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9 July 2007 : Column 1306W—continued

Care Homes: Infectious Diseases

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) cases of healthcare-acquired infections and (b) deaths where the death certificate refers to a healthcare-acquired infection in care homes there were in each of the last three years for which figures are available, broken down by (i) type of infection and (ii) type of care home. [147022]

Ann Keen [holding answer 2 July 2007]: The information requested on the number of health care associated infections in care homes is not collected.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish figures on deaths with MRSA (meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus or Clostridium difficile) mentioned on the death certificate each year. These include figures on the type of place in which the deaths occurred. Information about where the infection was acquired is not collected at death registration and may be different from the place of death. The following tables provide figures for the past three years by type of care home in which the deaths happened.

Number of death certificates mentioning C.difficile( 1) , by place of death( 2) , 2003- 05( 3)
NHS nursing home Non-NHS nursing home Private residential home Local authority residential home Total

2003

14

28

9

6

57

2004

11

56

17

8

92

2005

24

80

32

8

144

Total

49

164

58

22

293

(1) Identified using the methodology outlined in annual ONS reports on deaths involving Clostridium difficile.
(2) Place of death records where the death occurred. This information does not imply anything about where any infection was acquired.
(3) Deaths occurring in 2003-2005.


9 July 2007 : Column 1307W
Number of death certificates mentioning MRSA( 1) , by place of death( 2) , 2003-05( 3)
NHS nursing home Non-NHS nursing home Private residential home Local authority residential home Total

2003

15

36

15

4

70

2004

6

58

18

5

87

2005

13

87

37

9

146

Total

34

181

70

18

303

(1) Identified using the methodology outlined in annual ONS reports on deaths involving MRSA.
(2) Place of death records where the death occurred. This information does not imply anything about where any infection was acquired.
(3) Deaths occurring in 2003-05.

Dental Services

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average unit of dental activity value is in each primary care trust. [147887]

Ann Keen: Data collected by the Department centrally does not identify the value of units of dental activity or provide a basis for comparisons of such values between primary care trusts (PCTs). PCTs set contract values and service level requirements locally. Each contract specifies an annual contract value and the number of units of dental activity (which are a weighted measure of the courses of treatment given to national health service patients) to be provided over the courses of the year. This relationship between contract values and annual units of dental activity will vary because of a number of factors, including differences in treatment patterns and treatment needs in different areas, the contract values negotiated locally by PCTs and dental practices, and the degree to which PCTs and practices may have agreed service outputs that cannot be measured through patient courses of treatment.

Dental Services: Stockport

Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much NHS funding was allocated to dentistry provision in Stockport in each year since 1997. [147250]


9 July 2007 : Column 1308W

Ann Keen: Primary care trusts (PCTs) assumed full responsibility for local commissioning of primary care dentistry and received devolved budgets with effect from 1 April 2006. The following table shows the Primary Dental Service Resource Allocations for Stockport PCT for 2006-07 and 2007-08.

£ million
Financial year Net allocation Indicative patient charge revenue Indicative gross budget

2006-07

11.232

5.463

16.695

2007-08

11.972

5.452

17.424


Prior to April 2006, most primary dental services were provided under former General Dental Service (GDS) arrangements. These were demand led services where the pattern of dental expenditure was largely determined by where dentists chose to practice, and how much national health services work they chose to undertake. PCTs were not given fixed GDS funding allocations. In a number of areas, Personal Dental Service (PDS) pilots were also established, where some former GDS dental practices and some directly managed dental services converted to locally commissioned arrangements to test new ways of working and new forms of contract remuneration. PDS pilots were introduced in 1998 and were funded by PCTs from supplementary allocations issued by the Department of Health.

The following table shows the available data on expenditure on the former GDS and PDS services for Stockport PCT for 1997-98 to 2005-06. The difference between gross and net expenditure is the contribution to costs from dental charges collected directly from patients.

Note that reliable data on PDS expenditure are available only for the financial years 2004-05 and 2005-06. Therefore, the figures shown for gross GDS and PDS and net GDS and PDS before 2004-05 may be lower than the true total GDS and PDS spend. Changes from year to year may be affected by the shift from GDS to PDS in 2004-05.


9 July 2007 : Column 1309W

9 July 2007 : Column 1310W
Core GDS and PDS Dental Payments within Stockport PCT, 1997-98 to 2005-06( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
£ million
1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06

Gross GDS

9.031

9.602

9.823

10.475

11.142

11.356

10.571

7.236

4.928

Gross PDS

5.581

9.429

Net GDS

5.783

6.132

6.240

6.687

7.207

7.451

7.046

5.066

3.805

Net PDS

4.384

7.354

Gross GDS and PDS

9.031

9.602

9.823

10.475

11.142

11.356

10.571

12.817

14.357

Net GDS and PDS

5.783

6.132

6.240

6.687

7.207

7.451

7.046

9.450

11.159

(1) Gross GDS payments include adult fees (including item of service and continuing care payments), child fees (including item of service and capitation payments), commitment payments and point of treatment check payment training (in 2001 only), seniority payments, maternity/paternity/adoptive leave payments, long-term sick leave payments, continuing professional development allowances including travel hours, reimbursement of business rates, vocational training grants and clinical audit payments. The following costs are excluded from these data: employer's superannuation costs, vocational trainee salaries and national insurance contribution costs, clinical audit convenors, clinical audit secretarial support costs and travel expenses, and costs associated with any salaried general dental practitioners and emergency dental services. (2) PDS payment data are included from 2004-05 onwards only and relates to baseline payments or the agreed regular monthly payments made to PDS practices. Reliable PDS data at practice level are not available prior to 2004-05. The data cannot identify the cost of any PDS services that are directly managed by local NHS trusts, such as certain dental access centres. (3) In the immediate aftermath of dental practices converting from GDS to PDS pilots, there can be a period of overlapping expenditure as time lags in submitting GDS treatment claims can mean that clearance of GDS arrears coincides with the start of regular PDS payments. (4) Payments to dental practices are assigned to areas on the basis of practice postcode data. The practices themselves may draw patients from a wider catchment area. (5) Net payments represent the balance of payments due after taking account of NHS dental charge income collected from patients by dental practices. Source: Information Centre and the Business Services Authority.

Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there are working in Stockport; and how many there were in each year since 1997. [147251]

Ann Keen: Numbers of national health service dentists within Stockport Primary Care Trust (PCT) as at 31 March 1997 to 2006 are available in Annex E of the NHS Dental Activity and Workforce Report England: 31 March 2006.

This information is based on the old contractual arrangements. This report is available in the Library and is also available at:

Numbers of NHS dentists within Stockport PCT as at 30 June, 30 September, 31 December 2006 and 31 March 2007 are available in Table G of Annex 3 of the NHS Dental Statistics for England Q4: 31 March 2007 report. This report is available in the Library and is also available at:

The figures for quarter four and the earlier quarters in the year are provisional and are subject to revision. The final work force figure for 2006-07 will not be available until August 2007 when the Information Centre (IC) will publish an end year report on the first 12 months of the new contractual arrangements.

This information is based on the new dental contractual arrangements and is not directly comparable with earlier information.

In both sets of figures, no account is taken of the level of service, if any, that each dentist provides.

Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dental surgeries there are in the Stockport Primary Care Trust area; and how many of these are accepting new NHS patients. [147252]

Ann Keen: The number of dental surgeries that are accepting new national health service patients is not collected centrally.

As at 29 June 2007, there were 61 NHS dental surgeries within Stockport Primary Care Trust (PCT).

The areas have been defined using practice postcodes within the PCT area. The figure provides a snapshot of the number of addresses with a contract at the specified date.

No account is taken to the level of service, if any, that each dentist provides.

Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS patients are registered with NHS general dental practitioners in the Stockport Primary Care Trust area. [147253]

Ann Keen: Registration data no longer form part of the data available under the new national health service dental contractual arrangements. The new measure is patients seen in the previous 24 months and is not comparable to the registration data for earlier years.

Numbers of patients seen, by adult and child, in the previous 24 months ending 31 March, 30 June, 30 September, 31 December 2006 and 31 March 2007 in Stockport Primary Care Trust, are available in Section F1 of Annex 3 of the ‘NHS Dental Statistics for England Q4:31 March 2007 report’. This report is available in the Library.

Information is as at England, strategic health authority and PCT level and the report, published by The Information Centre for health and social care, is also available on-line at:


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