| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
28 Jan 2004 : Column 398W—continued
Underground Fuel Tanks
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many leakages from underground fuel tanks were reported to the Environment Agency in the last five years. [150051]
Mr. Morley: Information from the Environment Agency's database for these years will take a little time to compile but will be made available to the Library of the House as soon as possible. I will write to the hon. Member when that is, and I will place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
HEALTH
Dentists
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) principal and (b) assistant dentists there were in (i) England, (ii) each NHS region and (iii) each strategic health authority who (A) offered NHS treatment and (B) had vacancies for NHS patients, in each of the last five years. [146218]
Ms Rosie Winterton [pursuant to her reply, 14 January 2004, Official Report, c. 800W]: I regret that the strategic health authority figures for general dentist service dentists for 2003 in table 1 of my previous response, separately for principal dentists and dental assistants were incorrect, and should have read as follows.
Note:
Assistant dentist numbers do not include VDPs (vocational dental practitioners).
28 Jan 2004 : Column 399W
Food in Schools Programme
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Food in Schools programme announced by his Department on 30 December 2003 is linked to the Food in Schools programme announced by his Department in April 2001; and what the differences are between the programmes announced on those dates. [147928]
Miss Melanie Johnson: In 2001 the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills announced a joint venture on Food in Schools. My announcement on the 5 January 2004 was to publicise the eight new regional projects being piloted in each English region to encourage healthy eating among children throughout the school day which are the Department of Health's strand of the Food in Schools Programme.
The Department for Education and Skills strand of the Food in Schools Programme comprises eight curriculum focused projects which cover teacher training and professional development, as well as development of guidelines, resources and curriculum materials.
Hospital Admissions
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will investigate the delay in admitting Mrs. H. Potter of Warrington to Wrightington Hospital; and if he will make a statement. [144879]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 18 December 2003]: The strategic health authorities lead the strategic development of local health services and performance
28 Jan 2004 : Column 400W
manage primary care trusts and National Health Service trusts on the basis of local accountability agreements, following the "Shifting the Balance of Power" initiative.
Unfortunately, to disclose information without the specific consent of the individual patient would breech patient confidentiality. My hon. Friend may wish to contact the Wrightington hospital.
Hospital-acquired Infection
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether published figures for deaths from hospital acquired infection are approximate; what the margin of error is for these figures; and what measures have been taken to improve the data. [147506]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The widely quoted figure of 5,000 deaths being caused by hospital acquired infections (HAIs) is an extrapolation from estimates of deaths due to all HAIs in the United States in the 1980s 1 . Although it is difficult to compare data from different health systems, if rates in the United States were applicable to the United Kingdom then 5,000 deaths might be primarily attributable to health acquired infections.
Better UK estimates cannot be produced as there are no centrally held statistics on deaths caused by hospital acquired infections.
- 1 Haley et al (1985) The efficacy of infection surveillance and central programs in preventing nosocomial infections in US hospitals (SENIC). Amercican Journal of Epidemiology 121: 182–205
Residential Care
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what provisions he has made to ensure that funding of independent residential care providers encourages them to supply expected increases in demands on their services from 2005 onwards. [149826]
Dr. Ladyman: There have been substantial increases in the level of funding provided for social services in recent years and it will continue to increase in the period to 2005–06. Councils can use these extra resources to increase local service provision taking into account the needs of the local population and the local supply of services.
We know that the majority of older people do not want to be in a care home and we are responding to this by investing in new models of provision such as extra-care housing schemes. It seems likely that the number of older people requiring residential care will not rise as fast as demographic pressures alone would suggest.
Scanners
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the normal life expectancy in the NHS is of (a) MRI, (b) CAT and (c) PET scanners. [145055]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The expected life of computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) scanners is approximately seven to ten years, dependent on the level of upgrade that is possible for that equipment during its lifetime. However, it is not unreasonable for equipment to remain in-situ and in working order after this period.
28 Jan 2004 : Column 401W
Sexual Health
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in England were treated for a sexually transmitted disease in the most recent year for which figures are available. [150363]
Miss Melanie Johnson: There were 596,728 episodes of diagnosed or suspected sexually transmitted infections from genito-urinary medicine (GUM) clinics in England that were treated during the calendar year 2002. Additionally, there were 112,447 attendances at GUM clinics in England during 2002, where other conditions required treatment.
The quarterly statutory returns (KC60), made to Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre (CDSC) from GUM clinics, record confirmed episodes of disease, rather than the number of people attending. Individuals may attend more than one GUM clinic and may attend more than once over the course of a calendar year.
Waiting Times
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will list each NHS trust which maintains planned lists on which people wait for operations but which are excluded from the inpatient and outpatient waiting list returns; what his Department's guidance is about the use of planned waiting lists; and if he will make a statement; [150538]
- (2) how many people are waiting for cataract operations on (a) waiting lists and (b) planned lists in each English health trust for the latest date for which information is available; and if he will make a statement. [150540]
Mr. Hutton: Data are not collected on the number of patients currently waiting on planned lists.
The use of planned lists has been an established practice for over 10 years. The Department has issued guidance to National Health Service trusts within the central return KH07 on recording patients waiting on planned lists. It states:
- Planned Admissions are those who have been given a date, or an approximate date, for admissions, usually as a planned sequence of clinical care. The date of admission for such patients is determined mainly on social or clinical grounds.
In light of this guidance, it is likely that all trusts submitting waiting lists maintain planned lists for those patients requiring a planned sequence of clinical care.
Data are not collected on the number of patients currently waiting for cataract surgery. However, data are collected on the number of patients on inpatient waiting lists within the specialty of ophthalmology.
At quarter two, 2003–04, ending 30 September 2003, there were 130,060 patients on the inpatient waiting list for ophthalmology. Data are not collected on individual procedures within each specialty. Data for earlier quarters can be viewed on the Department's website at: www.doh.gov.uk/waitingtimes. The national cataract initiative has been introduced to reduce waiting times for cataract operations to three months by December 2004.
28 Jan 2004 : Column 402W
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |