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25 July 2007 : Column 1203W—continued

The UK has carried out the EC risk assessment for three (octa-, deca-, and penta-bromodiphenyl ether) of the commercially available brominated flame retardants. There was concern about the long-term effects of brominated flame retardants, which are necessarily stable in conditions of extreme heat, and in some cases are persistent. Strategies to reduce exposure are developed if an unacceptable risk is identified. For example, the brominated flame retardant Pentabromodiphenyl ether has been banned in the EU since 15 August 2004 under the EU’s Marketing and Use Directive for all uses, except for a temporary derogation until March 2006 for
25 July 2007 : Column 1204W
it use in aircraft emergency evacuation slides. This ban is implemented in Great Britain by Statutory Instrument 2004/3278 and in Northern Ireland by SI 2004/509.

Children: Deviance and Behaviour Disorders

Mr. Paul Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures his Department has adopted to ensure that agencies working with under 18-year-olds with conditions that can cause severe behavioural problems co-ordinate their work in the best interests of those people. [150210]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Agencies are committed to working together to help young people with severe behavioural disorders and there are local authority targets to ensure protocols are in place for those with complex needs. Multi-agency teams, such as youth offending teams, work co-operatively to ensure that needs are met. The National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services encourages and promotes increased efforts to develop multi-agency services to promote the mental health of all children and young people. Partnership working across agencies will help to eradicate many problems.

This of course only reflects the position in England.

Mr. Paul Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what facilities there are to provide support, assistance and respite care for the families of under 18-year-olds with conditions that can cause severe behavioural problems; [150211]

(2) what facilities there are for the residential care of under 18-year-olds with conditions that can cause severe behavioural problems; and where those facilities are located. [150215]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The publication in September 2004 of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) standard of the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services gives guidance on what is envisaged in a comprehensive CAMHS service. It stresses that services must also ensure support for parents or carers and other family members.

There are inpatient units for under 18s with severe mental health problems resulting in behavioural disorders run by the national health service and privately. These are commissioned as part of CAMHS commissioning. These are located all around the country. In some instances young people end up on adult wards. However, the most important change that has been made to the Mental Health Bill is that it will now require hospital managers to ensure that patients under 18 who are admitted to hospital for assessment or treatment, either under the Act or as voluntary patients, are placed in an environment that is suitable for their age.

For severe behavioural disorders that are not due to mental health disorders there are also local authority secure children's homes and secure forensic units for young offenders with mental health problems. We do not collect information on where these facilities are located. This of course only reflects the position in England.


25 July 2007 : Column 1205W

Chlamydia Infection: Screening

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the national screening programme for chlamydia has been rolled out completely in all trusts; and if he will make a statement. [152234]

Dawn Primarolo: To March 2007, 50 per cent. of primary care trusts in England were part of the national chlamydia screening programme. This covers 46 programme areas. Over 330,000 screens have been reported to the Health Protection Agency since the programme started. During this year we expect every area to start screening covering the whole of England.

Clostridium

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the additional time spent in hospital by those who contracted clostridium difficile in the last 12 months. [152101]

Ann Keen [holding answer 24 July 2007]: No specific estimate has been made in the last 12 months. A frequently quoted figure is that Clostridium difficile infection adds 21 days(1) to length of stay but this was based on health service practice in 1996.

Colorectal Cancer: Screening

Mr. Anthony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the hubs and centres involved in the NHS bowel cancer screening programme which are operational; and what the timeframe is for implementation of the NHS bowel cancer screening programme at new hubs and centres across England. [151965]

Ann Keen: Within the national health service bowel cancer screening programme, five programme hubs across England are inviting men and women aged 60 to 69 to participate in the programme, sending out the faecal occult blood (FOB) testing kits, analysing the returned kits and sending out results. The five programme hubs are located in Rugby (covering the west midlands and the north-west), Guildford (southern), St. Mark's Hospital (London), Gateshead (north-east) and Nottingham (eastern). All five hubs were operational by March 2007.

Around 75 local screening centres will provide endoscopy services for those people with a positive FOB test once the programme is fully rolled out by December 2009. 15 local screening centres became operational in wave 1 of the programme in 2006-07. These were: Wolverhampton; Norwich; Cheshire and Merseyside; Bolton, Wigan and Salford; South Devon; Gloucester; Solent and West Sussex; St. Mark's Hospital, London; St. George's Hospital, London; Inner North East London; University College, London; South Tyne; Tees; Hull; and Derby.

Two local screening centres have already become operational in wave 2 of the programme in 2007-08. These are Heart of England and Coventry and
25 July 2007 : Column 1206W
Warwickshire. A further 25 local screening centres are expected to open as part of wave 2 by March 2008.

Strategic health authorities will be invited to bid for their local endoscopy units to become local screening centres as part of wave 3 of the programme (2008-09) in the autumn.

