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15 Oct 2008 : Column 1335W—continued
Health
Babies: Medical Examinations
Mr. David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what procedures are in place for ensuring that children have (a) a hip examination at birth and (b) another examination at between six and eight weeks old. [224759]
Ann Keen: Screening for developmental dysplasia of the hips (DDH) is part of the routine physical examinations that every baby has, first within 72 hours of birth and then at 6-8 weeks old, as part of the Child Health Promotion Programme (CHPP), which covers pregnancy and the first five years of life. The examinations are usually performed by doctors, but can also be carried out by midwives and specialist nurses.
All the screening programmes in the CHPP have met the criteria set out by the National Screening Committee. Screening programmes require local implementation of an agreed pathway, including clear guidelines on referral to assessment and differential diagnostic services.
Bowel Cancer
Mrs. Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government is taking to improve bowel cancer awareness and early diagnosis among men. [225706]
Ann Keen:
Raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer is a key element of the “Cancer Reform Strategy” (copies of which have already been placed in the Library). Through the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative, we will be taking forward work to improve awareness of the signs and symptoms of all cancers, including bowel cancer, among men and women. As part of this work, we will be working to support local interventions to increase cancer symptom
awareness and encourage early presentation. We are currently investing in the Improvement Foundation’s pilot work to develop and test methods of raising awareness of bowel, breast and lung cancers in 20 of the most deprived areas in the country.
Through section 64, we are currently funding a Men’s Health Forum project which aims to increase bowel cancer screening awareness and uptake by men.
The Department has worked with health professionals, patient groups and the voluntary sector to develop standardised messages for bowel cancer. Work to update the messages will be commencing shortly.
In addition, from 2010, the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme will be extended to men and women aged 70 to 75. We are currently piloting the extension in five pilot sites, and an evaluation of this will inform the national roll-out of the extension.
Cancer: Health Services
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish the first annual report on progress towards objectives contained in the Cancer Reform Strategy. [224576]
Ann Keen: The National Cancer Director’s first annual report on the Cancer Reform Strategy will be published by the end of the year.
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms he has implemented for monitoring progress towards NHS waiting time standards outlined in the Cancer Reform Strategy. [224577]
Ann Keen: Performance against the current national health service cancer waiting times standards is monitored by NHS trust and is published on a quarterly basis by the Department of Health at:
We will continue to publish performance data by NHS trust on a quarterly basis as the extended waiting time standards set out the Cancer Reform Strategy are introduced from the end of December 2008. Local progress is monitored by commissioners of the service.
Cardiovascular System: Health Services
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many primary care trusts have developed their own vascular assessment or screening programmes; [225176]
(2) how many free vascular risk assessments have been provided under the Government's Putting Prevention First programme in each primary care trust. [225185]
Ann Keen: From 2009-10, the national health service is being asked to implement a vascular risk assessment and management programme or ‘vascular checks’ for people in England aged between 40 and 74, the proposals for which were set out in “Putting Prevention First” published on 1 April 2008, copies have already been placed in the Library. This programme will help ensure greater focus on the prevention of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney disease and will help people remain well for longer.
There is already a considerable amount of prevention and risk management activity taking place in primary care trusts in relation to individual conditions such as coronary heart disease and diabetes. There are no central records of exact numbers. The aim of the vascular checks initiative is to build on this valuable work so that the advantages of risk assessment and management are available to all who are able to benefit. The Department is currently working with stakeholders including commissioners, general practice and the pharmacy sector, on how best to do this.
Cervical Cancer: Screening
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made towards developing (a) an information pack to be issued regarding screening programmes and (b) a public relations strategy to boost participation of women aged 25 to 35 years in cervical cancer screening; and when he expects these policies to be implemented. [224882]
Ann Keen: As set out in the Cancer Reform Strategy, the National Health Service Cancer Screening Programme is commissioning an Improvement Foundation project to look at addressing the falling participation of younger women in the NHS cervical screening programme. The evidence and outcomes from the Improvement Foundation’s local work will inform the development of the NHS Cancer Screening Programme’s information materials and public relations strategy in this matter. The Improvement Foundation are expected to deliver the outcomes from their work to the NHS Cancer Screening Programme by the end of 2009.
The NHS Cancer Screening Programmes have already produced posters specifically targeting women in the age range of 25-35.
Chemotherapy Advisory Group
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when he expects the National Chemotherapy Advisory Group to report; [224883]
(2) what steps he is taking to implement the recommendations of the National Chemotherapy Advisory Group. [224884]
Ann Keen: It is anticipated that the first draft of the National Chemotherapy Advisory Group report will be issued to key stakeholders for informal consultation by the end of the year. The National Cancer Director will then make recommendations to the NHS following consideration of comments received. The National Cancer action team will provide support for cancer networks and primary care trusts to implement recommendations.
