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13 Oct 2009 : Column 802W—continued
Cancer: Diagnosis
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many additional (a) staff, (b) diagnostic centres and (c) diagnostics machines he estimates will be required to implement his proposals to provide patients with access to cancer diagnostics within one week of concerns being raised. [292540]
Ann Keen: On 29 September, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced plans to offer all patients in England access to tests which can confirm or exclude cancer within one week.
Remarkable progress has been made in reducing diagnostic waiting times to date. In April 2006 (when figures for diagnostic waiting times were first published) there were 404,200 waits over six weeks for diagnostic tests and the average time waited was six weeks. The number of waits over six weeks at the end of August 2009 was 4,000-a reduction of 98.9 per cent.-and patients can now expect to wait on average under two weeks for a diagnostic test.
Due to the record investment that this Government have already made since 1997, there are more than 42,000 extra scientific and therapeutic staff. By 2008, the number of consultants working in radiology had increased by 54 per cent. to 2,269, and the number of qualified radiographers employed in the national health service by 28 per cent. to 15,600, 13,400 of whom were working in diagnostics therefore the NHS is very well placed to deliver this commitment.
The commitment will be phased in over five years and where extra staff are required, these will be developed with the NHS and reflect service redesign and new models of delivery. The NHS already has a solid platform on which to build.
The appropriate balance between expanding existing diagnostic capacity and developing new models of delivery such as diagnostics centres will be considered in consultation with the National Quality Board and the NHS.
Initial estimates are that the extra activity required by the NHS in England over the five years of the programme equates to 155 pieces of Ultrasound equipment, 75 in Computed Tomography, 60 for Magnetic Resource Imaging, and 85 for Endoscopy , but this does not mean that the NHS will need to purchase this many new machines. Additional equipment requirements will be worked up with the NHS taking in to account new models of delivery and changes in working practices.
The proposal takes forward the commitment in the Government's "Cancer Reform" Strategy published in 2007, a copy of which has already been placed in the Library, to improve access to diagnostics in primary care. We will be consulting widely on the implementation of these proposals, working with the NHS, key stakeholders and the professions to ensure that this commitment to patients is successfully delivered.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much he expects his proposals to provide patients with access to cancer diagnostics within one week of concerns being raised to cost (a) in each financial year for which figures are available and (b) in (i) capital and (ii) revenue costs over the period of the programme; and from which budgets the funding for the proposals will be taken. [292541]
Ann Keen:
Further work is being undertaken to finalise the costs of implementing these plans, to refine the modelling and assumptions that underlie them. This
will take account of the investment made to date in improving cancer and diagnostic services and new models of delivery.
Remarkable progress has been made in reducing diagnostic waiting times to date. In April 2006 (when figures for diagnostic waiting times were first published) there were 404,200 waits over six weeks for diagnostic tests and the average time waited was six weeks. The number of waits over six weeks at the end of August 2009 was 4,000-a reduction of 98 per cent.-and patients can now expect to wait on average under two weeks for a diagnostic test.
Initial estimates are as follows:
Capital costs will be about £650 million between the periods 2011-12 and 2014-15.
Early estimates of revenue costs are in the region of £1,250 million between the periods 2011-12 and 2014-15.
Final costing requirements and profiling will be worked up over the coming months in consultation with the national health service taking into account new models of delivery and changes in working practices.
The proposal takes forward the commitment in the Government's Cancer Reform Strategy published in 2007 to improve access to diagnostics in primary care. We will be consulting widely on the implementation of these proposals, working with the NHS, key stakeholders and the professions to ensure that this commitment to patients is successfully delivered.
The major programme of renovating and rebuilding NHS hospitals is nearing completion. As this winds down it will release the resources to switch into new diagnostic equipment.
CJD: Screening
Mr. Charles Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when his Department expects to commence the second stage of trials for the anticipated blood test for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; and if he will make a statement. [292342]
Ann Keen: Evaluation of prototype variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease blood test is ongoing, and results of the latest round of tests are expected to be considered by the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease Resource Centre Oversight Committee by the end of the year.
Departmental Advertising
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which initiatives of (a) his Department and (b) its agencies have been advertised in each of the last five years; how much was spent in each case; and which initiatives were advertised via the Central Office of Information. [292687]
Phil Hope: The following table shows the Department's advertising expenditure over the last five completed financial years. A further breakdown of these figures is available in the Library.
All departmental advertising listed as follows was carried out via the Central Office of Information (COI), with the exception of those initiatives highlighted with an asterisk. To identify other ad hoc expenditure not carried out via the COI would incur disproportionate cost.
| Department of Health advertising spend( 1) 2004-05 to 2008-09 | |||||
| £ million | |||||
| Campaign | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09( 2) |
| (1) Advertising spend is defined as covering only media spend (inclusive of agency commissions but excluding production costs, COI commission and VAT). All figures exclude advertising rebates and audit adjustments and therefore may differ from COI official turnover figures. All figures are rounded to the nearest £10,000. These figures do not include departmental recruitment/classified advertising costs and ad hoc spend under £10,000. These figures may include occasional minor spend through COI by NHS organisations, to supplement national campaigns in their area. While this expenditure has been excluded as far as possible so that this chart reflects central departmental spend, it would incur disproportionate cost to validate that every item of NHS expenditure has been removed. (2) Provisional figures. (3) From 2006-07 Department of Health contribution to campaign run jointly with Home Office. (4) Department of Health contribution to campaign run jointly with Home Office. | |||||
Departmental Electronic Equipment
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) mobile telephones, (b) Blackberrys and (c) laptop computers, were issued to staff of his Department in each of the last five years; and how many of these were issued to (i) new staff and (ii) existing staff following the (A) loss or (B) theft of a previous device. [290438]
Phil Hope:
The Department does not hold detailed historic information about its issue of mobile devices to staff, but with the advent of the new Human Resources System, Business Management System, and Asset Management tools, we can say that, as at the end of
August 2009, the number of mobile assets allocated to staff or business unite was as follows:
Laptops: 2,431
Blackberry: 1,334
Mobile telephones: 1,008.
In addition the Department does not differentiate between devices issued to new staff or existing staff and therefore does not hold this information. However, the following table gives the number of devices lost or stolen in the last five years.
| Losses and thefts for period April 2005 to March 2009 | |||
| Mobile telephones | Blackberrys | Laptops | |
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