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26 May 2004 : Column 1700W—continued

Dentistry

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the number of dentists in England. [175220]

Ms Rosie Winterton: There were 23,229 national health service dentists in September 2003, an increase of 3,249 dentists since September 1996. This includes dentists working in the general dental service, personal dental service, community dental service, and the hospital and community dental service.

Mr. John Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to introduce free dental care for persons in receipt of incapacity benefit. [174994]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 24 May 2004]: We have no plans to do so. It is departmental policy to offer help with health costs based on a person's income, for example, to those receiving income support. As incapacity benefit is not income-based, it will not entitle a person to free dental care automatically, but recipients may be entitled to help by making a claim under the national health service low income scheme.

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists ceased providing treatment for patients on the NHS in each year since 1997, broken down by month; and if he will make a statement. [173558]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Information on the number of dentists leaving the general dental service (GDS) or personal dental service (PDS) is shown in the tables for England and Wales in each year since 1997, broken down by month. Leavers count dentists in their first month of absence. The number of entrants is also provided.

The number of dentists in the national health service is increasing; in all years since 1997, there have been more dentists entering the NHS than leaving.

Dentists can leave the NHS for a variety of reasons. These include retirements, short-term absence, leaving for other employment as well as dentists leaving the NHS dental services to practise wholly privately.
Number of dentists leaving and joining the GDS or PDS in England and Wales broken by month

	1997		1998		1999		2000
	Leavers	Entrants	Leavers	Entrants	Leavers	Entrants	Leavers	Entrants
January	87	142	93	144	119	141	102	131
February	87	104	91	135	103	139	98	156
March	72	68	98	100	95	99	103	118
April	151	83	109	77	114	95	134	90
May	98	71	90	77	98	95	107	93
June	98	88	89	83	78	78	121	72
July	77	110	81	124	87	111	120	136
August	151	568	188	651	193	694	191	656
September	146	157	188	191	203	177	231	189
October	105	100	97	175	125	153	146	198
November	86	98	91	106	122	128	120	108
December	78	63	78	69	88	74	106	69
Total	1,236	1,652	1,293	1,932	1,425	1,984	1,579	2,016

 
26 May 2004 : Column 1701W
 

	2001		2002		2003		2004
	Leavers	Entrants	Leavers	Entrants	Leavers	Entrants	Leavers	Entrants
January	132	160	134	140	141	129	117	125
February	116	153	128	100	109	101	89	102
March	95	112	104	107	106	119	110	96
April	131	134	126	127	117	79	—	—
May	92	81	93	87	114	89	—	—
June	90	87	138	82	112	150	—	—
July	102	142	114	156	225	631	—	—
August	260	722	292	618	209	200	—	—
September	216	175	215	187	125	106	—	—
October	140	135	133	129	127	107	—	—
November	119	126	114	107	94	82	—	—
December	104	63	83	61	151	156	—	—
Total	1,597	2,090	1,674	1,901	1,630	1,949	316	323

Notes:
1. The figures will include a large number of dentists who have had very short breaks in contracts as leavers and entrants, perhaps many times over the period.
2. These figures do not cover other NHS dental services, for example, community dental services and hospital dental services, for which information is not collected centrally.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to recruit dentists from abroad; and if he will make a statement. [174480]

Ms Rosie Winterton: We are exploring several options for recruitment of dentists from abroad, including building on our established links with European Union countries and we also expect applications from dentists in the new EU accession states. We are developing a comprehensive dental workforce action plan and will be in a position to provide further information in due course.

Drug Rehabilitation

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to reduce waiting times for drug rehabilitation treatment in Chorley; what the budget is for the drug action team in Chorley; how many people have been seen by the drug action team in each of the last three years; and what his latest estimate is of waiting    times for drug rehabilitation treatment in Lancashire. [165394]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested is not available centrally as Chorley is only one of the constituent parts of the Lancashire drug action team (DAT). There were 2,874 people receiving drug treatment in Lancashire in 2000–01. This is the latest available data. Information on waiting times at DAT level is not currently available, but the National Treatment Agency's programme to reduce waiting times has successfully achieved falls in waiting times across the country. The latest average waiting time reported for residential rehabilitation is four weeks.

Mr. Benton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in Bootle are receiving drug treatment. [175911]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Bootle is part of Sefton drug action team (DAT). There were 396 people receiving drug treatment in Bootle in 2000–01. This is the latest available data. Data broken down by DAT for 2001–02 and 2002–03 has not yet been finalised and published.
 
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Eye Tests (Blackpool, South)

Mr. Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many residents of Blackpool, South aged over 60 years have benefited from the abolition of charges for eye tests. [173071]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Data for the number of sight tests by constituency or by the number of senior citizens is not collected centrally.

The total number of sight tests paid for by Cumbria and Lancashire Strategic Health Authority in the year 2002–03 for those aged 60 and over was 189,100.

The total number of eligible for a free eye test for those aged 60 and over was 429,300. Sight tests cannot be equated to the number of patients.

Source:

Department of Health Statistics.

