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26 Feb 2008 : Column 1440W—continued
Health
Accident and Emergency Departments
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of patients who attended accident and emergency services in the most recent period for which figures are available he estimates were in priority group (a) one, (b) two, (c) three, (d) four and (e) five as defined by the Manchester Triage System. [189597]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested is not held centrally. Clinical decisions on the care and treatment given to patients are a matter for local clinicians.
Recently-published figures show that, for the period October to December 2007, there were 4,625,426 attendances at all types of accident and emergency department in England.
Air Purification
Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the use of air purification equipment in the NHS. [188718]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 25 February 2008]: Building regulations require that all enclosed workspaces be ventilated by either natural or mechanical means. The Department's detailed guidance documents, “Health Technical Memorandum 03-01: Specialised ventilation for healthcare premises (parts A and B)” provide comprehensive advice and guidance to health care management, design engineers, estates managers and operations managers on the legal requirements, design implications, maintenance and operation of specialised ventilation in all types of health care premises. Copies of both documents have been placed in the Library.
Ventilation is used extensively in all types of health care premises to provide a safe and comfortable environment for patients and staff. It can include filtration and purification systems that are aimed at diluting and controlling airborne pathogenic material.
Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many admissions via accident and emergency to NHS hospitals for alcohol-related conditions there were in 2006-07. [186146]
Dawn Primarolo
[holding answer 18 February 2008]: In 2006-07 there were 162,080 finished admission episodes via Accident and Emergency (A&E) where the primary or secondary diagnosis was alcohol related. This figure describes activity in national health service
hospitals England and activity in the English independent sector, commissioned by English NHS.
Notes:
Finished admission episodes (FAE)
A FAE is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.
All diagnoses count of mentions
These figures represent a count of all mentions of a diagnosis in any of the 14 diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set. Therefore, if a diagnosis is mentioned in more than one diagnosis field during an episode, all diagnoses are counted.
Emergency admission
These are the emergency admission codes to specify in more detail how the patient was admitted to hospital.
21 = Emergency: via A and E services, including the casualty department of the provider
28 = Emergency: other means, including patients who arrive via the A and E department of another health care provider
Alcohol related diagnoses
F10 - Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol.
T51 - Toxic effect of alcohol.
K70 - Alcoholic liver disease.
Data quality
HES are compiled from data sent by over 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) in England. The Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain.
Source:
HES, The Information Centre for health and social care.
Ambulance Services: Cirencester
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of hours per week Cirencester is without Cirencester-based ambulance cover due to ambulances (a) taking patients to hospitals in and (b) being called to emergencies in other towns. [186274]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department expects ambulance trusts to plan their resources to ensure that there is an appropriate provision of ambulance coverage for the communities they serve.
Therefore, this is a local matter for the Great Western Ambulance Service National Health Service Trust.
Ambulance Services: Emergency Calls
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many emergency incidents were responded to by ambulance services in England in each year since 1997-98, broken down by NHS ambulance trust; [189225]
(2) how many emergency calls to ambulance services there have been in each year since 1997-98 (a) for England in total and (b) broken down by strategic health authority area. [189596]
Mr. Bradshaw: Information about the number of emergency incidents responded to by ambulance services in England are contained in the KA34 Statistical Bulletin published annually by the Information Centre. Table 4 of the bulletin “Ambulance Services, England 2001-02” gives the figures from 1997-98 to 2001-02.
Table 4 of “Ambulance Services, England 2006-07” gives the figures from 2002-03 to 2006-07. However, it should be noted that there were mergers of the majority of national health service trusts providing ambulance services in 2006, with the data in this table being split by ambulance trust configuration for comparability purposes.
Information about the number of emergency calls for England are also contained in the KA34 Statistical Bulletin “Ambulance Services, England 2006-07”. Data on emergency calls are collected by NHS Ambulance Trust level not by strategic health authority area.
Copies of the bulletins are available in the Library and the bulletin for 2006-07 is available at the following website:
Arthritis: Drugs
Mrs. Riordan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what drug treatments are available on the NHS to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis who have not responded to rituximab or may not take it for clinical reasons. [188139]
Dawn Primarolo: Details of licensed drug treatments for rheumatoid arthritis are contained in the British National Formulary.
