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29 Oct 2008 : Column 1064W—continued
Nurses: Schools
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full-time equivalent school nurses there are; and how many full-time equivalent school nurses there have been in each of the last 10 years for which data are available. [231451]
Ann Keen: The annual NHS workforce census collected accurate information on the number of school nurses employed by the national health service in England for the first time in 2004. The number of school nurses from 2004-2007 is shown in the following table.
The 2007 census showed that there were 2,232 qualified nurses in the school nursing area of work, an increase of 613 or 38 per cent. since 2004. Of these there were 893 school nurses with a post-registration school nurse qualification. This is an increase of 286 or 47 per cent. since 2004.
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the public health responsibilities of school nurses are. [231452]
Ann Keen: School nurses provide health services for the school-aged population with a particular focus on promoting health.
Patient Choice Schemes
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to his announcement of 21 October 2008 on patient self-referrals, (1) what estimate he has made of the likely take-up of self-referrals, broken down by socio-economic class; [231069]
(2) what steps he plans to take to ensure that patients do not self-refer inappropriately. [231070]
(3) what estimate he has made of the cost of this policy in each of the next five financial years; and how many additional health professionals he expects will be needed in each year to deliver the policy, broken down by specialty; [231071]
(4) by what date he expects this policy to be implemented countrywide; [231072]
(5) what estimate he has made of the change in demand for appointments that will result from this policy being implemented, broken down by therapy or specialty; and what assessment he has made of the likely effect of such changes on waiting times. [231073]
Ann Keen: No estimates have been made centrally. It is for primary care trusts in partnership with local stakeholders, including practice based commissioners, local government and the public to determine where self-referral is clinically appropriate and value to the system and local community.
Self-referral is not mandatory and already operates successfully in many national health service trusts and in many parts of the country. The recently published report “Self-referral pilots to musculoskeletal physiotherapy and the implications for improving access to other AHP services” showed no evidence of increased demand on services. Findings also support the idea that self-referral is associated with lower costs.
A copy of the self-referral report has been placed in the Library and is available on the Department's website:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_089516?IdcService=GET_FILE&;dID=175274&Rendition=Web
It will be for local trusts to monitor access by self-referral and we will mandate the measurement of waiting times so that trusts are able to benchmark their performance.
Prescriptions: Fees and Charges
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Government’s commitment to remove charges for cancer patients applies to (a) all cancers and (b) prostate cancer; and for how long the removal of charges is to be maintained. [229865]
Dawn Primarolo: From 1 April 2009, prescription charges for all cancer patients will be abolished, and over the next few years charges will be abolished for all patients with long-term conditions. We will be making further announcements on the implementation of free prescriptions for cancer patients in due course.
Schizophrenia
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with a history of violence who suffer from paranoid schizophrenia do not voluntarily stop taking their medication while living in the community; [228954]
(2) what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the medical profession complies with the new Community Treatment Orders when treating people with a history of violence who suffer from paranoid schizophrenia; [228955]
(3) if his Department will support doctors who refuse to allow people with a history of violence who suffer from paranoid schizophrenia to self-treat. [228956]
Phil Hope:
The Mental Health Act 1983 already provides for people with mental disorders to be detained and treated compulsorily in hospital where necessary for their own health or safety, or the protection of other
people. As a result of the Mental Health Act 2007, from 3 November this year it will be possible for clinicians to make a community treatment order discharging certain patients from detention onto supervised community treatment (SCT), subject to the possibility of recall to hospital for further treatment if necessary. SCT will provide a new way to help ensure that people with mental disorders continue to receive the treatment they need after leaving hospital. It will be for clinicians themselves to decide whether eligible patients should be discharged onto SCT.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what research his Department has commissioned on medical interventions to prevent genital warts; [231223]
(2) what his current estimate is of (a) the average cost of treating a patient for genital warts in England and (b) the cost of providing treatment for patients with genital warts in the last 12 months. [231224]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department has not commissioned specific research on medical interventions to prevent genital warts. The Department did however commission the Health Protection Agency (HPA) to evaluate the cost effectiveness of the human papillomavirus vaccines 'Economic evaluation of human papillomavirus vaccination in the United Kingdom', a copy of which has been placed in the Library. An element of this was to estimate the cost of treating a patient for anogenital warts, the HPA estimate this at £134 (2006 prices).
Funding to support sexual health services is not allocated separately to primary care trusts (PCTs) but is contained within the mainstream revenue allocations made to PCTs. It is the responsibility of PCTs to commission the health services they need to meet the health requirements of the local populations they serve. Genital warts can be diagnosed and treated in a variety of settings but currently data are only collected from genito-urinary medicine clinics, so it is therefore not possible to accurately forecast how much PCTs spent on treating warts in the last 12 months.
Social Services
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were receiving local authority-funded care in each local authority area in the latest year for which figures are available; and how many people were receiving (a) community-based care and (b) residential care in each area. [226307]
Phil Hope: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care collects and publishes information on the number of people receiving care funded either partly or wholly by Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs). The latest validated information, as at March 2007, on the numbers of people receiving community based care and residential care funded by CASSRs has been placed in the Library.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Bangladesh: Politics and Government
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government has taken to promote a peaceful transition to an elected government through the 2008 elections in Bangladesh. [229344]
Bill Rammell: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Northampton, North (Ms Keeble) on 7 October 2008, Official Report, column 606W. During his October visit to Bangladesh, my noble Friend the Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, Lord Malloch-Brown, stressed the importance of sustainable democracy to the caretaker government, the main political parties and civil society.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government has taken in the run up to elections in Bangladesh to promote free and fair elections. [229345]
Bill Rammell: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer my hon. Friend the then FCO Minister of State, Dr. Howells, gave the hon. Member for St. Albans (Anne Main) on 29 January 2008, Official Report, column 218W. During his October visit, my noble Friend the Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, Lord Malloch-Brown, reiterated UK support for fair and credible elections to the caretaker government, the main political parties and civil society.
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