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14 Jan 2009 : Column 820W—continued
Dental Services
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what indicators his Department uses to evaluate the oral health of patients in England; [246776]
(2) what assessment he has made of the relative level of oral health in England in comparison with previous years; [246777]
(3) what steps he is taking to improve the oral health of patients in England. [246778]
Ann Keen:
The key indicators that we use are the average number of decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) in children and the number of adults with no natural teeth. Information from the decennial national child dental health surveys shows that DMFT in 12-year-old children in England declined from 5.0 in 1973 to 0.7 in 2003, which means that children in this age group are among children with the best oral health in Europe. Meanwhile the adult surveys show that between in 1968 and 1998 the proportion of adults with no natural teeth fell from 37 per cent. to 11 per cent. However, we are not complacent. AH primary care trusts (PCTs) are required to undertake an assessment of the oral health needs of their populations to inform their commissioning of primary care dental services. In September 2007, we published ‘Delivering Better Oral Health: An evidence-based toolkit for prevention’, which provides practical, evidence-based guidance to help dental teams promote oral
health and prevent dental disease. A copy has already been placed in the Library. During 2008, the Chief Dental Officer and other leading members of the dental profession contributed to three regional conferences for PCTs and dental care professionals on implementation of the toolkit. Also, through reforms made to the legislation governing the fluoridation of water, we have given communities with high levels of dental disease a real option of having their water fluoridated.
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consideration he gave to appointing a practising NHS community dentist to the Independent Group to review NHS dentistry; and if he will make a statement. [246791]
Ann Keen: One of the four review members is a practicing dentist in the community dental service delivering primary care dental services. The four members of the review are drawn from differing backgrounds. Their role is not to represent their ‘sector’ but to listen to the views of all parties and to look more strategically at the issues affecting national health service dental services and NHS patients.
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost of undertaking the review of NHS dentistry in England; and if he will make a statement. [246867]
Ann Keen: We are not at this point attempting to fix the final costs of the review as this will depend on the work Professor Steele and his team decide to undertake. However, our initial estimates of the additional costs of the review are around £250,000.
Diabetes: Children
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children under the age of 16 have been diagnosed with diabetes; and if he will make a statement. [247317]
Ann Keen: Data for the number of children of school age diagnosed with diabetes are not available. However, estimates suggest there are some 20,000 children with diabetes in England (the vast majority type 1 diabetes), and some experts suggest that there may be up to 1,000 children with type 2 diabetes in England.
Drugs: Misuse
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer of 10 September 2008, Official Report, column 1898W, on drugs: misuse, how many people were discharged from treatment for drug misuse, broken down by discharge reason, in 2007-08; how many people left treatment in 2007-08; and how many people returned to drug treatment having previously been discharged as having (a) completed treatment, (b) completed treatment drug free and (c) completed treatment and been referred on. [247442]
Dawn Primarolo:
The following table shows the number of individuals discharged from structured treatment for drug misuse, by discharge reason, for 2007-08. These data are taken from the National Drug Treatment
Monitoring System (NDTMS) statistical release 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008, published by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA).
| Discharge reason | Percentage | Number |
| (1) That is where agency staff indicated that they did not know the reason for discharge | ||
Data on individuals in structured drug and alcohol treatment are collected by the NTA via the NDTMS, using the following definitions for successful discharge reasons:
‘Treatment completed drug free’ refers to an individual, who the treatment provider believes has completed their treatment no longer dependent on their drug of misuse and is not using any other illegal drugs.
‘Treatment completed’ refers to an individual, who the treatment provider believes has completed their treatment no longer dependent on their drug of misuse, but who may be using drugs in a non-dependent way.
‘Referred on’ refers to an individual who, on completion of a Tier 3 or 4 service, is transferred to a Tier 2 service or support services such as housing support or employment support.
Information on the number of individuals who have re-entered structured drug treatment, after having been discharged from structured treatment for drug misuse, is not routinely calculated.
Health Education: Parents
Mr. Truswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many parentcraft sessions were provided at (a) Leeds General Infirmary and (b) St James's Hospital in each month of the last two years. [245665]
Ann Keen: This information is not collected centrally. The Department advocates local decision making in designing appropriate services that fit with the ethos of woman-centred care, including the way in which parentcraft classes are provided locally.
Health Professions: Manpower
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many individuals qualified as medical staff in the UK in each year since 1997; and what proportion of these currently work in the NHS. [247167]
Ann Keen: The number of individuals who graduated medical education each year since 1997 is shown in the following table. However figures for UK graduates prior to 2000-01 are not available.
| Academic year | Graduate output (England) | Graduate output (UK) |
It is not possible to say what proportion currently work in the national health service as this information is not collected. However, the following table shows the number of house officers/foundation one posts since 1997. These figures show that there has been sufficient opportunities in the NHS to meet the medical school outputs.
| House officer and foundation programme year 1 | |
| Number | |
Injuries: Offensive Weapons
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he was first informed by the NHS Information Centre of the publication of data relating to patients attending hospital with knife wounds, provided to 10 Downing Street. [247624]
Mr. Bradshaw: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 12 January 2009, Official Report, column 162W.
Learning Disability
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people aged between 14 and 18 years had a profound and multiple learning disability in each of the last five years. [245998]
Ann Keen: The Department does not hold this information centrally.
Maternity Services
Mr. Truswell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what external (a) inspection and (b) monitoring of maternity care at (i) Leeds General Infirmary and (ii)
St. James's Hospital has taken place in the last two years; what recommendations were made; and if he will make a statement. [245662]
Ann Keen: There have been three external reports into maternity services at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in the last two years. These include the Yorkshire and the Humber Local Supervising Authority Supervision and Midwifery Practice Audit 2007-08, the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST) pilot assessment against the revised CNST Maternity Clinical Risk Management Standards in September 2008 and the Healthcare Commission Review of Maternity Services 2007.
Full copies of the resulting reports can be obtained direct from the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
It is the responsibility of strategic health authorities to performance manage primary care trusts and NHS trusts on behalf of the Department against local operational plans.
Mr. Truswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many complaints on maternity care provided at (a) Leeds General Infirmary and (b) St. James's Hospital have been received by (i) Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and (ii) his Department in each month of the last two years. [245664]
Ann Keen: The Department does not hold information about complaints received at individual NHS organisations. This information can be obtained from the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust directly.
Due to the way in which correspondence is logged, details regarding complaints received by the Department about maternity services at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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