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8 Sept 2003 : Column 176W—continued

Congestion Charge

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many letters he has received from health service personnel concerning the Central London congestion charge since the charge began. [127499]

Mr. Hutton: The Department has received three letters from national health service professionals about the impact of the congestion charge since the charge began.

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the impact of congestion charging in Central London on (a) doctors, (b) nurses, (c) consultants, (d) paramedics and (e) ancillary staff. [127500]

Mr. Hutton: The congestion charging scheme includes a number of measures to minimise the impact of congestion charging on National Health Service staff. This includes:

Exemption of NHS vehicles currently exempt from vehicle excise duty, including ambulances and paramedic vehicles.

A provision to reimburse journeys by NHS staff required to carry specified items, such as controlled drugs or confidential information, as part of their operational duties, that should not be transported on public transport.

A provision to reimburse journeys by NHS staff for the purpose of providing emergency on-call services.

The NHS steering group on this issue will shortly by writing to all NHS organisations to ask for data relating to the impact of the scheme for the period 17 February to 17 August. This data will be collated through the steering group and it will report on the outcome of this review in September.

Consultants

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in consultant recruitment in the last 12 months. [127479]

Mr. Hutton: As at 31 March 2003 there were 28,024 consultants working in the national health service. This represents an increase of 1,580 or 6.0 per cent. since March 2002. Between September 1997 and March 2003 there has been a 31 per cent. increase in the number of consultants.

From March 2002 to date, 179 consultants have been recruited through the Department of Health's international recruitment campaign.

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Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in (a) Mid-Essex Hospital NHS Trust and (b) Greater London have been waiting more than 13 weeks to see a consultant. [127484]

Mr. Hutton: The information is shown in the table.

Patients who are waiting over 13 weeks for a first consultant out-patient appointment following G(D)P written referral: Position at 31 March 2003

Organisation	Number
Mid-Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust	450
North West London HA	3,818
North Central London HA	5,040
North East London HA	7,860
South East London HA	4,556
South West London HA	3,056

Source:

Department of Health form QM08

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many vacancies there were for consultants in the last year for which figures are available. [127374]

Mr. Hutton: The Department of Health does not collect information on individual vacancies. The national health service vacancy survey collects information on the number of posts which trusts are actively trying to fill which have been vacant for three months or more.

As at 31 March 2003, the three month vacancy rate for consultants was 4.7 per cent.

Paddington Health Campus

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the estimated completion date is of the proposed Paddington Health Campus. [128091]

Mr. Hutton: The Paddington Health Campus is expected to be a project that will take a decade to fully complete, though patients will be using the facilities from 2009–10.

Coronary Heart Disease

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in England suffer from coronary heart disease; and what proportion of the overall population these represent. [127446]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Nationally representative figures on the prevalence of heart disease and its risk factors are available from the Health Survey for England. Although the definition of coronary heart disease as such is not used in the Health Survey for England, the survey reports the prevalence of ischaemic heart disease which is defined as ever having angina or a heart attack, confirmed by a doctor. The most recent estimates of the prevalence of ischaemic heart disease were published in "The Health Survey for England—Cardiovascular Disease 1998", table 2.2, a copy of which is available in the Library.

Deep Vein Thrombosis

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures have been taken by his Department in

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the last 12 months (a) to increase awareness about and (b) to reduce the number of people who suffer from deep vein thrombosis. [127477]

Miss Melanie Johnson: In 2001 the Department of Health issued information and advice to the airlines and the public about minimising the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) during long journeys. This included practical advice for air passengers on long haul flights. It also identified certain groups who may be at a higher risk of DVT and advised them to seek medical advice before travelling and described simple in-seat exercises that should be recommended to all air passengers.

To maximise access for the public to this information and advice it is available through health services, the internet at http://www.doh.gov.uk/dvt/, the airlines and NHS Direct and will be kept under review in the light of new research information. No further advice has been issued.

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in England have been diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [127489]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Deep vein thrombosis is linked to older age, cancer, trauma, surgery and long periods of immobilisation, oral contraception, pregnancy and a number of conditions related to hyperactive blood clotting.

The number of admissions where primary diagnosis was phlebitis and thrombophlebitis of other deep vessels of lower extremities, in national health service hospitals in England in 2001–02 was 23,801.

Notes:

Admissions are defined as a first period of patient care under a consultant in one health care provider.

The figures do not represent the number of patients, as one person may have several admissions within the year. This is the latest year for which data are available.

The primary diagnosis is the first of seven diagnosis fields in the HES data set and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.

Figures have not yet been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed).

Source:

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to reduce the number of cases of deep vein thrombosis affecting women during pregnancy. [127595]

Dr. Ladyman: In 2001, the Department of Health issued information and advice to the airlines and the public about minimising the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) during long journeys. This included practical advice for air passengers on long haul flights. It also identified certain groups, including pregnant women, who may be at a higher risk of DVT and advised them to seek medical advice before travelling and described simple in-seat exercises that should be recommended to all air passengers.

In order to maximise access for the public to this information and advice, it is available through health services, on the internet at http:///www.doh.gov.uk/dvt/, from the airlines and NHS Direct and will be kept under review in the light of new research information.

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The Department also produces "The Pregnancy Book" and "Birth to Five", which are given to all first time mothers by their midwife. Both books contain practical advice for pregnant women about DVT and advise them to consult their general practitioner or midwife before travelling by air.

Dementia

Mrs Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the most significant known risk factor for dementia is; how many people are living with dementia in (a) the UK and (b) Sefton; and how many of those people are under the age of 65. [127661]

Dr. Ladyman: There is no routine collection of information at national or local level about the number of people living with dementia. The research, quoted by the older people's national service framework in 2001, estimated that approximately 600,000 people in the United Kingdom have dementia, of whom there are about 17,000 people under the age of 65.

The most significant known risk factor for dementia is age. It is estimated that about 5 per cent. of people over 65 have dementia, rising to about 20 per cent. in the population over 80.

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