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28 Jan 2009 : Column 624W—continued
NHS: Drugs
Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when he expects the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to issue guidance on the availability on the NHS of (a) Sutent, (b) Nexavar, (c) Avastin and (d) Torisel; [252278]
(2) if he will issue guidance to primary care trusts to the effect that they should make (a) Sutent, (b) Nexavar, (c) Avastin and (d) Torisel available on the NHS where clinicians advise they should be used. [252279]
Dawn Primarolo: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is currently appraising sunitinib (Sutent), sorafenib (Nexavar), temsirolimus (Torisel) and bevacizumab (Avastin) for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma. We understand that NICE anticipates publishing its final guidance later this year.
NICE is an independent body responsible for the development of robust, evidence-based guidance for the national health service on the clinical and cost effectiveness of new and existing technologies. The Department has no plans to publish separate guidance to the NHS on these treatments in advance of NICE publishing its final guidance.
The NHS Constitution, which was published on 21 January 2009, includes a right for patients to access drugs and treatments that have been recommended by NICE for use in the NHS and also a further right for patients to expect local decisions on the funding of other drugs and treatments to be made rationally following a proper consideration of the evidence.
NHS: Public Participation
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which local involvement networks are not yet operational; and on what date each is expected to become operational. [250716]
Ann Keen: The information requested is not collected centrally. The statutory duty to ensure that local involvement network activities are carried on rests with local authorities (with social services responsibilities).
NHS: Standards
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish the full set of quality measures for acute patient care as referred to on page 50 of High Quality Care for All, Cm 7432. [249154]
Mr. Bradshaw: The assured menu of quality indicators for 2009-10 is being developed in line with the principles of co-production, clinical leadership, subsidiarity and system alignment, set out by David Nicholson in his letter of 5 August 2008.
Specifically, the assured menu of quality indicators for 2009-10 is being developed following a web-based survey run by the Information Centre for health and social care and on the basis of strategic health authority
progress reports, requested in a letter to all NHS chief executives, medical directors and nursing directors sent by David Nicholson, Sir Bruce Keogh and Dame Christine Beasley on 18 November 2008. Draft of the assured menu will be shared with NHS colleagues before being presented to the National Quality Board at its first meeting in March 2009 and published following this.
Oxygen: Medical Equipment
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in England were dependent on a domiciliary oxygen system in their homes in each of the last 10 years. [250162]
Mr. Bradshaw: Accurate data on the number of patients using home oxygen are only available from 1 November 2006 onwards.
The following table shows the number of users of the integrated home oxygen service.
| Period | Estimated number of p atients |
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent by (a) his Department and (b) each health trust on each type of prescribed domiciliary oxygen therapy in each of the last 10 years. [250163]
Mr. Bradshaw: The budget for the Home Oxygen Service is held within the national health service. Accurate expenditure data on home oxygen are available from 1 November 2006 onwards.
Providing information in the requested format would breach commercial confidentiality.
The following table summarises spending on home oxygen by region:
Patient Choice Schemes
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of first outpatient appointments made through Choose and Book in the latest period for which figures are available, broken down by (i) direct and (ii) indirect method used. [252335]
Mr. Bradshaw: In November 2008 which is the latest month for which data are available 399,000 referrals to first outpatient appointments were made through Choose and Book, 50 per cent., of all general practitioner referrals to first outpatient appointment. Of these, 305,000 (76 per cent.) used the direct method and 94,000 used the indirect method of booking.
PatientPak
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what meetings (a) he and (b) his officials have had with representatives of PatientPak Limited to discuss the use of its products by patients in the last 12 months; [251014]
(2) what research his Department has (a) evaluated, (b) commissioned and (c) undertaken on the merits of patient-provided products to prevent viral and bacterial infections in hospitals. [251015]
Ann Keen: The Department has not had any meetings with representatives of PatientPak Ltd. within the last 12 months. However, the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency run product surgeries to offer advice to manufacturers of health care products.
The Department has not undertaken any work on the efficacy of patient-provided products in preventing viral and bacterial infections in hospitals and is not aware of any evidence that these products offer advantages over materials supplied to patients by the national health service.
Our strategy ‘Clean Safe Care’ draws together the measures required to control infections. Generally, normal soap and toiletries are adequate for patients' personal hygiene during their hospital stay, and hospitals will provide special soap and shampoo to prevent viral and bacterial infections as necessary.
Pharmacy: Hampshire
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what dispensing pharmacies there are in Hampshire; and what volume of products each dispensed in each of the last five years. [250164]
Phil Hope: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
Pigmeat: Labelling
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to change the labelling scheme for pork products. [251022]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 27 January 2009]: The Government have no plans to change the labelling scheme for pork products.
However, the framework EC legislation governing general food labelling is currently being revised in Brussels. This includes a consideration of the tightening of criteria around voluntary country of origin declarations, including on pork products. The Government support this move and are actively involved in these negotiations.
In the meantime and in order to help industry comply with the rules and avoid misleading consumers, the Food Standards Agency has had in place since 2002
best practice guidance, which advises for example, that bacon products from imported pork should be clearly labelled as such. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Ministers are also holding a series of meetings with industry to promote uptake of the guidance.
Tomography
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) magnetic resonance imaging and (b) dual energy x-ray absorptiometry scanners there were in the NHS in each year since 1997. [249275]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department does not routinely collect this data centrally. However, from information supplied by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) the installed base of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners in the English national health service plus additional scanners supplied each year from 1997 to 2008 are shown in the following table. The installed base for MRI scanners for 1998 and 1999 were not collected.
The total number of installed MRI scanners for each year can only be considered to be approximate, it is not possible to provide data regarding exact numbers for each year since 1997 due to local variations in timescales for centrally funded scanners from award then delivery and installation, as well as different time periods for the removal from clinical service of the scanners being replaced.
Data for dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanners are not collected.
| MRI scanners installed base | Additional | Total (approximate) |
| Note: The databases of installed equipment held by the HPA contain data supplied periodically by manufacturers and as such can only be considered to be a snapshot in time rather than an absolute position. Source: HPA | ||
Communities and Local Government
Business Community Safety Forum
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much the chair of the Business Community Safety Forum has received in allowances in respect of his chairmanship in the last 12 months. [251814]
Mr. Khan: Since his appointment on 24 October 2008, the chair of the Business and Community Safety Forum has received a day rate of £500 on three occasions and been reimbursed for his associated travel and subsistence expenses.
Chief Fire Officers' Association
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether (a) her Department and (b) its agencies are represented on the board of the Chief Fire Officers’ Association. [252185]
Mr. Khan: This Department and its agencies are not represented on the Board of the Chief Fire Officers’ Association.
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