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8 May 2007 : Column 136W—continued
Breast Cancer: Greater London
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 16 April 2007, Official Report, column 322W, on breast cancer: Greater London (1) what recommendations were contained in the review of the North of London Breast Screening Service carried out by the National Breast Screening Service Quality Assurance Team; [135672]
(2) what assessment she has made of the lessons to be drawn from the review of the North of London Breast Screening Service carried out by the National Breast Screening Service Quality Assurance Team for the effectiveness of breast screening services in other areas of the country. [135673]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 3 May 2007]: The report of the review carried out by the National Breast Screening Service Quality Assurance Team has yet to be published, and so assessments cannot be made or recommendations taken into account. The review is due to be published during May.
Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she last met representatives of Bromley NHS Trust; and what was discussed. [135574]
Andy Burnham: Records show that the Secretary of State for Health and her Ministers have not had meetings with any representative from Bromley National Health Service Trust in the last year.
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the financial position of Bromley NHS Trust. [135575]
Andy Burnham: At quarter three 2006-07, Bromley Hospitals National Health Service Trust was reporting a forecast outturn year end deficit of £12.9 million.
As announced on 28 March 2007, Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust will receive income of £14.1 million to reverse the impact of resource accounting and budgeting deductions made in 2006-07. This would improve the reported position at quarter three to a surplus of £1.2 million.
Cancer Diagnosis
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of patients diagnosed with cancer in the last period for which figures are available were (a) urgently referred and (b) routinely referred by their GP; and what proportion were identified through an NHS cancer screening programme. [125208]
Ms Rosie Winterton [pursuant to the reply, 7 March 2007, Official Report, c. 2094W]: Data are not held centrally for those patients who were not urgently referred by their general practitioner (GP) for suspected cancer. For the most recently available period (October to December 2006) published data show that of all patients treated 39.7 per cent. were referred urgently for suspected cancer by their GP, and 60.3 per cent. were referred from another source, or routinely referred (this will include referrals from NHS screening services).
We do not hold information specifically relating to screening services. For breast screening during the year 2004-05 statistics show that 71,363 women were referred for an assessment by a local breast screening service. Of these patients 11,966 were subsequently diagnosed with cancer.
For cervical screening, during the year 2005-06 (the most recently available) information held by the Department indicates that 129,207 women were referred for a colposcopy examination by a local cervical screening service. Of these women 857 were subsequently diagnosed with a severe or invasive carcinoma.
Chiropody
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many chiropodists qualified in England in each of the last five years. [132868]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Information on chiropody graduates is not collected centrally.
The following table shows the number of students who entered training to be a chiropodist in each of the last five years.
| Pre-registration training commissions for chiropody—England | |
| Number | |
| Source: Quarterly monitoring returns. | |
Community Nurses
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many community matrons are in post in each region; and if she will make a statement. [135299]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 1 May 2007]: The table shows the number of community matrons in post by strategic health authorities as at 30 September 2006. Based on the Department's monitoring the figures may well understate the true picture.
In 2006 there were 366 community matrons, an increase of 99 (37.1 per cent.) on 2005.
| NHS hospital and community health services: Qualified community nursing matron staff in each SHA as at 30 September 2006 | |
| Headcount | |
| Source: The Information Centre for health and social care non-medical workforce census. | |
Dental Services: Manpower
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists per head of population there were in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England in each year since 1997. [134847]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Numbers of persons per national health service dentist in England as at 31 March 1997 to 2006 are available in annex F of the “NHS Dental Activity and Workforce Report England: 31 March 2006”.
This information is based on the old contractual arrangements and is available at strategic health authority (SHA) and primary care trust (PCT) area. This report is available on-line at:
Information is only available at SHA and PCT level for 2001 to 2006.
Numbers of persons per NHS dentist in England as at 30 June, 30 September and 31 December 2006 are available in section G of annex 3 of the “NHS Dental Statistics for England Q3:31 December 2006 report”.
This information is based on the new contractual arrangements and is not directly comparable with earlier information. Data are available at SHA and PCT level. This report is available on-line at:
Numbers of persons per dentist are not available at constituency area. Both reports are available in the Library.
Dental Services: North East Region
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there were in (a) the North East and (b) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland in each of the last five years. [134886]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Numbers of national health service dentists in regional areas in England as at 31 March 1997 to 2006 are available in the “NHS Dental Activity and Workforce Report England: 31 March 2006”. Annex E contains information at primary care trust (PCT) and strategic health authority (SHA) area. Information at parliamentary constituency area is available in annex G.
