97 per cent. of patients whose treatment involved admission to hospital started their treatment within 18 weeks.

98 per cent. of patients whose treatment did not involve admission to hospital started their treatment within 18 weeks.

In September 2009, at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, 98.8 per cent. of patients spent less than four hours in accident and emergency from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge.

Between September 2002 and September 2008, the number of consultants at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has increased from 120 to 141. Between September 2002 and September 2008 the estimated number of nurses has increased from 1,646 to 1,826.

Between September 2001 and September 2008, the number of general practitioners (GPs) per 100,000 within North East Lincolnshire PCT has increased from 55.9 to 62.6.

97.9 per cent. of urgent GP referrals to Northern Lincolnshire and Goole hospitals NHS Foundation Trust with suspected cancer are seen by a specialist within two weeks of the referral.

North East Lincolnshire CTP opened its GP-led health centre in July 2009 in Grimsby. Quayside Open Access Centre offers longer opening hours, meaning that any member of the public will be able to see a GP or nurse between 8 am and 8 pm, seven days a week, 365 days a year. It also has a partnership agreement with Open Door practice which provides a specialist service for patients unable to access traditional health and social care services.

A publicly funded £12 million new women and children’s unit opened at the Diana Princess of Wales hospital in February 2004.

Although statistical information is not available at a local level, Cleethorpes will have also benefited from national policies in other areas. For example:

Since 1997, gross current expenditure on personal social services has increased by around 70 per cent. in real terms, with around 105,000 households now receiving intensive home care and 3,076 new extra care housing units—exceeding the original target of 1,500 new extra care units.

Other strategies currently being implemented are:

Subject to parliamentary approval, the Personal Care at Home Bill will guarantee free personal care for 280,000 people with the highest needs and help around 130,000 people who need home care for the first time to regain their independence.

“Shaping the Future of Care Together” Green Paper, published in July 2009, sets out a vision of a National Care Service for all adults in England that is fair, simple and affordable. The Department has consulted widely on this reform and is currently analysing the responses, which will feed into a White Paper later this year.

“The National Carer’s Strategy”—Carers at the heart of 21^(st) century families and communities—launched in 2008.

The first National Dementia Strategy was published in February 2009.

“Valuing People Now”—a three year strategy for people with learning disabilities—was published in January 2009.

“New Horizons: A Shared Vision for Mental Health” was launched in December 2009 to maintain improvements in mental health services, combined with a new cross-Government approach to promoting public mental health.

Since 1998, there are now 2.4 million fewer smokers in England as a result of the Government’s comprehensive tobacco control strategy, which has a measurable impact on reducing smoking prevalence.

Child obesity levels are reducing due to the efforts of families across England, supported by the Government’s obesity strategy. In 2008, 13.9 per cent. of children (aged two to 10) in England were classified as obese, compared with 17.3 per cent. in 2005.

Overall, life expectancy at birth for men has increased from 74.5 years (1995-97 data) to 77.7 years (2006-08 data) while for women, life expectancy at birth has increased from 79.6 years (1995-97 data) to 81.9 years (2006-08 data).

Health

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his most recent estimate is of the average body mass index of people in (a) England, (b) the East of England, (c) Suffolk, (d) Bedfordshire, (e) Cambridgeshire, (f) Essex, (g) Hertfordshire and (h) Norfolk. [314887]

Gillian Merron: “The Health Survey for England 2008 Volume 1 Physical Activity and Fitness” contains information on the mean body mass index (BMI) for children aged 2-15 and adults aged 16 and over in England. Table 7.3 and 13.3 shows the mean BMI for people in the East of England. This publication has been placed in the Library.

However, data are not available at county level for each area.

Hospitals: Admissions

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in England and Wales aged under (a) 11 and (b) 16 years old and under have been admitted to hospital with (i) symptoms of alcohol poisoning, (ii) symptoms of substance abuse, (iii) stab wounds and (iv) gunshot wounds in each year since 1998. [314775]

Gillian Merron: The following figures show a count of finished admission episodes where the external cause code or primary diagnosis was stab wounds, gunshot wounds, alcohol poisoning or drug and alcohol misuse (substance abuse).

It should be noted that a count of finished admission episodes does not represent the number of patients, as a person might have more than one admission episode during a given period, e.g. someone may be admitted for a stab wound and alcohol misuse etc.

The data provided relate only to activities in English national health service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector.

The NHS Information Centre does not hold data relating to Wales.

Statistics from the NHS Information Centre show that each year since 1998 the following admissions have taken place: