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2 Mar 2005 : Column 1216W—continued
Chorley Hospital
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been treated for cancer at Chorley Hospital in the last five years. [216206]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The information is not collected in the format requested. The table shows the number of patients treated for cancer at Chorley and South Ribble National Health Service Trust, Preston Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Chorley and South Ribble District Hospital was previously part of Chorley and South Ribble NHS Trust and is now part of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
(17) This is not the sum of the counts for each trust, since a patient may be treated by more than one trust.
Notes:
1. A finished admission episode is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. 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. The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (seven prior to 2002–03) diagnosis fields in the hospital episode statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.
3. Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed).
4. Patient counts are based on the unique patient identifier HESID. This identifier is derived based on patient's date of birth, postcode, sex, local patient identifier and NHS number, using an agreed algorithm. Where data are incomplete, HESID might erroneously link episodes or fail to recognise episodes for the same patient. Care is therefore needed, especially where duplicate records persist in the data. The patient count cannot be summed across a table where patients may have episodes in more than one cell.
Providers of treatment:
RJU—Chorley and South Ribble National Health Service Trust
RMF—Preston Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
RXN—Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Primary diagnosis: (ICD-10 C00-D48) Cancer Neoplasms—counts of finished admission episodes and patients. NHS hospitals, 1999–2000 to 2003–04
Source:
HES, Department of Health.
Co-proxamol
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department will maintain approval for Co-proxamol for those patients who have intolerance to other painkillers. [217484]
Ms Rosie Winterton: There are a number of alternatives for managing painful conditions and the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) has issued advice on pain management options to assist prescribers together with individual patients, in choosing appropriate pain management strategies. This guidance also refers to a number of sources of additional advice including the British National Formulary, which is sent to all doctors and pharmacists.
The CSM's overview of alternative analgesic options was communicated though the Chief Medical Officer's public health link to all health care professionals, accompanying the communication on the withdrawal of co-proxamol and is available on the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's website www.mhra.gov.uk. Copies have been placed in the Library.
It has been agreed with the manufacturers to withdraw co-proxamol over an extended period of time in order to allow long term users an opportunity to adopt suitable alternative pain management strategies. At the end of the phased withdrawal and following the cancellation or withdrawal of the Marketing Authorisations for existing products, the provision would remain for the supply of unlicensed preparations to individual patients on the clinical responsibility primarily of a patient's doctor.
Exempted Prescriptions
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what changes have been made over the last two years to the guidance issued to the NHS Counter Fraud Compliance Unit on (a) recovery of incorrectly exempted prescriptions, (b) recovery of incorrectly exempted prescriptions from incapacity benefit claimants, (c) the bringing of cases to the civil courts and (d) the recovery of past debts and costs. [218026]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
No changes have been made to guidance issued to the national health service counter fraud and security management service (CFSMS)
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compliance unit regarding recovery of funds lost due to incorrect claims to exemption in relation to prescription charges.
Guidance was issued in 2004 regarding incapacity benefit claimants, directing the compliance unit to urge patients to make a claim under the Low Income Scheme where they were found to have made an incorrect claim for exemption, and to only recover the cost of the prescription if their claim to exemption was successful. In cases where claimants are not successful, a penalty charge will be applied.
During the financial year 2003–04, a review of the compliance unit systems was carried out by CFSMS to improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the unit.
The process for the compliance unit taking cases to the civil courts for recovery was specifically reviewed to assess whether use of the court represented best value for money to CFSMS in the recovery of debts and whether the costs of the unit could be reduced.
In August 2003, the compliance unit was advised not to take any further cases to the civil courts as the review showed that the process cost 10 times more than the amount that was actually recovered.
Gender Dysphoria
Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he has given to primary care trusts on ensuring that patients with gender dysphoria are able to access assessment and treatment on the same basis as other patients with a mental illness. [218731]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Guidance on gender dysphoria was included in the national definitions set for specialised services; this suggests that primary care trusts should commission such services collectively. Specialised services for mental health, including services for people with gender dysphoria, are being reviewed by Professor Louis Appleby, the national director for mental health. A report is due in May.
Heart Disease (Women)
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps the NHS takes to encourage women to have regular blood pressure checks; [217955]
(2) what steps the Department is taking to raise awareness of the risks of cardiac disease in women. [217956]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Standards one to four of the national service framework for coronary heart disease, published in March 2000, set out a comprehensive programme of action for the management of risks associated with heart disease including high blood pressure, for both men and women. The Department is working with the national health service, local government, the voluntary sector and other key stakeholders to ensure improved awareness and better management of risks for all patients at risk of cardiovascular illness.
HIV/AIDS
Mr. Evans:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many people in England (a) have AIDS and (b) are HIV positive; [217472]
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(2) what the average life expectancy of someone with AIDS is; and what it was in 1990; [217473]
(3) what percentage of new HIV cases in England in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004 were not British citizens. [217475]
Miss Melanie Johnson: In 2003, the latest year for which figures are available, there were 34,103 individuals with diagnosed HIV infection living in England, 8,056 of whom were reported as having AIDS, and a further 246 with a diagnosis of an AIDS defining illness who were reported as having died during that year. Estimates for the total number of adults living with HIV—undiagnosed and diagnosed—are available for the United Kingdom. In 2003, it was estimated that in total 53,000 adults were living with HIV in the UK.
National HIV surveillance figures do not include information about nationality, citizenship or residency status.
Highly active antiretroviral therapies (HAART) became available in the mid-1990s. HIV infection can be well controlled if infection is diagnosed and appropriate treatment with these therapies is given. There is no sign of any decline in the effectiveness of HAART at a population level. Although it is not possible to estimate precisely the life expectancy of individuals whose HIV infections have been diagnosed and who are receiving HAART, the availability of these treatments has greatly prolonged the life expectancy of those diagnosed with HIV (and AIDS).
In 1990 (before the introduction of HAART), and in people today whose HIV infection is not diagnosed or is not treated, life expectancy varies considerably. It is estimated that the average time between HIV infection and developing AIDS is 10 years and from AIDS diagnosis to death is 18 months to two years.
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