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30 Nov 2009 : Column 534W—continued
Generic Prescribing
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps have been put in place to ensure effective treatment based on individual medical history is provided under proposals for automatic generic substitution of medicines; and if he will make a statement. [301407]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Clinicians should normally take an individual's medical history into account when making decisions on their treatment for reasons of best practice and patient safety. The planned implementation of generic substitution will not change this.
Genetically Modified Organisms: Food
Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which animal studies of the effects of links between genetically modified foods and changes in the kidney, pancreas and spleen his Department has considered in the last two years. [301227]
Gillian Merron: The Food Standards Agency has sought advice from the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP) regarding what conclusions may be drawn from the following publications:
Malatesta et al., (2008), Histochem Cell Biol, 130, pp967-977
Kilic and Akay, (2008), Food and Chemical Toxicology, 46, pp1164-1170
The ACNFP considered this publication at its meeting in February 2009. It advised that it was not possible to draw any conclusions about cause and effect or to assess the significance of this report for human health. The minutes of this meeting are available on the ACNFP website at:
Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which studies of intestinal damage in animals that have been fed genetically modified foods his Department has considered in the last two years; and whether he has made an assessment of the implications for (a) proliferative cell growth and (b) intestinal immune systems in humans of the findings of those studies. [301229]
Gillian Merron: The Food Standards Agency has sought advice from the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP) regarding what conclusions may be drawn from the following publication:
Finamore et al., (2008), J Agric Food Chem. DOI: 10.1021/jf802059w
The ACNFP considered this publication at its meeting in February 2009. It advised that it was not possible to draw any conclusions about cause and effect or to assess the significance of this report for human health. The minutes of this meeting are available on the ACNFP website at:
Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which published scientific papers his Department has taken into account in the formulation of its policy on human consumption of genetically modified foods. [301230]
Gillian Merron: An extensive review of the science relating to genetically modified crops and food was undertaken in 2003 by the GM Science Review Panel. The panel's reports were published in June 2003 and January 2004 and these include extensive bibliographies listing the published papers and reports that were taken into account. These reports can be found at the GM Science Review website at:
Health Services: Expenditure
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much public expenditure on healthcare was as a proportion of gross domestic product in each year since 1997. [301752]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The requested information is provided in the following table.
Health Services: Overseas Visitors
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how often the implementation group to monitor referrals from overseas has met to date; [301355]
(2) if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's guidance for transplant centres on the eligibility criteria of people from abroad; [301357]
(3) what steps he has taken at EU level to build capacity in transplant programmes in EU member states; and what discussions he or his officials have had with counterparts in (a) France, (b) Germany, (c) Netherlands, (d) Italy, (e) Portugal, (f) Malta, (g) Greece, (h) the Czech Republic, (i) Hungary, (j) Bulgaria, (k) Cyprus, (l) Slovenia, (m) Denmark, (n) Norway, (o) Bosnia-Herzegovina, (p) Serbia, (q) Croatia and (r) Gibraltar on the matter; [301358]
(4) what progress has been made towards getting agreement from devolved health administrations to ban all private clinical practice in the UK involving solid organs donated after death within the NHS. [301366]
Ann Keen: In response to the independent report on the "Allocation of Organs to Non UK Residents" published by the former Chair of the Organ Donation taskforce, Elizabeth Buggins, on 31 July 2009, the Department wrote to health Ministers in health administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to ask them to accept the recommendations. We continue to work with officials from these health Departments and to address all legal and practical issues to obtain their agreement to implement the recommendations
In particular, an implementation group comprising commissioners of transplant services and representatives from NHS Blood and Transplant and the transplant communities, has been established to consider each of the eight recommendations within the Report. The Group has met on three occasions, most recently on 23 November 2009 and considered how each recommendation should be implemented. Guidance on the eligibility of patients who are resident abroad is in preparation. A copy will be placed in the Library of the House on completion.
Departmental officials continue to work with representatives from all European Union member states as part of the implementation of a six year programme of work (2009-15) with 10 priority actions addressing
the three key challenges in organ donation and transplantation around the quality and safety of organs across Europe; increasing organ availability; and making transplant systems more efficient and accessible. This will inform whether we need to widen discussions to encompass non EU states.
HIV Infection
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the number of people living with HIV who have not yet been diagnosed; [303073]
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of people who have (a) been tested for HIV, (b) been diagnosed with HIV and (c) developed AIDS in each of the last five years; [303075]
(3) what estimate he has made of the number of people diagnosed with HIV who previously resided in countries in (a) the EU, (b) the Americas, (c) Africa, (d) Asia and (e) Australasia; [303076]
(4) what estimate he has made of the number of people diagnosed with HIV who contracted the infection overseas in the last 12 months. [303077]
Ann Keen: In 2008, there were an estimated 83,000 people living with HIV (both diagnosed and undiagnosed) in the United Kingdom, of which 27 per cent. (22,400) were estimated to be unaware of their infection.
Information available on the number of people who have been tested for HIV in each of the last five years is provided in the following table.
| Genito-urinary medicine (GUM) setting | Antenatal setting | |
The number of individuals diagnosed with HIV and the numbers of individuals who have had a first AIDS diagnosis in the last five years is provided in the following table.(1)
(1) Diagnoses are from reports received to end June 2009.
| HIV diagnosis | First AIDS diagnosis | |
Data on HIV infections by previous country of residence are not collected. Data for 2008 are available by region of birth(1) and are shown in the following table.
(1)European classification is based on Unite Nations/World Health Organization regions.
| Region of birth | 2008 (Percentage) |
The number of people in the UK newly diagnosed with HIV in 2008 was 7,298 of which an estimated 51 per cent. (3,750) acquired their infection overseas.
Note: Data are from reports received to end June 2009. Further reports may be received.
Source: Health Protection Agency.
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to encourage HIV testing among (a) high risk and (b) other groups. [303074]
Gillian Merron: Reducing undiagnosed HIV is a key priority for the Department. We fund the Terrence Higgins Trust and the African HIV Policy Network for national HIV health promotion programmes for gay men and people from African communities living in England, the two groups at highest risk of HIV in England. These programmes include interventions which encourage HIV testing.
More generally, we introduced the offer and recommendation of an HIV test to all pregnant women as part of their routine ante-natal care in 1999. This has resulted in 95 per cent. uptake of HIV testing in this group in 2008. HIV testing is also routine in sexual health clinics.
We are also funding eight pilot projects to test the feasibility and acceptability of offering routine HIV testing in hospital departments, general practitioner practices and community social settings. Results from these pilots will be analysed to determine whether further work is needed.
We have also funded detailed guidance produced by the Medical Foundation for AIDS and Sexual Health, "Tackling HIV Testing: Increasing detection and diagnosis", published in October 2009. The chief medical officer has also written to medical colleges and faculties seeking their views on how best to increase awareness of offering HIV testing in all relevant healthcare settings.
Hospitals: Infectious Diseases
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of primary care trusts met his Department's target of screening all elective patients for MRSA by March 2009. [301831]
Ann Keen:
By the end of March 2009, all national health service trusts had confirmed with their primary care trusts that they are screening relevant elective admissions for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in line with the Department's guidance. Screening relevant emergency admissions is being introduced as soon as possible and will be in place by the end of March 2011 at the latest. Screening admissions for
MRSA reduces the likelihood of a patient developing a clinical infection or passing it on to others in hospital who may be vulnerable.
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to publish figures on the incidence of healthcare-associated infections in each hospital. [301882]
Ann Keen: The Department is currently reviewing surveillance policy for healthcare associated infections.
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