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23 Mar 2007 : Column 1200W—continued
NHS: Equal Opportunities
Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to launch a website cataloguing best practice to support those introducing gender equality duties in the NHS. [126725]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has already produced guidance for national health service organisations that have a duty to implement the forthcoming gender equality duty.
“Creating a Gender Equality Scheme: A practical guide for the NHS” is posted on the Department website and includes examples of good practice in both service and workforce areas. The Department has also recently launched single equality scheme web guidance “10 Steps to Your SES” to support NHS organisations to comply with all existing and emerging public sector duties in a coherent and cross cutting way. This also provides the opportunity for NHS organisations to share examples of best practice on an ongoing basis.
Nitrous Oxide: Health Hazards
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been hospitalised as a consequence of inhaling nitrous oxide since 1997. [125165]
Caroline Flint: This information is not collected centrally.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions she has had with the Home Secretary on the availability of nitrous oxide for recreational use. [125166]
Caroline Flint: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no discussions with the Home Secretary on this subject.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency have issued a press release warning nightclubs and festivals of the health risks of inhaling nitrous oxide, reminding them of their responsibilities and the prospects of legal action should they allow the sale of nitrous oxide on their property.
Nurses: Schools
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many school nurses or full-time equivalents there were in Northamptonshire in each year from 2000 to 2006. [124892]
Andy Burnham: The information requested is not available in the format required.
Data available for the numbers of school nurses or full-time equivalents in Northamptonshire for 2004-05 are shown in the following table.
| 2004 | 2005 | |||
| Qualified school nursing nurses | Of which: qualified school nurses( 1) | Qualified school nursing nurses | Of which: qualified school nurses( 1) | |
| (1) Qualified school nurses hold the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) specialist practice qualification with an outcome in school nursing, which is a recordable qualification on the NMC register. Notes: 1. Full-time equivalent figures are rounded to the nearest whole number. 2. School nursing nurses have only been collected from 2004 as a separate category. 3. It should be further noted that, as data is not centrally held below PCT level, figures are not available for the parts of Northamptonshire which previously fell within Cherwell Vale PCT and South Peterborough PCT. Source: The Information Centre for health and social care non-medical workforce census | ||||
Parkinson’s Disease: East Sussex
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many Parkinson's disease specialist nurses there were in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex in each year since 1997. [125491]
Caroline Flint: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Pembury Hospital
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health why the figure for the cost of the Pembury hospital private finance initiative Scheme, as used by the Minister of State in her letter to hon. Members representing Kent constituencies of 26 February 2007, differs from the figure given by the Prime Minister in his oral answer of 19 July 2006. [129776]
Andy Burnham: The principal reason for the change to the capital values of the scheme at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells national health service trust was that in October 2006 the scheme was subject to a Departmental reappraisal. A key part of this was an assessment of the capacity assumptions to ascertain if these were realistic and properly suited to the needs of the local health economy; and a review of the estate in terms of current and planned building stock to ensure optimal use. This led the trust to reconsider how the scheme could best be structured in order to deliver services in the most cost-effective way and ensure long-term viability, and the capital value of the scheme was reduced accordingly.
In addition, the figure given by the Prime Minister included the cost of the mental health element of the scheme, which is being funded by the Kent and Medway Partnership and Social Care Trust. The Secretary of State’s letter gave a figure that related exclusively to the acute element of the scheme.
Prostate Cancer
Mr. Clelland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking (a) to facilitate and (b) to monitor the implementation of the Prostate Cancer Equality Action Plan. [128488]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Good progress has been made in considering the recommendations of the Prostate Cancer Charter for action’s tackling prostate cancer in black and minority ethnic (BME) groups report. The recommendations were included for consideration in the cancer equality action plan, which fed into the Department action plan to support the publication of the Single Equality Scheme on 4 December 2006. Specifically:
the cancer action team have appointed to the post of Associate Director—Patient Experience. This post is being funded by the National Audit Office, and the postholder begins work on 1 April 2007. Responsibilities will cover equality issues as follows:
provide leadership on BME issues within the cancer action team;
promote the establishment of a forum of the key stakeholders working with BME communities and work with them to facilitate the sharing of good practice; and
work with key stakeholders and selected cancer networks to develop best practice guidance for cancer networks (including needs of local population, awareness raising, information and support for patients, end of life care and promote the implementation of guidance).
public awareness pilot—the pilot took place in Coventry in October 2006, and draft quantitative and qualitative evaluation reports have been received. These are being considered by the prostate cancer advisory group’s (PCAG) public awareness working group, who will advise the main PCAG on implementation of the findings in June 2007;
prostate cancer risk management programme (PCRMP)—the higher risk of prostate cancer for men of black origin will be included in revised PCRMP materials, due for relaunch in March 2008; and
research—follow up studies to the prostate cancer in ethnic subgroups (PROCESS) study are being actively developed.
The Department’s cancer policy team are facilitating and monitoring the implementation of the tackling prostate cancer in BME groups report, and the other recommendations will be considered with the cancer action team Associate Director-Patient Experience in due course.
