| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
23 Apr 2007 : Column 958W—continued
The number of deaths with a mention of either pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis(1) in England are:
(1) Cause of death defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD10) codes I26, I80.1, I80.2, I80.3, I80.9, I82.9.
| Number | |
Data on deaths by health authority are not readily available centrally.
Dental Services: Eastbourne
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) net primary dental service allocation and (b) allocation for possible patient charge income was for Eastbourne Downs Primary Care Trust in 2006-07. [130973]
Ms Rosie Winterton: A table listing the Primary Dental Service Resource Allocations for 2006-07 for all primary care trusts (PCTs) in England as 31 July 2006 is available in the Library. This set out the net allocations awarded to PCTs and the assumed gross budgets based on illustrative assumptions about levels of patient charge income for each PCT. Strategic health authorities agreed with their PCTs locally how these allocations would be redistributed within the new PCT areas that took effect from 1 October 2006.
Dental Services: Hertfordshire
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment she has made of the provision of NHS dentistry in Hertfordshire. [128044]
Ms Rosie Winterton: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has not made any assessment of the dental services in Hertfordshire. It is the responsibility of the primary care trusts to commission services to meet the needs of the population that they serve, this includes the provision of dental services.
Departments: Paper
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms are in place to ensure her Department's economical use of paper. [128006]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department's overall policy is to reduce volume and wastage of paper used and therefore reduce expenditure.
The Department enters into European Union approved procurement procedures in order to attain the best value for money for paper products that conform to the requirement to purchase paper from renewable sources. It is purchased centrally to maximise savings achieved.
Our reprographics supplier is instructed only to use paper from renewable sources that meet our requirement and price and that all outputs are produced double-sided as standard.
The Department has also introduced an electronic filing system that negates the need for keeping paper copies and is reducing the number of available storage cabinets in our offices.
Departments: Pressure Groups
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what meetings took place between Ministers in her Department and outside interest groups between 1 January and 31 March; and what the date was of each such meeting. [131032]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
Departments: Public Appointments
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the former hon. Members who left Parliament in 2005 who have since been appointed to public bodies by her Department, broken down by party; and who was responsible for making each appointment. [130146]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not available.
Departments: Railways
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of travel by train by staff on official business in her Department in each year since 1997. [128043]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The available information up to 2003-04 is shown in the following table. In April 2004, the Department introduced a new accounting system. Under the new accounting system information on train travel costs cannot be separated from other travel and subsistence costs without incurring disproportionate costs.
| £ | |||||||
| 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-00 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | |
Dermatology
Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the impact of secondary care referral reductions on the future training of doctors aiming to become consultant dermatologists. [128726]
Ms Rosie Winterton: No such assessment has been carried out by the Department as this is for local determination.
Doctors: Training
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been paid to the Work Psychology Partnership in connection with the medical training application service. [128713]
Ms Rosie Winterton: There is a contract in place between the Department and Work Psychology Partnership for the sum of £92,950 excluding VAT. Work Psychology Partnership are contracted to provide advice and tools to support the recruitment and selection into specialty training programmes, for which the Medical Training Application Service facilitates applications.
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent on the Medical Training Application Service (MTAS); and how much has been allocated to MTAS for 2007-08. [128715]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The cost of the Medical Training Application Service (including set up costs) is £1.9 million in 2006-07. The budgets for 2007-08 have not yet been agreed.
Elderly: Nutrition
Mrs. Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government are taking to ensure that patients in hospital over the age of 65 years receive an appropriate diet; and if she will make a statement. [118254]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: An appropriate diet requires good food with the right nutritional content, properly prepared and available when patients need it.
The National Health Service Plan stipulated that dieticians should advise and check on nutritional values in hospital food. Nutritional information is available for all recipes in the national dish selector, and this can be used to assess local nutritional levels. Ingredients specifications for the recipes have been developed by the Purchasing and Supply Agency to ensure that wholesome, high quality and value-for-money ingredients are used.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) Strategic Plan for 2005-10 includes a commitment to support other Government Departments to set targets to improve the nutritional quality of meals served in major institutions. Work is under way to develop nutrient and food based guidance for institutions that will support cross-Government action on diet and food procurement. The first set of guidance, including an example menu, for those providing food to older people in residential care who do not have specific diet-related medical needs, was published by the FSA in October 2006.
The quality of hospital food is measured annually via patient environment action team (PEAT) assessments. These showed an increase from 17 per cent., good in 2002 to over 34 per cent., excellent in 2005-06. (There was no excellent category in 2002, when a three-point scale was used).
Older people in hospital may prefer to eat little and often, and this was provided for in the NHS Plan. For the last year in which statistics were collected (2004), 89 per cent. of hospitals had introduced ward kitchen services to provide light snacks, 80 per cent. were providing snack boxes for patients who missed a meal and 84 per cent. provided extra snacks during the day.
It is known that older people in hospital are vulnerable to malnutrition. To identify and deal with patients at risk, we have introduced protected mealtimes and have renewed the emphasis on nutritional screening. These two areas of work are being actively pursued by the National Patient Safety Agency.
I announced a national action plan on 14 March 2007 to tackle the issue of older people and nutrition more generally. The action plan followed a nutrition summit on the same day, attended by leading charities, clinicians, nutrition experts and care home representatives. It will be further worked up in close consultation with frontline workers.
Fibromyalgia
Mr. Andrew Smith:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research her Department has
commissioned into the causes and treatment of fibromyalgia; and if she will make a statement. [132073]
Caroline Flint: Over the last 10 years, the main part of the Department's expenditure on health research has been allocated to and managed by national health service organisations. Details of individual projects supported in the NHS, including a significant number concerned with fibromyalgia, can be found on the national research register at:
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is one of the main agencies through which the Government support medical and clinical research. The MRC is not currently funding research specifically into fibromyalgia although some basic research currently being undertaken will help develop our understanding of the condition.
Good Hope Hospital
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) doctors and (b) nurses were employed at Good Hope hospital in each of the last 10 years. [107633]
Caroline Flint: The information requested is set out in the following table.
| Hospital and community health services (HCHS): medical and dental and non-medical staff working within Good Hope hospital National Health Service Trust, as at 30 September each year | ||
| Number (headcount) | ||
| Medical and dental staff | Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff | |
| Source: The Information Centre for health and social care medical and dental workforce census. The Information Centre for health and social care non-medical workforce census. | ||
GPs: Training
Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when general practitioner trainers will receive payments for the 2006-07 financial year for continuing professional development; and if she will make a statement. [128687]
Ms Rosie Winterton: In its 34th report the doctors' and dentists' review body recommended a £750 supplement for general practitioner trainers to boost their continuing professional development. It is for strategic health authorities to meet this commitment.
Health Professions: Bexley
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) dentists, (b) opticians and (c) general practitioners there were in Bexley in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2006. [127649]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested can be found in the following tables.
Table 1 shows data on the number of dentists as at 31 March 1997 and 2006 based on the old contractual arrangements.
| Table 1: general dental services ( G DS) and personal dental services (PDS): numbers of national health service dentists in Bexley Care Trust and Bexleyheath and Crayford parliamentary constituency | ||
| 1997 | 2006 | |
| Notes: 1. The postcode of the dental practice was used to allocate dentists to specific geographic areas. Constituency and primary care trust (PCT) areas have been defined using the Office for National Statistics All Fields Postcode Directory. 2. Dentists consist of principals, assistant and trainees. Information on national health service dentistry in the community dental service, in hospitals and in prisons are excluded. 3. The data in this report are based on NHS dentists on PCT lists. These details were passed on to the BSA who paid dentists based on activity undertaken. A dentist can provide as little or as much NHS treatment as he or she chooses or has agreed with the PCT. In some cases an NHS dentist may appear on a PCT list but not perform any NHS work in that period. Most NHS dentists do some private work. The data do not take into account the proportion of NHS work undertaken. 4. Figures for the numbers of dentists at specified dates may vary depending on the date the figures are compiled. This is because the NHS Business Services Authority (BSA) may be notified of joiners or leavers to or from the up to several months, or more, after the move has taken place. 5. Constituency and PCT data include all dentists practising in that area. Some dentists may have an open GDS or PDS contract in more than one constituency and therefore they have been counted more than once. 6. The boundaries used are as at 31 March 2006. Source: The Information Centre for health and social care, Dental Statistics NHS Business Services Authority | ||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |