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19 Dec 2005 : Column 2613W—continued
Children's Hospices
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make it her policy to enforce passporting of funding by primary care trusts to children's hospices. [30393]
Mr. Byrne: In line with our guidance National Standards, Local Action" in the three years to March 2008 80 per cent. of national health service funding will go direct to primary care trusts (PCTs) to give them control in shaping services to meet local needs. PCTs, along with their local partners and stakeholders, are in the best position to judge how the available funding can be used effectively in providing a range of palliative care services for children and young people.
On the 29 November, we launched a guide for the commissioners of palliative care for children and young people Commissioning Children's and Young People's Palliative Care Services". This practical guide will stimulate improvements in commissioning and promote quality care for children, young people and their families, in a range of settings, for example, palliative care at home, in hospital or in a hospice.
Chiropodists (Registration)
Mr. Baron:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what date it will become a requirement for health care practitioners working as chiropodists to be
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registered with the Health Professions Council in order to use the title chiropodist; and whether exemption will be given after this date for health care practitioners whose applications to be placed on the register are waiting to be processed. [36748]
Jane Kennedy [holding answer 12 December 2005]: The date from which it became a requirement for health professionals working as a chiropodist or podiatrist to be registered with the Health Professions Council (HPC) was 9 July 2005. Health professionals whose application was received by the HPC before the deadline can continue to use the protected title while their application is being processed. Applications received after this deadline will not be dealt with as part of the grandparenting process.
Cholesterol
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps are being taken to treat adults who suffer from high cholesterol; [36612]
(2) what measures the Government are taking to encourage adults to take responsibility for their cholesterol levels. [36613]
Caroline Flint: The Government provides practical guidance on how consumers can reduce the saturated fat in their diets through healthy eating advice, and increase physical activity. The Choosing Health" White Paper, food and health action plan and physical activity plan all set out actions to deliver improvements in diet and physical activity.
The first route of managing raised cholesterol levels is through lifestyle modification. If required, this can be followed by medication in the form of statins. The quality and outcomes framework of the new general practitioner (GP) contract also includes indicators that encourage GPs to measure and control cholesterol in patients with cardiovascular disease, including diabetes.
The Government are also committed to support people by a new kind of personal health resource in the form of national health service health trainers, who will work with individuals to develop personal health plans as a tool to identify their own priorities for health to make necessary lifestyle changes.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to communicate the risk factors for heart disease to the general public. [36614]
Caroline Flint: The Department, working with other non-governmental organisations, has strong communications programmes that highlight the risk factors for heart disease. These include messages to promote a healthy, balanced diet, becoming more physically active, moderating alcohol intake and highlighting the dangers of smoking and second hand smoke.
The Department produces a family of free consumer magazines, which give health messages and regularly feature articles that communicate the risk factors for heart disease and promote a healthier lifestyle. It has also supported the production of a toolkit for healthprofessionals to develop a strategy to reduce hypertension. The Food Standards Agency has also
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launched a high profile consumer awareness campaign to bring the 6 gram per day target on salt consumption to people's attention.
Dentistry
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 9 November 2005, Official Report, column 17WS, on national health service dentistry, if she will break down the dentists recruited from 'local international recruitment' by country of origin; and how many (a) are registered with the General Dental Council and (b) have been offered places in (i) general dental service practices, (ii) salaried primary care dental services and (iii) the hospital dental service. [31967]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 28 November 2005]: This information was not collected by country of origin. However, we are aware that the majority of the dentists were recruited from Poland, with smaller numbers from Germany, Spain and Portugal.
Of the local international recruits, all are registered with the General Dental Council; otherwise, they would not be able to work in dental practice and so would not have been eligible to be included in the Department's data collection for the 1,000 dentist target, which only counted newly recruited dentists in practice on 31 October 2005.
We do not collect routine information about the type of national health service dental services in which international recruits are working.
However, the 1,000 dentists targets covered primary care dental services and none of the 1,000 dentists were employed in the hospital dental service. The vast majority were employed under a personal dental services (PDS) contract and a much smaller number under general dental services. A small number of the PDS dentists were employed in the community dental service as salaried PDS dentists.
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 9 November 2005, Official Report, column 17WS, on national health service dentistry, what schemes were used in the domestic recruitment of 88 new dentists. [31968]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 28 November 2005]: Domestic recruitment was undertaken via the keeping in touch scheme, which provides advice and support for dentists returning from a career break. The Department has a network of retaining and returning advisers, located in each of the post graduate dental deaneries, offering advice to returning dentists and arranging returning to practice schemes. The 88 dentists is a whole-time equivalent figure and was compiled from returns submitted by the retaining and returning advisers to the Department.
