| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
5 Jan 2004 : Column 208W—continued
Psychiatrists
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the (a) rate and (b) number of vacancies for consultant psychiatrists in (i) England and (ii) each strategic health authority in each of the last six years. [144291]
Mr. Hutton: The information requested has been placed in the Library. Vacancy rates have only been collected by the Department since March 1999. For March 1999 to 2000 data was collected for the whole psychiatry group only. From 2001 to 2003, data is available by psychiatric speciality. These data have been provided by health authority and regional office from 1999 to 2001 and by strategic health authority and Government office from March 2002.
School Nurses
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for each (a) strategic health authority and (b) primary care trust the number of school nurses in each year since 1996. [144787]
Mr. Hutton: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for each (a) strategic health authority and (b) primary care trust the three month vacancy figures for school nurses in each year since 1996. [144788]
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many school nurses are employed in each primary care trust. [145022]
Mr. Hutton: To date, information on the three month vacancy rate and the number of school nurses has not been collected centrally.
This information will be available in the future. The September 2003 census and the March 2004 Vacancy Survey will include data on school nurses.
Security Passes
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many security passes have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen by staff in his Department in the last 12 months. [144593]
Ms Rosie Winterton: From the records available, we estimate that about 110 Department of Health headquarters building photo passes have been lost or stolen in the period 17 October to 16 December 2003.
5 Jan 2004 : Column 209W
Skin Cancer
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans he has to promote a long-term public health education programme on how to reduce the risk of skin cancer; [145142]
- (2) what assessment his Department has made of the benefits of the SunSmart Campaign; and whether further funding will be provided to continue the campaign. [145143]
Miss Melanie Johnson: For details of the SunSmart campaign and wider plans to increase the profile of skin cancer and methods of effective sun protection I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Tamworth (Brian Jenkins) on 9 December 2003, Official Report, columns 371–72W.
The effectiveness of the SunSmart campaign is being evaluated. The lessons learnt will be fed into future development of the campaign and will inform decisions on funding.
Smallpox Vaccination
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people (a) the Department would like to see vaccinated and (b) have so far been vaccinated against smallpox as part of the Government's plans; and if he will make a statement. [144942]
Mr. Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement of 15 December 2003, Official Report, column 125WS. The smallpox plan requires that each standard Government region should have a regional response group, consisting of five response teams, each comprised of five members. In England, this requires 261 people to be vaccinated. That target has been reached and exceeded. In addition, a target of 90 ambulance staff to be vaccinated has been set for England.
Smoking
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on banning smoking in public places; and what plans he has to propose legislation on this topic. [143720]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Government has consistently said that smoke-free places are the ideal. We have also said that we do not think a universal ban on smoking in all public places is justified while we can make fast and substantial progress in partnership with industry. Over the years we have seen real increases in smoke-free workplaces. In 1996, 40 per cent. of people reported their workplace as being completely smoke-free. The latest figures for 2002 show this has risen to 50 per cent. We look forward to faster and more substantial progress from employers and businesses.
Speech and Language Therapists
Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the ratio of speech and language therapists to the population was in England in each year since 1993. [144542]
5 Jan 2004 : Column 210W
Mr. Hutton: Information on the number of qualified speech and language therapists per 100,000 population is shown in the table. Between 1997 and 2002, the headcount ratio has increased from 10 to 12.
| staff inpost | rate per 100,000 ofpopulation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole-time Equivalent | headcount | whole-time equivalent | headcount | |
| 2002 | 4,365 | 5,960 | 9 | 12 |
| 2001 | 4,207 | 5,685 | 9 | 12 |
| 2000 | 4,066 | 5,430 | 8 | 11 |
| 1999 | 3,939 | 5,185 | 8 | 11 |
| 1998 | 3,831 | 5,031 | 8 | 10 |
| 1997 | 3,742 | 4,871 | 8 | 10 |
| 1996 | 3,585 | 4,705 | 7 | 10 |
| 1995 | 3,354 | 4,335 | 7 | 9 |
| 1994 | 3,344 | 4,076 | 7 | 8 |
| 1993 | 3,469 | 4,201 | 7 | 9 |
Notes:Figures are rounded to the nearest whole number
Source:
Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census
ONS Population Census
Suicide
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the national suicide prevention strategy. [144760]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE) published the first annual report of its suicide prevention programme on 11 December 2003. It sets out progress made so far and further action that needs to be taken in the medium and longer term. The report incorporates suicide rates for the year 2002, the most recent available, which show that the number of suicides is at the lowest rate recorded. An electronic version of the report is available at http://www.nimhe.org.uk/downloads/78129-DoH-SuicidePrevention.pdf. A copy of the report is available in the Library.
Tinnitus
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list research projects on tinnitus funded by his Department in the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [144029]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Details of research projects on tinnitus funded by, or of interest to, the national health service are available on the national research register (NRR) at www.doh.gov.uk/research/nrr.htm. The NRR currently contains details of six on-going and 26 completed projects on tinnitus.
The Medical Research Council (MRC) funds research on hearing, some of which would be relevant to tinnitus. Figures for MRC spend on hearing research are available for the years shown in the table:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 3.94 |
| 2000–01 | 4.96 |
| 1999–2000 | 3.34 |
| 1998–99 | 3.49 |
| 1997–98 | 3.23 |
The MRC always welcomes high quality applications from the scientific community for support for research into any aspect of human health, including tinnitus, and these are judged in open competition with other demands on funding.
5 Jan 2004 : Column 211W
Transplants
Mr. Kevin Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how he intends primary care trusts to use the guidance set out in the Transplant Framework for England, Saving Lives, Valuing Donors, to tackle organ donation among ethnic minorities. [144894]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department continues to explore concerns about the relatively low rate of organ donation with ethnic minority communities. The South Asian Campaign was launched in February 1999 specifically to raise awareness within the South Asian community which is prone to kidney disease. A campaign launched in 2002 is targeting the black community, which has similar problems. The Department also funded the National Kidney Research Fund to explore methods of raising awareness in local ethnic minority communities. Primary care trusts will be able to build on these programmes to develop and monitor local initiatives.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what changes have been made to transplant services since 2001. [145425]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Since 2001 the Department has provided around £7 million via UK Transplant to boost organ donation through the employment of
- 35 donor liaison nurses working with staff in critical units to help identify potential donors;
23 living donor co-ordinators working with families considering live donation;
10 non-heartbeating programmes to increase the number of organs from non-heartbeating donors.
But it is not only Government which saves lives through transplantation. "Saving Lives,Valuing Donors"—A Transplant Framework for England, published on 7 July 2003, identifies the part the Government, individuals, the national health service and other stakeholders can play in:
- encouraging people to donate organs and tissues;
raising the quality and effectiveness of transplant services;
improving the clinical outcomes and quality of life of people who receive an organ or tissue transplant;
increasing the supply of viable organs and tissues for transplantation.
Ms Rosie Winterton: All hospitals with transplant services have recipient transplant co-ordinators in post to care for those patients who receive transplants.
5 Jan 2004 : Column 212W
In addition, there are currently 100 donor co-ordinators based in 21 teams across the United Kingdom and there are 35 donor liaison nurses who are part of the donor co-ordinator team based in intensive care units.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |