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21 Oct 2005 : Column 1276W—continued
Physiotherapists (Essex)
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many physiotherapists were employed by the NHS in Essex in 2004–05. [15614]
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Ms Rosie Winterton: Information as to the number of physiotherapists employed in the national health service is not available in the format requested. However, the following table shows the number of physiotherapy staff and the number of qualified physiotherapists in the Essex strategic health authority (SHA) area as at 30 September2004 (the latest data available) by primary care trust (PCT).
Source:
Health and Social Care Information Centre non-medical workforce census 2004.
Primary Care Trusts
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice is issued by her Department on co-terminosity in drawing up boundaries for proposed primary care trusts. [17772]
Mr. Byrne: The advice is set out in "Commissioning a Patient Led NHS", which was published on 28 July. A number of criteria were provided against which strategic health authorities will submit proposals for the future configuration of their primary care trusts (PCTs) and the wording of the criterion relating to co-terminosity is:
"Improve coordination with social services through greater congruence of PCT and local government boundaries. As a general principle we will be looking to reconfigured PCTs to have a clear relationship with local authority social services boundaries. This does not need to mean a rigid 1:1 co-terminosity—big local authorities might have more than one PCTs whereas a number of small unitary authorities might fit into one PCT."
Prisons (Contraception)
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the provision of contraception in prisons. [18342]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Contraceptives are not provided in prisons. Prison doctors were advised in 1995 that they should make condoms available to individual prisoners, on application, if in their clinical judgement there is a risk of transmission of HIV infection during sexual activity. The Prison Service is planning to issue revised guidance and instructions, which aim to clarify the policy on condoms so that it can be applied more evenly across the prison estate.
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Pulmonary Hypertension
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps have been taken to initiate a full-research study into (a) the incidence of pulmonary hypertension and (b) the incidence of pulmonary hypertension among different gender and age groups; [17662]
(2) how many pulmonary hypertension sufferers were admitted to hospital in England in each of the last five years for which figures are available; [17820]
(3) what the average life expectancy is from diagnosis in (a) England and (b) Wales for a pulmonary hypertension sufferer; [17856]
(4) how many pulmonary hypertension sufferers in England are receiving treatment which includes use of the drug Cialis. [18436]
Mr. Byrne: We are not aware of any research studies, current or planned, into the incidence and distribution of pulmonary hypertension.
Hospital episode statistics hospital admission data for primary pulmonary hypertension is shown in the table.
| Finished consultant episodes | |
|---|---|
| 2003–04 | 3,445 |
| 2002–03 | 2,867 |
| 2001–02 | 1,844 |
| 2000–01 | 1,684 |
| 1999–2000 | 1,648 |
The average life expectancy for pulmonary hypertension sufferers is not available.
The drug Cialis is prescribed for conditions other than pulmonary hypertension. Therefore, it is not possible to provide figures for the number of pulmonary hypertension sufferers receiving this drug.
Salt Consumption
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much public funding has been committed to the salt consumption campaign launched by the Food Standards Agency on 10 October 2005. [18073]
Caroline Flint: The Food Standard Agency has committed £6.2 million to this second phase of its salt campaign.
Smoking
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the number of non-smokers who died of lung cancer in each of the past 10 years. [18005]
Caroline Flint: The information requested is not collected centrally.
The 2004 Health Development Agency publication, "The Smoking Epidemic in England" estimated there were around 27,400 lung cancer deaths each year, of which 23,700 deaths were attributable to smoking. The number of deaths from lung cancer not attributable to smoking is therefore around 3,700.
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A copy of "The Smoking Epidemic in England" is available in the Library.
Table five, Deaths attributable to smoking as percentage of all deaths from that disease: England 1998–2001.
Sorafenib
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to introduce the drug Sorafenib to the UK market. [17097]
Jane Kennedy: Before introducing medicines to the United Kingdom, they must undergo a licensing procedure which involves scientific assessment of all the company's quality, safety and efficacy data. For Sorafenib, the data will be evaluated using a single European procedure than separate national procedures.
Bayer Healthcare AG has announced that they have recently submitted the clinical trial results for Sorafenib to the European Medicines Agency in London. The process of evaluating all of the data for risks and benefits in patients with advanced kidney cancer can now begin. If successful, the European Agency's scientific committee for human medicinal products will reach a positive opinion enabling the Commission to authorise the marketing of this product throughout the whole European Community.
Specialist Nurses
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the overall target is for the employment of specialist epilepsy nurses by NHS trusts; [17721]
(2) if she will make a statement on the employment of specialist epilepsy nurses within the NHS. [17724]
Mr. Byrne: Information is not collected centrally on the number of specialist epilepsy nurses employed in the national health service, and there are no targets for their employment.
Nurse specialist roles have been developed to address the unmet care needs for people with a variety of neurological conditions, including epilepsy. Specialist epilepsy nurses provide an additional clinical resource and have spearheaded the development of nurse led and fast access clinics, monitoring treatment regimes and seizure control, support and information on aspects of medication and side effects and lifestyle precautions.
Specialist epilepsy nurse posts were developed through the British Epilepsy Association, now Epilepsy Action, in association with the Wellcome Foundation. There are a number of funding mechanisms supporting their development including the voluntary sector, pharmaceutical industry and the NHS.
St. Albans and Harpenden PCT
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of the recent organisational and managerial changes within the St. Albans and Harpenden Primary Care Trust; and if she will make a statement. [18282]
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Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has made no assessment of any recent organisational changes within the St. Albans and Harpenden Primary Care Trust.
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