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14 May 2007 : Column 588W—continued
| Dacorum PCT | |||||
| Dacorum PCT as a provider | |||||
| Main specialty | 2005-06 | 2004-05 | 2003-04 | 2002-03 | 2001-02 |
| Notes: Data Quality Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) are compiled from data sent by over 300 NHS trusts and PCTs in England. The Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain. 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 within the year. Specialty Care is needed when analysing HES data by specialty, or by groups of specialties (such as Acute). Trusts have different ways of managing specialties and attributing codes so it is better to analyse by specific diagnoses, operations or other recorded information. Low Numbers Due to reasons of confidentiality, figures between 1 and 5 have been suppressed and replaced with ‘*’ (an asterisk). We have used secondary suppression where the total figures were disclosive. Ungrossed Data Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed). Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The Information Centre for health and social care | |||||
Health Services: Sexual Health
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 17 April 2007, Official Report, column 570W, on abortion, if she will list the (a) individuals and (b) organisations consulted prior to the publication of the Recommended Standards for Sexual Health Services; and if she will make a statement. [134456]
Caroline Flint: A list of those consulted during the development of the Recommended Standards for Sexual Health Services can be found in Appendix D of the standards, a copy of which has been placed in the Library.
Health Services: Special Educational Needs
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much each health trust which has appropriate responsibilities spent on out-of-authority placements for special educational and health needs in each of the last three years. [122345]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: This information is not held centrally.
Heart Disease
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking following the recent National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence report on the use of myocardial perfusion scans for patients presenting with chest pain. [128223]
Caroline Flint: There are several competing technologies for assessing myocardial perfusion. All cardiac centres should be developing strategies for perfusion imaging choosing the technology that best suits local circumstances and expertise.
Heart Disease: Screening
Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 31 January 2007, Official Report, column 402W, if she will introduce screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm for men aged 65 years and over; what her response has been to the recent National Screening Committee decision to recommend such screening without further conditions; and if she will make a statement. [135601]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The UK National Screening Committee (NSC) has advised that screening for men aged 65 for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) can be recommended in principle subject to further work, particularly on the appropriate configuration of treatment services and the provision for men to make an informed choice about whether to undergo screening. At its meeting in March 2007 the NSC considered further work undertaken by the AAA screening working group. More detailed work will now be undertaken on the practical issues that would be involved in implementation.
Heroin
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors are licensed to prescribe heroin to drug misusers; how many pilot trials relating to the prescription of heroin for drug misusers are being undertaken; how many drug misusers are part of these trials and being prescribed heroin; and when the trials (a) started and (b) are expected to end. [134011]
Caroline Flint: There are currently 129 doctors licensed to prescribe diamorphine (heroin) for the treatment of addiction in the United Kingdom.
The Randomised Injectable Opiate Treatment Trial is currently under way in two sites in Darlington and London. The National Addiction Centre, supported by Government, is examining injectable diamorphine, injectable methadone and oral methadone treatments in a randomised controlled trial. The aim is to recruit 150 persons to participate in the trial, so approximately 50 will be prescribed diamorphine. The trial is due to be completed in 2008, and it started in 2005. The results on outcomes will be published after completion of the trial and following independent peer review.
Homeopathy
Mr. Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the level of availability of treatment in homeopathic hospitals to NHS patients in England. [132785]
Caroline Flint: The homeopathic hospitals in the United Kingdom fall under the jurisdiction of the national health service in the area in which they are based. Any decisions on the services any of these hospitals provide are the responsibility of those NHS health care organisations.
The Government consider that decision-making on individual clinical interventions, whether conventional, or complementary/alternative treatments, have to be a matter for local NHS service providers and practitioners as they are best placed to know their community's needs. In making such decisions, they have to take into account evidence for the safety and clinical and cost-effectiveness of any treatments, the availability of suitably qualified practitioners, and the needs of the individual patient. Clinical responsibility rests with the NHS professional who makes the decision to refer and who must therefore be able to justify any treatment they recommend. If they are unconvinced about the suitability of a particular treatment, they cannot be made to refer.
