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21 Oct 2005 : Column 1267W—continued
Departmental Finance
Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the latest estimate is of underspend by her Department (a) in cash terms and (b) as a percentage of departmental budget for financial year 2004–05. [18309]
Mr. Byrne: The latest estimate of outturn was published in the Public Expenditure Outturn White Paper 2004–05 (Cm 6639).
Diabetes
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government are taking to inform pregnant women with diabetes of the potential risks of their disease to their child. [18001]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The diabetes and the children, young people and maternity services national service framework set out the standards of care that women with diabetes should receive before, during and after pregnancy.
All women with diabetes of childbearing age should be offered, at least once a year, information and advice about the risks associated with pregnancy and how to go about reducing those risks. This should be integrated into all women's routine diabetes care.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much her Department spent on advertising and promoting awareness of diabetes in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [18333]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Funding is made available to national health service services to implement services locally and as a result, general awareness campaigns are more likely to be developed locally in primary care trusts and hospitals rather than centrally.
Digital Hearing Aids
Paul Farrelly:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the average waiting time for a digital hearing aid assessment for non-priority patients is at (a) the University Hospital of North Staffordshire and (b) NHS hospitals; and what her Department's target is; [18544]
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(2) what the University Hospital of North Staffordshire's budget is for the provision of digital hearing aids to patients for year ending 31 March in (a) 2006, (b) 2007, (c) 2008 and (d) 2009; [18545]
(3) what the cost was in the year ended 31 March 2005 of the provision of digital hearing aids by the University Hospital of North Staffordshire; [18546]
(4) how many digital hearing aids the University Hospital of North Staffordshire has planned to provide to patients for the year ending 31 March (a) 2006, (b) 2007, (c) 2008 and (d) 2009; [18547]
(5) how many digital hearing aids the University Hospital of North Staffordshire has provided to patients in the year ended 31 March 2005; [18548]
(6) how many people are on the waiting list for a digital hearing aid assessment at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire; [18549]
(7) what the current waiting time is for a digital hearing aid assessment at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire for (a) patients who are registered blind, (b) patients who are terminally ill, (c) patients at risk at work, (d) patients receiving a war pension during hearing loss, (e) non-priority patients requiring a new hearing aid and (f) new non-priority patients; [18863]
(8) what the current waiting time is after assessment for the fitting of a digital hearing aid at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire for (a) patients who are registered blind, (b) patients who are terminally ill, (c) patients at risk at work, (d) patients receiving a war pension, (e) non-priority patients requiring a new hearing aid and (f) new non-priority patients. [18864]
Mr. Byrne: The Department has invested £125 million in the modernising hearing aid services (MHAS) project since 2000. As a result, from April 2005 all 164 national health service audiology services in England should be routinely fitting digital hearing aids.
Information on waiting times and local funding for provision of digital hearing aids is not held centrally.
Doctor Training
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much it cost to train a doctor resident in the UK in the last period for which figures are available. [17714]
Mr. Byrne:
In the period between entry to medical school and full registration, it is estimated that training a doctor costs between £200,000 and £250,000. Doctors generally continue training after full registration. As the duration and nature of post-registration training varies greatly and as service and training costs are closely related it is not possible to provide a meaningful estimate of the total cost of training.
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Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many UK-trained doctors she estimates are seeking a senior house officer posting. [17716]
Mr. Byrne: Information on the number of United Kingdom trained doctors who have not yet found a senior house officer post is not collected centrally.
A snapshot survey of postgraduate deaneries established that as at early August 2005, 136 pre-registration house officers (PRHOs) in England did not have a substantive senior house officer (SHO) or equivalent post to move to upon the expiry of their PRHO contract. This number had reduced to around 100 by early September 2005 and we expect it to have reduced further as more SHO opportunities become available.
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice is given to junior doctors without senior house officer posts on what course of action they should take to ensure that they can complete their training; and if she will make a statement. [17717]
Mr. Byrne: Junior doctors seeking senior house officer posts may obtain career advice from the clinical tutor of their local trust or from their regional postgraduate dean. Career information is available on postgraduate deanery websites. Vacant senior house officer posts are advertised every week.
Provision of accessible and robust career advice is also one of the key aims of the modernising medical careers initiative. As a result, each postgraduate deanery in England has been allocated £73,200 in 2005–06 to establish career advice support systems in each deanery. We have also published Career Management—An approach for medical schools, deaneries, royal colleges and trusts—a document that presents an approach to the delivery of career management initiatives for doctors. It is intended primarily for medical schools, postgraduate deaneries, employing trusts, royal colleges and other key stakeholders in doctors' careers.
Down's Syndrome
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children have been born with Down's syndrome in each year since 1980. [18312]
John Healey: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell to Julia Goldsworthy, dated 21 October 2005:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many children have been born with Down's syndrome in each year since 1980. (18312)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for maintaining the National Congenital Anomaly System (NCAS) notifications in England and Wales. These notifications are collected for live and stillbirths and are provided by NHS Trusts on a voluntary basis either directly to ONS on form SD56 or via local congenital anomaly registers that exchange data with ONS.
These registers cover all births in Wales, but only 42 per cent. of births in England. Their information is obtained from both the SD56 form and additional information collected locally. For areas for which NCAS relies solely on SD56 notification forms
- recording is likely to be less complete. In 1997 there were no registers exchanging information with NCAS. In each of the years detailed below, NCAS began receiving more complete information from the local congenital anomaly registers listed:
As a result, numbers of notifications recorded by NCAS increased for each of these regions in the year listed above.
Figures for babies notified to NCAS that were born with Down's syndrome from 1980 to 2003 (latest available year) are given in the attached table.
(10) per 10,000 live and stillbirths
Source:
National Congenital Anomaly System
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