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6 Oct 2003 : Column 1306W—continued
HIV
Mrs Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in (a) the UK and (b) Sefton are infected with HIV. [127667]
Miss Melanie Johnson: In 2002, 29,044 HIV-infected individuals were reported to be resident in England. Of these, 38 were resident in Sefton.
Hospices
Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the £50 million he announced to support the hospice movement has (a) been allocated and (b) been spent; and if he will list the recipients of the funds. [128954]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 11 September 2003]: The additional £50 million per annum has been made available to support specialist care, including hospices, for three years beginning 2003–04. This extra £50 million is to help tackle inequalities in access to specialist palliative care in a range of settings, including hospices and to enable the national health service to increase their contribution to the cost hospices incur in providing agreed levels of service. The level of funding agreed for hospices, both from the additional £50 million and from local resources, is a matter for local discussion and decision.
All 34 cancer networks were asked to submit their proposed investment plan for the use of their allocation from the £50 million to the National Partnership Group for palliative care. The National Partnership Group—a joint NHS/voluntary sector group—has assessed all the investment plans and 32 cancer network plans have now been approved and funding allocated for specialist palliative care services. The use of funds will be monitored against plans. It is anticipated that information will be available on the first year's funding during 2004.
Hospital Acquired Infections
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 8 September 2003, Official Report, column 6W, on healthcare-associated infections, what the longer term strategy is; and what measures he will use to evaluate the contribution made by each of the targeted action plans. [129714]
Miss Melanie Johnson: On 9 June 2003 the Chief Medical Officer announced that he would be spearheading a new Government drive to tackle healthcare associated infections and in particular hospital acquired infections. Alongside action to target
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problem areas and step up monitoring of infections, he will look at evidence from other countries to see what we can learn from them, and an action plan for the longer term will be published later this year.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the incidence of hospital-acquired infections since March. [129484]
Dr. Ladyman: The number of reported incidents of hospital acquired infections is not available. Comprehensive data on hospital infections are currently only available for methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) blood stream infections.
A new national mandatory surveillance system for healthcare associated infection started with reporting of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) blood stream infections (bacteraemias), in April 2001. All acute trusts in England now collect this information and results for the first year of this scheme (April 2001 to March 2002) were published by individual trusts in the Communicable Disease Report Weekly on 20 June 2002. They are available at www.phls.co.uk/publications/cdr/PDFfiles/2002/cdr2502.pdf.
National data on MRSA blood stream infections are published quarterly in the Communicable Disease Report Weekly. Data for the last quarter (1 April to 30 June 2003) will be published shortly.
Hospital Viruses
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nosocomial cases of small round-structured viruses there were in (a) England and (b) each strategic health authority in each month in (i) 2002 and (ii) 2003 up to the latest date for which figures are available. [128901]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Health Protection Agency has a voluntary reporting system for outbreaks of gastroenteritis, including those caused by norovirus (formerly known as small round structured virus, norwalk or norwalk-like virus). From 1 January 2002 to 31 March 2003, in England, there were there were 369 1 outbreaks affecting 10,975 patients and staff.
The number of cases by strategic health authority and by each month is not available. The table shows a regional breakdown of cases of norovirus infection in outbreaks in hospitals reported to the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre of the Health Protection Agency from 1 January 2002 to 31 March 2003 in England.
- 1 Outbreaks in England proven or suspected of being associated with norovirus.
| Region(85) | Total cases in norovirus outbreaks(86) |
|---|---|
| Anglia and Oxford | 2,265 |
| North and West | 1,247 |
| North Thames | 1,454 |
| Northern and Yorkshire | 2,550 |
| South and West | 1,481 |
| South Thames | 294 |
| Trent | 341 |
| West Midlands | 1,343 |
| Total | 10,975 |
(85) PHLS/NHS region.
(86) Patients and staff.
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Hospital Waiting Lists/Times
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to reduce the number of patients in the Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority area who have waited over nine months for in-patient treatment. [130925]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 18 September 2003]: All national health service trusts in Cheshire and Merseyside have agreed plans with primary care trusts (PCTs) and the strategic health authority (SHA)7 that deliver the maximum nine month wait target by 31 March 2004.
Most NHS trusts are planning to achieve this target earlier than the specified date.
The Cheshire and Merseyside SHA and PCTs monitor the waiting time target on a weekly basis. The service improvement managers assist wherever problems are experienced.
HRT
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans the Government have to restrict the use of hormone replacement therapy. [130106]
Dr. Ladyman: Following careful review of the recent findings from a number of studies that provide important new information on the safety of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), the committee on safety of medicines (CSM) and its expert working group on HRT have issued clear advice to prescribers and women.
The CSM has advised that, for short-term use of HRT for the relief of menopausal symptoms, the benefits outweigh the risks for many women. However, for longer-term use of HRT, prescribers are advised that each decision to start HRT should be made on an individual basis and that women should be made aware of the increased risk of the adverse effects, including cancer and cardiovascular disease. Each treatment decision should take into consideration the known risks and benefits of HRT, the contraindications for use and each woman's individual circumstances. In addition, the need to continue HRT treatment should be reappraised at least once yearly.
Product information is being updated to reflect fully the new information and will additionally advise prescribers that, for the treatment of post-menopausal symptoms, the lowest effective dose of HRT should be used and that treatment should only be continued as long as the benefit in alleviating severe symptoms outweighs the risks.
As with all licensed medicines, the CSM keeps the safety of HRT under close review, and would take appropriate action if further evidence relating to its safe use became available.
Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many responses have been received by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority on the sixth edition of their code of practice; and how many were from (a) individual patients, (b) clinics and (c) professional bodies; [131310]
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- (2) when the sixth edition of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's code of practice will be implemented. [131311]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has informed me that 59 responses were received to the consultation exercise on the sixth edition of its code of practice. Of these, three were from the public including patients, 22 were from clinics and 24 from professional and patient bodies.
The HFEA is aiming to publish the new edition before the end of the year. It will be implemented immediately on publication.
Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many human embryos have been created specifically for the purposes of research since the passage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990; and how many such human embryos have been created by (a) fertilisation and (b) other processes. [129026]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has informed me that since August 1991, when the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 came in to force, approximately 311 human embryos have been created for use in licensed research projects—257 between 1991 and 1997 and 54 since 1998. All of the embryos were created by fertilisation.
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