Hospitals
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many new hospitals were opened in each year since 1979. [134111]
Andy Burnham: Detailed information from the first stages of a hospital build procurement only began being collected centrally in 1979.
The number of hospital schemes with a capital value of £25 million (at 1990-2000 prices) and over opened in each year since 1979 are listed.
| Number of schemes | Public capital/private finance initiative (PFI) capital | |
Hospital schemes with a capital value of £25 million and over represent a significant reconfiguration or rationalisation of services, normally involving the addition of a major new wing or centre or the partial or total rebuild of the main hospital.
Hospitals: Waiting Lists
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment she has made of the causes of the correlation between primary care trusts with low-age needs scores and health economies with greater distance from the out-patient booking time target reported in her Department’s Chief Economist’s report “Explaining NHS deficits”, published on 20 February; [127838]
(2) what assessment she has made of the reasons for the relationship between primary care trusts with low-age needs scores and health economies with greater distance from the four-hour accident and emergency waiting time target reported in her Department’s Chief Economist’s report, “Explaining NHS deficits”, published on 20 February. [127839]
Andy Burnham: There is a statistically significant relationship between starting positions in terms of meeting a number of important performance targets and age/needs. The correlation is not a perfect one (with correlation coefficients ranging from -0.28 in the case of distance to the accident and emergency-four hour wait and age/needs to -0.13 in the case of distance to the outpatient booking targets and age/needs). Some parts of the country with low age/needs did not have far to travel in meeting these targets. The reasons behind the relationship are complex.
Historical under-performance in low age/needs areas is likely to have existed for some time. By raising the quality of care to uniform national standards, the Government have significantly improved services provided to patients in these areas.
While distance to meeting performance targets was found to be a contributory factor in causing recent national health service deficits in certain parts of the country, as stated in the Chief Economist’s report “Explaining NHS deficits, 2003/04-2005/06”, it is by no means considered to be the only, or even the most important, contributory factor.
The age and need indexes, and the interactions between them, are currently being reviewed by independent academic researchers under the auspices of the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation. A new age and need adjustment for weighted capitation may emerge from this research for resource allocation in 2008-09.
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects to publish the planned draft Bill amending the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990; which (a) organisations and (b) individuals will be supplied copies (i) free of charge and (ii) upon payment of a charge; and if she will make a statement. [134457]
Caroline Flint: The draft Bill will be published shortly. It will be published as a command paper, available online (free of charge) or in hard copy via TSO (The Stationery Office) and its accredited agents (priced). In addition the Department will distribute complimentary copies of the draft Bill to a range of stakeholder organisations with an established interest in this field.
Hyperactivity: Medical Treatments
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research her Department has conducted into the use of (a) diet and (b) brain exercises to control developmental conditions such as Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder. [132314]
Caroline Flint: The new National Institute for Health Research South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and Institute of Psychiatry Biomedical Research Centre, funded by the Department, will research mental health disorders starting in childhood, including attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This will include work on cognitive therapy.
The Medical Research Council, one of the main agencies through which the Government support biomedical research, currently supports a broad portfolio of research relevant to ADHD. A number of the programmes in the portfolio are directly relevant to the hon. Gentleman’s question and to ADHD more generally, and include research on the interaction of physical, environmental and social factors and on rehabilitation.
The Food Standards Agency has published a systematic review of evidence on the effect of diet and nutrition on learning, education and performance in school aged children. This included studies examining ADHD symptoms. Overall, the review concluded that there is insufficient evidence to reach a firm conclusion on the effect of specific nutrients or foods on learning or performance.
The link between diet and cognitive function is a key theme of the Food Standards Agency’s Nutritional Status and Function research programme. Research completed to date has found no clear association between the two.
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