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26 Nov 2008 : Column 2050W—continued
Data on prescriptions that are written in hospital and dispensed in the community are only held at national level by the Information Centre for health and social care from 2006-07 onwards. The national spend on prescriptions written in hospitals and dispensed in the community for products in British National Formulary
section 5.1 (Antibacterial drugs) was £3.2 million (NIC) in 2006-07 and £3.4 million in 2007-08.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the Hospital Pharmacy Audit Index, (1) how many issues of antibiotics each hospital trust in England made in 2007-08; [238903]
(2) how many issues of antibiotics hospitals in each region of England made in each year since 1997-98 for which figures are available. [238904]
Dawn Primarolo: The Hospital Pharmacy Audit Index data held by the Information Centre for health and social care do not include information on the number of separate issues of antibiotics by individual hospital pharmacies. The unit of measurement is packs. As pack sizes vary, even for the same product, and packs may comprise tablets, vials (of varying pack sizes) or other formulations, a single total for packs would not be meaningful.
Aortic Aneurysm: Medical Treatments
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of patients in England and Wales who were treated for abdominal aortic aneurysms by (a) open surgical repair and (b) endovascular repair in each of the last five years. [238491]
Ann Keen: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for West Suffolk (Mr. Spring) on 3 April 2008, Official Report, columns 1283-84W.
Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the merits of (a) endovascular repair and (b) open surgical repair for abdominal aortic aneurysms in terms of (i) peri-operative mortality, (ii) time in intensive care, (iii) time in hospital overall and (iv) speed of return to normal activity; [239355]
(2) what criteria are taken into account when assessing the fitness of abdominal aortic aneurysm patients for open surgical repair; and if he will make a statement. [239356]
Ann Keen: It is a matter for a vascular surgeon to assess each patient individually, taking into account risk factors such as age, aneurysm size, and general medical condition.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is preparing guidance on the use of endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms.
Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health at which level of the NHS a decision on whether to screen men in the West Sussex Primary Care Trust area for abdominal aortic aneurysms will be made. [239357]
Ann Keen: The implementation of a national abdominal aortic aneurysm screening programme for men aged 65 is currently under way. Six early implementation sites have been announced.
One of these sites will be in West Sussex, based at the Royal West Sussex NHS Trust. Strategic health authority screening leads were asked to take a lead overview role in developing plans which demonstrated how potential screening sites met the criteria required to be considered as an early implementation site. The final decision to include West Sussex was made by the Department’s Vascular Programme Board.
Aortic Aneurysm: Screening
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much central Government funding has been allocated to the introduction of the abdominal aortic aneurysm screening programme; [238489]
(2) what estimate his Department has made of the total cost of the abdominal aortic aneurysm screening programme to (a) the NHS and (b) primary care trusts; and if he will make a statement. [238490]
Ann Keen: £3 million has been allocated from central departmental budgets for the implementation of the abdominal aortic aneurysm screening programme in 2008-09.
Estimates of future costs were included in the impact assessment of a national screening programme for abdominal aortic aneurysm. A copy has been placed in the Library and is available at:
A summary of (undiscounted) costs for the first five years is shown in the following table (page 14 of the impact assessment).
| Summary costs, not discounted | |||
| £ million | |||
| Screen at 65 | |||
| Phased | Immediate | Maximum | |
More detailed cost estimates can be found in annex 4 of the published impact assessment.
The total annual cost of the programme to the national health service is estimated to build up to approximately £38 million by the fifth year of the phased implementation, and then to average approximately £28 million per year over the following 15 years. Estimates by primary care trust are not available.
“British National Formulary”
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2008, Official Report, column 302W, on the British National Formulary, how many copies of the “British National Formulary” have been issued to NHS (a) hospital doctors and (b) GPs by his Department. [237590]
Dawn Primarolo:
The Department purchased 215,000 copies of the September 2008 edition of the “British National Formulary” and 160,000 copies of the 2008
edition of the “British National Formulary for Children”, for distribution to doctors and other health professionals in England.
Information on the numbers distributed specifically to hospital doctors and general practitioners is not available.
