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12 Jul 2004 : Column 932W—continued

Means-Tested Benefits

Mr. Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the means-tested benefits available through his Department and the agencies for which it is responsible (a) in May 1997 and (b) now. [182592]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The income related benefits available through this Department in 1997, all still available in 2004, are help with health costs (including prescriptions, dental treatment, sight tests, glasses or contact lenses, wigs or fabric supports from a hospital and travel to hospital for national health service treatment) and the welfare food scheme, providing free milk and vitamins.

Agency Nurses

Mr. Hurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of nurses working in the national health service were supplied on contract by private agencies in each year from 1990 to 2003. [173638]

Mr. Hutton: Separate information is not collected centrally on expenditure on agency staff. Information is collected on expenditure on non-national health service staff for primary care trusts, NHS trusts and strategic health authorities. These figures include all agency staff and any other staff not directly employed by these bodies. The figures for non-NHS nurses, midwives and health visitors are shown in the table.
Expenditure on non-NHS nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff as a percentage of expenditure on NHS nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff
1990–912.24
1991–921.76
1992–931.64
1993–941.70
1994–952.10
1995–962.61
1996–972.95
1997–983.26
1998–993.90
1999–20004.70
2000–015.22
2001–025.91
2002–035.76




Sources:
1. Annual financial returns of district and regional health authorities and the special health authorities for the London postgraduate teaching hospitals, 1990–91 to 1995–96.
2. Annual financial returns of health authorities, 1996–97 to 2001–02.
3. Annual financial returns of strategic health authorities, 2002–03.
4. Annual financial returns of NHS trusts, 1991–92 to 2002–03.
5. Annual financial returns of primary care trusts, 2000–01 to 2002–03.




 
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Ministerial Travel

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for each year since 1997 the number of miles flown by each Minister on official departmental business. [181871]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Ministerial Visits

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which Ministers from his Department have visited health services and medical care facilities in Taiwan in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [177493]

Ms Rosie Winterton: My noble Friend, the Lord Filkin, travelled to Taiwan in October 2001 in a ministerial capacity for the Department and visited a hospital as part of his programme.

Myasthenia Gravis

Syd Rapson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on how the Government support those diagnosed with myasthenia gravis. [182767]

Dr. Ladyman: Myasthenia gravis is a neurological condition characterised by fluctuating levels of muscle weakness. There is no cure, but treatment includes medication, surgery and palliation.

The national service framework for long term conditions will focus on improving services for people with neurological conditions. While the framework will not cover myasthenia gravis specifically, it will recommend improvements in standards, care and support that will benefit everyone with a neurological condition.

We are committed to publishing the framework as soon as possible.
 
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NHS Dentistry

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many emergency admissions for dental treatment there were in the NHS for each region in each year since 1997. [181193]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The information available for emergency admissions into hospital for dental treatment is shown in the table for each strategic health authority area from 1997–98 to 2002–03.
National health service: number of emergency hospital admissions for dental treatment in England by strategic health authority

1997–981998–991999–2000
England4,0474,3214,369
Strategic health authority
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire114156129
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire467486
Essex214107122
North west London58281122
North central London584481
North east London6567128
South east London152129121
South west London505484
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear2998149
County Durham and Tees Valley49
North and east Yorkshire and north Lincolnshire4644121
West Yorkshire48105190
Cumbria and Lancashire134147199
Greater Manchester545484
Cheshire and Merseyside248283380
Thames Valley68122119
Hampshire and Isle Of Wight128109151
Kent and Medway7349138
Surrey and Sussex96147154
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire9385105
South West Peninsula191232245
Dorset and Somerset898489
South Yorkshire423499
Trent94158159
Leicestershire, Northants and Rutland3252184
Shropshire and Staffordshire905879
Birmingham and the Black Country118140157
Coventry, Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire566754
Unclassified region1,5611,341591

2000–012001–022002–03
England4,4294,1884,715
Strategic Health Authority
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire179227309
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire1697179
Essex11598103
North west London534483
North central London787974
North east London145124206
South east London153185225
South west London1057693
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear164176158
County Durham and Tees Valley5160125
North and east Yorkshire and north Lincolnshire144140200
West Yorkshire207164162
Cumbria and Lancashire194270292
Greater Manchester76202266
Cheshire and Merseyside328325400
Thames Valley9889114
Hampshire and Isle Of Wight147154140
Kent and Medway168147119
Surrey and Sussex153133215
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire137100139
South West Peninsula246243266
Dorset and Somerset867698
South Yorkshire7697153
Trent179197230
Leicestershire, Northants and Rutland154146128
Shropshire and Staffordshire785888
Birmingham and the Black Country167188181
Coventry, Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire637669
Unclassified region516243




Notes:
1. A finished admission episode is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.
2. Figures are grossed for both coverage and missing/invalid clinical data, except for 2001–02 and 2002–03, which are not yet adjusted for shortfall.
3. The operations count of episode represent a count of finished admission episodes where the procedure was mentioned in any of the 12 (four prior to 2002–03) operation fields in a Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) record. A record is only included once in each count, even if an operation is mentioned in more than one operation field of the record.
4. Strategic health authority (SHA) data was added to historic data-years in the HES database using 2002–03 boundaries, as a one-off exercise in 2004. The quality of the data on SHA of treatment is poor in 1997–98 and 1998–99, with over a third of all finished episodes having missing values in these years. Users of time series analysis including these years need to be aware of these issues in their interpretation of the data.
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics Department of Health




 
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