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11 Feb 2009 : Column 2078W—continued
Heart Diseases: Health Services
Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the performance against objectives of the 24/7 primary angioplasty service. [254418]
Ann Keen: The Department's new guidance on treatment of heart attack in England was published on 20 October 2008. A copy has been placed in the Library and can also be found at:
It is based on a feasibility study from which it was concluded that roll out of primary angioplasty across England would be feasible, that a 24/7 service was likely to lead to best outcomes and that acceptable times to treatment were 120 minutes from patients call for help and 90 minutes from arrival at hospital. An impact assessment suggested that roll out would be feasible in three years for 97 per cent. of the population.
The status of this guidance is 'best practice' and so decisions about the pace of change are for local commissioners. The treatment times given are to guide local planning and local performance assessment. The Department has however worked with the national health service to put in place appropriate monitoring mechanisms to assess progress. A recent survey of the 31 cardiac clinical networks identified that 10 had achieved 24/7 coverage and that a further 18 had plans for the introduction of primary angioplasty.
A plan of English cardiac networks can be found at:
Heroin: Rehabilitation
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the merits of treatment of heroin addicts with morphine; and if he will make a statement. [255480]
Dawn Primarolo:
As part of the Department-commissioned “Drug Misuse and Dependence: UK Guidelines on Clinical Management (2007)”, the clinical
guidelines expert group who developed the document commented on the potential role of slow release oral morphine (SROM) in the treatment of drug dependence. It stated that SROM is not licensed in the UK for the treatment of opiate dependence and should not normally be used in the community. A copy of the document has already been placed in the Library.
However, the clinical guidelines expert group also acknowledged European research that has shown that SROM can be effective in treating drug dependent patients who ‘fail to tolerate methadone’ but recommended that it should only be used in the United Kingdom by specialist clinicians who have the necessary competencies to do so.
Within UK clinical settings morphine is mainly used for the management of severe and chronic pain, especially in palliative care.
The Department commissioned the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to examine and make recommendations on the most effective drugs for substitute opioid treatment. In 2007, NICE recommended methadone and buprenorphine as the most effective substitute opioids to be used in the treatment of opiate dependence.
Hip Replacements
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hip replacements were performed within the NHS in (a) England and (b) Sefton in each year since 2003. [253411]
Ann Keen: The number of hip replacements performed within the national health service in England and the number of patients having a hip replacement procedure whose general practitioner’s post code is within the Sefton National Health Service Primary Care Trust area are shown in the following table.
| Sefton Primary Care Trust | England | |
| Notes: Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector. Count of finished consultant episodes where the main procedure was a hip replacement procedure for Sefton Primary Care Trust of responsibility (formerly Southport and Formby NHS Primary Care Trust and South Sefton NHS Primary Care Trust prior to 2006-07) and England, 2002-03 to 2006- 07. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, The NHS Information Centre for health and social care. | ||
Hospital Beds
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many days each NHS hospital trust has been placed on its highest level of alert because of a shortage of beds since 1 November 2008. [254399]
Mr. Bradshaw: This information is not held centrally in the format requested. The information may be available from individual trusts.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many single bedrooms are provided for patient use by each NHS organisation according to estates returns information collection data; [255578]
(2) how many single bedrooms have been provided for patient use by each NHS organisation according to estates returns information collection data in each year since 1997-98. [255579]
Ann Keen: The information is not available in the format requested.
Since 2002-03, the Department has collected annual data from national health service trusts on the percentage of the total number of available beds that are single bedrooms, through the Estates Returns Information Collection (ERIC). The actual number of single bedrooms is calculated by applying the percentage to the total number of available beds which is also collected by ERIC. The available data for each year since 2002-03 has been placed in the Library.
The proportion of single bedrooms across the national health service estate in England has risen from 22.6 per cent. in 2002-03 to 30.7 per cent. in 2007-08.
Hospitals: Cleaning Services
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) on what date the deep clean of Driffield Hospital took place; and at what cost; [256029]
(2) on what date the deep clean of Bridlington Hospital took place; and at what cost; [256030]
(3) what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of deep cleaning of NHS hospitals in reducing the incidence of MRSA infections. [256031]
Ann Keen: Deep cleaning is just part of a comprehensive range of measures to improve cleanliness and tackle infections set out in the strategy ‘Clean, Safe Care: Reducing Infections and Saving Lives’, a copy of which is already available in the Library.