This information is based on the old contractual arrangements. This report is available in the Library and at:
Numbers of NHS dentists in regional areas in England as at 30 June, 30 September and 31 December 2006 are available in section G of annex 3 of the “NHS Dental Statistics for England Q3: 31 December 2006 report”.
This information is based on the new contractual arrangements and is not directly comparable with earlier information. Data are only available at SHA and PCT level. To provide these data at constituency level area would be at disproportionate cost. This report is available in the Library and at:
Departments: Oral Questions
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many questions tabled by hon. and right hon. Members to her Department for oral answer have been transferred to other Departments since May 2005. [133799]
Doctors: Languages
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to ensure that all doctors practising in England have satisfactory proficiency in the English language; and if she will make a statement. [121584]
Ms Rosie Winterton: In order to be registered with the General Medical Council, doctors who trained outside the European Economic Area must show that they are proficient in the English language. Where their training was not undertaken in the English language, this is usually demonstrated by the achievement of level 7 in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
It is the responsibility of employers to ensure that the doctors they employ are able to safely and effectively communicate with colleagues and patients. All applicants to foundation programmes or specialty registrar programmes are required to demonstrate a competence in English at IELTS level 7, if they have not undertaken their medical training in English.
Doctors: Recruitment
Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to ensure that there will be no significant service impacts for NHS trusts during the interview period for new posts under the Modernising Medical careers reform. [132029]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 18 April 2007]: The Department has been working with NHS employers to keep trusts informed throughout the process about what they need to do. National health service organisations have been working on planning for this phase of recruitment to specialty training for the past six months and trusts have managed detailed planning at local level to ensure that there is appropriate cover and that patient services are not compromised.
We are committed to ensuring NHS trusts have adequate staff cover to enable them to provide high quality services to patients at all times.
Drugs: Misuse
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the impact of ketamine used illegally on health in (a) Gloucestershire, (b) the Forest of Dean and (c) England in the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [136073]
Caroline Flint: Ketamine is used in medical and veterinary practice as an anaesthetic. Between 1997 and 2003 there were increasing reports of ketamine misuse, particularly in nightclubs. Consuming ketamine has the effect of detaching users from reality and therefore unable to maintain personal safety.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) investigated the status of ketamine and produced a report in 2003. This report recommended that ketamine be controlled by Misuse of Drugs Act and was referred to the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs. The MHRA is not aware of any particular incidents involving ketamine in Gloucestershire or the Forest of Dean.
Ketamine was classified as a class C controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 from January 2006 and is the responsibility of the Home Office.
General Practitioners: Standards
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of general practitioners’ premises were above minimum standards on the last date for which figures are available in (a) England and (b) each primary care trust. [131923]
Andy Burnham: Primary care trusts (PCTs) and predecessor organisations have responsibility for managing delivery of services provided by general practitioners (GPs), including the adequacy of their practice premises.
Since 1997, there has been a 60 per cent. increase in investment in GP premises. Part of this was through the NHS Plan targets to refurbish or replace up to 3,000 GP premises and create 500 primary care centres.
These targets were achieved through the replacement or refurbishment of 2,848 GP premises and 510 primary care centres. An extended target of 625 primary care centres by December 2006 was met with 674 created and we expect to have 750 by the end of 2008.
In addition, there are many examples of new premises provided under the NHS local finance investment trust initiative (NHS LIFT) that fully satisfy minimum standards. The LIFT programme has contributed to this progress and has proven to be a tremendous success. Already a capital investment of over £1.2 billion has resulted in 120 LIFT buildings open to patients with another 73 under construction.
A subjective assessment by PCTs of the proportion of premises meeting the minimum standards as at 31 March 2005 has been placed in the Library and is the last year that this data was collected. This 2005 snapshot by PCTs shows that some GP premises across the country collectively were judged as being below minimum standards. However, this needs to be set in context.
Judgments for some of those standards are subjective which by their very nature may lead to some PCTs reporting higher levels of premises that do not meet minimum standards than other PCTs with similar premises. Being below minimum standards does not mean the buildings are in a dangerous condition. Rather, that the premises may judged by PCTs as not having for example, full and adequate access to and within premises for disabled people. How individual PCTs make this judgment can result in variations in the percentage of premises deemed in not satisfying minimum standards.
This is not because of a lack of intent by GPs practices and their PCTs to provide modern facilities but because, for example, the building is too small to incorporate changes with a general lack of suitable, alternative locations to develop new premises. These are historic problems particularly and modernisation of GP premises on this scale required in 1997 inevitably take time to achieve but the good progress made will continue.
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