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12 Jan 2004 : Column 605W—continued
Head Lice
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the national professional guidance on head louse control (the Stafford Report) and the subsequent guidelines based on the guidance and published in the Journal of Family Healthcare. [144161]
Dr. Ladyman [holding answer 17 December 2003]: Professional guidance on head louse control recognises that detection combing is of paramount importance, as is the use of appropriate treatment options. This can involve either lotions or combing regimes. Our view is that parents should be able to make an informed choice with advice on both options being available from primary health care teams.
Health Professionals (Training)
Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will ensure that training programmes for health professionals include components which encourage the development of skills specific to working with men. [145524]
Mr. Hutton: The Department is not responsible for setting curricula for health professional training; that is rightly the responsibility of the statutory and professional bodies. However, we do share a commitment with those bodies that all health professionals are trained so that they have the skills and knowledge to deliver a high quality health service to all groups of the population with whom they deal.
Health Tourism (Cambridgeshire)
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimates he has made of the cost to the NHS in Cambridgeshire of health tourism in 2002–03. [146452]
Dr. Ladyman: Entitlement to free national health service treatment is based on residence in the United Kingdom. The National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 1989 place a duty on NHS trusts to establish whether a patient is ordinarily resident or otherwise eligible for free NHS hospital treatment and if not to levy a charge for any treatment provided.
The amounts collected from NHS charged patients are not separately identified in trust accounts and are not collected centrally.
Hospitals (West London)
Mr. Portillo: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the extent to which primary care trust resources are adequate to cover the cost of capital programmes at the (a) Ealing,
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(b) Charing Cross, (c) Hillingdon, (d) Northwick Park and (e) Paddington hospital sites, while meeting growth in demand for services; [145096]
- (2) what assessment he has made of whether redevelopment at the (a) Charing Cross and (b) Chelsea and Westminster hospitals would represent a viable alternative to redevelopment at Paddington. [145098]
Mr. Hutton: The outline business case (OBC) for the Paddington Health Campus scheme which was approved in October 2000 is currently being reviewed. This review will determine if the financial assumptions underpinning the OBC are still robust. The review will include the views of local primary care trusts.
Influenza
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures he is taking this winter to respond to the risk of an increase in influenza cases. [141319]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 2 December 2003]: All strategic health authorities have developed stringent winter plans to cope with increased seasonal demand for health services, such as that caused by the flu season. These set out escalation procedures, which are activated in the event of increased pressure on the national health service.
In addition, a daily winter reporting system has been instigated so that the Department of Health is aware of any Trusts experiencing winter pressures. If pressures are identified, the Department of Health works with the responsible strategic health authority in developing a solution, such as the introduction of improved working practices or the opening of additional beds.
Influenza Vaccine
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for each health authority (a) the number of people eligible for the influenza vaccine and (b) the number of shots of vaccine available during winter 2003–04 and (c) whether the health authority has reported a shortage in supply. [145624]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The number of people aged 65 and over by strategic health authority is shown in the table. This year, there are nearly 12.4 million doses of vaccine available. No strategic health authority has reported a shortage of flu vaccine.
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Key Worker Housing
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much land his Department is proposing that the Government should buy for key worker houses. [144943]
Mr. Hutton: Accommodation for national health service key workers is being planned with Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and is normally sourced through other agencies. Therefore, the Department has no plans to purchase any land for this purpose.
Learning Disabilities
Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many adults with learning disabilities there were in the UK in (a) 1997 and (b) 2003; and how many of these were aged 60 or over. [146679]
Dr. Ladyman: Data on the number of adults with learning disabilities in England are not centrally available.
The learning disability white paper, "Valuing People (1999)", estimated that there are about 210,000 people with severe and profound learning disabilities in England. Of these, around 65,000 are children and young people, 120,000 are adults of working age and 25,000 are older people. In the case of people with mild/moderate learning disabilities, lower estimates suggest a prevalence rate of around 25 per 1,000 population—some 1.2 million people in England.
Information relating to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are matters for the Devolved Administrations.
Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much earmarked funding has been provided to local authorities for a (a) older people's services and (b) adults with learning disabilities in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [146731]
Dr. Ladyman: The Department does not earmark any funds to local authorities specifically for older people or learning disability services. Local authorities decide how much to make available for services to older people
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and those with learning disabilities from the overall amount provided for adult personal social services by the Department.
Life Resources Inc.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will set out the screening arrangements (a) taken and (b) required by Life Resources Inc. in respect of deferring donors who have travelled to live for five years or more in the UK or Europe between 1980 and 1996. [146343]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The United States does not accept blood donations from people who have visited or lived in the United Kingdom or Europe for six months or more between 1980 and 1996.
Long Term Conditions
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of people reported a longstanding illness or disability (a) in England, (b) in each region and (c) broken down by socio-economic group in each year since 1990. [146339]
Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from John Pullinger to Mr. Burstow dated 12 January 2004:
- The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the prevalence of people reporting a longstanding illness or disability in England, each region and each socio-economic group since 1990. I am replying in his absence.
- The General Household Survey (GHS), carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), publishes the prevalence of longstanding illness, disability or infirmity. The latest available estimates are for the 2001 survey. The tables, which have been placed in the Library, show the prevalence of longstanding illness for:
- (a) England, 1990 to 2001;
- (b) Region—standard region, 1994 to 1996 and Government Office Region, 1998 to 2001; Unfortunately, regional analyses for 1990 to 1993 are not readily available. Prior to 1994, regional analyses would be based on health regions and thus not directly comparable with later years.
- (c) Socio-economic status,
- socio-economic group by individual, 1990 to 1991
- socio-economic group by head of household, 1992 to 1998
- socio-economic group by household reference person, 2000
- National Statistics socio-economic classification by household reference person, 2001.
- As with any sample survey, estimates from the GHS are subject to sampling variability.
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