The national deep clean programme was overseen by strategic health authorities (SHAs). Information about the specific timing and cost of each individual trust’s deep clean was not collected centrally. On 17 January 2008, a written ministerial statement confirmed that out of 328 trusts, 263 had started their deep clean and that the remaining 65 trusts all had agreed plans in place. My right. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health (Alan Johnson) made a further written statement on 21 April 2008 marking the end of the deep clean initiative for 2007-08. The same statement confirmed that SHAs had made available all the funding promised for the programme, a total of £62.5 million. The spend for Yorkshire and Humber SHA was £5 million.
On completion of the national deep clean programme, SHAs took the lead in evaluating the impact of each trust’s deep clean actions as each programme was different. It was recognised that no single measurement method would pick up all the benefits, particularly as trusts implemented a wide range of measures to improve cleanliness and tackle healthcare associated infections.
The Department subsequently worked with SHAs to draw up examples of where a deep clean had had a demonstrable effect in improving patient care and experience. A compendium of good practice, ‘From
Deep Clean to Keep Clean’ was published in October 2008 to form the basis of shared learning across the national health service. A copy of the compendium has been placed in the Library and is available on the Department’s website at:
Hospitals: Waiting Lists
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients in (a) West Chelmsford constituency and (b) England have had operations cancelled within a week of the scheduled date in the last 12 months. [254750]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department do not collect the number of operations cancelled within a week of the scheduled date of the operation.
The Department do collect data on the number of operations cancelled at the last minute(1) for non-clinical reasons. Data on last minute cancellations for non clinical reasons for Mid Essex Hospitals NHS Trust and England are shown in the following table.
(1) A last minute cancellation is one that occurs on the day the patient was due to arrive, after they have arrived in hospital or on the day of their operation.
| Operations cancelled at the last minute for non-clinical reasons, Mid Essex Hospitals NHS Trust and England | |||
| Quarter | Mid Essex | England | |
| Source: Department of Health QMCO | |||
If a patient’s operation is cancelled by the hospital on or after the day of admission (including the day of surgery) for non clinical reasons, the hospital will have to offer another binding date within a maximum of the next 28 days or fund the patient’s treatment at the time and hospital of the patient’s choice.
Incontinence: Medical Equipment
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many items of correspondence he received relating to the Review of Part IX of the Drug Tariff from members of the public in (a) 2006, (b) 2007 and (c) 2008; [255652]
(2) when he plans to publish his Department's response to the most recent consultation on changes to Part IX of the Drug Tariff. [255653]
Phil Hope: The following table sets out the level of correspondence the Department received which related to the review of Part IX of the Drug Tariff.
The majority of this information will have come from members of the public.
| Number | |
Details of the new arrangements under Part IX of the Drug Tariff for the provision of stoma and urology appliances—and related services—in primary care will be published shortly, together with a summary of the responses to the last consultation.
Mesothelioma
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what Government funding has been provided for research into mesothelioma in the last 10 years; and what funding for such research is planned over the next five years. [255475]
Dawn Primarolo: Over the last 10 years, the main part of the Department's research and development budget has been allocated to and managed by national health service organisations.
Those organisations have accounted for their use of the allocations they have received from the Department in an annual research and development report. The reports identify total, aggregated expenditure on national priority areas, including cancer. They do not provide details of research into particular cancer sites.
The National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI), a United Kingdom wide partnership between government, charities and industry, makes cancer research information available online via the International Cancer Research Portfolio database at:
Details of current Departmental and Medical Research Council (MRC) site-specific cancer research can be found through this database.
The MRC is one of the main agencies through which the Government supports biomedical research. The MRC is an independent body funded by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
MRC expenditure over the last 10 years on lung cancer research, including research relating to mesothelioma, has been:
| £ million | |
These figures include funding to the MRC Clinical Trials Unit for the clinical trials in lung cancer programme which included support for the MS01 trial “(Active symptom control with or without chemotherapy for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma)”.
The usual practice of the Department's National Institute for Health Research and of the MRC is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. Future levels of expenditure on lung cancer research will be determined by the success of relevant bids for funding.
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