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11 Oct 2004 : Column 144W—continued
GP Surgeries (Disabled Access)
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to provide funds to improve access to general practitioner surgeries for disabled people; and if he will make a statement. [189996]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Department recently announced an additional £108 million over two years for improving general practitioner premises. This money can be used to meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, including the new access provisions commencing 1 October 2004. The use of this money will however be subject to local decision-making and prioritisation.
The Department and the Disability Rights Commission last month issued joint guidance for the primary care sector aimed at raising awareness of the duties under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and improving disabled people's experience of primary care services.
Head Injuries
Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of district general hospitals accepting patients with head injuries have a consultant who has undergone higher surgical training in the management of head injuries. [189453]
Mr. Hutton: Information on the staffing profile of district general hospitals and the training undergone by individual consultants employed in them is not held centrally. Central monitoring and reporting is limited to that concentrated on the information needed to demonstrate progress against the targets set out in "National Standards, Local Action: Health and Social Care Standards and Planning Framework 2005–06 to 2007–08"—published by the Department on 21 July 2004; and for contractual purposes. Additional monitoring is kept to a minimum in favour of local performance management systems, exception reporting and independent inspections.
All doctors are expected to comply with the guidelines of the General Medical Council about providing care. They must recognise and work within the limits of their own professional competence and refer a patient to another practitioner, when appropriate.
Hepatitis C
Mr. Page: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to verify the accuracy of estimates of the percentage of the population with hepatitis C. [189817]
Miss Melanie Johnson: As part of the "Hepatitis C Action Plan for England", the Health Protection Agency is strengthening epidemiological surveillance of hepatitis C infection to provide better estimates of its prevalence and incidence in the general population and injecting drug users.
Hernia Operations
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average cost of a hernia operation is on the NHS. [189549]
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Mr. Hutton: The national average unit cost (per operation) for all national health service trusts in England for inguinal, umbilical or femoral hernia repairs, where the operation is undertaken electively (that is not as an emergency) is as follows:
For patients who are more than 69 years old or with complications or co-morbidities—£1,247
For patients who are less than 70 years old without complication or co-morbidities—£1,066
For patients who are more than 69 years old or with complications or co-morbidities—£701
For patients who are less than 70 years old without complication or co-morbidities—£729
The data source is the reference costs 2003 collection, relating to the financial year 2002–03. This is the most current data available and is accessible on the Department's website at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/Publications PolicyAndGuidance/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance Article/fs/en?CONTENT ID=4070195&chk=UzhHA3
Calculation of the costs provided are based on all activity and costs associated with each procedure, regardless of the speciality in which the activity is recorded.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many inguinal hernia operations were carried out by the NHS in each of the last three years. [189550]
Mr. Hutton: The number of finished consultant episodes for the years 2000–01 to 2002–03 for Office of Population Censuses and Surveys 4 codes T19 to T21 (hernia operations) is as follows:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 84,003 |
| 2001–02 | 80,000 |
| 2002–03 | 82,879 |
Note:
Finished Consultant Episode: Finished consultant episode (FCE) is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. The figures do not represent the number of patients as a person may have more than one episode of care within the year.
All operations count of episodes: These figures represent a count of all FCEs where the procedure was mentioned in any of the 12 (four prior to 2002–03) operation fields in a Hospital episode statistics 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.
Grossing: Figures are grossed for both coverage and missing/invalid clinical data, except for 2002–03 which are not yet adjusted for shortfalls.
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health
Maternity Services
Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps is he taking (a) to maintain the number of midwives and (b) to maintain the number of those available (i) for home births, (ii) to fill existing vacancies and (iii) to cover those unable to attend work. [187558]
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Mr. Hutton: The Government are implementing a range of measures to recruit and retain midwives. These include improving pay and conditions, encouraging the national health service to become a better, more flexible and diverse employer, increasing training, investing in child care and continuing professional development, attracting back returners and running national and international recruitment campaigns.
In September 2003, there were 1,556 more midwives employed in the NHS than there were in 1997 and the number of students entering training to become a midwife each year has increased by 574 or 34 per cent. since 1996–97.
In line with the Government's policy to devolve decision making to those at the front line of NHS service provision, it is for individual units and trusts to make arrangements for covering home births and to cover for staff absences.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list, for each NHS organisation providing maternity services, the latest available figures for (a) vacancies for midwifery grades (i) in numerical terms and (ii) expressed as a percentage of total number of posts at those grades and (b) numbers of (i) home births and (ii) caesarean sections performed, expressed in each case (A) in numerical terms and (B) as percentages of total births. [188905]
Dr. Ladyman: The information available on vacancies for midwifery grades has been placed in the Library.
Information on the numbers of home births and caesarean sections performed is not available in the format requested. Hospital episode statistics data show that, in 2002–03, there were an estimated 12,100 home deliveries (2.16 per cent. of total deliveries) and 117,800 caesarean deliveries (21 per cent. of total deliveries) in England. Percentages for caesarean sections compared to total hospital deliveries are available by hospital in Table 33 of the NHS Maternity Statistics, England, 20O2–03 bulletin. A copy of the bulletin is available in the Library.
Kidney Dialysis
Mr. Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether Saudi Arabia is among those countries with which the UK has reciprocal arrangements for providing kidney dialysis for patients travelling abroad. [189527]
Mr. Hutton: The United Kingdom has reciprocal treatment arrangements with a number of countries outside of the European Economic Area. There is currently no reciprocal arrangement with Saudi Arabia.
Meat Consumption
Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to reduce the amount of (a) red meat and (b) white meat consumed; and if he will make a statement. [188082]
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Miss Melanie Johnson: The Government recognise the contribution meat can make to a healthy balanced diet and have no plans to take specific action to reduce meat consumption. They are however, taking a number of steps to encourage people to eat a healthier diet, which includes advising moderate consumption of meat and encouraging people to choose leaner cuts and remove visible fat and poultry skin.
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