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17 Sept 2003 : Column 854W—continued
Patients Forums
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of patient forums will be fully (a) operational and (b) staffed by 1 December. [130714]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 16 September 2003]: All patients' forums will be in place and fully operational by 1 December 2003. Staff support for all patients' forums has been in place since 1 September 2003.
Post-operative Death Rates
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on post-operative death rates at the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth. [129667]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 16 September 2003]: In the 2003 Performance Ratings, covering patients treated in the calendar year 2002, Portsmouth Hospitals national health service trust was assessed as having a 28 day post-surgical mortality rate that was not statistically different from the England average. In earlier years' performance assessments, Portsmouth has always done as well as or better than the England average.
17 Sept 2003 : Column 855W
Prescribing Budget
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) 2002–2003 prescribing budget as notified to the Prescriptions Pricing Authority, (b) most recent forecast out-turn of prescribing expenditure for 2002–03, (c) projected (i) overspend and (ii) underspend, and (d) projected (i) overspend and (ii) underspend as a percentage of the prescribing budget were. [103767]
Mr. Hutton: Information on the prescribing budgets notified to the Prescription Pricing Authority (PPA) by each Primary Care Trust has been placed in the Library. They are practice level prescribing budgets. They do not necessarily reflect the total resource set aside locally for prescribing as Primary Care Trusts may hold contingency reserves. Information is now available for the entire financial year (up to and including March 2003) so the outurn and overspend figures are actual figures, not forecasted ones.
Prescriptions
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prescriptions have been issued by GPs in each of the last five years; and what steps have been taken to modernise the system. [128703]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 15 September 2003]: Information on the number of prescriptions dispensed in the community in each of the last five years is shown in the table.
In June 2002, three pilot exercises commissioned by the Department of Health commenced to examine the electronic transmission of prescriptions (ETP). The pilots explained options for linking computerised general practitioner practices to local community pharmacies and the Prescription Pricing Authority using the NHSnet. The pilots, which formally closed at the end of June 2003, were independently evaluated and have helped to identify the benefits, risks and costs associated with ETP. These findings will be used to inform the development of a sustainable, national prescription service which is an integral part of the national health service information technology strategy.
(34) Millions
Notes:
1. The data are based on all prescription items dispensed in the community in England, i.e. by community pharmacists and appliance contractors, dispensing doctors, and prescriptions submitted by prescribing doctors for items personally administered in England.
2. The data do not cover drugs dispensed in hospital or private prescriptions.
3. Prior to 2001, items dispensed by dispensing doctors and personal administration prescriptions are excluded.
4. Each single item written on the form is counted as a prescription item.
Source :
Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) data from the Prescription Pricing Authority
17 Sept 2003 : Column 856W
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance has been given in the last year to primary care trusts regarding the time limits for prescriptions. [130024]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 16 September 2003]: We have not issued guidance on the time limits for, or duration of, prescriptions. However, it is common practice nowadays for general practitioner prescriptions to be issued for one month or 28 days at a time.
Suicide
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many deaf people have committed suicide in each of the last five years. [130034]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 16 September 2003]: This information is not collected centrally.
Tooth Decay
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the incidence of tooth decay in children was in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) Tyne and Wear and (d) the UK (i) in 1980, (ii) in 1990, (iii) in 2000 and (iv) the latest date for which figures are available. [128894]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information shown in the table on the average number of decayed, missing and filled teeth in children aged five has been extracted from reports of surveys conducted by the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry.
17 Sept 2003 : Column 857W
| Year of study | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995–96(36) | 1997–98(36) | 1999–2000(35),(36) | 2001–02(35),(37) | |
| United Kingdom | 1.84 | 1.68 | — | — |
| Great Britain | 1.79 | 1.64 | 1.57 | — |
| England and Wales | 1.68 | 1.53 | 1.47 | 1.52 |
| England | 1.63 | 1.47 | 1.43 | 1.47 |
| Northern Region | 2.08 | — | — | — |
| Gateshead | 1.85 | — | — | — |
| Newcastle | 1.52 | — | — | — |
| North Tyneside | 1.13 | — | — | — |
| South Tyneside | 2.30 | — | — | — |
| Sunderland | 2.84 | — | — | — |
| Northern and Yorkshire Region | 2.12 | 1.90 | 1.80 | — |
| Gateshead and South Tyneside HA | 2.05 | 1.32 | 1.23 | — |
| Newcastle and North Tyneside HA | 1.35 | 1.35 | 1.20 | — |
| Sunderland HA | 2.84 | 2.14 | 1.93 | — |
| Northumberland, Tyne and Wear SHA | — | — | — | 1.68 |
| Gateshead PCT | — | — | — | 1.31 |
| Newcastle PCT | — | — | — | 1.60 |
| North Tyneside PCT | — | — | — | 1.17 |
| South Tyneside PCT | — | — | — | 2.05 |
| Sunderland Teaching PCT | — | — | — | 2.05 |
(35) The survey was not carried out for Northern Ireland in 1985–86, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1999–2000 or 2001–02. The survey was not carried out for Scotland in 1985–86 or 2001–02. The survey did not cover all of England in 1985–86. The combined results for England and Wales were not published from 1985–86 to 1993–94.
(36) Following the transfer from Family Health Service Authorities (FHSAs) to Health Authorities (HAs) in 1996, the results from the surveys from 1995–96 onwards were published by HA rather than by FHSA.
(37) Following the transfer from Health Authorities (HAs) to Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in 2002, the 2001–02 survey results were published by Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and PCT rather than by region and HA.
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