Mr. Anthony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information has been provided to (a) GPs and (b) the media on the roll-out of the national bowel cancer screening programme. [151966]

Ann Keen: When the national health service bowel cancer screening programme is rolled out to primary care trust areas, all general practitioners within the locality are sent a primary care resource pack about the programme to help them support their patients through the process. The pack, produced in collaboration with Cancer Research UK, includes: a sample faecal occult blood testing kit; an information for primary care booklet; a summary sheet of how the programme works; a publicity poster; a copy of information leaflets sent to people taking part in the programme; a sample invitation letter; and a copy of the Cancer Research UK statistics on bowel cancer.

It is for strategic health authorities, working in partnership with their primary care trusts and local stakeholders, to decide how to publicise the programme in their areas. We are aware that many have worked with the local media to publicise the launch of the programme in their areas. National information about the programme is given to the media on request.

Compulsorily Detained Mental Patients

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients, subject to sectioning orders, have absconded from secure mental hospitals in each of the last five years. [150369]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: An abscond occurs when a mental health patient detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 goes missing outside the secure perimeter of a unit, e.g. when on a scheduled visit. Absconds do not occur from within secure units. If a patient managed to get out from within the secure perimeter of a unit, this would be termed an escape.

The Department does not routinely collect data on absconds centrally in regard to all mental health services, with the exception of high secure mental health hospitals.

An abscond can be either non-serious or a serious untoward incident (SUI). In relation to mental health patients detained under the Mental Health Act 1983, an abscond is treated as an SUI where a significant risk is posed to the patient or to others. An abscond would not necessarily be treated as an SUI where the abscond is unintentional, due for example to a patient missing a bus or train when returning from leave.

The reporting of SUI absconds is stringent. Individual national health service organisations are responsible for identifying SUIs and there must be clear local procedures at each NHS organisation to identify, report and investigate SUIs. Information is collected by, and is available on request from, each strategic health authority about all SUIs reported
25 July 2007 : Column 1207W
during each calendar year by month, type and NHS organisation. There are no similar requirements in relation to collecting non-serious abscond data.

The data on absconds from high secure mental health hospitals for the last five years is in the following table.

Rampton Ashworth Broadmoor Total

2007

0

2006

0

2005

1

1

2004

1

1

2003

1

1

Total absconds in last five years from high secure

3


All absconds occurred while patients were on escorted leave. Escorted leave is authorised as necessary, for instance if the patient needs to visit a general hospital for treatment of a physical health problem that cannot be dealt with at the high security hospital. In all cases, the leave will be risk assessed by mental health professionals before being authorised.

There have been no escapes in the last five years by patients in high secure hospitals.

Contraceptives

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many women were fitted with a contraceptive implant in each of the last 10 years, broken down by (a) type of device and (b) age of patient. [150982]

Dawn Primarolo: The information available is shown in the following tables.

The table shows data on prescriptions dispensed in the community (almost all of these prescriptions are written by general practice). Data on the number of women fitted with an implant by age are not available.

Implanon Implant 68mg Norplant Implant( 1) 38mg (6 Cap) Total

1997

834

834

1998

689

689

1999

441

1,034

1,475

2000

5,133

7

5,140

2001

7,084

1

7,085

2002

9,714

9,714

2003

12,747

12,747

2004

15,557

15,557

2005

23,469

23,469

2006

37,951

37,951

Total

112,096

2,565

114,661

(1) Norplant Implant is no longer available
Source:
Prescription information is taken from the prescription cost analysis (PCA) system, supplied by the prescription pricing division (PPD) of the Business Services Authority (BSA), and is based on a full analysis of all prescriptions dispensed in the community i.e. by community pharmacists and appliance contractors, dispensing doctors, and prescriptions submitted by prescribing doctors for items personally administered in England. The data do not cover drugs dispensed in hospitals.

25 July 2007 : Column 1208W

The table shows first contacts with women at community contraceptive clinics showing the number of implants fitted by age and year.

First contacts with women at community contraceptive clinics, showing the number of contraceptive implants fitted by age and year: England
Thousands
All ages Under 16 16-19 20-24 25-34 35 and over

2005-06

25.7

0.8

5.6

7.3

8.1

3.9

2004-05

16.6

0.4

3.1

4.7

5.6

2.8

2003-04

12.4

0.3

2.2

3.6

4.2

2.1

2002-03

7.8

0.2

1.2

2.4

2.7

1.4

2001-02

5.0

0.1

0.6

1.3

2.0

1.0

2000-01

3.4

0.1

0.4

0.8

1.4

0.7

1999-2000

2.4

0.0

0.2

0.5

1.1

0.6

1998-99

1.3

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.6

0.3

1997-98

1.3

0.0

0.2

0.3

0.6

0.2

Source:
The Information Centre KT31 return.

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