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Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners there are in (a) Hertfordshire and (b) England per head of population. [782]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is shown in the table. The latest available strategic health authority (SHA) and primary care trust (PCT) population data is for 2003.
Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to increase the number of general practitioners in Hertfordshire; and if she will make a statement. [783]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
To underpin increased capacity in medical schools, we have introduced a range of measures that help the supply of general practitioners. Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire have a strategy to increase the recruitment, retention and training of GPs in the two counties, and are participating in the centrally funded GP flexible career scheme, which seeks to increase the number of flexible posts in general practice. In addition, other family friendly policies have been introduced, including access to childcare co-ordinators and better provision of childcare for primary care staff. These include funding through global sum for locum cover for GPs on maternity, paternity and adoptive leave.
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Primary medical care contracts have been backed by a massive increase in investment, the scale of which will lead to higher quality and wider availability of services.
John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of general practitioner practices refuse to make advance appointments. [911]
Mr. Byrne: Latest monitoring data shows that 1.8 per cent. of general practices are continuing to deny patients any opportunity to book advance appointments. This is not acceptable practice and the Department is continuing to work with strategic health authorities to get primary care trusts to tackle the issue locally and ensure practices offer patients flexible as well as fast access.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the financial deficit of York and Selby NHS primary care trust was on the latest date for which figures are available; what assessment she has made of the reasons for the accumulation of the deficit; and if she will provide assistance to the trust to enable it to eradicate the deficit without reducing the number of staff or the standard and availability of services; [50]
(2) what the financial deficit of South Tees hospitals NHS trust was on the latest date for which figures are available; what assessment she has made of the reasons for the accumulation of the deficit; and if she will provide assistance to the trust to enable it to eradicate the deficit without reducing the number of staff or the standard and availability of local services; [51]
(3) what the financial deficit of Craven, Harrogate and Rural districts NHS primary care trust was on the latest date for which figures are available; what assessment she has made of the reasons for the accumulation of the deficit; and if she will provide assistance to the trust to enable it to eradicate the deficit without reducing the number of staff employed or the standard and availability of local services; [52]
(4) what the financial deficit of Teesside, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service (TENYAS) was on the latest date for which figures are available; what assessment she has made of the reasons for the accumulation of the deficit; and if she will provide assistance to TENYAS to enable it to eradicate the deficit without reducing the number of staff employed or the standard and availability of local services. [53]
Mr. Byrne:
Selby and York primary care trust (PCT) is forecasting an outturn deficit of £6.9 million in 200405. Craven, Harrogate and Rural district PCT is not forecasting a deficit for 200405. Tees and East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service national health service trust is forecasting that it will break even in 200405 having received planned brokerage of £2.6 million from the North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire strategic health authority (SHA). The Selby and York PCT's three year (iterative) financial recovery plan was presented to the PCT board on 17 May 2005 and approved. The South Tees hospitals NHS trust is forecasting a deficit of £9 million as at 31 March 2005, as opposed to a mid-year forecast deficit of £12 million. In addition, £12 million brokerage
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has also been provided by County Durham and Tees Valley SHA. A detailed recovery plan is to be presented to the trust board meeting on 7 June.
In the current financial year, allocations to PCTs in the North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire SHA area have increased by £135 million. Allocations to PCTs in the County Durham and Tees Valley SHA area have increased by £114 million.
It is now the responsibility of SHAs to deliver both overall financial balance for their local health communities and to ensure each organisation achieves financial balance. However, there is a degree of flexibility in how this is managed at a local level. In circumstances where a surplus or underspend cannot be generated in the following year, SHAs can agree to a recovery plan which phases the recovery of deficits over a number of years.
Mr. Laxton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research she has commissioned on the rates of hepatitis C infection in prisons; and what measures she is taking to tackle the disease in prisons. [1705]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The then Public Health Laboratory Service undertook an unlinked, anonymised survey of the prevalence of blood borne viruses amongst prisoners in England in 199798. This indicated that 9 per cent. of adult men, 11 per cent. of women and 0.6 per cent. of male young offenders had evidence of previous exposure to hepatitis C.
The hepatitis C action plan for England (June 2004) envisages that prisoners, who are one of the priority groups identified within it, should have equal access to the full range of testing, diagnostic, assessment and treatment services that it specifies. The national health service is responsible for commissioning specialist health services in prison establishments in England.
There is a strategy for preventing the spread of communicable diseases, including hepatitis C, in prison establishments that includes training, education, prevention, risk reduction and harm minimisation measures, such as the reintroduction of disinfecting tablets.
Mr. Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when she expects the National Institute for Clinical Excellence to have completed its assessment of the anti-breast cancer drug Herceptin; [1022]
(2) if she will make dedicated funds available to NHS hospital trusts who wish to buy the anti-breast cancer drug Herceptin; and if she will make such funds available before the National Institute for Clinical Excellence has completed its assessment of the drug; [1023]
(3) how many NHS hospital trusts have applied to their drugs and therapeutics committees to buy the anti-breast cancer drug Herceptin. [1027]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has already produced guidance on Herceptin for the treatment of advanced breast cancer, which it is now reviewing as part of the development of clinical guidelines for breast cancer.
Herceptin is not yet licensed in England for the treatment of early breast cancer. However, the Department is aware that there have been positive results from trials of Herceptin for the treatment of early breast cancer and is urgently considering referring Herceptin for the treatment of early breast cancer to NICE. The Department has made it clear that funding for newly licensed treatments should not be withheld because guidance from NICE is unavailable. In these circumstances, we expect primary care trusts (PCTs) to take full account of the available evidence when reaching funding decisions. Where the evidence is very strong, there is no reason to believe a PCT would refuse funding.
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The Department has no plans to make dedicated funds available to national health service for the purchase of Herceptin. We are putting record amounts of new investment into the NHSbetween 2003 and 2008 NHS expenditure in England will increase on average by 7.5 per cent. each year. It is for PCTs to decide how best to spend these resources, taking into account local circumstances.
The Department does not hold information on how many NHS hospital trusts have applied to their drugs and therapeutics committees to buy Herceptin.
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