Cancer
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the average time from diagnosis to treatment for patients diagnosed with cancer in each London borough in (a) 2005, (b) 2006 and (c) 2007, broken down by cancer type. [238833]
Ann Keen: Statistics on average waiting times for cancer patients and average waiting times for different types of cancer treatment are not collected centrally. Cancer waiting times standards of a maximum wait of 31 days from diagnosis to first cancer treatment and a maximum wait of 62 days from urgent referral for suspected cancer to first cancer treatment were introduced for all cancer patients from December 2005. The following table shows performance against these standards in England at quarter one (Q1) in 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08.
| Performance against cancer waiting times standards in England | ||
| 31 day standard—percentage compliance | 62 day standard—percentage compliance | |
Cardiovascular System: Diseases
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many revascularisation procedures for peripheral vascular disease took place in the national health service in each of the last five years, broken down by strategic health authority. [238564]
Ann Keen: This information is not held centrally.
Carers
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the timetable is for implementing the Caring with Confidence programme; how much funding has been allocated to it; and what mechanisms are in place to ensure that local organisations are able to access the programme; [237921]
(2) what plans he has to include consideration of the needs of carers in the implementation of the recommendations of the NHS Next Stage Review conducted by Lord Darzi; [237934]
(3) what requirements his Department has placed on primary care trusts to plan for the commissioning of breaks for carers with carers and other agencies; [237951]
(4) what the timetable is for announcing primary care trust allocations regarding funding breaks for carers and the amounts to be allocated. [237952]
Phil Hope: The contract for the Caring with Confidence (CwC) programme commenced on 1 January 2008.
The first face-to-face training for carers took place in August 2008. A distance learning version is presently being piloted and will go live in early 2009. Full capacity of CwC provision will be achieved during the first part of 2009. The Department is making up to £4.6 million per year available to fund CwC.
The delivery of CwC will be through existing local providers of services—whether from the third or statutory sectors. Local providers have been invited to become part of this delivery process, through a nationally advertised tendering process; from this work, CwC will put in place a national network of local providers.
Delivery of the recommendations of the NHS Next Stage Review is led at strategic health authority and local level. However, key stakeholders including carers organisations continue to be involved.
The Carers’ Strategy said that primary care trusts (PCTs) must publish joint plans with their local authority (LA) partners (following a consultation with carers and the third sector) setting out how they are going to spend new money for carers breaks together with the money the LA already receives through the annual carers grant. In addition, we are including a line in the NHS Operating Framework that will remind national health service staff of their responsibilities to publish joint plans and work collaboratively with LAs to support carers in a personalised way.
£150 million will be included in PCTs’ allocations over the next two years. £50 million will be provided in 2009-10 and £100 million in 2010-11. This money will support all carers. We are considering what form further guidance to support PCTs and LAs might take.
In addition, the carers grant will continue giving councils £720 million over the next three years (2008-11). This will enable them to support carers with breaks and other services. As part of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment process, PCTs and LAs are working in partnership to publish joint plans. These should include plans for the provision of breaks.
Christmas
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) lamb, (b) beef, (c) chicken, (d) pork, (e) turkey, (f) other meats, (g) vegetables and (h) fruits to be served by his Department at Christmas functions which will be sourced from British producers. [239724]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department does not collect information about the Christmas functions hosted or attended by officials in the Department and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.
The Government will shortly be publishing a report on the proportion of domestically produced food used by Government Departments and also supplied to hospitals and prisons under contracts negotiated by NHS Supply Chain and National Offender Management Service (previously HM Prison Service) between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2008.
This report will be available on the Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative web site at:
Coastal Areas
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken to improve its arrangements for co-ordination with other Government Departments of policy affecting coastal towns in the last two years. [238649]
Phil Hope: The Department for Communities and Local Government established a cross-departmental working group on coastal towns, in February 2008. The Department of Health is represented on this group.
The working group is providing a forum for improving cross-government understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing coastal towns, including the impact of existing policy approaches and mechanisms in improving regeneration and economic development outcomes.
The Department is also contributing to the work of the Regional Development Agency (RDA)-led Coastal Towns Network, involving central and local government, national and coastal town networks and the RDAs.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many primary care trusts have fully complied with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence appraisal TA97 since its publication; and if he will make a statement; [237031]
(2) what estimate the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has made of the effect on the cost of the NHS of fully implementing its guidance TA97 on computerised cognitive behavioural therapy for the treatment of depression and anxiety. [237179]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department does not hold this information centrally.
Community Nurses: Training
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many places for BSc courses in specialist community nursing programmes have been funded through strategic health authorities in 2008-09; and how many applications for places on such courses there were in that year. [238409]
Ann Keen: The following table provides details of the planned number of training places to be commissioned for community nursing training in the financial year 2008-09. Data on the number of applications to these courses are not held centrally by the Department.
| Community nursing | Planned commissions |
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