Bowel Surgery
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health further to the publication of the Cancer Reform Strategy, what the timetable is for (a) establishing and (b) evaluating a pilot training programme for laparoscopic bowel surgery; and what criteria he will use in making a decision about national implementation. [183986]
Ann Keen: The pilot training programme for laparoscopic colorectal cancer is currently being set up. Following a tender exercise, carried out by the national cancer action team, nine training centres have been selected and were appointed in January 2008. The pilot is due to run for a period of 18 months with an evaluation being carried out towards the end of the project. The evaluation will make recommendations for the future and among the success criteria will be patient outcomes and satisfaction, the competency of surgical training, assessment, accreditation and value for money.
Breast Cancer: Screening
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health further to the publication of the Cancer Reform Strategy, what timetable he has set for extending breast screening to nine screening rounds between the ages of 47 and 73 years. [183978]
Ann Keen:
Paragraph 3.21 of the Cancer Reform Strategy stated that the extension of the national health
service breast screening programme to nine screening rounds between the ages of 47 and 73 years will start from April 2008, with full implementation expected by the end of 2012.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government have taken to increase numbers taking up breast and cervical cancer screening. [188539]
Ann Keen: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland (Dr. Kumar), on 31 January 2008, Official Report, column 594W.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the Government have spent on recruitment of breast screening radiographers and radiologists in the last five years. [188540]
Ann Keen:
The number of breast screening radiographers and radiologists recruited each year is
not collected centrally. Local national health service organisations are best placed to assess the health needs of their local health community and plan the workforce they need.
The annual NHS Workforce Census does not separately identify the number of breast screening radiographers and radiologists employed from the rest of the radiography and radiology workforce.
The Department does collect the number of radiographers and radiologists working in the NHS. The number of qualified radiographers employed in the NHS has increased by 2,793 (23.72 per cent.) since September 1997.
The number of diagnostic radiographers has increased by 2,171 (20.9 per cent.) since 1997.
The number of therapeutic radiographers has increased by 622 (44.2 per cent.) since 1997.
The number of consultant radiologists has increased by 632 (42.9 per cent.) since 1997.
| NHS hospital and community health service (HCHS): scientific, therapeutic and technical staff by type, England as at 30 September each year | ||||||||||
| Headcount | ||||||||||
| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| Notes: 1. New occupation codes for health care scientists were introduced in 2003. As a result, a small number of staff previously included under diagnostic radiography are now classified within medical physics. 2. More accurate validation in 2006 has resulted in 9,858 duplicate records being identified and removed from the non-medical census. Although this represents less than 1 per cent. of total records, it should be taken into consideration when making historical comparisons. These 9,858 duplicate records, broken down by main staff group, are: 3,370 qualified nurses; 1,818 qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff; 2,719 support to doctors and nurses, 368 support to scientific, therapeutic and technical staff; 1,562 NHS infrastructure support; and 21 in other areas. 3. The impact of duplicates on full-time equivalent numbers has been minimal with the removal of 507. Source: The Information Centre for health and social care. | ||||||||||
| HCHS medical and dental consultants (including Directors of Public Health) by specialty group, England at 30 September | ||||||||||
| Number | ||||||||||
| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| Source: The Information Centre for health and social care. | ||||||||||
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many breast cancer screenings there were in Lancashire in each of the last five years. [189168]
Ann Keen: The requested information is set out in the following table:
| Breast screening programme: women screened by specified breast screening unit, 2001-02 to 2005-06 | |||||
| Breast screening unit | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 |
| Notes: 1. The breast screening programme covers women aged 50-64, but it was extended to invite women aged 65-70 in April 2001. The last unit began inviting women aged 65-70 in April 2006 and full coverage should be achieved by 2008-09. 2. There are some women in the age range 45-49 who are invited to be screened, most of whom are women aged 49 who have been called for their first routine screening a few months early. Source: KC62 (parts 1, tables A to F2), The Information Centre for health and social care. | |||||
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