Mr. Clelland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what procedures she has put in place to ensure that men with prostate cancer are given information on (a) local support groups and (b) national charities involved with prostate cancer; [128514]
(2) what steps she is taking to ensure that men have an informed choice when making decisions about their treatment for prostate cancer. [128522]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published “Improving Outcomes in Urological Cancers”, including prostate cancer, in September 2002. The guidance recommends that the treatment each patient receives should be tailored to fit his individual values and situation, so it is essential that patients are actively involved in decision making. This requires that they receive adequate and accurate information, both through meetings with members of the multi-disciplinary team, and in published forms so that they can study at home. Patients should be given sufficient time to consider all the options available to them.
To support this, a number of initiatives are under way:
The cancer services collaborative Improvement Partnership patient information project team has been working with cancer networks since 2003 to help them develop the resources and processes they need to provide a co-ordinated network wide approach to patient information delivery. A website has now been launched to support networks in improving patient information delivery by providing guidance and resources.
The Government will introduce Information Prescriptions for everyone with a long term condition or care need by 2008. This commitment is part of the 2006 White Paper “Our Health Our Care Our Say”. The information prescriptions pilots, which will trial the initiative, were announced on 18 October 2006. The pilot includes four sites focusing on cancer, and will run until the end of 2007.
From 2004 to 2005 the Action on Urology programme hosted a project designed to pilot the implementation of decision aids into routine practice in the national health service. The decision aid programme was introduced into four NHS hospital trusts in England, into either one or both of two urology pathways early-stage localised prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia. Phase one identified a range of improvements which participants felt should be made before the package was rolled out nationally. Phase two has been established to address these amendments in a further six pilot sites. It is planned that a final range of decision making tools will be ready for general issue across England by March 2008.
The Department has collaborated with signatories to the prostate cancer charter for action to develop UK Prostate Link, the first comprehensive online source of information of its kind, to help prostate cancer patients, their families and
health professionals to access the quality information they need about prostate cancer. The website address is: www.prostate-link.org.uk
Patient information and decision support are also being taken forward by the patient experience working group as part of the development of the cancer reform strategy.
Mr. Clelland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to raise awareness of prostate cancer. [128524]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Raising the awareness of prostate cancer is a key challenge. We want men to know what their prostate is, what it does, and what can go wrong with it. However, we have to raise awareness in a responsible way so as not to cause undue anxiety and worry. That is why we teamed up with the Prostate Cancer Charter for Action to fund a pilot public awareness programme of the prostate, and that is why we are also making raising awareness a key strand of the new Cancer Reform Strategy.
The pilot public awareness programme on the prostate and its function took place in Coventry in October 2006, and an independent evaluation is now assessing the effectiveness of the messages used in the pilot, the interventions used to promote the messages, and the impact the pilot has had on national health service services. Draft reports of the evaluation are being considered by the Prostate Cancer Advisory Group’s (PCAG) public awareness working group, who will advise the main PCAG on implementation of the findings in June 2007.
The Department provided £100,000 towards the pilot and the evaluation, with signatories to the Charter providing a further £50,000 towards the pilot.
Mr. Clelland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to revise the Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme; and what the timescale is for the revision. [128526]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The formal evaluation of the Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme (PCRMP) was undertaken between 2004 and 2006 by the Cancer Research UK Primary Care Education Research Group. Based on the results of the evaluation, the group has now begun work on revising the PCRMP materials. The group are looking to appoint to a dedicated post to continue the revision, and will begin work shortly on an update of the formal literature review that informed the original PCRMP packs. We are also ensuring that revisions to the PCRMP are consistent with the development of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence’s Clinical Guide on the Diagnosis and Management of Prostate Cancer.
The review will also involve discussions with key stakeholders in the voluntary sector. We are committed to involving key stakeholders in policy development. That is why the Prostate Cancer Advisory Group (PCAG), chaired by Professor Mike Richards, the National Cancer Director, has representation from signatories to the Prostate Cancer Charter for Action, including the Prostate Cancer Charity.
A consultation on the revised PCRMP materials will take place in autumn 2007, with a re-launch of the packs in March 2008.
Prostate Cancer: North East Region
Mr. Clelland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether her Department’s (a) 31 and (b) 62 day waiting time target for prostate cancer was met in Newcastle and Gateshead in the latest period for which figures are available. [128521]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Data collected centrally by the Department to monitor cancer waiting times does not separately identify those patients diagnosed with prostate cancer. However, for the period October to December 2006, data for the Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust and the Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust shows that they achieved 100 per cent. and 99.6 per cent. respectively for the all cancer 31 day diagnosis to treatment standard. For the same period, these trusts achieved 96.6 per cent. and 96.1 per cent. respectively for the 62 day referral to treatment standard for all cancers.
Surgery
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) inpatient and (b) day case procedures were carried out in each year since 1997-98 (i) in England and (ii) in each NHS trust (A) for both elective and non-elective procedures and (B) for elective procedures only. [127834]
Andy Burnham: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
Voter Turnout
Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the voter turnout has been in elections for foundation trusts in 2006. [113413]
Andy Burnham: This information is not held centrally and no longer collected by Monitor (the statutory name of which is the Independent Regulator of National Health Service foundation trusts). Information relating to the elections to the governing bodies of individual NHS foundation trusts can be obtained by contacting the chairmen of the respective trusts.
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