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18 Dec 2007 : Column 1373W—continued
Cancer: Prescriptions
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to provide free prescriptions for people with cancer in England. [171780]
Dawn Primarolo: People are entitled to free prescriptions in respect of a number of long-term medical conditions, if they hold a valid medical exemption certificate. Cancer is not one of these long-term conditions.
The Government's review of prescription charges will be inviting views shortly on options for changes to prescription charges that are cost neutral to the national health service.
Cancer: Wigs
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure NHS provision of wigs for those people with cancer who have opted for private chemotherapy and whose treatment does not include such provision. [175282]
Ann Keen: No examination has been carried out centrally.
National health service wigs are provided on the basis of assessed clinical need regardless of whether the patient has received NHS or private treatment. It is for primary care trusts in partnership with other local stakeholders to assess the healthcare needs of the local population and commission services accordingly. This process provides the means for addressing local needs within the health community including the provision of wigs.
Care Homes: Complaints
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the merits of establishing an independent complaints body for self-funders and part-funders in care homes; [174971]
(2) what discussions he has had on the establishment of an independent complaints body for self-funders and part-funders in care homes. [175353]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: People who have their care part-funded by the local authority can complain through the local authority social services complaints procedure and, if they are dissatisfied with the outcome of their complaint, they can ask the Local Government Ombudsman to investigate.
The issues relating to complaints by self-funders in care homes are currently under consideration, but there has not yet been any assessment of or consultation about the various options that might be available.
Care Homes: Foreign Workers
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of senior care workers from the Philippines working in care homes in England; and if he will make a statement. [174612]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: This information is not collected by the Department of Health.
Childbirth
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many births per whole-time equivalent NHS midwife there were in each year since 2001, broken down by primary care trust area. [171666]
Ann Keen: The following table shows the numbers of births per midwife in each strategic health authority (SHA) area.
| National health service hospital and community health services: Births in England per qualified midwifery staff by SHA area as at 30 September each specified year( 1) | ||||||
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| (1) Births are for each calendar year. Total births includes live and still births. Note: Figures are calculated on full-time equivalent numbers of midwives. Source: The Information Centre for health and social care Non-Medical Workforce census. Annual Birth Statistics, Office for National Statistics. | ||||||
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish information his Department holds on the effects of diet (a) before and (b) during pregnancy on the birth weight of babies. [172924]
Ann Keen: In 2000, the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy in their report “Scientific Review of the Welfare Food Scheme” recommended that improving the dietary intake of women of childbearing age has the potential to ensure that nutritional status at conception is adequate to support optimum fetal development.
Under the Healthy Start scheme, the Department currently provides nutritional support to low income and disadvantaged pregnant women and families with young children by offering vouchers to put towards the cost of buying milk, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables or infant formula at a participating retailer. Currently the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition—Subgroup on Maternal and Child Nutrition is reviewing the effect of early maternal, fetal and child nutrition on the development of disease in later life. The report is due to be published by end of next year.
Childbirth: Finance
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of treating premature babies in the immediate post-natal period was in each of the last 10 years. [171936]
Ann Keen: We do not collect this information centrally.
Chlamydia: Screening
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which primary care trusts are not reporting data on Chlamydia screening to the Health Protection Agency. [174055]
Dawn Primarolo: The primary care trusts (PCTs) not reporting data to the Health Protection Agency (HPA) at the end of September are given as follows. Although they have not reported screening figures to the HPA, screening has already commenced in some of these PCTs.
Havering
Kingston
Bromley
Greenwich Teaching
Barnet
Hillingdon
Barking and
Dagenham
Newham
Bassetlaw
Rotherham
Ealing
Barnsley
Croydon
Wandsworth
Shropshire County
Richmond and Twickenham
Sutton and Merton
Telford and Wrekin
Wolverhampton City
Derbyshire County
Derby City
Lincolnshire
Redbridge
Waltham Forest
Northamptonshire
Dudley
North East Essex
Oxfordshire
Wiltshire
Devon
Bexley
Sandwell
Source: HPA
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer of 11 October 2007, Official Report, column 705W, on Chlamydia infection: screening, what percentage of primary care trusts are participating in the Chlamydia screening programme in the latest period for which figures are available; and for what reasons (a) Devon, (b) Havering, (c) Hillingdon and (d) Sandwell had not submitted plans to the Health Protection Agency. [174056]
Dawn Primarolo: All primary care trusts (PCTs) now have a plan to start screening for Chlamydia, which have been submitted to the Heath Protection Agency.
Devon, Hillingdon and Sandwell PCTs are now screening and Hillingdon PCT are now in the process of setting up a screening office and plan to start full roll out in April 2008.
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer of 29 October 2007, Official Report, column 996W, on Chlamydia screening, what steps he is planning to take to meet the 15 per cent. screening target. [173766]
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many screens for Chlamydia were reported to the Health Protection Agency in (a) the first quarter of 2007-08 and (b) the second quarter of 2007-08; and what proportion of the target screening population this represents in each case. [174005]
Dawn Primarolo: Strategic health authorities (SHAs) have submitted plans to the Department on how they intend reaching the target. The Department and the Health Protection Agency (HPA) are working with the primary care trusts (PCTs) who are finding the target challenging.
Information on the number of screens reported to the HPA is published in NHS Local Deliver Plan data monitoring line (PSA11d) (PCT) and (SHA) specific tables 1 April to 30 June and NHS Local Deliver Plan data monitoring line (PSA11d) PCT and SHA specific tables 1 July to 30 September, copies of which have been placed in the Library.
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy that implementation of the Chlamydia screening programme is included in the NHS operating framework. [174004]
Dawn Primarolo: The operating framework, published on 13 December, of which a copy is available in the Library and also at www.dh.gov.uk/operating framework, clarifies the health and services priorities for the year ahead.
In relation to Chlamydia screening, the document specifically states that organisations need to sustain and build on the achievements already made, including delivery of existing standards. As part of this, it lists out those existing commitments that will continue to be monitored, one of which is the implementation of the Chlamydia screening programme.
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer of 25 October 2007, Official Report, columns 546-7W, on Chlamydia: screening, when he plans to have developed a national template for a Chlamydia screening local enhanced service through the community pharmacy contractual framework; and on what date he plans to publish the final evaluation of the Boots Chlamydia screening pathfinder. [174051]
Dawn Primarolo: We expect to have a national template for a service specification for Chlamydia screening from community pharmacies available early in 2008, if primary care trusts wish to commission an enhanced service.
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