streamlined and improved its diagnostic services for TB, strengthened surveillance and monitoring of drug resistant TB, and, following the last of a series of five-yearly detailed surveys of notifications in 1998, introduced continuous enhanced surveillance in January 1999. From 2002, this enhanced surveillance has included monitoring of the outcome of treatment.
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