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in Beverley and Holderness were registered with an NHS dentist in each of the last 10 years for which records are available. [37438]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
The information is in the table.
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Note:
This information was provided by the Dental Practice Board and relates to patients registered with dentists whose practice address postcodes are within the constituency boundary.
Source:
Dental Practice Board
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there were in Beverley and Holderness in each of the last 10 years for which records are available. [37440]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information is set out in the table.
Notes:
1.Data includes all notifications of dentists joining or leaving the GDS or PDS, received by the Dental Practice Board, up to 19 October 2005. Figures for the numbers of dentists at specified dates may vary depending upon the notification period, e.g. data with a later notification period will include more recent notifications of dentists joining or leaving the GDS or PDS.
2.Dentists include principals, assistants and trainees. Prison contracts have been excluded from the data.
3.The postcode of the Dental Practice was used to allocate dentists to specific geographic areas. Constituency areas have been defined using the Office for National Statistics All Fields Postcode Directory.
Source:
Dental Practice Board
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received from dentists who have indicated their intention to leave the NHS if the new contract is introduced; and what steps her Department is taking to retain them. [34169]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has received a number of representations from dentists who are considering whether or not to take up a new national health service dental contract.
The Department has taken a range of steps to promote the benefits of the new contracts to dentists.
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The acting chief dental officer and other professional dental officers have attended a large number of local meetings with dentists to discuss the reforms. The reforms are designed to make the NHS a more attractive place for dentists to work by removing the 'treadmill' effect caused by the current fee-per-item system of remuneration, providing a guaranteed annual NHS income with earnings guaranteed for three years at the level of dentists' current NHS commitment, reducing the number of courses of treatment expected over a 12-month period by 5 per cent. for general dental services dentists, and freeing up time to allow a more preventative approach to dental care. Dentists will also continue to benefit from access to the NHS pension scheme.
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists in (a) the East of England, (b) Suffolk and (c) the constituency of Bury St.Edmunds are registering NHS patients; and how many were so doing in each case in each of the last five years. [35465]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
The number of national health service dentists with an open general dental services (GDS) or personal dental services (PDS) contract are in the following table.
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Notes:
1.Data includes all notifications, received by the Dental Practice Board, up to 19 October 2005. Figures for the numbers of dentists at specified dates may vary depending upon the notification period, e.g. data with a later notification period will include more recent notifications of dentists joining or leaving the GDS or PDS.
2.Dentists include principals, assistants and trainees. Prison contracts have been excluded from the data.
3.The postcode of the dental practice was used to allocate dentists to specific geographic areas. County and constituency areas have been defined using the Office for National Statistics All Fields Postcode Directory. The Government office region has been defined by summing the totals for Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire and Essex strategic health authority areas.
Source:
Dental Practice Board.
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients have been registered with an NHS dentist in Lancashire in each year since 1997. [36239]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information given for the Cumbria and Lancashire strategic health authority area and its primary care trusts is set out as follows:
(125)2004 and 2005 data includes GDS and PDS registrations/PDS patients seen (counts patients seen in the past 15 months for some PDS schemes).
Notes:
1.Data for 2003 and earlier comprise GDS and PDS registrations. They do not include those PDS schemes that do not have any registrations (e.g. Dental Access Centres), and is therefore not directly comparable with 2004 and 2005 data.
2.Prison contracts have been excluded.
Source:
Dental Practice Board.
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average retention rate of NHS dentists within Lancashire was in each of the past 10 years. [36240]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information is not available in the requested format. However, the following table shows national health service dentists with a general dental services (GDS) or personal dental services (PDS) contract who have left the GDS or PDS during each specific year as a percentage of total dentists as at 30 September each year within Cumbria and Lancashire strategic health authority area. It should be noted that these figures include dentists who leave for a variety of reasons including retirements and career breaks or maternity leave.
| Percentage of complete leavers to dentists | |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 4.5 |
| 1998 | 3.9 |
| 1999 | 5.0 |
| 2000 | 8.4 |
| 2001 | 3.8 |
| 2002 | 5.8 |
| 2003 | 6.4 |
| 2004 | 2.8 |
| 2005 | 3.4 |
Note:
Complete leaver means the dentist had an open GDS or PDS contract in September of the previous year but no GDS or PDS contract in September of the specified year.
Source:
Dental Practice Board.
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