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13 July 2009 : Column 157W—continued


13 July 2009 : Column 158W

CJD

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of the average (a) annual and (b) total lifetime cost to the NHS of a patient diagnosed with vCJD; and if he will make a statement. [285737]

Gillian Merron: The average total cost to the national health service of patients diagnosed with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is estimated at £40,000. The National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit reports the median duration of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from the onset of first symptoms to death as 14 months.

Crohn's Disease

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of Crohn's disease were recorded in each of the last five years. [285452]

Ann Keen: Information on the number of cases of Crohn's disease is not collected.

Dental Services

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time for (a) initial orthodontic assessment and (b) subsequent orthodontic treatment was in (i) South Tyneside, (ii) the North East and (iii) England in each of the last five years. [284639]

Ann Keen: Information is not collected centrally on waiting times for orthodontic treatment provided in primary care.

Information is available for part of the period requested from which average hospital waiting times from referral to first outpatient appointment and from decision to hospital admission (both day case and in-patient) can be provided.

This information available covers the period up to and including Quarter 2 2007-08. From Quarter 3 2007-08 this data collection no longer broke waits down by speciality. The information available is held by primary care trust (PCT) and strategic health authority (SHA) area and is set out in the following tables.

Median orthodontic speciality out-patient waiting time for first out-patient appointment
Weeks
Month ending
Area March 2005 March 2006 March 2007 September 2007

England

5.1

3.9

4.2

3.9

North East SHA

5.4

5.6

4.4

4.5

South Tyneside PCT

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Source: Department of Health Waiting List Collections QM08R and MMRCOM

13 July 2009 : Column 159W

Median orthodontic specialty in-patient waiting time for elective admission
Weeks
Month ending
Area March 2003 March 2004 March 2005 March 2006 March 2007 September 2007

England

11.2

9.2

8.9

6.8

4.0

5.8

North East SHA

8.0

8.2

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

South Tyneside PCT

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Notes: 1. Figures are shown for organisations that existed at the time. 2. Figures shown are for those recorded under the orthodontic speciality. 3. Out-patient waiting times are measured from referral by the dentist to first out-patient appointment to the consultant. The data are based on a snapshot in time, and so will include some patients who were yet to see a consultant. 4. In-patient waiting times are measured from the decision to admit by the consultant to admission to hospital. 5. The last time these data were collected was for the period ending September 2007. 6. Time bands for all specialties were only collected from 2004-05 onwards for out-patients so average waiting first out-patient times are available only from this point forward. 7. Where n/a, no orthodontic waiters were declared for the time periods specified or there were very low numbers. 8. Median waiting times are calculated from aggregate data, rather than patient level data, and therefore are estimates of the position on average waits. 9. In particular, specialties with low numbers waiting are prone to fluctuations in the median. This should be taken into account when interpreting the data. Source: Department of Health Waiting List Collections QF01 and MMRCOM.

From 1 January 2009, no one should wait more than 18 weeks from the time they are referred by their general practitioner or dentist to start of their consultant-led treatment unless it is clinically appropriate to do so or they choose to wait longer. The 18 weeks commitment covers pathways that involve or might involve consultant-led care, including orthodontics, which is now recorded under the oral surgery speciality.

Latest data show that since January 2009, the national health service has been delivering the operating standards for 18 weeks to ensure that no one should wait more than 18 weeks from the time they are referred to the start of their consultant-led treatment, unless it is clinically appropriate to do so or they choose to wait longer.

Mr. Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much of his Department's spending on NHS dentistry has been allocated to front-line services since April 2006; [285890]

(2) how much his Department has spent on the new contract for NHS dentistry and associated policy changes in each year since April 2006. [285891]

Ann Keen: The Department has allocated the following total sums to primary care trusts (PCTs) and strategic health authorities to fund primary dental care services. These allocations were net of any income from national health service dental charges collected from patients, which is retained by the relevant local PCT as an additional resource.


13 July 2009 : Column 160W
Primary dental care service allocations, England
Financial year £ million

2006-07

1,764.7

2007-08

1,872.4

2008-09

2,081

2009-10

2,257


Departmental staff to monitor NHS dental services and review policy were provided from within existing departmental resources. The following table sets out estimated expenditure levels from centrally managed programme funds on additional and external services to support the commissioning and development of dental services and oral health measures in each of the last three years.

