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23 Oct 2007 : Column 264W—continued
General Practitioners
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of GP practices in each of the regions had at least 50 per cent. of their patients living three or more miles away in each of the last two years. [158909]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department does not hold this information centrally.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of GP practices in each of the regions was single-handed in each of the last two years. [158911]
Mr. Bradshaw: We understand that information is requested in relation to regions of Northern Ireland and England. The Department does not hold information on the numbers of single-handed practices in Northern Ireland. However, information for strategic health authority (SHA) areas in England is provided in the following table.
| Number of single handed general practitioner (GP) providers( 1) in England by SHA, as at 30 September 2005 and 2006 | ||||||||||||
| 2005 | 2006 | |||||||||||
| O f which: | O f which: | |||||||||||
| Number of partnerships | Single handed | Percentage single handed | Number of partnerships | Single handed | Percentage single handed | |||||||
| (1) A single handed GP provider is one that has no partners, although they may employ a GP other (salaried GP), GP registrar or GP retainer. Source: The Information Centre for health and social care general and personal medical services statistics | ||||||||||||
General Practitioners and Dentists: Lists of Patients
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average practice list size was for (a) GPs and (b) dentists in each of the regions in each of the last two years. [158910]
Mr. Bradshaw: The average general practitioner partnership list size by strategic health authority (SHA) in England, as at 30 September 2005 and 2006 is shown in the following table. The Department does not collect this data for Northern Ireland regions.
Registration is not part of the existing national health service dental system. Many dentists continue to
keep practice level information on their current patient ‘ list’ but this information is not centrally reported and therefore not available.
Information is available showing the number of dentists on open NHS contracts per head of population. The latest information was published by The Information Centre for health and social care as Annex 3 Table El of NHS Dental Statistics for England: 2006-07 which is available in the Library and is also available at:
| Average partnership list size by SHA in England, as at 30 September 2005 and 2006 | |||||||
| 2005 | 2006 | ||||||
| Number of partnerships | Registered patients | Average patients per partnership | Number of partnerships | Registered patients | Average patients per partnership | ||
| Sources: The Information Centre for health and social care General and Personal Medical Services Statistics | |||||||
Health Services: Finance
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what provision his Department has made for extra funding for health services in areas with disproportionately high levels of elderly residents; [157014]
(2) what recent assessment he has made of the impact of the age of the population on demand for health care. [157022]
Mr. Bradshaw: The 2006-08 revenue allocations represent £135 billion investment in the national health service—£64 billion to primary care trusts (PCTs) in 2006-07 and £70 billion in 2007-08. Over the two years covered by this allocation, PCTs will receive an average increase of 19.5 per cent.
The revenue allocations are made to PCTs based on a weighted-capitation formula. The formula has three elements, one of which is an age adjustment. The age adjustment is one of the three elements of the formula. This adjustment recognises that a principal cause of variation in the level of demand for health services is the age structure of the population. The very young and the elderly, whose populations are not evenly distributed throughout the country, tend to make more use of health services than the rest of the population. The purpose of the age weighting within the formula is to allow for varying elements of health need associated with the age structure of local populations.
The development of the weighted-capitation formula, including the age adjustment, is continually assessed and overseen by the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation (ACRA). ACRA is an independent body comprising NHS management, general practitioner and academic membership. ACRA's current work programme is looking again at all elements of the formula, including the age adjustment.
Health Services: Prisons
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to assess the impact of primary care trusts assuming responsibility for the provision of health care services to prisons; and if he will make a statement. [159434]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: In 2006, the Health Services Management Centre at Birmingham University was commissioned to undertake a survey of prison health partnerships in order to inform both an assessment of their progress and the process of transferring commissioning responsibility for prison health care services in public sector prisons to the national health service. A copy has been placed in the Library.
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