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12 Jul 2005 : Column 973W—continued

Digital Hearing Aids

20. Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what her latest assessment is of the availability of NHS digital hearing aids. [11259]

Mr. Byrne: Since the end of March 2005, all 164 NHS hearing aid services in England are routinely providing people with digital hearing aids.

Coronary Bypass Grafts

22. Lynda Waltho: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on waiting times for coronary bypass grafts. [11261]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Excellent progress has been made to reduce waiting times for heart surgery patients. Until recently, patients were waiting up to two years for a coronary bypass graft operation but now no one waits longer than three months for heart surgery.

Alzheimer's/Dementia

23. Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to ensure that appropriate and affordable medicines are available to people with (a) Alzheimer's and (b) dementia. [11262]

Mr. Byrne: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 16 June 2005, Official Report, column 630W.

Hepatitis C (Prison Inmates)

24. Mr. Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the number of prison inmates infected with hepatitis C; and how many inmates are infected in each prison in England. [11263]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Information about the number of prisoners with hepatitis C is not collected centrally. The then Public Health Laboratory Service undertook an unlinked, anonymised survey of the prevalence of blood borne viruses amongst prisoners in England in 1997–98. This indicated that nine per cent., of adult
 
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men, 11 per cent., of women and 0.6 per cent., of male young offenders had evidence of previous exposure to hepatitis C.

GP Practices

25. Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioner practices there are in Kettering constituency; and what the average number of patients registered with a practice in Kettering is. [11264]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The information is not held in the format requested. The following table shows the average list size of general medical practitioners (excluding retainers and registrars), 1 and GP practices for Northhamptonshire Heartlands primary care trust.
Numbers (headcount)
All practitioners (excluding retainers and registrars)(28)145
Patients287,476
Average list size1,983
GP practices35


(28) General Medical Practitioners (excluding retainers and registrars) includes contracted GPs, GMS others, and PMS others
Source:
NHS health and social care information centre general and personal medical services statistics.




Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the number of people in each NHS region who are not registered with a GP; and if she will make a statement. [7068]

Mr. Byrne: It is not possible to estimate with any accuracy the number of people who are not registered with a general practice.

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information she has collated on how many general practitioners plan to retire in each year until 2010. [10029]

Mr. Byrne: The information is not collected centrally.

Mrs. Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full-time equivalent NHS general practitioners have been employed in the Mid-Bedfordshire constituency in each year since 1997; and if she will make a statement. [11092]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The number of full-time equivalent national health service general practitioners that have been employed in the Mid-Bedfordshire constituency in each year since 1997 are shown in the tables.
General Medical Practitioners (excluding registrars and retainers)(29) for specified organisations, 1997 to December 2004

Estimated full-time equivalents
19971998199920002001
QA6Bedfordshire HA285286287289
5GDBedford PCTn/an/an/an/a73
5GEBedfordshire Heartlands PCTn/an/an/an/a123

Estimated full-time equivalents

200220032004December 2004
QA6Bedfordshire HAn/an/an/an/a
5GDBedford PCT75829194
5GEBedfordshire Heartlands PCT121129136136




n/a = Data not applicable.
(29) General Medical Practitioners (excluding retainers and registrars) includes Contracted GPs, QMS Others and PMS Others.
Notes:
1. PCTs did not come into existence until 1 April 2000, prior to this data was only available at health authority level which does not compare with present day organisational structure.
2. FTE data has been estimated using the results from the 1992–93 GMP Workload Survey.
3. For 1994 to 2003—Contracted GPs—Full-time = 1.00 fte; three quarter time = 0.69 fte; job share = 0.65 fte; and half time = 0.60 fte; Other GP types Full-time = 1.00 fte; Part-time = 0.6 fte
4. For 2004—All GPs—Full-Time 1.0 fte; Part-time= 0.6 fte, and therefore may not be fully comparable with previous years.
5. Data as at 1 October 1997–99, 30 September 2000–04 and 31 December 2004.
Source:
NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.





 
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Agency Nurses

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the health service spent on hiring agency nursing staff (a) in total and (b) broken down by NHS trust, in (i) 1995–96, (ii) 1996–97, (iii) 1997–98, (iv) 1998–99, (v) 1999–2000, (vi) 2000–01, (vii) 2001–02, (viii) 2002–03 and (ix) 2003–04; what the figures were at the latest date for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement. [8040]

Mr. Byrne: The table shows the total non-national health service salaries and wages expenditure for nursing, midwifery and health visiting for the years 1995–96 to 2003–04. Information on expenditure in each NHS trust in England in each year from 1995–96 to 2000–01 and 2001–02 to 2003–04 is available in the Library. Total NHS spend increased from £32 billion in 1995–96 to £63 billion in 2003–04.
Non-NHS staff (agency, etc) (by NHS classification) salaries and wages expenditure—England

Nursing, midwifery and health visiting expenditure (£)
1995–96166,631,982
1996–97191,496,635
1997–98216,338,567
1998–99272,225,162
1999–2000361,656,683
2000–01435,431,882
2001–02554,323,821
2002–03589,738,042
2003–04524,675,129




Sources:
Annual financial returns of NHS trusts, 1995–96 to 2003–04.
Annual financial returns of district and regional health authorities and the special health authorities for the London postgraduate teaching hospitals, 1995–96.
Annual financial returns of health authorities 1996–97 to 2001–02.
Annual financial returns of strategic health authorities 2002–3 to 2003–04.
Annual financial returns of primary care trusts 2000–01 to 2003–04.




Ambulance Service Review

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what date (a) Ministers and (b) officials first received the completed review of ambulance services undertaken by Mr. Peter Bradley. [10036]

Mr. Byrne: An incomplete version of the review of ambulance services was submitted to ministers on 27 May 2005. The review group continued to finalise the report until close to its publication on 30 June 2005.

Departmental officials worked closely with the review group throughout the period of the ambulance review.
 
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