Cot Deaths: Research
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent in the last year for which figures are available on (a) research into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, (b) mental health research, (c) neurological research, (d) ophthalmic research, (e) audiology research and (f) HIV/AIDS research. [224598]
Dawn Primarolo: The information available is shown in the following table.
| Estimated research and development (R and D) expenditure in 2007-08 | ||
| £ million | ||
| Departmental and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) programmes | National health service R and D transitional support funding | |
| n/a = Not available (1) Includes NIHR clinical research network expenditure. Details of individual projects supported by the UK Clinical Research Network are available at: http://public.ukcrn.org.uk/search. | ||
Over the last 10 years, the main part of the Department’s total expenditure on health research has been devolved to and managed by NHS organisations. These organisations account for their use of the allocations they receive from the Department in annual research and development reports. The reports identify total, aggregated expenditure on certain priority areas including mental health, chronic neurological conditions and degenerative neurological disorders. They do not provide details of spend on the other conditions listed in the table.
The Medical Research Council (MRC), like the NIHR, is one of the main agencies through which the Government support biomedical research. The MRC is an independent body funded by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. Relevant MRC expenditure is not included in the figures above.
Death: Football
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will commission research into the causes of death of active amateur and professional footballers over the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [226244]
Ann Keen [holding answer 13 October 2008]: The Department is not planning to commission the research suggested. However, the Department has supported a recent initiative led by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the national football organisations and Cardiac Risk in the Young to promote awareness of familial heart conditions and the risks they pose to footballers.
Discussions are also currently taking place between the two Departments and the other UK health departments on whether further research into the effectiveness of testing young athletes for these conditions ought to be carried out.
Dementia: Drugs
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to publish proposals to reduce the level of inappropriate prescribing of anti-psychotic medication to people with dementia, as heralded in his Department’s draft dementia strategy. [225509]
Phil Hope:
The Department originally anticipated that the results of the review into the use of anti-psychotic
drugs for people with dementia would be available before the National Dementia Strategy is published. Given the work involved on developing the strategy, this will not now be possible. The strategy is now likely to be published in mid-November, and we anticipate that the results of the anti-psychotics review will be published early in 2009.
Dementia: Research
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in plans for the dementia research summit that was announced in June; for what reasons the summit was not held in accord with the originally planned timetable; and if he will make a statement. [226317]
Phil Hope [holding answer 13 October 2008]: The dementia research summit has been delayed because of the pressure of work on developing the National Dementia Strategy and Implementation Plan. We now anticipate that the summit will take place in December 2008.
Dental Services
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the contribution to dental outcomes in England made by (a) dental technicians and (b) clinical dental technicians. [224678]
Ann Keen: Dental technicians continue to make an essential contribution to high quality dental treatment through the manufacture of dental appliances to the standards set in the Medical Devices Directive. Increasing numbers of clinical dental technicians are building upon this contribution by both manufacturing and fitting dental appliances to edentulous patients having met the registration requirements set by the General Dental Council.
Dental Services: Bassetlaw
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many patients used NHS dental services in Bassetlaw in (a) 2007 and (b) 2008; [224610]
(2) how many registered NHS dental patients there are in Bassetlaw constituency; and how many there were in (a) 2007 and (b) January 2008. [224923]
Ann Keen: Under the new dental contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006, patients do not have to be registered with a national health service dentist to receive NHS care. The closest equivalent measure to ‘registration’ is the number of patients receiving NHS dental services (‘patients seen’) over a 24-month period. However, this is not directly comparable to the registration data for earlier years.
Information on the number of patients seen by an NHS dentist in England, over the previous 24-month period, is available in table C1 of annex 3 of the “NHS Dental Statistics for England: Quarter 3: 31 December 2007” report. Information is available for the 24-month periods ending 31 March 2006, 31 March 2007, 30 June 2007, 30 September 2007, and 31 December 2007. Information is provided by strategic health authority
and primary care trust (PCT). Information by constituency is not available under the new contractual arrangements.
This report, published on 5 June 2008 by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care, has already been placed in the Library and is available at:
The Dental Services Division (DSD) of the NHS Business Services Authority has recently issued ‘patients seen’ information at PCT level. However, this was for management information purposes. PCTs have recently raised some issues which suggest that the way in which patients are allocated to PCTs across the various quarters needs to be reviewed. This means that sub-national information on patients seen was not included in the “Dental Statistics for England: 2007/08” report. This report, published on 21 August 2008 by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care, has already been placed in the Library. The DSD has confirmed that this issue could only have a minimal impact on the national figures. They were therefore labelled as provisional pending the review. An update will be provided in the “Dental Statistics for England: 2008/09 Q1” report in November 2008.
Increasing the number of patients seen within the NHS dental service is now a priority in the Operating Framework for the NHS in England 2008-09. We have supported this with an 11 per cent. uplift in overall dental allocations to PCTs from 1 April 2008. Copies of the Operating Framework have already been placed in the Library.
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the NHS budget for dentistry in Bassetlaw constituency was in each of the last 20 years. [224924]
Ann Keen: This information is not available in the format requested.
Prior to April 2006, most primary dental services were provided under former General Dental Service arrangements. These were demand-led services, funded from a single national budget, where the pattern of dental expenditure was largely determined by where dentists chose to practice and how much national health service work they chose to undertake. Expenditure was accounted for by the former Dental Practice Board on a national basis only.
However, certain information on primary dental care expenditure in individual primary care trusts (PCTs), health authorities or constituency areas is available for earlier years. The Information Centre for health and social care published the following report on 26 March 2008:
“NHS Expenditure for General Dental Services and Personal Dental Services: England 1997/98-2005/06”. This report has already been placed in the Library and is available at:
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