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6 May 2009 : Column 196W—continued
Transport: Torbay
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the performance of Torbay local authority in meeting the objectives of its local transport plan. [272526]
Paul Clark: Torbay council, along with other local transport authorities in England outside London, has recently undertaken a review of progress made over the first two years of their current local transport plan (April 2006-March 2008).
As part of this process, the Government office for the south-west met with the authority to discuss progress. Subsequently, it issued a letter to the authority, which is published on the Department’s website at:
Torbay council has made their progress report available on their website at:
Health
Abortion
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library a copy of each document in his Department's file (a) CPO 14/7 Abortion Laws in Other Countries, (b) CPO 5/5 Publicity Material and Publications from Anti Abortion Organisation, (c) CPO 4/28 HF and A Amendment of the Abortion Act 1967 and (d) CPO 3/6 Abortion Act 1967 Correspondence between Sir Bernard Braine MP and Minister of Health on matters concerning abortions in NHS hospitals; and if he will make a statement. [272244]
Dawn Primarolo: The information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 21 April 2009, Official Report, column 570W, on abortion, what the causes of death were in each case; and if he will make a statement. [272245]
Dawn Primarolo: The information collected on this issue is available in the successive reports of the confidential enquires into maternal deaths (CEMACH), and these reports are available from CEMACH. There were three maternal deaths following termination of pregnancy from 2003-05. One death resulted from severe anaemia from haemorrage from retained products, and the cause of death in the other two cases was unclear.
Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many people were admitted to hospital as a consequence of intoxication through alcohol in each of the last 12 months; [271734]
(2) how many people were treated for alcohol abuse in each of the last 12 months; [271735]
(3) how many (a) women and (b) men were admitted to hospital for treatment for the effects of alcohol abuse in each of the last five years. [271736]
Dawn Primarolo: The following tables give the number of admissions to hospital, in England, as a result of alcohol intoxication for 2007-08, the latest year for which this data has been finalised, and the number of alcohol-related hospital admissions, in England, for the last five years for which data is available.
Concerning treatment, prior to 1 April 2008 there was no routine collection of data on numbers receiving structured care-planned alcohol treatment in England. On 1 April 2008, a National Alcohol Treatment Monitoring System (NATMS) begun operation to collect and report local and national information on the provision of structured care-planned treatment for alcohol misuse in England.
While the first year's NATMS data is due to be reported in October 2009, limited data is reported on the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System website, at:
This provides data at a countrywide, strategic health authority and primary care trust level. The latest countrywide data shows that in February 2009, 54,306 people were in contact with specialist alcohol treatment in England, with a year-to-date figure for 2008-09 of 98,058 people.
| Hospital admissions with a primary or secondary diagnosis of alcohol intoxication (ICD-10 code F10.1) for 2007-08 in England | |
| Month episode ended* | Admission episodes |
| Number of alcohol-related hospital admissions in England by sex, for 2003-04 to 2007-08 | |||
| Women | Men | Total | |
| Notes: Includes activity in English national health service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector * Date episode ended This field contains the date on which a patient left the care of a particular consultant, for one of the following reasons: Discharged from hospital (includes transfers) or moved to the care of another consultant. ICD-10 Code used for alcohol intoxication F10.1 - Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of Alcohol: Acute Intoxication Alcohol-Related Admissions The number of alcohol-related admissions is based on the methodology developed by the North West Public Health Observatory (NWPHO). Following international best practice, the NWPHO methodology includes a wide range of diseases and injuries in which alcohol plays a part and estimates the proportion of cases that are attributable to the consumption of alcohol. Details of the conditions and associated proportions can be found in the report Jones et al. (2008) Alcohol-attributable fractions for England: Alcohol-attributable mortality and hospital admissions. Finished admission episodes A finished admission episode is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Finished admission episodes are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. Number of episodes in which the patient had a (named) primary or secondary diagnosis These figures represent the number of episodes where the diagnosis was recorded in any of the 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) primary and secondary diagnosis fields in a Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) record. Each episode is only counted once in each count, even if the diagnosis is recorded in more than one diagnosis field of the record. Data quality HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts in England. Data is also received from a number of independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain. Assessing growth through time HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. The quality and coverage of the data have improved over time. These improvements in information submitted by the NHS have been particularly marked in the earlier years and need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. Some of the increase in figures for later years (particularly 2006-07 onwards) may be due to the improvement in the coverage of independent sector activity. Changes in NHS practice also need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. For example, a number of procedures may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and may no longer be accounted for in the HES data. This may account for any reductions in activity over time. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care. | |||
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the alcoholic drinks industry on trends in the rate of harm attributable to the consumption of alcohol in low income communities; [272402]
(2) what recent discussions he has had with (a) primary care trusts and (b) strategic health authorities on measures to reduce the rate of harm attributable to the consumption of alcohol in low income communities. [272403]
Dawn Primarolo: Ministers have not specifically discussed reducing alcohol-related harm in low income communities at recent meetings with the alcohol industry or with primary care trusts and strategic health authorities.
Reducing alcohol-related harms is an integral part of the Department's health inequalities strategy, as described in ‘Health Inequalities—progress and next steps’, June 2008. This includes support and funding for primary care trusts in Spearhead areas which face the greatest challenges in reducing the trend of alcohol-related hospital admissions.
Breast Feeding
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps his Department is taking to increase the rate of breastfeeding by women from disadvantaged backgrounds; [272305]
(2) what steps his Department is taking (a) further to encourage breastfeeding and (b) to support continued breastfeeding by women who return to work. [272307]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department has a range of interventions in place to promote breastfeeding, including action to help women from disadvantaged backgrounds. These include: investment of £6 million for primary care trusts to implement the Baby Friendly Initiative in hospitals and in the community; the provision of easily accessible and timely advice through the National Breastfeeding Helpline; the breastfeeding DVD “From bump to breastfeeding” given to all new mothers in England via their midwives and health visitors; and a number of promotional materials provided and activities held during the National Breastfeeding Awareness Week. In addition, the Department’s healthy start scheme supports breastfeeding mothers from low income and disadvantaged households.
We are also supporting breastfeeding women at work by promoting breastfeeding-friendly places, engaging with employers and business (shopping centres, retailers, restaurants etc.) encouraging them to provide the necessary facilities to help mothers who wish to breastfeed. We have also published the leaflet “Breastfeeding and Work”, providing information to employers and employees on their rights, obligations and best practice to enable women to continue breastfeeding after returning to work. A copy has been placed in the Library.
Care Homes: Standards
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department issues to inspectors of care homes to assist them in assessing how each home performs against each of the national minimum standards; and what factors are taken into account in assessing performance against each standard. [272780]
Phil Hope: The Department does not issue guidance directly to inspectors of care homes. The inspection of care homes is the responsibility of the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
We are informed by CQC that it issues a range of guidance documents to its inspectors. “How we inspect services: Guidance for inspectors” gives an overview of:
each stage of the key inspection cycle—from planning, to fieldwork and reporting; and
the different types of inspections—key, random and thematic.
The guidance is available on the CQC website at:
Key Lines of Regulatory Assessment (KLORA) helps inspectors make decisions about the quality of a service. They give examples of what to look for to decide whether service users experience poor, adequate, good or excellent outcomes. KLORA is available on the CQC website at:
Depression: Children
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children aged (a) under 10 years and (b) under 16 years were diagnosed with depression (i) in each year since 1997 and (ii) in each primary care trust area in the last year for which figures are available. [272785]
Phil Hope: We do not routinely collect this information. However, a 2004 survey by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) found that 9.6 per cent. of children in Great Britain aged between five and 16 suffered from some kind of mental disorder. The survey was based on interviews with a sample of parents and children. The full results are published in the ONS report ‘Mental health of children and young people in Great Britain’.
Details on prevalence of mental disorders by age and sex, 2004 are listed in the following table.
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