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Premature Deaths
10. Mr. George Foulkes (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley): What his latest estimate is of the number of premature deaths in England in the last year for which figures are available; and what action he is taking to prevent them. [135978]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Miss Melanie Johnson): In 1995, an estimated 98,800 people died from smoking in England. We have developed a comprehensive strategy, including legislation banning tobacco advertising, a mass media information campaign and a national network of NHS stop smoking services. Early figures, published by Cancer Research UK, indicate an encouraging drop in smoking prevalence, but we are awaiting publication of the latest general household survey data for confirmation.
Mr. Foulkes: I congratulate my hon. Friend the Minister on realising that I meant to refer to premature deaths from smoking in my question. Will she join me in congratulating the Secretary of State for Health on having given up smoking for 11 months? What are she and her colleagues doing to encourage other people to follow his example? Will the Government now consider introducing legislation to ban smoking in public places?
Miss Johnson: Of course I join my right hon. Friend in congratulating the Secretary of State on his period of abstinence from tobacco. To share the progress that we are making on services to stop smoking, across England £138 million has now been allocated over the next three years to help reach the target of achieving 800,000 four-week quitters by 2006. The latest statistics show that we are on target, and around 124,000 people had given up smoking at the four-week follow-up quit stage. He mentioned the question of smoking in public places; he will know that we have considered the matter, but believe that substantial progress can be made through voluntary means.
Chris Grayling (Epsom and Ewell): The Minister talks about premature deaths. Is she aware, however, that people's lives are being put at risk today by the mounting crisis in emergency care? We have the unedifying sight of queues of ambulances outside accident and emergency departments unable to get patients admitted to hospitals, and the extraordinary situation in which ambulance trusts have contingency plans to erect tents outside accident and emergency departments for patients, because they cannot get them admitted to hospitals. When will Ministers do something to end this appalling situation?
Miss Johnson: That is absolute poppycock; what is more, the hon. Gentleman knows that it is. The fact is that nine out of 10 patients are seen within four hours in A and E departments across England, and, to the best of our knowledge, tents have never been used and are unlikely to be needed other than for dealing with patients at the scene of a major incident such as the Selby rail incident or the decontamination of patients in the event of a chemical or biological attack. The Opposition are trying to get up a story that is 100 per cent. spin and zero per cent. truth.
Nurses (International Recruitment)
11. Dr. Phyllis Starkey (Milton Keynes, South-West): What proportion of nurses working in the NHS have been internationally recruited. [135979]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Ms Rosie Winterton): As at September 2002, the number of nurses employed by the NHS was 367,520. In the years 1999 to 2002, 33,000 non-European Community nurses registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. However, not all of those nurses will currently be working in the NHS.
Dr. Starkey : I welcome the fact that the NHS has a code of conduct about recruiting nurses from countries where recruitment would otherwise affect health services in those countries. The private sector in hospitals, nursing homes and care homes, however, does not exercise similar restraint. I ask the Minister to look carefully at ways in which the private sector can be made to adhere to the same code of conduct, and if necessary to have discussions with colleagues in the Home Office to ensure that the private sector in this country is not pillaging health services abroad in countries where those health staff are needed much more than here.
Ms Winterton: My hon. Friend is right to raise this issue, which we take very seriously, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had a number of discussions about it. There is a limit to the control that we can exert on the private sector, but we have made it absolutely clear that agencies that recruit nurses for the private sector contrary to the NHS code of conduct will not be allowed to recruit nurses for the national health service. That lever is available to us. In addition, some measures can be taken by the Department of Trade and Industry if, for example, agencies charge an exorbitant fee to nurses for recruitment. Our Departments are continuing to work closely on that matter.
Hip Replacement Operations
12. Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden): What recent estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of a hip replacement operation (a) in an NHS hospital and (b) in a private hospital. [135980]
The Secretary of State for Health (Dr. John Reid): The most recent estimate of the cost to the NHS of a hip replacement in an NHS hospital is £4,356. BUPA currently advertises an inclusive care price for a hip replacement as being within the range £7,150 to £8,900.
Siobhain McDonagh : I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. Does he agree that the way to tackle hip and knee replacement waiting lists is through exciting projects such as the south-west London hip and knee centre rather than by subsidising the private sector, as the Conservative party would do?
Dr. Reid: I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. The south-west London NHS treatment centre for hips and knees in Epsom that will open in January will benefit her constituents and those of other hon. Members. It is planned that the centre will have the capacity to treat some 3,150 orthopaedic cases in the 12 months to the end of September. She is absolutely right, and I make it absolutely plain, that the Labour party, which is the only party for which I can speak, will never force old folks to be charged out of their savings to pay for their own operations.
Speaker's Statement
Mr. Speaker: As the House will know, next Tuesday is 11 November—Remembrance day. Although the House will not be sitting at 11 o'clock, right hon. and hon. Members, their staff and officials in the House will be attending to their duties.
I regard it as appropriate that we should join the nation in observing the two minutes' silence at that time so that we might remember those who gave their lives for their country to help to preserve our democratic freedom.
I should be grateful if those responsible for chairing Committees would make appropriate arrangements. Instructions will also be issued to heads of departments so that those members of staff who wish to observe the two minutes' silence should be enabled to do so.
Points of Order
12.32 pm
Mr. Henry Bellingham (North-West Norfolk): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I should be grateful to receive your guidance on a matter than arose during Health questions today. I asked the Minister of State about an article in today's press concerning Dr. Lee Kuan Yew's wife receiving preferential treatment—it was a big story. He merely said that a Department of Health spokesman had issued a statement this morning. I did not hear that statement, and I do not believe that anyone else did. Surely he should have given me a proper answer. His answer was bland and arrogant.
Mr. Speaker: It is not for the Chair to be concerned with the quality of the answer; that is for the Minister.
Mr. Crispin Blunt (Reigate): Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker: Order. It is not a point of order. I do not want an extension of Question Time. I would far rather that we got down the Order Paper at Question Time rather than taking questions at points of order. Is the hon. Gentleman asking about Question Time?
Mr. Blunt: It is further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker, because the Minister specifically said that the No. 10 press office had made an explanation—
Mr. Speaker: Order. I knew that it was not a proper point of order.
Miss Anne McIntosh (Vale of York): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. You will know that I am not an infrequent questioner of various Departments in the House in both oral and written form. It was therefore disappointing that in the answer that I received to a written question to the Solicitor-General, not only was my name mis-spelt, but I was referred to as the hon. Member for Buckingham. Regular attendees of the Chamber and right hon. and hon. Members will know that there are clear differences between my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) and myself. I wonder whether the record could be corrected.
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