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13 Jul 2005 : Column 1142W—continued
Nurse Prescribers
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to improve the education and training opportunities for nurses who are independently prescribing drugs. [10023]
Jane Kennedy: All health professionals, including nurses, have a professional responsibility to keep their skills and knowledge up-to-date. National health service organisations have a responsibility to enable this, to ensure patient safety and to provide a high quality service. Nurse prescribers take part in audit, review and continuing professional development activities, both individually and within their care teams.
The Department funds the work of the National Prescribing Centre. The centre's aim is,
to promote and support high quality, cost-effective prescribing and medicines management across the NHS, to help improve patient care and service delivery".
It provides a variety of education and training opportunities to qualified non-medical prescribers.
Obesity
Dr. Naysmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the development of slimming on referral by Greater and Central Derby Primary Care Trust and Slimming World; what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of this project; how many primary care trusts offer such referral schemes; and what steps she intends to take to promote trusts' awareness and adoption of such schemes. [11896]
Caroline Flint:
The Government are aware of the work of Slimming World in Greater and Central Derby Primary Care Trust (PCT). The White Paper, Choosing Health", made a commitment to assess the role the independent sector, including Slimming World and how validated programmes, such as slimming on referral, can play in providing effective behaviour change programmes.
13 Jul 2005 : Column 1143W
Older People (Medication)
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many primary care (a) groups and (b) trusts have schemes in place enabling older people to get help from pharmacists in using their medicines; [6661]
(2) pursuant to the answer of 16 June 2005, Official Report, column 642W, on the National Service Framework for Older People, if she will set out for each data collection period since collection began the number and frequency of medication reviews for older people (a) in general practitioner surgeries and (b) care homes; [8422]
(3) pursuant to the answer of 16 June 2005, Official Report, column 642W, on the National Service Framework for Older People, which primary care trusts are taking part in the medicines management collaborative; [8423]
(4) pursuant to the answer of 16 June 2005, Official Report, column 642W, on the National Service Framework for Older People, how the quality of medicine reviews are measured; and if she will publish the results. [8424]
Mr. Byrne: Information on the number and frequency of medication reviews for older people is not collected centrally.
The medicines partnership and the medicines management collaborative published Room for Review" 2002, which was widely disseminated and endorsed by the Department. Room for Review" provides a clear definition to the national health service of a medication review. It also provides guidance on different levels of medication reviews that can be undertaken. The level of review will depend on the complexity of the patients' clinical condition. Strategic health authorities, through their performance management role, ensure that primary care trusts within their areas are providing quality services to their patients.
146 primary care organisations, in four waves, starting in 2001, have taken part in the medicines management collaborative programme. Further details are available at www.npc.co.uk
Orlistat
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prescription items of orlistat were dispensed in the community in England in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and how many children received the drug in each of those years. [8244]
Jane Kennedy: The numbers of prescription items dispensed in the community in England are shown in the table.
| Total | Children(39) | |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 541,378 | 3,000 |
| 2003 | 485,653 | 2,000 |
| 2004 | 493,309 | 2,000 |
(39) Children are defined as 0 to 15-year-olds and as 16 to 18-year-olds in full-time education. Figures for items dispensed to children are derived by sampling and are rounded to the nearest thousand.
13 Jul 2005 : Column 1144W
Pain Management
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the cost to the economy of sickness absence as a result of pain in 2004–05; if she will take steps to ensure a national standard for the availability of pain management and treatment under the NHS; if she will list pain clinics; and how many patient treatment episodes for pain there were in the most recent year for which figures are available. [9310]
Mr. Byrne: It is not possible to estimate the cost to the economy because information about sickness absence as a result of pain as pain is not collected. We do not intend to develop a national standard for the availability of pain management and treatment under the national health service as the Department published Standards for Better Health" in July 2004, geared to ensuring that high quality care is available to all patients, no matter what condition they are suffering from.
Information about pain clinics is not collected centrally. Figures for patient treatment episodes for pain are not available because, pain is not coded separately in the hospital episode statistics.
Personal Care Assistance (Coventry)
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the baseline minimum is for people to receive assistance in financing personal care in Coventry. [11590]
Mr. Byrne: Currently, people in England with less than £20,500 are entitled to financial help from social services in meeting the cost of their residential care, which will usually include personal care. People with resources of £12,500 or less do not pay for their residential care.
Councils like Coventry, have discretionary powers to decide whether to charge for personal care provided in non-residential settings. The Department has issued statutory guidance, Fairer Charging Policies for Home Care and other non-residential Social Services" to councils. Section VIII of the guidance advises that if charges are levied, in assessing service users' ability to pay, councils should not set resource limits lower than those for residential care. In addition, charges should not reduce the user's resources below basic levels of income support, plus a buffer of not less than 25 per cent.
Physiotherapy Graduates
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many physiotherapy students graduated in the United Kingdom in 2004. [10823]
Mr. Byrne: Information is not collected centrally on the number of physiotherapy students graduating each year in England.
Information for Wales is a matter for the devolved Administration.
13 Jul 2005 : Column 1145W
Pregnancy (Smoking)
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the medical effects of smoking by the pregnant woman on the health of an unborn child. [10609]
Caroline Flint: The medical effects of smoking by the mother on the health of an unborn child are set out in the national health service leaflet, S is for smoking and pregnancy." A copy is available in the Library.
Research and Development
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total expenditure of her Department's research and development programme has been in each year since it was established; and what proportion of the total NHS budget this equated to in each year. [9513]
Jane Kennedy: The Department's total expenditure on research and development (R&D) 1 , from the year in which the current system of R&D allocations to national health service providers began and the proportion of the Department's total net expenditure this represents, is shown in the table.
1 The Department's policy research programme, NHS research and development and research carried out by the Department's arm's length bodies.
| Total R&D spend (£ million) | R&D as a proportion of total net Departmental spend (percentage) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 486 | 1.38 |
| 1998–99 | 481 | 1.05 |
| 1999–2000 | 501 | 1.02 |
| 2000–01 | 510 | 1.01 |
| 2001–02 | 538 | 0.80 |
| 2002–03 | 574 | 0.86 |
| 2003–04 | 604 | 0.96 |
Notes:
1. Expenditure before 1998–99 is on a cash basis.
2. Spend figures from 1999–2000 are on a resource budgeting basis, and total net spend for these years includes NHS pensions.
3. Figures are not therefore directly comparable across the period.
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