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8 Mar 2004 : Column 1328W—continued
Cancer Treatment
Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice his Department has given to schools relating to the effects of sun exposure; and what assessment has been made of the take-up of such guidance. [157801]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The 'SunSmart' campaign, run by Cancer Research UK and funded by the United Kingdom Health Departments, was launched in spring 2003. This launch phase of the campaign enabled new campaign messages to be disseminated to as wide an audience as possible and assisted in establishing the 'SunSmart' brand. Over 950,000-campaign information cards and 36,000 posters were distributed to general practitioners' surgeries, health promotion units, dermatologists and cinemas. Additionally, 350,000 specially designed postcards were distributed among secondary schools in the UK, reaching 40 per cent., of all 11 to 16-year-olds. 'SunSmart' is working with the Department for Education and Skills and teachers to develop guidelines to encourage schools to adopt their own 'SunSmart' policies and curricular activities.
Sun awareness information for young people is also contained on the "Wired For Health" website at www.wiredforhealth.gov.uk as part of the Healthy Schools Programme. The Department also developed the 'SunSafe' web pages in March 2002, which were designed with children in mind on the Department of Health website at www.doh.gov.uk/sunsafe.
Capital Projects
Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received from primary care trusts in the West Midlands about the new funding arrangements for capital projects. [157963]
Dr. Ladyman: Ministers have not received formal representations from primary care trusts (PCTs) in the West Midlands. However, officials in the Department have received written representations from South Worcestershire PCT and West Midlands South Strategic Health Authority.
Delayed Discharges
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 23 February 2004, Official Report, column 273W, on delayed discharges, what information on legal liabilities for reimbursement charges will be available in the future. [158214]
Dr. Ladyman: Data on the number of delayed discharges and the level of legal liabilities for reimbursement will be available in due course, once the data has been validated.
Dentistry
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many dentists providing treatment on the NHS were registered in East Devon in each of the past seven years; [155304]
8 Mar 2004 : Column 1329W
- (2) how many dental practices providing dental care in the NHS there were in East Devon in each of the past seven years. [155305]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The tables show the number of National health service dentists on a head count basis and the number of practice addresses in North and East Devon Health Authority at September each year from 1997 to 2002. Following the health service re-organisation, figures for East Devon Primary Care Trust area, at September 2003, are given.
This information covers dentists working in the general dental services (GDS), personal dental services (PDS) and salaried service of the GDS. Excluded are the community and hospital dental services.
Dentists working in more than one dental service are included in each service, apart from dentists working in both PDS and GDS who are counted only once.
| Health Authority North and East Devon | Primary Care Trust East Devon | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 177 | — |
| 1998 | 185 | — |
| 1999 | 195 | — |
| 2000 | 199 | — |
| 2001 | 209 | — |
| 2002 | 206 | — |
| 2003 | — | 38 |
| Health Authority North and East Devon | Primary Care Trust East Devon | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 82 | — |
| 1998 | 83 | — |
| 1999 | 86 | — |
| 2000 | 90 | — |
| 2001 | 90 | — |
| 2002 | 92 | — |
| 2003 | — | 17 |
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to increase the availability of NHS dentistry. [155373]
Ms Rosie Winterton: We have provided new investment totalling £90 million to national health service dentistry over the last year. £59 million will support access, and strategic health authorities have been advised of their shares and are working with their primary care trusts (PCTs) to address access issues. £30 million is to support information technology and the balance of £1 million will support organisational development locally.
A NHS support team is currently working with 16 PCTs where it is hardest to find a NHS dentist to develop plans to overcome the problems. The team is backed by £9 million support funds to enable these hard-pressed areas to increase access. These measures build on steps we have already taken to improve access to NHS dentistry, including the establishment of dental access centres.
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The Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act gives new duties for PCTs to secure the provision of primary dental services. From April 2005, PCTs will directly manage provision, commissioning dental services from local practices. With these new responsibilities will go the financial resources currently held centrally, which by 2005–06 are expected to total nearly £1.5 billion.
Mrs. Humble: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there are in the Blackpool North and Fleetwood constituency. [157911]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Information is not collected on a constituency basis but at primary care trust (PCT) level. Data for Blackpool PCT and Wyre PCT, as at 31 December 2003, is shown in the table.
| Primary care trust | General dental service (GDS) | Personal dental service (PDS) |
|---|---|---|
| Blackpool | 46 | 1 |
| Wyre | 40 | — |
Notes:
1. PDS figure covers dentists not already working in the GDS.
2. Dentists are free to work in more than one PCT. Therefore, dentists who do some work in this area but more in another PCT have not been included.
3. Dentists in the GDS include principals, assistants and vocational dental practitioners. These figures are on a headcount basis rather than whole-time equivalent (wte) basis and therefore take no account of part-time working. In the CDS, the amount of time spent working in the national health service varies greatly, with a large proportion of dentists doing some private work. Dentists working solely in private dentistry are not covered by these figures.
4. These figures exclude dentists working in the community dental service, hospital dental service and salaried service of the GDS.
Source:
Dental Practice Board.
Drug Misusers
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many UK drug addicts are on (a) subutex maintenance, (b) methadone maintenance and (c) naltraxone. [153981]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 9 February 2004]: The Department does not collect figures centrally on the number of drug misusers being maintained on subutex, methadone or naltrexone. However, the table represents the number of prescription items of Buprenorphine (Subutex), Methadone Hydrocloride and Naltrexone Hydrochloride (included in the British National Formulary (BNF) section 4.10, Substance Dependence) that were dispensed in the community in England in 2002.
| BNF 4.10 Drugs used insubstance | Number of prescription items dispensed in 2002 |
|---|---|
| Buprenorphine (Subutex) | 164.3 |
| Methadone Hydrochloride | 1,330.7 |
| Naltrexone Hydrochloride | 21.9 |
This data covers drugs which are included in the British National Formulary (BNF) section 4.10, "Drugs used in substance dependence". The data excludes other
8 Mar 2004 : Column 1331W
Buprenorphine, Methadone and Naltrexone drugs that are contained in other BNF sections since they are prescribed for reasons other than substance dependence.
The data excludes prescription items that are dispensed in hospitals or clinics. The Department does not have any information on the number of people who are prescribed these drugs. The information available is the number of prescription items that are dispensed in the community.
Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has been made by strategic health authorities of (a) the facilities available for drug maintenance and withdrawal, (b) the availability of licensed prescribers for heroin addicts and (c) the incidence of heroin use. [153880]
Miss Melanie Johnson: No formal assessment has been made by strategic health authorities of the three issues that the hon. Member raises.
However, I am able to inform her that the National Treatment Agency has confirmed that all areas of England now have access to facilities for drug maintenance and withdrawal and that there are currently 123 practitioners in England licensed by the Home Office to prescribe heroin. For other substitute prescribing medications, no licence is required.
Mr. Hoyle To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what research has been undertaken into the link between (a) suffering long-term memory loss and (b) other side effects from taking ecstasy; [151283]
- (2) what research has been carried out into the long-term use of cannabis with relation to (a) loss of memory and (b) other side effects. [151298]
Miss Melanie Johnson: There is a wide range of published studies that have reported the results of research into the side-effects of ecstasy and cannabis. The Department commissioned the National Addiction Centre to review the evidence regarding the harmful effects of drugs of abuse and this is published as the Department of Health document Dangerousness of drugs (2003). A copy of which is available in the Library.
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