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4 Nov 2004 : Column 384W—continued
School Fruit Scheme
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health from which holding locations fruit is supplied to schools under the National School Fruit Scheme; and by what methods it is transported. [194271]
Miss Melanie Johnson: There are 17 distributors to the school fruit and vegetable scheme operating out of 23 distribution centres around the country. These are shown in the following table.
The distributors primarily use diesel powered long wheelbase transit-type vans. Distributors are located strategically around the country to attempt to minimise the journey time to schools.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many schools are participating in the National School Fruit Scheme; and how many deliveries are made per week to these schools. [194272]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
As at 27 October 2004, 13,354 schools were participating nationally in the school fruit and vegetable scheme. The total number of eligible schools is 16,796.
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The national roll-out of the school fruit and vegetable scheme is currently in progress. This means that the number of participating schools is expected to increase over the following month, as schools in the South West, South East, East of England and Yorkshire and Humber regions join the scheme. By the end of the year, we anticipate that roughly 16,500 schools will be participating in the scheme.
The number of deliveries varies from school to school. Each school receives at least five deliveries over a two week cycle, but more commonly each school will receive three deliveries per week.
Agency Nurses
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the use of agency nurses within NHS hospitals within the Greater London area. [195792]
Dr. Ladyman: Information on the number of agency nurses within national health service hospitals within the Greater London area is not available centrally.
The NHS does not separately record the cost of employing agency staff. Data are collected on the total expenditure by NHS bodies on nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff who are not directly employed by NHS bodies. Data for 2003–04 are provisional, but shows, within the five London strategic health authority areas, a decrease in expenditure from £220,780,586 in 2002–03 to £186,428,833 in 2003–04.
NHS Professionals and the London agency project, a procurement process for the NHS in London to arrange the supply of temporary nursing, midwifery, health visitor and healthcare assistant staff, are working to reduce agency costs in London.
Alcohol-related Deaths
Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how his Department records and collates alcohol-related deaths that fall outside the scope of the World Health Organisation ICD 10 codings for death directly attributable to alcohol; [195781]
(2) how many alcohol-related deaths were recorded in England and Wales in each of the last five years. [195782]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Numbers of deaths in England and Wales, regarded as being directly alcohol-related according to a definition used by the Office for National Statistics based on the International Classification of Diseases, are shown in the table. This presents the number of deaths certified as due to alcohol abuse, dependence and poisoning, and diseases directly related to alcohol use from 1999 to 2003, the latest year for which figures are currently available. Information on the part that alcohol may have played in deaths from other causes, including other accidents, suicides and violence, is not available from death certificates.
A number of health and lifestyle factors can also contribute to diseases such as cancer, stroke and coronary heart disease, and it can be difficult to isolate alcohol consumption as the most important of these factors.
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In the Strategy Unit Alcohol Harm Reduction Project: Interim Analytical Report 1 it was estimated that in 2000 there were between 15,000 and 22,000 alcohol-related deaths in England and Wales.
1 Prime Minister's Strategy Unit Alcohol Harm Reduction Project. Interim Analytical Report, 2003, p44, available at www.number10.gov.uk/files/pdf/SU interim report2.pdf.
| Number of deaths | |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 5,473 |
| 2000 | 5,543 |
| 2001 | 6,020 |
| 2002 | 6,100 |
| 2003 | 6,511 |
Notes:
For the years 1999–2000 the cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9). The codes used by the Office for National Statistics to define alcohol-related deaths are listed as follows:
291: Alcoholic psychoses
303: Alcohol dependence syndrome
305.0: Non-dependent abuse of alcohol
425.5: Alcoholic cardiomyopathy
571: Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
E860: Accidental poisoning by alcohol
For the years 2001–2003 the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) was used. To maintain comparability with earlier years the following codes were used:
F10: Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol
142.6: Alcoholic cardiomyopathy
K70: Alcoholic liver disease
K73: Chronic hepatitis, not elsewhere classified
K74: Fibrosis and cirrhosis of liver
X45: Accidental poisoning by and exposure to alcohol
The selection of codes to define alcohol-related deaths is described in:
Baker A and Rooney C (2003). Recent trends in alcohol-related mortality, and the impact of ICD-10 on the monitoring of these deaths in England and Wales. Health Statistics Quarterly 17, pp 5–14.
St. George's Hospital, Tooting
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients are waiting for (a) hearing aids and (b) other audiology treatment at St. George's Hospital, Tooting. [195790]
Dr. Ladyman: There are no patients waiting at St. George's Healthcare National Health Service Trust for the specialty audiological medicine.
Information is collected at specialty level but not specifically on waits for hearing aids or other specific treatments within this specialty.
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many women have been treated with IVF treatment at St. George's hospital, Tooting in each of the last three years. [195791]
Dr. Ladyman:
Figures for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment at St. George's hospital, Tooting are shown in the table.
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| Number of patients | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 313 |
| 2002–03 | 148 |
Source:
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
The assisted conception service at the St. George's Healthcare National Health Service Trust closed in 2002 and the last recorded IVF treatment at the hospital was in September 2002.
B144 Blood Testing Strips
Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the withdrawal of B144 blood testing strips from NHS prescription supply. [195521]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Roche Diagnostics say that they have manufactured the BM-Test 1–44 blood testing strip for a number of years. However, as blood glucose monitoring technology has developed over the years, with faster test times and less blood required, the demand for this product has steadily declined among people with diabetes. It is within this context that Roche Diagnostics has withdrawn the product from the market.
Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost of providing blood-testing meters to those qualifying for financial assistance with NHS prescriptions in each of the last five years. [195522]
Ms Rosie Winterton: We have made no such estimate. Blood glucose testing meters are available to patients on loan from the national health service.
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