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25 July 2007 : Column 1222W—continued
Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the guidance relating to home care to ensure that assessment of means is separate from assessment of needs has been changed. [152150]
Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 24 July 2007]: No. On 1 January 2003, the Department issued ‘Fair Access to Care Services’, guidance on eligibility criteria for adult social care, to councils for implementation by April 2003. It was issued under cover of Local Authority Circular—LAC (2002)13—and is still in force.
Practice guidance in support of the policy guidance was published on 2 August 2002 and updated on 6 March 2003 to assist councils with their final preparations for implementation by 7 April 2003. The practice guidance makes it clear that the carrying out and completion of a community care assessment should not be contingent on whether or not an individual can pay for care services, be they provided in a care home or the individual's own home.
Infant Foods
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to extend the consultation on the partial regulatory impact assessment on the Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula (England) Regulations 2007 to obtain views on a third option of fully implementing the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent World Health Assembly resolutions on the health, social and environmental aspects of marketing breastmilk substitutes, giving these precedence over trade considerations; and if he will make a statement. [152498]
Dawn Primarolo: The Food Standards Agency launched, on 2 July, a 12-week public consultation on draft domestic regulations which will lay down rules about the composition, labelling and advertising of formulae requesting views from stakeholders on a range of issues. Any responses received, including those that suggest alternative options, will be considered as part of the consultation exercise. The agency will consider all responses to the consultation before finalising the regulations.
Infectious Diseases: East Sussex
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of healthcare-acquired infections there were while in (a) hospital and (b) care homes in (i) Eastbourne and (ii) East Sussex in each of the last 10 years. [151355]
Ann Keen: The data is not available as requested.
The best available information is from the mandatory surveillance systems for Meticillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Clostridium difficile infection and Glycopeptide resistant enterococci for acute national health service trusts in England rather than individual hospitals, these commenced in April 2001, January 2004 and October 2003 respectively.
Data for care homes is not collected centrally as mandatory surveillance only covers acute trusts.
Reported cases of health care associated infection for the East Sussex NHS trust in Eastbourne are shown in the following tables with reports from other NHS acute trusts in East Sussex.
| Number of reported cases of Clostridium difficile infection | |||
| Trust | January to December 2004 | January to December 2005 | January to December 2006 |
| Number of reported cases of glycopeptide-resistant enterococci (GRE) bacteraemia | ||
| Trust | October 2003 to September 2004 | October 2004 to September 2005 |
| Source: Health Protection Agency | ||
Influenza
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his estimate is of the number of additional call handlers in England required to maintain 24/7 access to local health services during an influenza pandemic; what role NHS Direct will have in the event of an influenza pandemic; and if he will make a statement. [152312]
Dawn Primarolo: Work is currently taking place to scope the additional numbers of call handlers required to support local health services. The Department is working closely with stakeholders such as NHS Direct and the Central Office of Information to test assumptions and inform estimations.
In the event of a pandemic, NHS Direct will continue to provide advice and information to non-flu patients (who will continue to require access to health care in a pandemic), and will provide key services to flu patients, in support of local services.
Influenza Pandemic
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 13 September 2006, Official Report, columns 2284W, on influenza pandemic, which research groups have been (a) offered and (b) taken delivery of A/H5N1 vaccine from the 3.5 million stockpile; how many vaccines have been delivered to research groups; what the current size of the remaining stockpile is; what safety data his Department has received on the A/H5N1 vaccine which contribute to the stockpile; and if he will make a statement. [152242]
Dawn Primarolo: To date no research groups have requested any materials from the stockpile. Safety data were submitted as part of the tenders. The most common adverse reactions were soreness at the injection site and malaise. No serious reactions were reported.
