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11 May 2006 : Column 546W—continued
The CSCI does not record information on long-term beds in the format requested.
Childhood Obesity
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions she has had with (a) the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and (b) Sport England about programmes to reduce the levels of childhood obesity; and what the outcome was. [69920]
Caroline Flint: Meetings between the Department and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to discuss programmes to reduce the levels of childhood obesity have taken place in November 2005 and March 2006. The aim of these meeting were to create a shared understanding of the relationship between key factors influencing levels of obesity and their elative importance and to build on this evidence to identify effective interventions.
No recent meetings have taken place with Sport England.
Children's Health Services
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many specialist paediatric diabetes nurses there are in London, broken down by borough. [67879]
Andy Burnham: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Colonoscopy
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many colonoscopy procedures were carried out per head of the population in each (a) Government office region and (b) strategic health authority area in each of the last three years. [68703]
Andy Burnham [holding answer 9 May 2006]: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
Consultants/Scanners
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) consultant oncologists, (b) diagnostic radiographers and (c) MRI scanners there are per 100,000 people in (i) England, (ii) the North East and (iii) the Tees Valley. [59929]
Andy Burnham: The number of oncologists and qualified diagnostic radiographers are shown in table one.
| Table 1: National health service hospital and community health services: qualified diagnostic radiographer staff and medical consultants in the oncology specialties in England, the North East Government Office Region (GOR) and County Durham and Tees Valley strategic health authority (SHA) area by organisation as at 30 September 2004. | |||
| Medical oncology | Clinical oncology | Qualified diagnostic radiographer | |
| 2004 | 2004 | 2004 | |
| Source: The Information Centre for health and social care, medical and dental workforce census 2004. The Information Centre for health and social care, non-medical workforce census 2004. The number of magnetic resonance imaging scanners, by strategic health authority, is shown in table two |
Continuing Care Costs
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what protection she plans to put in place for those who may lose their entitlement to NHS funded continuing care under the new National Framework; [67941]
(2) when she expects to publish the National Framework for Continuing Care. [67942]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: We expect public consultation on the national framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare to begin in the near future and will last for three months. It would be inappropriate to give any target date for publication of the final national framework until the consultation has been completed.
The national framework will not change the existing legal basis for the provision of NHS Continuing Healthcare. Fully funded NHS Continuing Healthcare will continue to be provided for all those individuals whose primary need is a health need. This is based on an assessment of need and if individuals' needs have not changed there is no reason to expect them to lose their entitlement to NHS Continuing Healthcare. However, it would be inappropriate to give a guarantee that every individual would continue to receive NHS Continuing Healthcare after re-assessment if their needs have changed.
Dentistry
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to commission new dental services in the Eastbourne area. [65497]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Since 2003-04, the Department has invested an additional £250 million in national health service dentistry and supported the NHS in recruiting the equivalent of an extra 1,459 dentists to improve patient access. The Government are also funding an additional 170 training places per year from 2005.
From April 2006, the NHS implemented major reforms to dentistry to build upon this success. New contracts for dentists have abolished the traditional fee per item remuneration system and support new ways of working with a greater focus on preventative care. Evidence from personal dental services pilot schemes is that these new ways of working free up significant capacity that dentists can then use in part to see a greater range of patients.
Dentists' current NHS earnings will be protected for at least three years and there will be a 5 per cent, reduction in the courses of treatment that general dental services practitioners are expected to carry out each year.
From April 2006, primary care trusts (PCTs), including Eastbourne Downs PCT, will also have devolved responsibility and ring-fenced budgets for commissioning primary dental services. This means that, if a dentist leaves the NHS or reduces their NHS commitment, the resources stay with the PCT to be re-invested in local dental services.
Eastbourne Downs PCT has commissioned replacement NHS capacity in Eastbourne valued at £450,000.
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