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19 Jan 2009 : Column 1179W—continued
Abortion: Down’s Syndrome
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to repeal the provision of the Abortion Act 1967 allowing women to terminate a pregnancy if their child has Down’s syndrome; and if he will make a statement. [247963]
Dawn Primarolo: It is accepted parliamentary practice that proposals for amendments to the Abortion Act 1967, as amended, come from Back-Bench Members and that decisions are made on the basis of free votes. The Government have no plans to change the law on abortion.
One of the grounds for an abortion is:
“that there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.”
Parliament did not define serious handicap in the Act. Indeed, it chose to leave this to the expert judgment of the two doctors involved, who are required to form their own opinion about the seriousness of the handicap the child would suffer if born, taking into account the facts and circumstances of each individual case.
Arthritis: Health Services
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to encourage the development of monitoring clinics in community settings for the purpose of reviewing patients with inflammatory arthritis. [249262]
Ann Keen: It is the responsibility of local health bodies to commission services to meet the needs of their population living with inflammatory arthritis. This may include the provision of monitoring clinics in community settings.
The Musculoskeletal Framework, published in July 2006 (a copy of which has already been placed in the Library), emphasised the importance of regular reviews for those with inflammatory arthritis, undertaken within a monitoring clinic which can also provide education and support to enhance self-management of these conditions.
Beverley Community Hospital
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the East Riding of Yorkshire primary care trust has spent on finding a new location for Beverley Community Hospital; and if he will make a statement. [247318]
Mr. Bradshaw: It is the responsibility of primary care trusts (PCTs) to plan, develop and improve health services for their local residents.
The East Riding of Yorkshire PCT was awarded £20 million from the community hospital development fund to help towards the overall cost of the development of three community hospitals in the East Riding, at Beverley, Hornsea and Driffield. It is for the PCT to manage the costs involved in developing this scheme.
Brain Injuries
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps his Department is taking to improve services for people with acquired brain injury; [247809]
(2) what steps his Department has taken to record the number of people who have acquired brain injuries. [247810]
Ann Keen: In March 2005 the Department published the “National Service Framework for Long-Term Conditions” which focuses on improving services for people with neurological conditions, including acquired brain injury. A copy of the framework has already been placed in the Library.
The Department has no plans to collect information on the number of people with acquired brain injuries.
Cancer
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to publish guidance for cancer commissioners. [247099]
Ann Keen: Guidance for cancer commissioners to take into consideration when assessing health needs, reviewing services and monitoring performance was launched on the Department's website on 12 January 2009. A copy has been placed in the Library and it can be viewed at:
This guidance sits alongside the web-based cancer commissioning tool kit launched to national health service users in June 2008, which supports commissioners of cancer services by providing a range of benchmarked information.
Cancer: Health Services
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether he has validated a modular assessment tool for the purpose of collecting information on cancer awareness; and when he expects to undertake a national survey; [247101]
(2) what progress he has made on (a) developing and (b) testing a primary care audit tool for newly-diagnosed cancers; and when he expects to begin the national audit; [247108]
(3) what progress he has made on each component of the national awareness and early diagnosis initiative; and when he expects to be able to evaluate the initiative as a whole. [247109]
Ann Keen: Information on progress on the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative over the last year is set out in the first annual report of the Cancer Reform Strategy, a copy of which is available in the Library.
The Department has funded the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to carry out a national baseline cancer awareness survey. ONS’s survey is using the validated cancer awareness assessment tool developed by Cancer Research UK funded researchers. The early results from
the survey were set out in the first annual report of the Cancer Reform Strategy, and we expect to publish full results from the survey in the spring.
The Royal College of General Practitioners are taking forward work on the audit of cancer diagnosis in primary care. Three strands of work are currently being developed:
an assessment of the interval from first presentation to a general practitioner to diagnosis;
a significant event audit, focusing on lung cancer and cancer in children and young people, which will be piloted in early 2009; and
development of an audit template.
Consideration is currently being given to how best to evaluate the initiative.
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of commissioners of cancer services in relation to NHS waiting time standards through the assurance system developed under the world class commissioning programme; [247107]
(2) what assessment he has made under the world class commissioning programme of cancer commissioners’ compliance with advice contained in guidance issued by his Department subsequent to the publication of the Cancer Reform Strategy. [247121]
Ann Keen: Commissioners of cancer services are subject to the wider assurance system managed by strategic health authorities that has been developed under the world class commissioning programme. Assessments undertaken as part of this process relate to commissioning in general and not specifically to the commissioning of cancer services.
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the extent to which local NHS organisations are following advice contained in the cancer reform strategy. [248445]
Ann Keen: The first annual report of the ‘Cancer Reform Strategy’ was published on 1 December 2008. The report ‘Cancer Reform Strategy—Maintaining momentum, building for the future: first annual report’ highlights progress that have been made nationally and locally. A copy of the report has already been placed in the Library.
The annual report for 2009 will have a greater focus on local implementation.
Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent by the NHS on the treatment of (a) breast cancer and (b) prostate cancer in each of the last five years. [248836]
Ann Keen: The information on funding is not available in the format requested. The following table shows an estimate of the gross expenditure on cancers and tumours by the national health service in England for all cancer and tumour types, for the last four available financial years. This information was first collected in 2003-04 and is not available for any previous years.
The table also shows gross expenditure on breast cancer for 2006-07, the first year that this data was collected at sub-category level. Data on gross expenditure for prostate cancer at sub-category level is not collected.
| Estimated gross expenditure on cancer and tumours (all types) and on breast cancers and tumours from 2003-04 to 2006-07 | ||
| £ | ||
| Financial year | Gross expenditure on cancers and tumours —all types | Gross expenditure on breast cancers and tumours |
| n/a = Not available Source: Department of Health Resource Accounts | ||
Cancer: Medical Treatments
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress he has made towards completing a dataset for all chemotherapy service providers in respect of patients receiving chemotherapy. [247105]
Ann Keen: Work is under way with a group of clinicians to develop and agree a dataset for chemotherapy. The plan is to consult on this during 2009, with the aim of implementation in 2010.
Care Homes: Fees and Charges
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effect of the current economic situation on those who fund their own stay in care homes; and what plans he has to assist such individuals to alleviate hardship. [248224]
Phil Hope: No such assessment has been made. Care home residents are already entitled to apply for public help with the cost of their care, subject to a test of their means, if they have less than £22,250 in savings. This will increase to £23,000 in April 2009.
The Government will work closely with local authorities and care providers to ensure they are able to meet their statutory responsibilities and protect the welfare of care home residents.
Carers
Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken to raise awareness of statutory rights for carers. [247218]
Phil Hope: One of the commitments in the National Carers’ strategy, “Carers at the heart of 21(st) century families and communities”, is to provide every carer with the opportunity to access comprehensive and locally specific information when they need it.
We are establishing ‘Carers Direct’, an information service which will provide, via a website and a helpline, access to the information needed by carers, including issues around their statutory rights.
The web element of the service will be launched—in limited form—at the end of January 2009, it will be in full form by the end of March 2009. The helpline—which will be available by phone, e-mail and mail—will go live in April 2009 and reach full capacity in July 2009.
The Government are making £2.8 million a year available to support this service.
Cervical Cancer: Screening
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress he has made towards increasing the participation of women aged 25 to 35 years in the cervical cancer screening programme. [248447]
Ann Keen: As set out in the Cancer Reform Strategy, national health service cancer screening programmes have commissioned the Improvement Foundation to undertake work at a local level targeting this group. Six primary care trusts are taking part in this work. The Improvement Foundation are expected to deliver the outcomes from their work to NHS cancer screening programmes by the end of 2009, and the lessons learned will be shared with strategic health authorities and local screening programmes to develop best practice.
To incentivise services to encourage higher coverage, the decision has been taken to explore having a tariff for cervical screening, along with breast and bowel screening. The Department is working closely with NHS cancer screening programmes on a scoping exercise to inform this work.
We will continue to monitor levels of cervical screening coverage through the Office for National Statistics/Information Centre annual cervical screening programme statistical bulletin.
NHS cancer screening programmes have already produced posters specifically targeting women in the age range of 25-35.
Charities
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health to which (a) charities and (b) voluntary organisations his Department has provided funding in the last five years; and how much funding was provided to each. [247378]
Phil Hope: Information on all departmental funding to charities and voluntary organisations is not available in the format requested from central records and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Tables which show grant awards from the funding years 2004-05 up to the current funding year 2008-09 with the identifiable data available including; Social Enterprise Pathfinders, Social Enterprise Investment Fund, Children’s Hospice and Hospice at Home, Dignity in Care (one year capital awards), Section 64 General Scheme of Grants and the Opportunities for Volunteering grant scheme have been placed in the Library.
Chlamydia: East Sussex
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of persons in East Sussex have been diagnosed with chlamydia in the latest period for which figures are available, broken down by primary care trust. [249400]
Dawn Primarolo:
Data for chlamydia diagnosed in a genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinic are currently only collected by strategic health authority (SHA) and are not broken down by primary care trust (PCT). Information on the rate of genital chlamydia diagnoses in GUM
clinics in the South East Coast SHA for 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, is given in the following table.
| Chlamydia diagnoses in GUM clinics in the South East Coast SHA in 2007 | ||
| Number of chlamydia diagnoses | Rate of chlamydia diagnoses (per 100,000 population) | |
| Notes: 1. The data available from the KC60 statutory returns are for diagnoses made in GUM clinics only. Diagnoses made in other clinical settings, such as general practice, are not recorded in the KC60 dataset. 2. The data available from the KC60 statutory returns are the number of diagnoses made, not the number of patients diagnosed. 3. The information provided has been adjusted for missing clinic data. Source: Health Protection Agency, KC60 returns | ||
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