Influenza: Disease Control
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what further discussions he has held with (a) EU Health Ministers and (b) the European Commission on the subject of building an EU-wide stockpile of antivirals for use in the event of an influenza pandemic since the informal meeting of 25 and 26 April 2006. [152126]
Dawn Primarolo: The idea of a European Union stockpile of antivirals medicines for use in the event of an influenza pandemic was discussed by Health Ministers at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council on 2 June 2006. No consensus could be reached on the idea and in view of this the European Commission concluded that the idea should not be pursued.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the names are of each strategic health authority’s influenza lead, as described on page 13 of the Chief Medical Officer’s 2006 Annual Report, On the State of Public Health. [152170]
Dawn Primarolo: The names of the strategic health authority influenza leads are as follows:
Roger Gross—London
Linda Sheridan—East of England
Hannah Wall—East Midlands
Eugene Milne—North East
Kate Ardern/Frank Whiteford—North West
Anna Taylor—South East Coast
Sally Casley—Yorkshire and Humber
Jody James—South West
Ian Cave—South Central
Gillian Smith—West Midlands
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the scope is of the audit of NHS pandemic preparedness described on page 13 of the Chief Medical Officer’s 2006 Annual Report, On the State of Public Health; which (a) organisations and (b) other parties will be subject to audit; who will conduct the audit; when the decision was taken to conduct the audit; whether the results of the audit will be published; and if he will make a statement. [152171]
Dawn Primarolo: The audit tool is specific to national health service organisations. NHS organisations will self assess their state of preparedness and will use the results to target the areas that need additional development. Strategic health authorities will use the results to work with the NHS organisations in their area. It was decided that the audit should coincide with the formal publication of the National Framework and supporting guidance.
Information Services: Expenditure
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the Government has spent on (a) sexual health information and (b) travel health awareness in (i) Hampshire and (ii) England since 1997. [150954]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department does not collect information on expenditure in Hampshire.
The Department's expenditure on sexual health campaigns, including HIV, contraception and prevention of sexually transmitted infections is set out in the following table.
| £ million | |
Information on expenditure on travel health awareness is not identified separately, but is undertaken as part of wider departmental work programmes. Work currently includes travel health awareness initiatives undertaken by the National Travel Health Network and Centre, based at the Health Protection Agency, the leaflet ‘Travelsafe’, covering HIV hepatitis C and hepatitis B and the health information for overseas travel, for general practitioners and practice nurses. The Department also produces information for travellers to Mecca as part of the Hajj campaign.
The Department is also running various summer holiday activities as part of the Condom Essential Wear campaign, and we have also funded the Terrence Higgins Trust to produce booklets on HIV prevention for gay travellers overseas.
Kidney Patients: Portsmouth
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has (a) to replace, (b) to refurbish and (c) to expand renal units in Portsmouth. [151520]
Ann Keen: It is for the local national health service, in partnership with strategic health authorities and other local stakeholders to plan, develop and improve services for local people.
Medical Equipment
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has taken a decision on whether to procure and stockpile face masks centrally. [152313]
Dawn Primarolo: No decision has been taken on whether to procure and stockpile face masks centrally.
Mental Health Services
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many children are receiving cognitive behavioural therapy funded by the NHS; [150354]
(2) how many accredited child specialist mental health practitioners are working in the NHS. [150355]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Information is not available in the format requested. The “National Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Mapping Exercise for 2006”, asked each CAMHS team whether they carry out cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and how often they did so. They found that 642 teams used CBT on a weekly basis, 207 less than weekly and 147 teams never.
Data from the 2006 CAMHS Mapping shows that the CAMHS teams had a total of 9,796 staff. This includes child psychotherapists, doctors, nurses and other therapists and staff in both the national health service and local authority sector dedicated to caring for children and young people who have mental health problems.
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many mental health beds there were in each of the last 10 years, broken down by trust. [151020]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Information about mental health bed numbers for each trust from 2000-01 to 2005-06 has been placed in the Library.
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many mental health beds there were for (a) children and (b) female patients in each of the last 10 years. [151023]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Information about the number of mental health beds available for children in the national health service in England, for each year from 1996-97 to 2005-06 is shown in the table. Data on mental health bed availability is not collected by the Department on the basis of gender.
| Average daily total children’s mental health bed numbers in the NHS in England: combined male and female | |
| Number | |
| Source: Department of Health Hospital Activity Statistics Form KH03. | |
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