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10 May 2004 : Column 189W—continued

Patient Records

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list those NHS trusts which do not yet use electronic patient records. [167703]

Mr. Hutton: Most hospitals now have existing patient administration systems and limited or stand alone clinical systems. By the end of 2005, all National Health Service trusts will have some integrated functionality through electronic records to support patient care as part of the NHS care records service. This will begin to be rolled out alongside the electronic appointment booking service from summer 2004, with phased implementation to provide richer functionality over time to 2010.

Patients Passports

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his statement of 22 March 2004, Official Report, column 594, what the basis was for the statement that a policy of patients' passports paying for operations in the private sector would divert £2 billion of taxpayers' money away from the national health service. [164648]

Mr. Hutton: The Government calculate that the deadweight cost to the Exchequer of subsidising those who already pay for operations and other care in the private sector would be £2 billion per annum. The patient passport policy, whereby a voucher would cover 60 per cent. of the national health service cost of an operation in the private sector would cost an estimated £1 billion. This has been calculated using data on the number and distribution of private sector treatments, together with 2003 NHS reference costs to estimate the subsidy per procedure. A further £1 billion would be required to fund tax relief on national insurance contributions and income tax for company and private schemes. This is based on projections for company and   private schemes from the Inland Revenue and Association of British Insurers.
 
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The £2 billion figure does not contain any estimate of the additional administration costs which would be required to operate such policies.

Prescription Pre-payment Certificates

Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will introduce a monthly instalment scheme for the prescription prepayment certificate. [167597]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The prescription prepayment certificate (PPC) scheme is designed to be simple so that it can be administered easily and with the minimum of cost. To introduce payment by instalments would inevitably increase the administrative costs involved. This could lead to higher PPC fees and so reduce the potential savings and make the certificates less attractive for those who continue to make use of them.

However, we are, with the Prescription Pricing Authority, currently considering the implications of introducing such a scheme, including the practicalities of payment collection.

Prison Health Service

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 27 April 2004, Official Report, column 961W, on the Prison Health Service, what issues had been raised by local services concerning the existing local protocols for ambulance and paramedic access. [171267]

Dr. Ladyman: Feedback from local services highlighted the scope to strengthen protocols for ambulance and paramedic access to prisons in three specific areas:

ensuring that ambulances are called promptly to incidents within prisons when required, and that there are clear arrangements for doing so in emergencies without the need first to consult prison health care staff;

distinguishing between access for an ambulance vehicle and access for a paramedic to attend the patient; and

taking account of the potential impact of new European Committee for Standardisation Regulation for Ambulance Vehicles (British Standard Specification EN 1789), given the need for a suitably risk assessed Prison Service escort to attend with the vehicle.

Scanners

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) MRI scanners and (b) PET scanners there are in England; and how many of these scanners have been bought (i) directly by the NHS and (ii) through alternative funding arrangements. [167712]

Miss Melanie Johnson: There are approximately 221 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners and four positron emission tomography (PET) scanners installed in the National Health Service in England. In addition, there are approximately 75 MRI scanners and eight PET scanners installed in non-NHS institutions in England.

Of the 221 NHS MRI scanners, it is estimated that just over 100 were purchased directly by the NHS. Approximately 60 were purchased through central capital programmes funded by the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) and the Department. Approximately 60
 
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were purchased through other arrangements, including lease arrangements, managed service contracts and charitable funding.

This information is not held centrally for PET scanners.

By the end of 2004, central cancer capital funding will mean that there will be approximately 277 MRI scanners in the NHS in England. In addition, on 8 April 2004, the Department launched a procurement from the private sector to provide an extra 80,000 mobile MRI scans per year for the NHS for five years.

Sexual Health Services

Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures his Department is taking to ensure that sexual health services and contraception advice for young people are made more accessible; and if he will make a statement. [171170]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Government are working to improve access to sexual health services and contraception advice for young people through both the "Teenage Pregnancy Strategy and the National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV."

The first ever "National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV" (2001) (which links closely to the Government's teenage pregnancy strategy) identifies young people as a priority group for action. The Department's 'Sex Lottery' and the teenage pregnancy (RUthinking) media campaigns are raising awareness among young people of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and how to avoid them. We are also tackling the most common STI through our national chlamydia screening programme, which already covers a quarter (84) of primary care trusts in England. Further details on the Strategy and its implementation are available from the Department's website at www.dh.gov.uk/sexualhealthandhiv/.

The teenage pregnancy strategy aims to tackle the high levels of teenage pregnancy. Increasing and improving access to contraception and sexual health advice services is also a very important part of this work.

Stroke Services

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how the stroke milestone in the older people's National Service Framework is defined; and how many hospitals have access to (a) peripatetic specialised teams and (b) a team in place in the hospital. [171077]

Dr. Ladyman: Standard 5 of the national service framework (NSF) for older people sets out the requirements for a specialised stroke service.

The Department is monitoring on a quarterly basis the number of hospitals that have stroke services and the number of these that have introduced specialised stroke services. The NSF makes it clear that all specialised stroke services should be co-ordinated through an integrated team, although the exact make up of that team will bedetermined locally. This more detailed information is not collected centrally.
 
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Telecommunications Masts

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to review and publish further health research evidence relating to the impact of (a) mobile phone masts and (b) mobile phone use subsequent to the report of Sir William Stewart. [167845]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The health implications of mobile phones and base stations were reviewed in a report issued in January 2004 by the National Radiological Protection Board's (NRPB) advisory group on non-ionising radiation (Documents of the NRPB, Vol 14, No. 2, 2003). The report, entitled, "Health Effects from Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields", concluded that:

"The weight of evidence now available does not suggest that there are adverse health effects from exposures to RF (radiofrequency) fields below guideline levels, but the published research on RF exposures and health has limitations, and mobile phones have only been in widespread use for a relatively short time. The possibility therefore remains open that there could be health effects from exposure to RF fields below guideline levels; hence continued research is needed."

More specifically, for base stations it concluded:

"Exposure levels from living near to mobile phone base stations are extremely low, and the overall evidence indicates that they are unlikely to pose a risk to health."

The report is available on the NRPB website at www.nrpb.org. The advisory group will continue to review the scientific literature both national and international that is relevant to the issue of mobile telephony and health.

The mobile telecommunications and health research (MTHR) programme reports on progress at its open seminars. The majority of projects are due to be completed in time for the seminar expected in November 2005. A few remaining projects may take up to three years longer depending on their complexity. Descriptions of these projects can be found on the website at www.mthr.org.uk.

In addition, the World Health Organisation (WHO) electromagnetic fields project is expected to publish a health risk assessment of radiofrequency effects in 2007, which will be available on the WHO website at www.who.int/peh-emf.

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