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Prostate Cancer: Screening

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prostate screenings took place in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England in each year since 1997. [195226]

Ann Keen: The national health service does not operate a prostate cancer screening programme. There is currently insufficient evidence from any country in the world to show that screening would reduce deaths from prostate cancer. The Government are committed to introducing a national screening programme for prostate cancer if and when screening and treatment techniques are sufficiently well developed. The United Kingdom National Screening Committee keeps screening for prostate cancer under review.

The prostate cancer risk management programme was established in 2002 to ensure that men considering a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test are given information concerning the benefits, limitations and risks associated with having a test. Figures on the number of PSA tests taken as a result of the programme are not collected centrally.

Psychiatry: Regulation

Dan Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to introduce a regime to regulate psychotherapists and counsellors. [198257]

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Mr. Bradshaw: In the White Paper, Trust, Assurance, Safety—The Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st Century, the Government identified psychotherapists and counsellors as a priority for statutory regulation. Before this can happen, these groups need to have agreed standards of training and practice and have put in place an interim voluntary system of regulation, which can form the basis of a statutory system.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Prisons

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of sexually transmitted infections were recorded in each prison in each of the last five years, broken down by infection. [197937]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information requested is not routinely collected.

The Department issued new key performance indicators (KPIs) for prison health services in October 2007. These include a KPI for sexual health in prisons.

Under this, prisons must ensure that prisoners are aware of the means of accessing condoms in prisons; have access to social and life skills modules on sex and relationship education; have access to a genito-urinary clinic in prison; and have access to a Chlamydia screening programme.

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Skin: Diseases

Mrs. Humble: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research is being (a) undertaken and (b) funded by his Department on the likely causes of Hidradenitis Suppurativa. [196317]

Ian Pearson: I have been asked to reply.

The Medical Research Council is one of the main agencies through which the Government support medical and clinical research. The MRC is not currently funding any research specifically on Hidradenitis Suppurativa, but does fund a broad range of research looking at understanding inflammation and inflammatory diseases which may benefit the condition in the future. While the MRC does not earmark funds for particular topics, research proposals in all areas are welcome.

Waiting Lists: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time for (a) in patient treatment and (b) day surgery was for each clinical speciality at York NHS Hospital in each year since 1997. [197131]

Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested has been set out in the following tables:

Median waiting times in weeks—York hospitals NHS Trust by specialty
	Period ending March
	1997		1998		1999		2000		2001		2002
Specialty	In - patient	Day case	In - patient	Day case	In - patient	Day case	In - patient	Day case	In - patient	Day case	In - patient	Day case
General surgery	12.2	14.2	20.4	20.6	11.7	11.6	16.2	12.6	15.6	14.4	17.9	16.5
Urology	9.2	8.3	12.4	7.9	10.9	8.8	11.1	10.3	9.5	10.0	9.0	11.2
Trauma and Orthopaedics	17.5	15.4	16.7	18.0	20.2	12.1	20.1	17.4	20.9	17.7	21.0	17.6
Ear Nose and Throat (ENT)	11.9	10.0	15.6	9.7	16.7	10.4	16.9	9.1	19.0	6.6	21.8	7.8
Ophthalmology	27.8	13.9	24.0	25.5	14.4	19.3	13.7	19.0	18.8	23.9	11.8	21.7
Oral surgery	13.3	17.0	13.0	24.5	9.1	15.0	10.5	12.4	8.2	8.6	9.5	7.2
Anaesthetics	—	7.7	—	7.0	—	6.9	—	6.7	—	7.5	—	7.1
General medicine	6.7	7.8	—	8.4	—	8.4	—	—	—	—	—	—
Gynaecology	10.4	11.1	11.9	11.2	12.6	16.1	17.3	12.2	10.4	12.3	14.7	13.5
All specialties	12.9	11.6	16.5	15.6	15.4	12.4	17.0	14.0	16.6	15.0	18.9	14.8

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	Period ending March
	2003		2004		2005		2006		2007		September 2007
Specialty	In - patient	Day case	In - patient	Day case	In - patient	Day case	In - patient	Day case	In - patient	Day case	In - patient	Day case
General surgery	11.9	13.8	13.5	13.4	10.8	10.3	8.3	11.3	4.1	7.4	4.1	5.2
Urology	10.3	11.1	8.1	10.2	6.5	10.7	5.3	10.6	5.6	5.7	4.9	6.5
Trauma and Orthopaedics	19.8	17.1	12.3	13.6	12.8	11.4	10.5	9.9	8.2	10.2	4.8	4.7
ENT	18.9	7.5	10.8	7.0	7.2	9.5	9.1	7.0	4.2	9.4	—	7.9
Ophthalmology	14.6	17.8	11.3	9.8	5.2	7.9	10.5	5.8	12.0	4.5	—	7.0
Oral surgery	9.6	9.5	8.3	12.1	—	12.3	6.1	9.0	6.5	7.8	6.0	5.7
Anaesthetics	—	6.9	—	7.0	—	4.1	—	5.1	—	6.5	—	6.3
General medicine	—	—	9.4	13.9	—	10.7	—	4.7	—	6.4	—	4.8
Gynaecology	15.6	15.4	14.5	13.5	15.5	13.1	10.5	8.5	8.3	6.2	6.5	7.1
All specialties	15.8	13.7	11.8	11.7	10.9	9.7	9.0	8.3	6.5	6.7	4.8	6.3
Notes: 1. The figures show the median waiting times for patients waiting for admission at the end of each period. 2. These are calculated from aggregate data, rather than patient level data, and therefore are only estimates of the position on average waits. 3. Specialties where the total number waiting is less than 20 have been excluded as medians calculated from these figures would be prone to fluctuation due to small numbers. This is why there are some gaps of information. 4. Figures by specialty not collected after September 2007. Source: Department of Health KH07

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