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7 Dec 2006 : Column 672W—continued
Cholesterol
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to amend national cholesterol targets to reflect the JBS2 guidelines. [104372]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department’s policy on cholesterol targets is set out in the national service framework for coronary heart disease, and reflected in key drivers of practice such as the quality and outcomes framework of the general medical service contract.
The JBS2 guidelines are welcomed as a contribution to policy development but they do not update our policy. The principal mechanism for this is the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). NICE is currently working on guidance on lipid management, due out next year. That guidance will set out any revisions to current policy on targets for controlling cholesterol.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Mr. Ian Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps her Department is taking to extend access to cognitive behavioural therapy across England; and whether one of the planned regional projects will take place in Surrey. [104460]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
The Government support better mental health services through our improving access to psychological therapies (IAPT) programme, which began in May. This policy was also set out in our
2005 manifesto and in the “Our Health, Our Care, Our Say” White Paper. We are looking to develop a service model for delivering a range of evidence-based interventions, with the focus being on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) because this has the broadest evidence base.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published guidelines on the treatment of depression and anxiety in December 2004. NICE gave emphatic support to making evidence-based psychological therapies, including CBT, available as an adjunct or alternative to drug treatments for the treatment of mild to moderate depression, anxiety and schizophrenia.
Initially, IAPT consists of two national demonstration sites in Newham and Doncaster and a national programme of local projects in each of the National Institute for Mental Health in England’s eight regional development centres (RDCs). We aim to work with the RDCs in preparing other areas around England to begin a phased roll-out of service models. It is envisaged that between 10 to 20 new services will roll-out in the first wave, on a region-by-region basis, with sites chosen by the strategic health authorities in discussion with their primary care trusts (PCTs) in due course.
We expect IAPT to provide robust evidence in favour of increasing psychological therapy capacity and this will help to clarify the numbers of staff, the skills set and the training requirements needed to do this. A business case will be submitted to Treasury as part of the comprehensive spending review in early 2007 which will make the case for investing in local psychological therapies services across England.
NICE issued technology appraisal TA097 on computerised cognitive behavioural therapies (CCBT) in February 2006. By 31 March 2007, NICE requires all PCTs to provide access to the packages “Beating the Blues” as an option for the treatment of mild and moderate depression and “FearFighter” as an option for the treatment of panic and phobia. We consider CCBT as an effective vehicle towards empowering people to take charge of their own treatment.
Consultants
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent by the NHS on external consultants in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) primary care trust and (b) strategic health authority; and for what reason the expenditure was incurred in each case. [104700]
Caroline Flint: The Department does not collect information from the national health service on expenditure on external consultants. While primary care trusts and NHS trusts operate within the financial framework set by the Department, they are accountable to strategic health authorities for their financial performance, not the Department, and publish their own set of annual financial accounts.
Contaminated Blood Products
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 23 November 2006, Official Report, column 225W, on contaminated NHS blood products, what assessment she has made of the merits of undertaking a public inquiry into the supply of contaminated NHS blood products to people with haemophilia in relation to HIV and hepatitis B. [107372]
Caroline Flint [holding answer 4 December 2006]: We regret that patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis B through treatment with plasma products, prior to the introduction of heat treatment in the mid 1980s.
These heat treatments were developed to inactivate HIV. HIV was much more sensitive to heat treatment than hepatitis C and hepatitis B. From the mid 1980s a range of heat treatments for plasma products were developed that eliminated HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
Donor screening for HIV was introduced in 1985 and donor screening for hepatitis B was introduced by 1972. Both these microbiological tests were introduced as soon as practicable. In view of these actions, we do not consider a public inquiry is justified.
In February this year, the Department published the report on “Self Sufficiency in Blood Products in England and Wales” which is available at:
www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidanceArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4130917&chk=c91C7q
This provides a summary on the issue of infected blood products.
Dentistry
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) adult and (b) child patients are registered with a (i) GP practice and (ii) NHS dental practice in the London borough of Bexley; and how many were so registered on (A) 1 January and (B) 1 July in each of the last five years. [103810]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The table shows numbers of registered general practitioner patients by specified age bands for Bexley Care Trust, as at 30 September 2001 to 2005.
Prior to the introduction of the new national health service dental contract on 1 April 2006, numbers of patients registered with an NHS dentist were available under the old contractual arrangements. The latest information available is as at 31 March 2006. Data are available as at 31 March and 30 September and have been provided in the following table.
