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Elderly (Abuse)

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the number of incidents of abuse of the elderly in residential and domiciliary care settings; and if he will make a statement. [164820]

Dr. Ladyman: The Department keeps no statistics centrally on the incidence of abuse in residential and domiciliary care settings. However, Ministers have agreed funding to enable Action on Elder Abuse to take stock of the information that is currently being collected locally under the "No Secrets" guidance. It is hoped to have preliminary results in six months time and fuller results towards the end of 2005. In due course, the Department plans to introduce national data collections and to identify performance measures, relating to adult abuse.

Eye Surgery

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines are in place on the quality of private laser eye surgery. [165789]

 
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Ms Rosie Winterton: Private establishments where Class 4 laser treatment (the type used in laser eye surgery) is provided are required to be registered as independent hospitals, under the Care Standards Act 2000. As such they are required to meet national minimum standards among which is the requirement to ensure that all staff using lasers and intense pulsed light sources use them only for treatments for which they have been trained and, where appropriate, hold qualifications, and that they receive regular training.

Responsibility for the registration and inspection of independent hospitals passed from the National Care Standards Commission to the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection on 1 April 2004. Independent hospitals are inspected against the national minimum standards at least once every 12 months under the terms of the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (Fees and Frequency of Inspections) Regulations 2004.

General Practitioners

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effects of allowing general practices to sell goodwill as part of the new General Medical Services contracts. [165795]

Mr. Hutton: The sale of goodwill will cover less than 10 per cent. of primary medical services.

The long-standing prohibition on the purchase and sale of goodwill by medical practices providing essential services to a list of registered patients continues. Extending the ban to providers of other services is not necessary, nor is there any justification for depriving certain other providers of their existing rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average general practitioner list size was in (a) Birmingham and (b) the Black Country in each of the last 10 years. [165804]

Dr. Ladyman: The information is not available in the format requested.

Table 1 shows the average general practice list size for the area covered by Birmingham and the Black Country Strategic Health Authority for the years 1993 to 2003.

Table 2 shows the average list size for the primary care trusts within Birmingham and the Black Country Strategic Health Authority since 2001.
Table 1: Unrestricted Principals and Equivalents⁽⁹⁵⁾ (UPEs) average list size for Birmingham and the Black Country Strategic Health Authority, 1993–2003 2

	Average list size
1993	1,993
1994	1,972
1995	1,955
1996	1,945
1997	1,941
1998	1,930
1999	1,967
2000	1,927
2001	1,943
2002	1,928
2003	1,929

 
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Table 2: Unrestricted Principals and Equivalents⁽⁹⁵⁾ (UPEs) average list size for Birmingham and the Black Country Strategic Health Authority, by Primary Care Trust, 2001–03 3

	2001	2002	2003
(a) Birmingham
South Birmingham PCT	1,716	1,659	1,684
North Birmingham PCT	1,886	1,942	1,939
Heart of Birmingham PCT	2,203	2,299	2,315
East Birmingham PCT	1,991	2,024	2,082
(b) Black Country
Dudley South PCT	1,927	1,855	1,857
Dudley Beacon and Castle PCT	2,075	2,082	2,003
Walsall PCT	2,063	2,002	1,899
Oldbury and Smethwick PCT	1,884	1,867	1,880
Rowley, Regis and Tipton PCT	2,022	2,041	1,914
Wednesbury and West Bromwich PCT	2,063	1,960	1,994
Wolverhampton City PCT	1,959	1,930	1,925
(c) Other
Solihull PCT	1,786	1,795	1,853

⁽⁹⁵⁾ UPEs includes GMS Unrestricted Principals, PMS Contracted GPs and PMS Salaried GPs.
⁽⁹⁶⁾ Data as at 1 October for the years 1993–99, 30 September for the years 2000–03.
⁽⁹⁷⁾ All data as at 30 September.
Source:
Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many developments by general practitioner practices have been halted as a result of the Department's requirement that contracts needed to be signed by 30 September 2003; and how many of these have subsequently proceeded with the support of their primary care trust. [165873]

Mr. Hutton: The Department is unaware of any general practitioner scheme that has been cancelled as a result of the change to single cash limited budget. The 30 September 2003 date was used as a means for identifying base line premise allocations. These have since been supplemented by a further premise growth allocation in March 2004 to lead primary care trusts in each strategic health authority area.

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his latest estimate is of the average general practitioner practice case load within Camden and Islington; how many general practitioner groups are expected to retire in the next 12 months; and how many new general practitioners he expects to be appointed in Camden and Islington in the next 12 months. [166350]

Mr. Hutton: The Department does not collect centrally the information requested. However, there has been an increase of 256 general practitioners, excluding retainers and registrars, in London since 1999. London primary care trusts are planning to recruit over 200 additional GPs between July 2003 and March 2006.

Health Checks (Over-65s)

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what health checks are routinely performed on the NHS on people over 65. [164763]

 
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Dr. Ladyman: General practitioners are required to provide a health check to all patients aged 75 or over who request it and have not had a consultation within the last 12 months. For people aged 65 or over, in receipt of health or community care, local National Health Service bodies and councils with social services responsibilities should routinely assess their needs and review services at least annually.

Health Services (Birkenhead)

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of (a) the number of extra midwives which will be required in the NHS in the next 10 years and (b) the adequacy of the number of training places available to meet that demand. [166235]

Mr. Hutton: We are committed to increasing the number of midwives working in the national health service. Speaking at the Royal College of Midwives in 2001, my right hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn) said that there would be an extra 2,000 midwives working in the NHS within the next five years. As at September 2003, there were 1,369 more midwives employed in the NHS than in 2000.

It is for the NHS to determine locally the number and type of training places it purchases for students to train as midwives. Increased investment has seen a rise of 28 per cent. between 1996–97 and 2002–03 in the number of students starting midwifery training and further growth is expected this year to support further growth in midwifery numbers.

Incontinence Pads

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what guidance he has given to primary care trusts about the quantity of incontinence pads to be supplied to individuals in residential homes; [166053]

(2) what consultation he has had with independent nursing homes about the supply of incontinence pads. [166054]

Dr. Ladyman: Since the introduction of national health service-funded nursing care in October 2001, residents in care homes providing nursing care should not have to pay for the continence supplies they need. The NHS will ensure that the care home either receives continence products free of charge, or will make a payment to the care home for continence provision. Guidance issued to primary care trusts in September 2001 and March 2003 was consulted upon with a wide range of stakeholders, including care homes providing nursing care. The guidance stresses the importance of the NHS consulting local providers about continence provision to ensure that, as far as possible, the arrangements meet their needs concerning delivery and storage.

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