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Osteoporosis

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the status is of (a) raloxifene and (b) teriparatide in the National Institute for Clinical Excellence's review of pharmacological treatments for osteoporosis. [179875]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Raloxifiene and teriparatide are included in the National Institute for Clinical Excellence's (NICE) appraisal of the clinical effectiveness and cost effectiveness of technologies for the secondary prevention of osteoporotic fractures in postmenopausal women.

The recommendations in the draft guidance are preliminary and may change after consultation. Guidance is due to be published in October 2004 and full details of the appraisal can be found on the NICE website www.nice.org.uk.

Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he last met the Chair of the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health. [179927]

Ms Rosie Winterton: My right hon. Friend, the Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn), the then Secretary of State for Health, met Sharon Grant in October 2002. Since then, there have been regular meetings between Sharon Grant and the Ministers responsible for patient and public involvement, but no meetings with the Secretary of State. The most recent meeting with a Minister of the Department was on 17 June 2004. I also met Sharon Grant at the opening of a patients' forum support centre in Leicester on 15 June.
 
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Renal Services

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when the second part of the National Service Framework on renal services will be published; and if he will make a statement; [180282]

(2) how the development of the second part of the National Service Framework on renal services will be co-ordinated with the development within his Department of policy on chronic disease management. [180283]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Part two of the national service framework (NSF) for renal services is being developed and will be published in due course.

The work programme for improving chronic disease management is complementary to NSFs and focuses on developing support to help maintain the health of people with a complex mix of health and social care problems, and supporting self-care so that people are better able to look after themselves. This approach recognises the complex interaction of multiple conditions and aims to manage the holistic needs of individuals. For example, good glycaemic control in people with diabetes and the treatment of high blood pressure can reduce the risk, or progression, of chronic kidney disease.

Sexual Health

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital admissions for teenagers for sexually transmitted diseases there were in (a) England and (b) each strategic health authority in each year since 1996. [179160]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The data requested is shown in the table.
 
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Count of finished admission episodes by strategic health authority (SHA) of treatment and for England Age on admission—13 to 19 years National health service hospitals England 1996–97 to 2002–03

SHA of treatment		1996–97	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Q01	Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire HA	14	6	14	10	15	13	10
Q02	Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire HA	3	1	5	2	14	5	4
Q03	Essex HA	6	8	9	9	8	4	8
Q04	North West London HA	26	13	5	11	8	8	9
Q05	North Central London HA	6	12	41	25	18	23	10
Q06	North East London HA	3	1	2	11	7	2	6
Q07	South East London HA	8	10	10	5	3	6	12
Q08	South West London HA	5	—	8	5	5	6	6
Q09	Northumberland, Tyne and Wear HA	5	3	39	23	22	12	7
Q10	County Durham and Tees Valley HA	—	—	—	12	9	5	13
Q11	North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire HA	20	8	8	20	15	16	11
Q12	West Yorkshire HA	17	12	7	33	18	14	13
Q13	Cumbria and Lancashire HA	6	4	3	—	2	5	16
Q14	Greater Manchester HA	13	16	19	13	17	23	27
Q15	Cheshire and Merseyside HA	12	9	11	7	15	12	16
Q16	Thames Valley HA	6	3	5	5	10	6	10
Q17	Hampshire and Isle Of Wight HA	3	5	4	8	7	7	5
Q18	Kent and Medway HA	2	2	1	10	4	5	2
Q19	Surrey and Sussex HA	4	3	5	9	7	5	7
Q20	Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire HA	2	—	1	8	12	4	11
Q21	South West Peninsula HA	27	23	18	17	3	3	3
Q22	Dorset and Somerset HA	8	1	6	8	4	3	8
Q23	South Yorkshire HA	2	1	1	6	7	19	11
Q24	Trent HA	22	25	21	19	31	20	17
Q25	Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland HA	5	5	2	12	3	5	4
Q26	Shropshire and Staffordshire HA	8	1	2	2	3	2	3
Q27	Birmingham and the Black Country HA	6	9	5	11	10	10	13
Q28	Coventry, Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire HA	2	6	3	9	9	7	10
	Not known	231	182	132	74	45	18	—
	England	474	370	389	387	335	268	272

Stroke Pathways

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to encourage (a) primary care trusts and (b) hospital trusts to work together to establish stroke pathways. [180035]

Dr. Ladyman: Our major vehicle for improving standards for stroke services is through the older people's national service framework (NSF), which set specific milestones for improvement by April 2004 of stroke services in primary care trusts, specialist services and general hospitals that care for people suffering from a stroke. Our document, "Improvement, Expansion and Reform", which sets for the national health service a priorities and planning framework for 2003–06, makes clear that implementation of the older people's NSF is a top priority.

Implementation of the NSF for older people is leading to real improvements in stroke services and making a difference to people's lives. The development of better services and improved standards in stroke care requires the right balance between national standards, provided by the NSF, national clinical guidelines and local control.

Treatment Costs

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to the NHS of treating (a) those injured in road traffic accidents and (b) head injuries received in cycling accidents is in the last year for which figures are available. [179958]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The national health service does not identify separately the costs of treating road traffic accident victims or those injured in cycling accidents. Where a road traffic accident patient receives
 
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compensation for their injuries, the national health service is able to reclaim the costs of their treatment from whoever pays the compensation. In 2003–04, over £105 million was recovered in this way.

Visually Impaired People

Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that visually impaired people receive a high standard of service from the NHS, with particular reference to (a) the format of letters and information in preferred format and (b) staff training. [180192]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 24 June 2004]: People with visual impairments have the same right of access to high quality health services as everyone else. The NHS Plan emphasised the Government's commitment to a person-centred health service that challenges discrimination on all grounds.

In conjunction with the Disability Rights Commission, the Department has launched a joint framework for partnership action on disability to help deliver improvements for disabled people as users and providers of health and social care. Access and communication have been identified as priority areas and the Department is taking a number of steps to address these. These include publication of the leaflet, "You Can Make a Difference—Improving Hospital Services for Disabled People" and developing guidance and support for primary care trusts on improving services for disabled people.

The Department is also developing a patient information framework to provide the strategic framework for future development and provision in this area. Together with the informed patient project, which will improve the overall quality, range and accessibility
 
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of patient information, the framework will support the need for individuals to have access to information at different times and in different formats depending on their circumstances.

NHSU, the organisation set up by the Department to establish a university for the national health service, is also working closely with the Disability Rights Commission and others to develop a framework and programme of work to address training on disabilities issues in health and social care. As a first step, a prototype learning programme, aimed at providing staff with a broad overview of disability awareness, will be ready for consultation in the autumn.

There are no plans for centrally funded programmes that deal specifically with awareness of visual impairments.

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