Financial year £ million

2006-07

2.2

2007-08

2.5

2008-09

2.7


Dental Services: Essex

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of provision of NHS dentistry in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point. [285962]

Ann Keen: It is for primary care trusts (PCTs) to assess local need and demand for national health services dental services and commission the appropriate services.

All 10 strategic health authorities have set themselves the aim of providing access to NHS dentistry for all who seek it by March 2011 at the latest.

We are supporting PCTs to meet this aim with extra resources-an 11 per cent. uplift in our dental funding allocations for 2008-09, and a further 8.5 per cent. uplift in total funds for 2009-10, which takes the total available for dental allocations to £2,257 million (net of patient charge income).

We have also set up an expanded national dental access programme, headed by Dr. Mike Warburton an experienced clinician and manager, to support managers and clinicians to rapidly expand services where needed.

The report of the Independent Review of Dentistry in England, published on 22 June recommends a series of further actions to support access and quality. Piloting of the recommendations will begin from this autumn. A copy of the report has already been placed in the Library.

Dental Services: North Yorkshire

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists there were with open national health service contracts in the North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust area at the latest date for which figures are available. [285870]

Ann Keen: The numbers of dentists with national health service activity during the years ending 31 March 2007 and 2008 are available in Table G1 of Annex 3 of the NHS Dental Statistics for England: 2007-08 report. Information is provided by strategic health authority and by primary care trust. This information is based on
13 July 2009 : Column 161W
the new dental contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006. This report, published on 21 August 2008, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the Information Centre for health and social care at:

Following a recent consultation exercise, this measure is based on a revised methodology and therefore supersedes previously published workforce figures relating to the new dental contractual arrangements. It is not comparable to the information collected under the old contractual arrangements. This revised methodology counted the number of dental performers with NHS activity recorded via FP17 claim forms in each year ending 31 March.

These figures relate to headcounts and do not differentiate between full-time and part-time dentists, nor do they account for the fact that some dentists may do more NHS work than others.

Figures for the year ending 31 March 2009 are due to published by the Information Centre for health and social care on 19 August 2009.


13 July 2009 : Column 162W

Dental Services: Waiting Lists

Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time for (a) initial orthodontic assessment and (b) subsequent orthodontic treatment was in (i) Hemel Hempstead, (ii) Dacorum, (iii) Hertfordshire, (iv) the South East and (v) England in each of the last five years. [285132]

Ann Keen: Information is not collected centrally on waiting times for orthodontic treatment provided in primary care.

Information is available for part of the period requested from which average hospital waiting times from referral to first out-patient appointment and from decision to hospital admission (both day case and in-patient) can be provided.

This information available covers the period up to and including quarter 2 2007-08. From quarter 3 2007-08 this data collection no longer broke waits down by speciality. The information available is held by primary care trust (PCT) and strategic health authority (SHA) area and is set out in the following tables.

Median orthodontic speciality out-patient waiting time for first out-patient appointment
Weeks
Month ending
Area March 2005 March 2006 March 2007 September 2007

England

5.1

3.9

4.2

3.9

East of England SHA

5.1

4.6

3.9

3.1

Hertsmere PCT

n/a

n/a

-

-

Watford and Three Rivers PCT

n/a

n/a

-

-

Dacorum PCT

n/a

n/a

-

-

St. Albans and Harpenden PCT

n/a

n/a

-

-

West Hertfordshire PCT

-

-

n/a

n/a

Notes:
1. Figures are shown for organisations that existed at the time. Hertsmere, Watford and Three Rivers, Dacorum and St. Albans PCTs were combined to form West Hertfordshire PCT on 1 October 2006. For the time periods where an organisation was not in existence, "-" has been entered into the table.
2. Figures shown are for those recorded under the orthodontic speciality.
3. Out-patient waiting times are measured from referral by the dentist to first out-patient appointment to the consultant. The data are based on a snapshot in time, and so will include some patients who were yet to see a consultant.
4. In-patient waiting times are measured from the decision by the consultant to admit to admission to hospital.
5. The last time these data were collected was for the period ending September 2007.
6. Time bands for all specialties were only collected from 2004-05 onwards for out-patients so average waiting first out-patient times are only available from this point forward.
7. Where n/a, no orthodontic waiters were declared for the time periods specified or there were very low numbers.
8. Median waiting times are calculated from aggregate data, rather than patient level data, and therefore are estimates of the position on average waits.
9. In particular, specialties with low numbers waiting are prone to fluctuations in the median. This should be taken into account when interpreting the data.
Source:
Department of Health Waiting List Collections QM08R and MMRCOM.

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