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30 Oct 2006 : Column 177W—continued
Multiple Myeloma
Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many responses from (a) health care professionals, (b) patients and (c) carers were received by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the consultation on Velcade for multiple myeloma. [95948]
Andy Burnham: The information is not available in the format requested. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) appraisal consultation document on Velcade for multiple myeloma was placed on NICE's website for public consultation for a period of three weeks from 24 July 2006. I understand that by the end of the consultation period NICE had received 243 responses from members of the public, 15 responses from registered stakeholder organisations and a petition with 2,282 signatures.
Further information, including a summary of the responses received, can be found on NICE's website at www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=377664.
Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of the availability of innovative new medicines for the treatment of multiple myeloma. [95949]
Andy Burnham:
We established the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to produce guidance to the national health service on the clinical and cost
effectiveness of innovative new medicines. We have not made any separate assessment.
Myalgic Encephalopathy
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to increase access to services for people suffering from myalgic encephalopathy in (a) Hartlepool constituency and (b) the North East region. [94086]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Local national health service (NHS) organisations have the responsibility to demonstrate that they are making progress towards achieving the level of service quality described in the national service framework for long-term conditions. This document sets out a clear vision of how health and social care organisations in all parts of the country can improve the quality, consistency and responsiveness of their services and help improve the lives of people living with neurological conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis.
National Care Standards Commission
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the relationship is between the National Care Standards Commission and the Commission for Social Care Inspections; and if she will make a statement. [94425]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The National Care Standards Commission (NCSC) was established by the Care Standards Act 2000 as a non-departmental public body to regulate social care services and independent health care services in England. It operated between 1 April 2002 and 31 March 2004. The NCSC replaced local and health authority inspection units and took over the regulation of children's homes, previously the responsibility of the Department and the Social Services Inspectorate (SSI).
As part of the Government's rationalisation of the inspection and regulation of social care services, the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) took over the work of the NCSC, the SSI and the SSI/Audit Commission joint review team on 1 April 2004.
CSCI was established under the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003, as a non-departmental public body with the remit to improve the quality of adults and children's social care in England. CSCI has an overview of all private, voluntary and council-run social care services in England. It registers, inspects and reviews social care provision to ensure that people using social care receive a safe, high quality service that gives value for money.
Necrotising Enterocolitis
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research she has examined on the causes of necrotising enterocolitis in the NHS. [94249]
Mr. Ivan Lewis:
Necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) is a serious gastrointestinal disease seen principally in neonatal intensive care units. The Medical Research Council funded researchers at the Institute of Child Health to undertake a study with the objective of
establishing the incidence of necrotising enterocolitis, to determine whether early diet influenced its onset and severity. The study ran from October 1993 to October 1994 and used the surveillance system set up by the British paediatric surveillance unit. The outcome data highlighted the benefits of breastfeeding adding weight to the view, based now on several lines of evidence that the inclusion of human milk in the diets of preterm infants may be clinically beneficial. The Government are fully committed to the promotion of breastfeeding as the best form of nutrition for infants and recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, followed by continued breastfeeding with appropriate types and amounts of complementary foods.
We are aware that the Health Technology Assessment, which researches health interventions of diseases, has a project soon to be commissioned that relates to prevention of the condition. The title is “Early administration to preterm infants of Bifidobacterium breve strain BBG to prevent infection and necrotising enterocolitis”.
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of children and babies with necrotising enterocolitis there were in each year between 2000 and 2006. [94286]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Necrotising enterocolitis is a serious gastrointestinal disease seen principally in neonatal intensive care units. The Information Centre for health and social care has provided the following data taken from hospital episode statistics on incidence between 2000-01 and 2004-05, the latest year for which information is available:
| Finished consultant episodes where the primary diagnosis is necrotising enterocolitis/enteritis | |
| Number | |
| (1) P77X is valid for babies not yet born and those until 27th day 23rd hour and 59th minute of life. (2) A047 includes but is not limited to necrotising enterocolitis due to clostridium difficile Notes: Diagnosis (primary diagnosis). The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (7 prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics data set and provides the main reason the patient was in hospital. Finished consultant episode (FCE) An FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Please note that the figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care with the year. Ungrossed Data Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data, that is the data are ungrossed. | |
NHS Direct and NHS Online
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people received advice from (a) NHS Direct and (b) NHS online in each month since their introduction, broken down by local authority area. [93935]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not collected centrally. The following tables show the number of calls answered by NHS Direct and the number of online visits to NHS Direct online by month. NHS Direct online does not require users to provide information on location and is mainly an anonymous service.
| Date | Combined calls answered |
| Date | Web visits (Thousand) |
| Note: Combined calls includes calls to 0845 46 47 and out of hours calls. Source: NHS Direct National Operations Centre. | |
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