Under the new dental contractual arrangements, this registration measure no longer exists. Instead, a new measure: number of patients treated within the last 24 months will be available for the 24 months ending 31 March 2006, 30 June 2006 and 30 September 2006. This will be published on 29 November 2006 in the NHS Dental Statistics for England Quarter Two report.
| General dental services (GDS) and personal dental services (PDS): numbers of patients registered with an NHS dentist, by adult and children, in Bexley Care Trust at the specified date 2001 to 2006 | |||
| Adults | Children | Total | |
| Sources: The Information Centre for health and social care NHS Business Services Authority (BSA) | |||
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) why the General Dental Council has closed the International Qualifying Examination list; when she expects the list to reopen; and if she will make a statement; [107490]
(2) what the examination pass rates were of each examination centres that offers the International Qualifying Examination for those wishing to practise dentistry in the UK in each of the last five years; [107491]
(3) what charges and fees are levied on those sitting the International Qualifying Examination to practise dentistry in the UK; and what estimate her Department has made of the total costs incurred by individuals wishing to take the examination; [107493]
(4) what the average waiting time was for candidates between initial application and sitting of the International Qualifying Examination to practise dentistry in the UK during the last 12 months; [107494]
(5) whether preference is given to (a) British citizens and (b) permanent UK residents in allocating places to sit the International Qualifying Examination to practise dentistry in the UK; [107495]
(6) how many (a) applications were made and (b) places were made available to sit the International Qualifying Examination for those wishing to practise dentistry in the UK in the last 12 months; [107496]
(7) how many (a) British citizens, (b) people permanently resident in the UK and (c) others have (i) taken and (ii) passed the International Qualifying Examination to practise dentistry in each of the last five years. [107497]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department does not hold this information. The General Dental Council (GDC), which is independent of Government, is responsible for setting and administering the international qualifying examination (IQE) for dentists wishing to practise in the United Kingdom who do not hold a recognised qualification. It would not be legal for the GDC to discriminate on grounds of nationality in admitting dentists to the IQE and allocating places on the examination.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many unique dental patients were recorded by the Business Service Authority for each primary care trust in each month for which information is available; and how much in receipts from dental charges was recorded in each case in each month. [102331]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Annual data on registrations, by primary care trust, from 1997 to 2006, are provided in the tables which have been placed in the Library.
Also presented are annual data on receipts from dental charges, by PCT, from 1997-98 to 2005-06. It would involve disproportionate cost to produce these data on a monthly basis.
Patient charges refer to national health service dental charge income collected from patients by dental practices. The data exclude any charge income that may have been collected within general dental services (GDS) directly managed by NHS trusts such as emergency dental service clinics or certain salaried dental services at health centres, or within trust-led personal dental services (PDS) such as certain dental access centres.
PDS patient charge data are available from 2004-05 onwards, therefore figures relating to years prior to 2004-05 are based on GDS patient charges alone. Reliable PDS data are not available before 2004-05.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the ring-fenced budget allocation for each primary care trust made for NHS dentistry (a) was in 2005-06, (b) is in 2006-07 and (c) is planned to be in 2007-08; [102332]
(2) how much of the budget allocation for NHS dentistry for 2006-07 is funded from income from charges in each primary care trust. [102333]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Primary care trusts (PCTs) assumed full responsibility for local commissioning of primary care dentistry and received devolved primary care dental allocations with effect from 1 April 2006. In 2005-06 PCTs received dental funding allocations only in respect of personal dental services pilot schemes; the bulk of primary dental care continued to be provided through the centrally funded general dental services.
A table listing the primary dental service resource allocations for 2006-07 for all PCTs in England as at 31 July 2006 is available in the Library. This sets out the net budgets for each PCT and the assumed levels of gross expenditure on which each budget was based.
The actual level of charge income will depend on a range of variables including the service levels, i.e. the annual units of dental activity, agreed for each local contract with dentists and the relative proportions of chargeable and non-chargeable treatments carried out during the year.
Primary dental service allocations for 2007-08 have not yet been released.
Diabetes
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans her Department has to provide guidance on the care of patients with complicated diabetic foot wounds. [104243]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The “Diabetic Foot Guide” was published by the national health service national diabetes support team in April 2006. This guide helps in developing an integrated and effective diabetic foot care service and copies have been placed in the Library.
Egg Share Organism Creation
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many research centres have applied to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a licence to perform egg share organism creation. [103538]
Andy Burnham: One research centre has applied to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a licence to carry out egg sharing as part of a research project.
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