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25 Nov 2008 : Column 1220W—continued
Health: Screening
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the cost of providing free health check-ups to all people over the age of 40 years; [237559]
(2) what resources his Department plans to make available to provide free health check-ups to all people over the age of 40 years. [237560]
Ann Keen: The free check-ups for those aged over 40, to which the hon. Member refers to, is the vascular checks programme. This will put in place an integrated, systematic population-wide vascular risk assessment and management programme for those between the ages of 40 and 74. The programme will assess people's risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease. Each person will be given individually tailored advice and support to help them reduce or manage that risk.
The total annual cost at full implementation (including interventions to manage the risk of vascular disease) has been estimated to be in the region of £332 million in the Department's economic modelling. The costs associated with the vascular checks programme are set out in the impact assessment which has been placed in the Library.
Healthcare for London
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2008, Official Report, column 1359W, on Healthcare for London, if he will place in the Library copies of the (a) agenda, (b) minutes and (c) papers discussed at each meeting listed in the Answer. [229974]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department does not routinely release briefing produced for Ministers.
Hearing Aid Council
Mr. Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reason the Hearing Aid Council is to cease operation on 31 March 2010 rather than 31 March 2009; and what estimate he has made of the cost of a further year of operation. [235792]
Phil Hope: The Health and Social Care Act 2008, which enables the abolition of the Hearing Aid Council and the transfer of responsibility for the regulation of hearing aid dispensers to the Health Professions Council, received Royal Assent on 28 July 2008.
Since the Act received Royal Assent, a working group has been set up comprising the Department of Health, the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, the Hearing Aid Council and the Health Professions Council. It is working towards the required secondary legislation to allow the closure of the Hearing Aid Council and the transfer of its register. It is not possible to complete the Parliamentary process by March 2009, and therefore it has been agreed by the working group to work towards March 2010 as the date of the transfer of the register of dispensers.
While operational costs are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, I can confirm that the Hearing
Aid Council is a non-departmental public body. They do not receive any Government funding and recover their costs from the individual dispensers and their employers via an annual fee.
Home Energy Efficiency Scheme: Hampshire
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in (a) Southampton, (b) Test Valley Borough and (c) the non-metropolitan county of Hampshire have been required to make a payment additional their Warm Front grant in order to complete the work assessed to be necessary. [231305]
Joan Ruddock: I have been asked to reply.
The following table illustrates the number of households in (a) Southampton, (b) Test Valley borough and (c) the non-metropolitan county of Hampshire who have contributed to the costs of assistance through the warm front scheme since 2005.
| Scheme year | ||||
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 (to 28 October) | |
|
(c) Non-metropolitan county of Hampshire (excluding Portsmouth and Southampton) | ||||
Hospitals: Crimes of Violence
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many attacks by (a) patients and (b) relatives visiting patients there were on hospital staff in each primary care trust in each year since 2001. [237239]
Ann Keen: Since 2004-05, the numbers of physical assaults against staff reported by health bodies have been collected annually by the national health service Security Management Service. Information is not available on the perpetrators of reported assaults. The number of assaults reported in 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 have already been placed in the Library. The number of assaults reported in 2007-08 has been placed in the Library.
Medical Records: Lost Property
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many reports he has received of case notes for patients being lost in the post in each of the last 10 years. [234360]
Mr. Bradshaw: Each national health service body is responsible for the data in its possession and for complying with data protection legislation and the Department has not in the past routinely collected information about incidents of loss of patient data. Strategic health authorities have now been asked to regularly publish details of data losses on their websites and to inform the Department when significant incidents have occurred but 2008-09 will be the first full year of reporting. None of the incidents reported to the Department to date have involved the loss of case notes in the post.
Mental Health Act 2007
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to bring forward proposals to amend the Mental Health Act 2007 to include mental capacity as a condition of compulsory treatment in light of the NHS constitution. [239576]
Phil Hope: The Government have no plans to amend the Mental Health Act 2007 (or the Mental Health Act 1983) to make compulsory treatment under that legislation conditional on a person either having, or lacking, capacity to consent.
Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus: Staffordshire
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients contracted MRSA in hospitals in South Staffordshire NHS Trust in each of the last five years. [237332]
Ann Keen: The information is not available in the requested format.
The best data for this period are from the mandatory surveillance system for meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) blood stream infections. Mandatory surveillance data began in April 2001 and results are available by acute hospital trusts. The latest annual data for MRSA, to financial year 2007-08, are available on the Health Protection Agency's website at:
http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb&;Page&HPAweb AutoListName/Page/1191942126541
A copy has been placed in the Library.
Neurology: Drugs
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what surveys his Department has (a) undertaken and (b) commissioned on the effectiveness of treatment of neurological illnesses. [238365]
Phil Hope: We are not aware of the Department having undertaken or commissioned surveys on the effectiveness of treatment of neurological illnesses.
The Health Technology Assessment programme, part of the National Institute for Health Research, produces independent research information about the effectiveness, costs and broader impact of health care treatments and tests for those who plan, provide or receive care in the national health service. These, and other existing research results, are used by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to develop their technology appraisals which provide recommendations for health professionals on the use of new and existing medicines and treatments for neurological conditions.
NHS: Dental Services
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on average how many units of dental activity per head of population were funded by the NHS in each local authority area in England in each of the last five years. [239327]
Ann Keen: Information is not available in the format requested.
Information on the number of units of dental activity (UDAs) is only available under the new dental contractual arrangements, which were introduced on 1 April 2006. The numbers of UDAs delivered in England in the financial years 2006-07 and 2007-08 are available in Table B3 of Annex 3 of the “NHS Dental Statistics for England: 2007-08” report. Information is provided by strategic health authority and by primary care trust. Information is not available by local authority.
This report has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
NHS: Discharges
Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Community Care (Delayed Discharges etc.) Act 2003 in reducing instances of delayed discharge from hospital. [239534]
Phil Hope: Councils and their national health service partners have made significant progress in reducing delays in hospital discharge. Between September 2001 and June 2008, the number of people over the age of 75 delayed in hospital reduced from 5,673 to 1,602, a reduction of 72 per cent., and total delays for the same period were reduced from 7,065 to 2,180, a reduction of 69 per cent.
NHS: ICT
Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Answer of 12 November 2008, Official Report, column 1200W, on NHS: information and communications technology, (1) at what level of the NHS comprehensive information about the financial and resource impact resulting from implementation of the Cerner system is held; and if he will ensure that information is (a) provided to him and (b) published; [236768]
(2) if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of the NHS hospital trusts involved providing to him the information on the financial and resource impact resulting from implementation of the NHS IT Cerner system requested in the Question. [236769]
Mr. Bradshaw: Detailed information about local financial and resource impacts of operational business, including the implementation of the Cerner system, is held locally by the national health service organisations involved. Details of summary level expenditure by NHS trusts on information technology (IT) is requested annually by survey and the results are routinely published. However, the survey and the report does not differentiate between different elements of IT expenditure, for example on hardware, software or Cerner related costs.
To ensure local accountability is observed and to minimise the cost and the burden of central reporting, such reporting is kept to the minimum. On that basis, I do not believe that any useful purpose would be served by attempting to cost the collation of information unless this were required for essential policy or operational purposes.
NHS: Mental Health Services
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much income NHS mental health trusts have generated from private patients, broken down by trust, in each of the last three years. [237203]
Phil Hope: [holding answer 18 November 2008]: The following national health service trusts provide mental health services and reported private patient and/or overseas patient income in the last three years.
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