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8 Mar 2005 : Column 1724W—continued
Dentistry
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the progress made towards implementing a dental NHS IT system. [219394]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 2 March 2005]: Work is progressing to finalise definition of the functional requirements for clinical information technology (IT) systems in both primary and secondary care to link to the national programme for information technology in the national health service. The requirements for primary care dental IT will be informed by the new contractual arrangements for primary care dentistry, which will be implemented by April 2006.
Departmental Estate
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many acres of vacant, dormant, unused and under-utilised land are owned by his Department; and if he will estimate the number of homes that could be built on the land if it was made available. [219683]
Mr. Hutton
[holding answer 3 March 2005]: The majority of surplus land remaining in the ownership of the Secretary of State for Health is included in a transfer of land and property to English Partnerships (EP). This transfer, which was announced in April 2004, will assist the Government's sustainable communities plan. Around 1,650 hectares of land will transfer to EP and it is estimated that this has the capacity to provide around 15,000 homes.
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Diagnostics
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of excess unused capacity within the NHS for diagnostic services; [218194]
(2) whether primary care trusts will have the choice of whether to purchase services under the new purchasing contract for diagnostics services. [218195]
Mr. Hutton: [holding answer 28 February 2005]: Primary care trust's (PCT) capacity planning identified the need for significant increases in diagnostic capacity to meet the 18-week waiting time target. For example, the number of scans required will need to increase from 6.4 million in 2004–05 to 8.9 million in 2008.
This additional capacity is required quickly and I believe that the independent sector is well placed to provide some of this capacity. That is why we announced the procurement of £1 billion over five years, which includes one million scans annually. This still leaves significant growth for the national health service.
The Department has been working with strategic health authorities and PCTs to develop specific proposals for the procurement, choosing what they wish us to purchase for them. Since PCTs have identified these requirements, we expect all of them use the services that will be provided from the procurement.
Doctors (Training)
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pre-registration training places there have been for doctors in England in each year since 1980. [219679]
Mr. Hutton: The number of medical pre-registration house officers in England in each year since 1980 is shown in the following table.
Source:
Department of Health medical and dental workforce census.
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Down's Syndrome
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding has been provided for research into Down's syndrome (a) in total and (b) with specific reference to brain development in each year since 1997–98; and what plans he has to support further such research. [216429]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The main agency through which the Government supports medical and clinical research is the Medical Research Council (MRC). The MRC is an independent body, funded by the Department of Trade and Industry via the Office of Science and Technology.
The Department funds research to support policy and to provide the evidence needed to underpin quality improvement and service development in the national health service.
Both the MRC and the Department are currently supporting research into Down's syndrome. Past expenditure on such research is shown in the table.
| MRC | Department of Health research programmes(29) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 352 | 531 |
| 1998–99 | 143 | 611 |
| 1999–2000 | 164 | 522 |
| 2000–01 | 245 | 380 |
| 2001–02 | 470 | 67 |
| 2002–03 | 431 | 70 |
| 2003–04 | (30)— | 111 |
(29) Includes expenditure on projects partly but not wholly related to Down's syndrome.
(30) Not yet available.
An analysis of expenditure that separately identifies the part of Down's syndrome research costs attributable to work on brain development is not available.
Over 75 per cent. of the Department's total expenditure on health research is devolved to and managed by NHS organisations. Details of completed and ongoing projects, including a number concerned with Down's syndrome, can be found on the national research register at www.dh.gov.uk/research.
EU Committees
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many times during the (a) Italian, (b) Irish and (c) Dutch presidency of the EU the Committee (i) for the implementation of the Community action programme for the prevention of AIDS and certain other communicable diseases and (ii) on the action programme on rare diseases in the framework of the action plan for public health met; when and where these meetings took place; which UK Government expert was present; and if he will make a statement. [218365]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
The Committee for the implementation of the Community action programme for the prevention of AIDS and certain other communicable diseases and the committee on the action programme on rare diseases in the framework of the action plan for public health did not meet during the Italian, Irish or Dutch presidencies.
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I refer the hon. Member to the series of Command Papers on prospects for the EU—Cm6174 laid in April 2004, Cm6310 laid in September 2004 and Cm6450 laid in February 2005, which cover the periods of the above presidencies and are available on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's website at: www.fco.gov.uk/commandpapers.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many times during the (a) Italian, (b) Irish and (c) Dutch presidency of the EU the Committee for the implementation of the Community action plan to combat cancer met; when and where these meetings took place; what UK Government expert was present; and if he will make a statement. [215913]
Miss Melanie Johnson: This committee has been disbanded. It last met in 2002. It was set up to advise on the Europe Against Cancer programme which was completed in December 2002. It is not known where the committee met.
Gynaecology
Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many women were given hysterectomies in an NHS hospital in the latest year for which figures are available; [219704]
(2) what steps are being taken to ensure that women who, with clinical support, request a less invasive treatment as an alternative to hysterectomy receive their treatment of choice on the NHS; and if he will make a statement; [219705]
(3) how many NHS trusts offer access to a multidisciplinary team including gynaecologists and an interventional radiologist to diagnose and treat uterine fibroids as recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence; [219706]
(4) what guidance is given to NHS trusts on the use of uterine artery embolisation for fibroids. [219707]
Miss Melanie Johnson: There were 49,600 hysterectomy operations (OPCS4 codes Q07, Q08) performed in national health service hospitals, England in 2003–04.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued revised full guidance on fibroid embolisation in October 2004; this is available on its website at www.nice.org.uk. NICE decided that the procedure is safe and that most patients have improved symptoms. However, NICE considers that more information is needed about how well it works, how long it works for and how it affects a woman's ability to become pregnant.
Once NICE guidance is published, health professionals are expected to take it fully into account when exercising their clinical judgement. However, NICE guidance does not override the individual
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responsibility of health professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or guardian or carer.
Decisions about patterns of services delivery are a matter for individual health authorities and trusts to determine locally, taking into account local population needs, priorities and resources. We do not, therefore, collect information on this centrally.
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