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19 Apr 2004 : Column 191W—continued

Information Technology

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will ensure that general practitioner practices will be granted at least three choices of information technology suppliers under the new General Medical Services contract. [163348]

Mr. Hutton: The National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT) has awarded a number of contracts to local service providers (LSPs) who act as prime contractors to deliver the elements of the NPfIT in a geographical area. It is the primary responsibility of the LSPs to work with a range of other suppliers to deliver the solutions that the national health service needs. This will include working with clinical professionals and primary care system providers to ensure that the systems in use across the NHS conform to the national standards required and can be upgraded to integrate with new national applications as they come on line.
 
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The new general medical services contract guaranteed a choice of systems for general practitioners. We will ensure that they do have a choice of systems that comply with agreed national standards. It is not appropriate to specify a particular number of choices.

IT (Dentists)

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 17 March 2004, Official Report, column 388W, on IT (Dentists), (1) what pilot schemes have been undertaken to facilitate integration of NHS dentistry within the national programme for IT; [163906]

(2) what assessment has been made of (a) the success of and (b) areas for improvement within pilot schemes to facilitate integration of NHS dentistry within the national programme for IT. [163907]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Forty seven dental practices in England are involved in 23 pilot schemes set up by the Modernisation Agency as part of the modernising dentistry programme, which was created following the publication of Options for Change in August 2002. The aim of the modernising dentistry programme is to facilitate new ways of working in the delivery of National Health Service primary care dental services. Allied to this are streams of work to support modernisation in dental hospitals and secondary care.

The focus is on supporting and improving any area of patient care through the better use of Information Technology (IT) and the National Programme for IT (NpfIT) is developing services that are intended to be used by all NHS clinicians. This includes dentists, and we will be testing new ways of working and contributing to the new dental service which will be rolled out from 2005 onwards. Although these pilots were initiated prior to dentistry being brought into the NPfIT, the outcomes of these pilots will feed directly into the future requirements for dental IT systems.

Khat

Ms Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the impact on health of the use of Khat. [164090]

Miss Melanie Johnson: In the publication "Dangerousness of Drugs (2003)" , copies of which are available in the Library, the Department published guidance on the health impact of Khat. This summary was commissioned from the National Addiction Centre based on expert review of the evidence.

Limited Registration (Doctors)

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 11 February 2004, Official Report, column 1540W, on doctors, what he means by a period of limited registration. [162236]

Mr. Hutton: All doctors who wish to practice medicine in the United Kingdom must be registered with the General Medical Council (GMC). There are four main types of registration: provisional, limited, full and specialist. Limited registration is granted to doctors whose primary medical qualification is obtained outside the United Kingdom and who have provided evidence
 
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of linguistic abilities, capability to practise in the UK and secured an offer of employment. Doctors with limited registration may only work under the supervision of fully registered medical practitioner and the type of posts in which they can work is also restricted.

A doctor who has been granted limited registration can apply to move to full registration if they meet the GMC's requirements. By law the total maximum period for which limited registration can be granted is five years. Further details on registration can be obtained directly from the GMC, as the independent statutory body responsible for licensing medical practitioners.

Liver Disease

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate his Department has made of the incidence of undetected cases of hepatitis C in England; and if he will make a statement; [162068]

(2) if he will estimate the incidence of (a) hepatitis C and (b) all liver disease in England in each year since 1990; [162071]
 
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(3) what estimate his Department has made of the incidence of (a) hepatitis C, (b) liver cancer and (c) all liver disease in England in the next decade. [162073]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Laboratory reports of antibody to hepatitis C in England, between 1992 (when national surveillance began) and 2003 are available on the Health protection Agency's website at http://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics/ az/hepatitis c/data lab region.htm The majority of cases of acute hepatitis C infection do not result in symptoms and therefore new infections are not usually identified. These laboratory reports do not distinguish between new (incident) and past infections and represent newly diagnosed cases of hepatitis C.

Studies suggest that about 0.5 per cent. of the general population in England (250,000 people) has been infected with hepatitis C. The number of cumulative laboratory reports is lower than the estimate for the overall population prevalence and suggests that the majority of hepatitis C infections have not been diagnosed.

Finished admissions into National Health Service hospitals in England for liver disease from 1995–96 to 2002–03 are shown in the table.
Finished admissions into National Health Service hospitals in England for liver disease 1995–96 to 2002–03

1995–96	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
16,293	16,790	18,729	19,301	19,990	20,595	20,640	21,956

Note: Data in table refer to admissions where there has been a primary diagnosis of liver disease (i.e. ICD-10 K70-K77, Q44.6, B66.1, B66.3). Data are only available from 1995/96 because of changes in the way diagnoses are coded.
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health

The future incidence of hepatitis C and the associated burden of liver disease are not known. The Department is funding the Health Protection Agency, in collaboration with the Medical Research Council's Biostatistics Unit at Cambridge, to provide estimates in this area.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the level of need for liver transplantation in England in the next decade. [162072]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The growing success of liver transplantation means that more people are now being offered a transplant. It is estimated that the demand, particularly for alcoholic liver disease and hepatitis C, will continue to grow slowly at a rate of 10–15 per cent. over the next five years.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scanners

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his strategy for   cutting inpatient and outpatient waiting times for access to magnetic resonance imaging scanners in England. [165345]

Mr. Hutton: Data on waiting times for diagnostic tests, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are not collected centrally; however, data may be collected locally by some strategic health authorities.

As recently announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, work is under way to eradicate waits for MRI through national procurement of a mobile MRI service. This will deliver an approximate 10 per cent. increase in the capacity already available to the    national health service. In practical terms, approximately 80,000 extra MRI scans will be available to patients by July 2004.

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made with the (a) recruitment and (b) training of radiographers to reduce waiting times for access to magnetic resonance imaging scanners in England. [165347]

Mr. Hutton: There has been significant progress in increasing both the numbers of radiographers employed in the national health service and the number of radiographers entering training each year. Between 1997 and 2003, the number of NHS radiographers increased by 1,573 or 13 per cent. and between 1996–97 and 2002–03, the number of training places for radiographers has increased by 634 to 107 per cent.

Information is not collected centrally on waiting times for access to magnetic resonance imaging scanners.

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