Health Services

Mr. Kilfoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time for eye operations in Liverpool was in (a) 1997 and (b) 2003. [166948]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested is shown in the table.
In-patients waiting time, waiting list and booked cases combined median waiting time in days for selected primary operations by selected trust in national health service hospitals in England 1997–98 and 2002–03—Eye Operations (C01-C86 OPCS 4R)

	Finished in-year admissions	Mean	Median
Aintree Hospitals NHS Trust
1997–98	2,080	38	25
2002–03	2,824	102	68
Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Hospital NHS Trust
1997–98	5,156	106	61
2002–03	4,555	137	81

Notes:
1. Time waited statistics from hospital episode statistics (HES) are not the same as the published waiting list statistics. HES provides counts and time waited for all patients admitted to hospital within a given period whereas the published waiting list statistics count those waiting for treatment on a specific date and how long they have been on the waiting list. Also, HES calculates the time waited as the difference between the admission and decision to admit dates. Unlike published waiting list statistics, this is not adjusted for self-deferrals or periods of medical/social suspension.
2. The main operation is the first recorded operation in the HES data set and is usually the most resource intensive procedure performed during the episode. It is appropriate to use main operation when looking at admission details e.g. time waited, but the figures for "all operations count of episodes" give a more complete count of episodes with an operation.
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health.




 
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Mr. Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what changes there have been in NHS waiting list times for the residents of (a) Manchester, Blackley and (b) the City of Manchester in the last seven years. [175011]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information is not collected on a constituency basis but at national health service trust level. Data for the relevant NHS trusts is shown in the table.
Patients waiting for elective in-patient admission

		Patients waiting for admission by months waiting
Month-end		Total number of patients waiting for admission	Less than 3 months	3–5 months	6–8 months	9–11 months	12–14 months	15–17 months	18+ months
March 1997	Central Manchester Healthcare       NHS Trust	12,313	5,778	2,622	1,920	1,223	616	133	21
March 1997	Manchester Children's       Hospitals NHS Trust	2,801	952	728	528	510	79	4	—
March 1998	Central Manchester Healthcare       NHS Trust	12,531	5,813	2,454	1,676	1,217	885	486	—
March 1998	Manchester Children's       Hospitals NHS Trust	3,260	985	908	617	666	74	10	—
March 1999	Central Manchester Healthcare       NHS Trust	11,266	5,654	2,191	1,614	975	622	210	—
March 1999	Manchester Children's       Hospitals NHS Trust	2,742	849	753	542	472	118	8	—
March 2000	Central Manchester Healthcare       NHS Trust	11,040	5,026	2,489	1,703	1,039	533	250	—
March 2000	Manchester Children's       Hospitals NHS Trust	2,639	801	687	523	370	218	40	—
March 2001	Central Manchester Healthcare       NHS Trust	10,742	5,056	2,432	1,451	826	606	371	-—
March 2001	Manchester Children's       Hospitals NHS Trust	2,634	831	603	552	373	231	44	—
March 2002	Central Manchester and       Manchester Children's       University Hospitals NHS       Trust	13,213	6,028	3,333	2,136	1,216	500	—	—
March 2003	Central Manchester and       Manchester Children's       University Hospitals NHS       Trust	10,822	5,605	2,832	1,701	684	61	0	0
February 2004	Central Manchester and       Manchester Children's       University Hospitals NHS       Trust	9,176	6,487	2,316	373	—	—	—	—

Source:
DH form KH07 and Monthly Monitoring

Mr. Meale: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many NHS patients waited for more than six months for operations within Nottinghamshire health authorities areas in each year since 1997; [173522]

(2) how many NHS patients waited more than nine months for operations within Nottinghamshire health authority areas in each year since 1997. [173551]

Dr. Ladyman: The information requested is shown in the table.
Health authorities (HAs) of treatment—North Nottinghamshire HA and Nottingham HA. Method of admission—elective (waiting list and booked cases). Counts of finished in-year admission episodes with and operation by time waited grouping national health service hospitals, England 1998–99 to 2002–031

	North Nottinghamshire HA			Nottingham HA
	0 to 6 months	6 to 9 months	more than 9 months	0 to 6 months	6 to 9 months	more than 9 months
1997–98	21,356	2,486	2,089	54,469	3,713	6,145
1998–99	22,470	2,320	2,507	56,961	3,573	5,701
1999–2000	21,666	1,871	1,784	54,750	2,630	4,614
2000–01	18,949	1,899	2,008	43,361	2,648	5,202
2001–02	11,094	1,159	2,120	42,490	3,116	4,308
2002–03(8)	10,469	1,298	2,993	42,060	4,524	5,022

⁽⁸⁾   2002–03 figures based on 2001–02 HAs.
Notes:
1. A finished in-year admission is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider, excluding admissions beginning before 1 April at the start of the data-year. Please note that admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.
2. All operations count of episodes—these figures represent a count of all finished consultant episodes—a procedure was mentioned in any of the 12 (four prior to 2002–03) operation fields in a HES record. A record is included only once in each count, even if an operation is mentioned in more than one operation field of the record.
3. Time waited statistics from hospital episode statistics (HES) are not the same as the published waiting list statistics. HES provides counts and time waited for all patients admitted to hospital within a given period, whereas the published waiting list statistics count those waiting for treatment on a specific date and how long they have been on the waiting list. Also, HES calculates the time waited as the difference between the admission and decision to admit dates. Unlike published waiting list statistics, this is not adjusted for self-deferrals or periods of medical/social suspension.
4. Figures are grossed for both coverage and missing/invalid clinical data, except for 2001–02 and 2002–03, which are not yet adjusted for shortfalls.
Source:
HES, Department of Health.





 
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