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9 Nov 2005 : Column 632W—continued

Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley PCT

Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the financial position of the Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley primary care trust. [24137]

Caroline Flint: The latest available data on the financial position of primary care trusts (PCTs) is for 2004–05. The 2004–05 financial position of Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley PCT is £1.1 million deficit.

Dentistry

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists in the Cotswold and Vale primary care trust area (a) operate fully within the NHS and (b) only offer NHS treatment for children. [24699]

Caroline Flint: As at 30 September 2005, there were 95 national health service dentists with a general dental services (GDS) or personal dental services (PDS) contract within Cotswold and Vale primary care trust (PCT).

The data source is the Dental Practice Board. A dentist with a GDS or PDS contract may provide as little or as much NHS treatment as he or she chooses or has agreed with the PCT. The Dental Practice Board has no information concerning the amount of time dedicated to private or NHS work by individual dentists.

Information about who dentists offer to treat is not collected centrally. However, an analysis of NHS patient registrations data as at 1 June 2005 show that within Cotswold and Vale PCT there were three dentists having only children registered.
 
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Departmental Call Centres

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many call centres were run by her Department and its agencies in (a) 2003–04, (b) 2004–05 and (c) 2005–06 to date; and how many and what proportion of calls (i) were handled by an adviser, (ii) were received but abandoned and (iii) received an engaged tone. [23301]

Jane Kennedy: In 2003–04, 2004–05 and 2005–06 to date a call centre has been run by the Department but not by any of its executive agencies.

Figures on calls answered and abandoned are not held for 2003. For 2004 and 2005, data is held on calls answered and abandoned but not calls receiving the engaged tone.

In 2004, the Department received 114,883 calls, of which 102,196 were answered by an information adviser. 12,687 calls were abandoned once connected to a message—a rate of 11.04 per cent.

In 2005, the Department has, to the end of October, received 97,488 calls and 93,534 were answered by an information adviser. 3,954 calls were abandoned once connected to a message—a rate of 4.05 per cent.

Health Protection Agency

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff are employed at each office of the Health Protection Agency. [23970]

Caroline Flint: The information requested has been placed in the Library. It gives details of staff at each location as at October 2005.

Health Services (Tooting)

Mr. Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much her Department has allocated for (a) hospital services, (b) general practitioner services and (c) dental services in the constituency of Tooting in each year since 1997. [18117]

Jane Kennedy: The information requested is shown in the tables.

Funding for general practitioner services and dental services has historically, with some exceptions, been held centrally and not allocated to primary care trusts (PCTs). Funding was demand led, with payments made in response to claims submitted by general practitioners and dentists.

Following the new general practitioner contract, the Department made primary medical services allocations to PCTs in 2004–05 and 2005–06, which will become part of PCTs' overall allocations from 2006–07.

Following the new dental contract, the Department will make dental allocations to PCTs from 2006–07.

The Department has made allocations to PCTs from 2003–04.

The Department made separate primary medical services (PMedS) allocations to PCTs in 2004–05 and 2005–06.
 
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Table 1 shows the allocations made to Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth Health Authority (HA) in 1997–98 and 1998–99. The Department made allocations to HAs from 1996–97 for hospital and community health services (HCHS).
Table 1: HCHS allocations 1997–98 to 1998–99 £ million

HA	1997–98	1998–99
Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth	309.3	322.3

Note:
It is not possible to separate the allocations for hospital services from the allocations for community health services.

Table 2 shows the unified allocations made to Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth HA between 1999–2000 and 2002–03. The Department made unified allocations to HAs from 1999–2000 covering HCHS, prescribing and general medical services cash limited.
Table 2: Unified allocations 1999–2000 to 2002–03 £ million

HA	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth	423.0	455.9	498.6	563.1

Note:
These services cannot be separately identified. These figures are not comparable with earlier years which cover HCHS only.

Table 3 shows the revenue allocations made to Wandsworth PCT for 2003–04 to 2005–06.
Table 3: Revenue allocations 2003–04 to 2005–06 £ million

PCT	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06
Wandsworth	275.8	303.1	332.2

In February 2005, the Department announced revenue resource allocations to PCTs for 2006–07 and 2007–08. Table 4 shows the revenue allocations to Wandsworth PCT for 2006–08.
Table 4: Revenue resource allocations 2006–07 and 2007–08 £ million

PCT	2006–07	2007–08
Wandsworth	388.4	420.0

Note:
These include primary medical services funding and are not comparable with earlier years.

Table 5 shows the PMedS allocations to Wandsworth PCT in 2004–05 and 2005–06.
Table 5: Primary medical services allocations2004–05 and 2005–06 £ million

PCT	2004–05	2005–06
Wandsworth	25.2	26.5

Note:
These allocations covered the bulk of the funding for the new GP contract, with the remaining funding for quality being allocated to the NHS Bank.




 
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Hip Replacement (Waiting Time)

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time for a hip replacement operation has been in (a) Southend primary care trust, (b) Essex, (c) the Metropolitan police area of London and (d) England in each year since 1997. [14267]

Mr. Byrne: The main national health service data returns on inpatient waiting times, which provide a count of those waiting for admission and how long they have been waiting, are not available for hip replacement operations but are available for trauma and orthopaedics procedures more generally. Annual average waiting times for each year since 1997 have been placed in the Library. They show that average waiting times for trauma and orthopaedics have fallen from:

15.7 weeks at the end of 2003–04 to 9.8 weeks at the end of 2004–05 in Southend primary care trust.

22.0 weeks at the end of 1997–98 to 10.6 weeks at the end of 2004–05 in Essex strategic health authority (SHA).

22.7 at the end of 1997–98 to 11.3 weeks at the end of 2004–05 in the London SHAs.

18.3 weeks at the end of 1997–98 to 11.3 weeks at the end of 2004–05 in England.

The NHS collects annual data through hospital episodes statistics (HES) on the time waited by patients who have completed their wait for a hip replacement operation. This includes periods of suspension (where the patient is medically unfit for treatment or has made themselves unavailable for treatment) and all patients treated by NHS provider organisations (whether or not they are the responsibility of NHS commissioning bodies in England). This HES data has also been placed in the Library. The data shows increases in the first part of this period followed by more recent reductions and reflects the NHS's achievements during this period in tackling backlogs of long waits for orthopaedic patients.

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