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6 Feb 2008 : Column 1240W—continued
Ann Keen
[holding answer 31 January 2008]: The Whole System Long Term Conditions Demonstrators (WSDs) promised in the White Paper “Our Health, Our Care, Our Say” will explore the effectiveness of telehealth
and telecare in supporting integrated care for those with heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes. As part of the WSDs, the vital signs (for example pulse rate, temperature and blood pressure) of several thousand individuals will be measured over a period of at least a year. To facilitate this, peripherals such as blood pressure monitors will be connected to a telehealth hub (a form of computer sited in the home) that is linked via a telephone line or broadband to systems that are securely monitored by clinicians. The benefits of undertaking these measurements in the home will be assessed by an independent evaluation and these results will help inform the wider uptake of self reported vital signs monitoring from the home.
The reporting of medical information to health professionals via telephone is being pioneered in places across England. For example, the Birmingham OwnHealth Service offers people a personalised programme of health care support over the telephone from a dedicated Care Manager—a fully trained, experienced nurse—who will help people to get the best health outcomes from treatment programmes already agreed with their general practitioner and/or other health care professionals. Recent departmental documents such as “Raising the profile of long term conditions care—a compendium of information” have highlighted such models of care as examples of innovative, forward-thinking initiatives that make a real difference.
Community Hospitals: Hospital Beds
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many beds were available in community hospitals in each year since 2003; what proportion of funding of community hospitals is ring-fenced for the provision of beds; what assessment he has made of future levels of bed provision in community hospitals; and if he will make a statement. [180497]
Mr. Bradshaw: Information was collected for the first time in the 2006-07 Estates Returns Information Collection, which identified 6,246 overnight beds available in 229 community hospital sites that submitted returns.
Hospital bed numbers are not driven centrally, but are determined by local needs.
Community Nurses
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how the additional £30 million he has allocated to the Family Nurse Partnership pilots will be allocated, broken down by (a) area and (b) financial year; [184519]
(2) when his Department expects to have completed its evaluation of its Family Nurse Partnership pilots; [184520]
(3) in which areas the Family Nurse Partnership pilots are being held; and to which other areas the pilot scheme will be extended. [184522]
Beverley Hughes: I have been asked to reply.
The comprehensive spending review 2007 contains the provision of £30 million to support the future expansion of the Family Nurse Partnership: £5 million
in 2008-09, £10 million in 2009-10 and £15 million in 2010-11. It is not yet possible to indicate breakdown by areas.
Evaluation of the pilot phase of the Family Nurse Partnership is expected to be completed in spring 2009.
The Family Nurse Partnership Pilot Project is currently running on 10 sites in England—Barnsley, Derby City, County Durham and Darlington, Manchester, Slough, Somerset, south east Essex, Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Walsall.
The 2008-09 bidding round to increase the number of sites testing and delivering the Family Nurse Partnership intervention in England is currently underway. We expect to announce the results of this process by the end of March 2008.
Compulsorily Detained Mental Patients
Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will ensure that the Care Quality Commission maintains at least the same frequency of visits to detained mental health patients as undertaken by the Mental Health Act Commission. [184177]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Mental Health Act Commission (MHAC) places great emphasis on its visiting programme, covering each hospital and each ward that accepts detained patients. The Care Quality Commission will take on the functions of the MHAC and we expect the Care Quality Commission to continue the good work of MHAC in safeguarding the rights of those detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.
Dementia: Expenditure
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what Government funding was provided for medical research into dementia in each of the last five years; and what percentage of the health research budget this represented in each year. [184620] [Official Report, 20 March 2008, Vol. 473, c. 9MC.]
Dawn Primarolo: The most recent information available is shown in the following table.
| Expenditure on dementia research | ||||
| Department of Health (£ million) | Medical Research Council (MRC) (£ million) | Total (£ million) | Expenditure as a percentage of NHS research and development and MRC budgets | |
| n/a = not available | ||||
The Departmental figures for the years from 2001-02 to 2003-04 relate to national research programme expenditure. They do not include the part of the research and development allocations made annually at that time to NHS providers and spent on dementia research. Information was not collected prior to 2004-05.
The national research network on dementia and neurodegenerative disease, funded by the Department's National Institute for Health Research, was launched in August 2006. Its first year costs are included in the Department's aggregate expenditure figure for 2005-06.
Doctors: Foreign Workers
Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department is actively recruiting international medical graduates and European doctors in shortage specialties. [181170]
Ann Keen: No. The Department is not actively recruiting migrant doctors to fill posts in shortage specialties.
Drugs: Misuse
Mr. Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been diagnosed with (a) alcohol, (b) drug and (c) gambling addictions by a GP in England in the last five years. [183892]
Dawn Primarolo: This information is not collected centrally.
However, the ‘Alcohol Needs Assessment Research Project’ (ANARP) provided a snapshot of general practitioner (GP) outcomes in 2003-04.
ANARP showed that, of their patients, GPs identified one in 28 males and one in 20 females as alcohol dependent; and
not all dependent drinkers visit their GP, so this statistic does not reflect on the level of dependency in the population as a whole, estimated by ANARP at 6 per cent., for males and 2 per cent., for females.
Family Practitioner Services
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when he expects (a) blood tests, (b) electrocardiograms and (c) ultrasound to be available on demand in GPs' surgeries; [178032]
(2) how much he has set aside in each financial year until 2010-11 to make (a) blood tests, (b) electrocardiograms and (c) ultrasound available on demand in GP practices. [178307]
Mr. Bradshaw: Many general practitioner surgeries already offer blood tests and electrocardiograms, and some offer ultrasounds and other diagnostic tests. Primary care trusts should decide locally the best setting to provide these services to meet the needs of their patients.
As a result of the recent comprehensive spending review, the national health service will receive real terms increases of 4 per cent. per year over the next
three years. This is significantly higher than the. long term trend, and will take NHS funding to around £110 billion by 2010-11.
Food: Consumption
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the recommended daily calorie intake for (a) men and (b) women; and what plans he has to review these recommendations. [184283]
Dawn Primarolo: In 1991, the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy (COMA) set estimated average requirements (EAR) for energy for the United Kingdom population. Currently, the EAR for adult men is set at around 2550kcal per day and for women it is set at around 1940kcal per day.
The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), who replaced COMA in 2001 and advise Government on nutrition issues, is currently reviewing the energy requirements of the UK population. It is planned that the draft SACN report will go out for public consultation towards the end of the year.
Food: Labelling
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the extent to which consumers utilise the nutritional information panel on food packaging. [184557]
Dawn Primarolo: The Food Standards Agency has undertaken four research projects since 2001 which investigated how consumers use nutrition information provided on food labels. Copies of all reports are available on the agency’s website at:
The agency’s annual consumer attitudes survey tracks consumers’ reported usage of nutrition information including fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt.
General Practitioners
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of (a) assaults and (b) incidents of verbal abuse of GPs which resulted in a patient being removed from a GP practice in each year since 2000, broken down by strategic health authority area. [183367]
Ann Keen: Information on the number of patients physically removed from general practitioner (GP) practices is not available.
The Information Centre for health and social care collects figures on the numbers of patients removed from GP lists due to an act or threat of violence. This information for the years 1999-2000 to 2005-06 is shown in the following table.
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