| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
10 Dec 2003 : Column 503W—continued
Flu Vaccine
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the take-up rates for influenza vaccine were at (a) 1 November and (b) 1 December, broken down by health authority. [142053]
10 Dec 2003 : Column 504W
Miss Melanie Johnson: Flu vaccination uptake rates for those aged 65 years and over at 1 November 2003 by strategic health authority are shown in the table.
Data for vaccine uptake rate as at 1 December is not yet available.
| Strategic health authority | Percentage uptake November 2002 |
|---|---|
| Birmingham and Black Country | 52.5 |
| Shropshire and Staffordshire | 59.8 |
| West Midlands South Health Authority | 56.3 |
| Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland | 56.5 |
| Trent | 60.8 |
| Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | 56.9 |
| Essex | 56.2 |
| Norfolk Suffolk and Cambridgeshire | 58.8 |
| South Yorkshire | 58.1 |
| West Yorkshire | 59.9 |
| North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire | 59.5 |
| Northumberland Tyne and Wear | 60.6 |
| County Durham and Tees Valley | 57.8 |
| Greater Manchester | 55.8 |
| Cumbria and Lancashire | 54.5 |
| Cheshire and Merseyside | 58.9 |
| North East London | 55.5 |
| North Central London | 48.7 |
| South East London | 46.6 |
| South West London | 52.3 |
| North West London | 50.2 |
| Hampshire and Isle of Wight | 57.3 |
| Thames Valley | 54.5 |
| Surrey and Sussex | 57.2 |
| Kent and Medway | 57.6 |
| Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire | 57.2 |
| South West Peninsula | 54.1 |
| Dorset and Somerset | 57.1 |
Genetically Modified Food
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what scientific advice he has received on whether children may be more susceptible to allergies and other diverse effects from eating GM food. [138818]
Miss Melanie Johnson: To date, the Food Standards Agency is not aware of any research that has been undertaken to determine if children are more susceptible to allergies and other possible effects from eating genetically modified food.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of research conducted worldwide into the effects on the health of children of consuming GM foods. [138819]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Food Standards Agency is not aware of any such research and has not therefore made an assessment. Each genetically modified (GM) food is only approved after a rigorous safety assessment, which is carried out on a case-by-case basis. GM foods have been consumed by millions of people in the United States over a number of years with no reports of adverse effects.
Group B Streptococcus
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on (a) the latest statistics
10 Dec 2003 : Column 505W
for children born with Group B streptococcus infection and (b) his Department's current strategy for dealing with it; [140922]
- (2) if he will make it his policy to offer all pregnant women a test for Group B streptococcus. [140923]
Dr. Ladyman: A 2001 UK surveillance study identified 376 cases of early onset group B streptococcus (GBS). Other studies have estimated that the prevalence ranges from 0.4/1,000 live births to 1.4/1,000 live births in England and Wales.
The current position is that routine screening for GBS should not be offered to all pregnant women.
The recently published National Institute for Clinical Excellence clinical guideline on antenatal care recommends that pregnant women should not be offered routine antenatal screening for GBS because evidence of its clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness remains uncertain.
The UK National Screening Committee (NSC) is currently reviewing the position and has commissioned an assessment of the existing evidence on screening for group B streptococcus in pregnancy against criteria used to assess potential screening programmes to ensure they do more good than harm. The NSC considered a preliminary report of a workshop at its meeting this month and will consider the full report at its meeting in March 2004.
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether it is his Department's policy to make screening for Group B streptococcus routinely available to pregnant women in the United Kingdom. [141251]
Dr. Ladyman: The current position is that routine screening for group B streptococcus (GBS) should not be offered to all pregnant women.
The recently published National Institute for Clinical Excellence clinical guideline on antenatal care recommends that pregnant women should not be offered routine antenatal screening for GBS because evidence of its clinical effectiveness and cost effectiveness remains uncertain.
The UK National Screening Committee (NSC) is currently reviewing the position and has commissioned an assessment of the existing evidence on screening for GBS in pregnancy against criteria used to assess potential screening programmes to ensure they do more good than harm. The NSC considered a preliminary report of a workshop at its meeting this month and will consider the full report at its meeting in March 2004.
Cytology Services
Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the recent trials of liquid-based cytology; and what the timescale is for introducing this method of cervical screening across the whole NHS. [142205]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has appraised the use of liquid based cytology (LBC) and based on their recommendation we announced, on 22 October 2003, that LBC will be rolled out nationally across the national health service cervical screening programme.
10 Dec 2003 : Column 506W
We expect the roll out to take up to five years, due to the retraining of all laboratory staff who read cervical screening tests and all sample takers in primary care. Strategic health authorities have been issued with advice on how best they can roll out LBC for their local populations, laboratories and primary care.
Men's Health
Mr. Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent by the National Health Service taking blood pressure and other health checks into the workplace to provide healthcare for hard to reach groups of men in the last year for which figures are available. [141653]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 4 December 2003]: The amount spent by the national health service from the devolved Department of Health budgets providing workplace health checks is not known centrally.
Mental Illness
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to (a) identify and (b) treat different classifications of mental illness in (i) women, (ii) people from black and ethnic minority groups and (iii) the general population in each Government Office of the Regions area. [141867]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Information regarding the identification and treatment of mental disorder by gender and ethnicity in each locality is not available centrally.
The national service framework for mental health, published in September 1999, set out seven evidence-based national standards for mental health, designed to improve the quality of services for everyone with mental health needs, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
The Government have established a new programme of work through the National Institute for Mental Health to support the development of services that ensure that individuals from black and minority ethnic communities are given fair and equitable treatment. In October, we also launched for consultation: "Delivering Race Equality: A Framework for Action". The consultation ends in January 2O04 and full guidance will be issued thereafter.
The Government have also published this year guidance on Mainstreaming Gender and Women's Mental Health, available at www.nimhe.org.uk, which recommends ways to take action to mainstream gender and women's mental health. It will assist services in delivering gender sensitive and gender specific services.
NHS Dentistry
Mr. Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists in the Hyndburn constituency (a) offer NHS treatment and (b) have vacancies for NHS patients. [140937]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested is shown in the tables.
10 Dec 2003 : Column 507W
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Total | 44 |
| Principals | 43 |
| Assistants | 1 |
| VDPS | — |
Source:
Dental Practice Board.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Registering charge paying adults for NHS treatment | 4 |
| Registering charge exempt adults for NHS treatment | 4 |
| Registering children under 18 years for NHS treatment | 7 |
Note:
This data has been extracted from the www.nhs.uk website. The information on this site is provided by primary care trusts' webmasters and is used by NHS Direct to advise patients on the availability of dental services in their area.
Source:
www.nhs.uk.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |