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5 Nov 2009 : Column 1164W—continued
Cancer: Drugs
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made by the NHS in implementing collaborative commissioning processes, as recommended by his Department's National Cancer Director in his November 2008 report on improving access to medicines for NHS patients; what steps he is taking to share the example of the North East cancer drugs group with other geographical areas in the NHS; and if he will make a statement. [297199]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Strategic health authorities are working with their primary care trusts to support collaborative commissioning in their areas. Guidance on collaborative approaches to decision-making is also included in "Supporting rational local decision-making about medicines (and treatments): A handbook of good practice guidance" available at:
and this references the example of the North East cancer drugs group.
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure patients are given access to balanced written information on the (a) benefits, (b) toxicities and (c) costs of novel (i) on-label and (ii) off-label treatments; as recommended by his Department's National Cancer Director in his report on Improving access to medicines for NHS patients. [297318]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department's guidance on NHS patients who wish to pay for additional private care, published in March 2009, emphasised the importance of providing high quality written information to patients who wish to pay for additional private care. A copy has already been placed in the Library. The guidance makes clear that patients should be given full information about the potential benefits, risks, burdens and side effects of any treatment before being asked to consent to treatment.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding his Department allocated for biomedical research on the causes and treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis in 2008-09. [297853]
Gillian Merron: The Medical Research Council (MRC) is one of the main agencies through which the Government support medical and clinical research. The MRC is an independent body which receives its grant in aid from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
The MRC's total expenditure on chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) research amounted to £730,000 in 2008-09.
Over the 10 years to 2008-09, a large part of the Department's total expenditure on health research was devolved to and managed by national health service organisations. Details of individual NHS supported research projects undertaken during that time, including a number concerned with CFS/ME, are available on the archived national research register at:
https://portal.nihr.ac.uk/Pages/NRRArchiveSearch.aspx.
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether his Department plans to make myalgic encephalomyelitis a notifiable illness in schools; [297854]
(2) what recent discussions his Department has had with officials from myalgic encephalomyelitis charities and campaign groups on proposals to make myalgic encephalomyelitis a notifiable illness in schools. [297855]
Ann Keen: We have no plans to make chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) a notifiable illness in schools.
Since 2007, the Department has received a large number of requests from many organisations, including CFS/ME stakeholders, campaigning for their disease or condition to be recognised as a notifiable disease. The Department's position remains that this classification should be used only for a relatively small number of infectious diseases where monitoring is required to identify sources of infection, and not as a means for collecting statistical information on the prevalence of specific conditions.
Commissioning Support Appraisals Service
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will publish in full the statement his Department's spokesperson issued to the Daily Mail on 19 October 2009 in response to that newspaper's publication of a report on the Commissioning Support Appraisals Service; what assessment his Department has made of the effect on levels of patient care of the operation of the Commissioning Support Appraisals Service; and if he will make a statement; [297685]
(2) what the cost to the public purse of the Commissioning Support Appraisals Service has been since its inception; [297686]
(3) on what date (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department were first informed of the operations within the NHS of the Commissioning Support Appraisals Service; and if he will make a statement; [297687]
(4) what representations he has received on the operation of the Commissioning Support Appraisals Service; and if he will make a statement; [297688]
(5) what involvement his Department had in the establishment of the Commissioning Support Appraisals Service in the NHS; [297712]
(6) what meetings (a) Ministers and officials of his Department and (b) officials of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence have had with the Commissioning Support Appraisals Service. [297714]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department had no involvement in the establishment of the Commissioning Support Appraisals Service. Ministers and officials became aware of its operation in October 2009.
No information is held centrally on the cost of the Commissioning Support Appraisals Service. We understand that it receives its funding from participating national health service organisations. No assessment of its operation has been made by the Department.
No representations have been received and there have been no meetings between Ministers or officials and representatives of the Commissioning Support Appraisals Service. Meetings with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence are a matter for the institute.
A copy of the Department's statement to the Daily Mail has been placed in the Library.
Community Nurses: Manpower
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many community nurses were working as (a) district nurses, (b) health visitors and (c) general practice nurses on the latest date for which figures are available. [297518]
Ann Keen: The numbers of community nurses working as district nurses, health visitors and general practice nurses at 30 September 2008, the latest date for which figures are available, are shown in the following table:
| Community nurses as at 30 September 2008 | Headcount |
| Source: The NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care Non-Medical Workforce Census. | |
Cosmetics: Health Hazards
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent steps his Department has taken to prevent harm to human health arising from the use of skin-whitening products, with particular reference to products containing the ingredients (a) mercury, (b) kojic acid, (c) steroids and (d) hydroquinone. [297874]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) deals with skin-whitening products that contain cortico-steroids as this makes such a product a medicine by definition and therefore subject to the controls of the Medicines Act 1968 and associated legislation.
Hydroquinone and mercuric iodide in skin-whitening products are controlled under Cosmetics (Safety) Regulations 2008, as amended, which is the jurisdiction of Trading Standards. Kojic acid is not controlled by medicines legislation or cosmetics legislation and therefore does not fall under the jurisdiction of the MHRA or Trading Standards.
Since 2008, the MHRA has conducted 16 visits often with Trading Standards to retail outlets in the United Kingdom, which have resulted in the removal and seizure of hundreds of illegal skin-whitening creams to a value in excess of £65,000.
In addition, since 2006, the MHRA has conducted six successful prosecutions, five of which have been jointly with Trading Standards. This has resulted in suspended prison sentences and fines to the value of £247,400 for breaches of the Medicines Act, the Cosmetics Product (Safety) Regulations and Consumer Protection Act. There are two further joint prosecutions currently under way.
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has commissioned on the effects on human health of skin-whitening products. [297875]
Gillian Merron: None. The Department has not commissioned research into the effects of skin-whitening products on human health.
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital admissions resulted from the use of skin-whitening products in the latest period for which figures are available. [297876]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Information on hospital admissions following the use of skin-whitening products is not collected centrally.
Dental Services: St Albans
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent on NHS general dental services in St. Albans in (a) cash and (b) real terms in each of the last five years. [297529]
Ann Keen: Information is not available in the format requested.
However, expenditure on primary dental care services in West Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) 2006-07 to 2008-09 is as follows:
| £000 | ||||
| Financial year | Expenditure type | Gross expenditure | Dental charges paid by patients | Net expenditure |
| Notes: 1. As the data reflect the contract framework for primary dental care services introduced from 1 April 2006, they include all relevant service costs, and are based on the PCT areas introduced from 1 October 2006, they are not directly comparable with the available pre-2006 data. 2. Actual expenditure figures have been converted into 2008-09 prices using the gross domestic product deflator index as at 29 September 2009. Source: Calculated from details of gross primary dental care expenditure, and income from dental charges, recorded in the notes to the PCT's accounts. | ||||
Drugs
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent progress has been made by his Department on its investigation of the (a) extent and (b) causes of variations in international drug usage; whether any interim findings of that investigation are available; when he expects that investigation to conclude; if he will publish the findings of that investigation; and if he will make a statement. [297309]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: My right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull, West and Hessle (Alan Johnson), the then Secretary of State for Health, asked Professor Mike Richards to take this work forward. Good progress is being made and Professor Richards expects to report to Ministers in early 2010.
Drugs: Side Effects
Jeremy Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information is available to GPs and pharmacists on the chemical composition of (a) generic and (b) branded drugs to enable risks of adverse reactions to be taken into account when prescribing. [297132]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: For both generic and branded medicines the composition, with respect to the primary active ingredient and any other ingredients which may have a pharmacological effect is declared on product labelling together with any appropriate warnings. The patient leaflet included in the packaging will also declare all ingredients in the composition and repeat any warnings necessary.
A full qualitative composition including all ingredients in the medicine is given in the patient leaflet and in the prescribers data sheet, otherwise know as a Summary of Product Characteristics, together with a description of any adverse reactions which have been observed with the medicine and others which may possibly occur. These reference documents for branded medicines are available in published compendia in book form and online.
Because generic medicines are licensed as therapeutically equivalent to the original branded versions then the risks of adverse reactions caused by the active ingredient should be the same.
General Practitioners: St Albans
Anne Main:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners were providing NHS
services in St. Albans constituency on the most recent date for which figures are available. [297526]
Ann Keen: Information is not held in the format requested.
The St. Albans constituency is contained within and serviced by West Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT). At 30 September 2008 there were 360 general practitioners within this PCT.
Health Services: Reciprocal Arrangements
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reason the NHS is to withdraw from its reciprocal agreements with the health service of (a) Jersey, (b) Guernsey and (c) the Isle of Man; what assessment he has made of the consequences for the NHS of each termination; and if he will make a statement. [296390]
Gillian Merron: The Department considers it important that all of the United Kingdom's bilateral health agreements with other countries are evidence based, continue to be relevant and represent value for money for the British taxpayer.
The Department ended the bilateral agreement with the Channel Islands (including Jersey and Guernsey) and gave notice on the agreement with the Isle of Man, as it considers that they are out of place considering the wide availability of travel insurance, and there is little robust data to justify the business case and value for money for the national health service. The agreement with the Channel Islands ended on 31 March 2009 and the agreement with the Isle of Man will terminate on 31 March 2010. Following the end of these agreements, the UK will no longer provide allocations to fund referrals to the UK. Visitors from these islands will be subject to the same NHS charging regulations as all other overseas visitors, so they are advised to have travel insurance when visiting the UK to avoid incurring health care costs. Following termination of these agreements, UK travellers to the islands are also advised to have travel insurance.
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