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17 Nov 2003 : Column 575W—continued
Cancer
Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will amend the Cancer Patient Information Strategy to ensure that information on (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment is available for all people affected by (i) breast cancer and (ii) cancer in general who want it. [137454]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The provision of a range of high quality, accurate, culturally sensitive and timely information materials about cancer and cancer services for patients and carers throughout the course of their illness is one of the key recommendations in the NHS Cancer Plan (September 2000). It is also in the draft National Institute for Clinical Excellence's supportive and palliative care guidance, due to be published in February 2004. These build on the Cancer Information Strategy, published in June 2000,
Work to address this need is being taken forward by the coalition for cancer information (CCI). The CCI, which was formed in June 2002, brings together
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producers and consumers of cancer information, including Breast Cancer Care, CancerBACUP and Macmillan Cancer Relief. The role of the CCI is to oversee the development of high quality information materials for those affected by cancer. It is presently taking forward work on quality assurance and accreditation and it will also address issues concerning the development of information, dissemination and delivery to patients.
Cannabis
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to accelerate the process to allow the prescription of medicinal cannabis. [138354]
Dr. Ladyman: A marketing authorisation has not yet been issued for cannabis for pain relief use. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will consider any application for a medicinal product containing cannabinoids for the treatment of spasticity and other symptoms related to multiple sclerosis.
Like any other medicinal product, however, cannabis-based medicines can only be granted a marketing authorisation for medical purposes when supporting data have been submitted to demonstrate that the quality, safety and efficacy of the product are satisfactory for the intended use.
Care Home Beds
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information he has received from the National Care Standards Commission on the number of care home beds in (a) 2002 and (b) 2003. [138892]
Dr. Ladyman: The National Care Standards Commission (NCSC) noted in their annual report, published in September 2003, that there were 426,600 care places in homes registered in England at 31 March 2003. This figure excludes some local authority homes which had not been registered and therefore is not comparable with data for previous years published by the Department of Health.
Due to operational and technical problems with the NCSC database they have been unable to produce information for 2002.
Care Home Inspection
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many care home inspectors are employed; how many vacancies there are in each region for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [136868]
Dr. Ladyman: The information requested is shown in the table.
| Headquarters | East Midlands | Eastern | London | North East | North West | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Inspectors on Establishment (wte) | 0.00 | 113.25 | 122.61 | 133.76 | 74.91 | 204.01 |
| Headcount of Inspectors in Post | 0 | 110 | 128 | 146 | 75 | 199 |
| Number of Inspectors in Post (wte) | 0.00 | 103.31 | 122.30 | 136.46 | 72.41 | 191.10 |
| Vacancies | 0.00 | 9.94 | 0.31 | -2.70 | 2.50 | 12.91 |
| Percentage of Inspectors in post | 0.00 | 91.22 | 99.75 | 102.02 | 96.66 | 93.67 |
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| South East | South West | West Midlands | Yorkshire/Humberside | PVH | National | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Inspectors on Establishment (wte) | 256.13 | 195.99 | 144.26 | 132.86 | 61.35 | 1,439.1 |
| Headcount of Inspectors in Post | 261 | 205 | 150 | 135 | 66 | 1,475 |
| Number of Inspectors in Post (wte) | 246.79 | 189.39 | 139.29 | 129.41 | 59.73 | 1,390.1 |
| Vacancies | 9.34 | 6.60 | 4.97 | 3.45 | 1.62 | 48.94 |
| Percentage of inspectors in post | 96.35 | 96.63 | 96.55 | 97.40 | 97.36 | 96.60 |
wte—whole-time equivalent
British Lung Foundation
Mr. Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has held with the British Lung Foundation; and if he will make a statement. [137773]
Dr. Ladyman: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, will be meeting representatives of the British Lung Foundation in the near future.
Care Homes
Mr. Collins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the cost of converting residential rooms operated by the Leonard Cheshire Organisation at the Holehird home for the disabled in Windermere to comply with new national care standards. [137922]
Dr. Ladyman: The national minimum standards for care homes for adults 18 to 65 and those for care homes for older people were introduced in April 2002. It is not possible to estimate the cost for individual care homes of meeting the standards as this will vary from home to home depending on the individual circumstances of the home, including the type of resident cared for and the extent to which it already meets the necessary standards. It is for the National Care Standards Commission to inspect care homes to ensure they meet the assessed needs of their residents.
Mr. Collins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the proposed closure of the Holehird Leonard Cheshire home for the disabled in Windermere. [137924]
Dr. Ladyman: The decision to close Holehird is an operational one for the Leonard Cheshire Foundation. It is not generally appropriate for central government to intervene when a home closes.
We appreciate how traumatic it can be for vulnerable people who have to be moved from residential care homes which have become their true homes. It is, therefore, important that any decision to close a home is taken as sensitively and appropriately as possible.
Local councils have a responsibility for making satisfactory alternative arrangements for anyone that they place in a home which subsequently closes. There should be adequate time for the safe and satisfactory transfer of all residents to other suitable homes. This should be done in a way that takes into account the views of residents and their relatives and creates the minimum possible discomfort to all concerned.
Cervical Cancer
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people participated in the limited implementation human papilloma virus pilot scheme in
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(a) Newcastle, (b) North Bristol and (c) Norfolk and Norwich; and if he will make a statement on the scheme. [136880]
Miss Melanie Johnson: A pilot study of liquid based cytology (LBC) and human papilloma viruses (HPV) testing as triage within the national health service cervical screening programme began in April 2001 at three sites. The independent evaluation report on the LBC arm of the pilot was sent to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) in April 2003. On 22 October 2003, NICE published its appraisal of LBC and recommended that this new technology be introduced across the NHS. The independent evaluation of the HPV arm of pilot is due to report in spring 2004.
Details of the number of people who participated in the pilot are shown in the table.
| Number of people participating | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot site | HPV | LBC | |
| Norfolk and Norwich | 3,220 | 61,684 | |
| Bristol | 3,858 | 81,155 | |
| Newcastle | 5,109 | 80,116 | |
Chiropody
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients recorded as first contacts for chiropody services during 2002–03 (a) had a foot condition that was cured and (b) did not go on to receive foot care. [131565]
Dr. Ladyman [holding answer 14 October 2003]: This information is not collected centrally.
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what studies he has commissioned on access and eligibility criteria used by primary care trusts for NHS chiropody provision; and what the results were; [131566]
- (2) what steps are being taken to harmonise access and eligibility criteria for chiropody services across (a) primary care trusts and (b) regions; [131567]
(3) what extent access and eligibility criteria for chiropody services operated by primary care trusts are based on (a) patient need and (b) funding requirement. [131568]
Dr. Ladyman [holding answer 14 October 2003]: We have not commissioned any such studies. Eligibility criteria are broadly the same everywhere and are essentially clinical though there may be detail differences from place to place. Access in individual cases may depend on a variety of factors including funding but predominantly acuteness of problem,
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medical risk or clinical need. It is for primary care trusts to determine the level of resources to devote to the treatment of different conditions in their localities.
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