NIHR Centre for Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his most recent assessment is of the performance of the National Institute for Health Research Centre for Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology; and if he will make a statement. [49627]
Mr Simon Burns: The new National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Centre for Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology, based at Queen Elizabeth hospital Birmingham, a £20 million joint initiative between the NIHR, the Ministry of Defence, university hospitals Birmingham and the university of Birmingham, launched on 20 January 2011.
This initiative will bring both military and civilian trauma surgeons and scientists together to share innovation in medical research and advanced clinical practice in the battlefield to benefit all trauma patients in the national health service at an early stage of injury.
Research will focus initially on today's most urgent challenges in trauma including:
identifying effective resuscitation techniques;
surgical care after multiple injuries or amputation; and
fighting wound infections.
Primary Care Trusts: Redundancy
Martin Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the number of staff who will be made redundant as a result of the abolition of primary care trusts. [49317]
(2) what estimate he has made of the proportion of staff employed by primary care trusts who will be transferred to positions within GP consortia. [49318]
(3) what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of redundancy payments arising from the closure of primary care trusts. [49319]
Mr Simon Burns: The Government estimates that there will be around 17,000 redundancies as a result of the abolition of primary care trusts (PCTs), at an estimated cost of £768 million. It is estimated that 60% of PCT staff will transfer over to general practitioner consortia or the NHS Commissioning Board. Fuller details are given in the “co-ordinating document” for the impact assessment for the Health and Social Care Bill, which is available at:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsLegislation/DH_123583
A copy has already been placed in the Library.
Skin Cancer: Young People
Mrs Siân C. James: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what recent steps his Department has undertaken to address trends in the incidence of melanoma in young adults; [48972]
(2) what his policy is on steps to reduce the incidence of life-threatening malignant melanomas. [48975]
Anne Milton: SunSmart is the national skin cancer prevention campaign and is run by Cancer Research UK on behalf of the United Kingdom Health Departments. SunSmart highlights the importance of sun protection and early detection of skin cancers including melanoma. The SunSmart website
http://www.sunsmart.org.uk/
provides information about the most recent campaign including details of the risks associated with cosmetic use of sunbeds. This includes communications designed to attract the notice of young people and the priority audience for 2011 will be 16-24 year olds.
The Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010 is due to come into force on 8 April 2011. The Act makes it an offence for sunbed businesses to permit under 18s to use sunbeds on their premises. Guidance is being produced for local authorities to support the enforcement of the Act.
Smoking
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on the incidence of smoking among (a) adults, (b) children and (c) young people among (i) men and (ii) women in each socio-economic group in each of the last 10 years. [48471]
Anne Milton: Information is not available in the format requested. We hold information for adults (aged 16 and over) and young people (aged 11 to 15) but we do not hold information for children under 11.
Information on the prevalence of cigarette smoking in England for adults aged 16 and over from 1978 to 2009 can be found in table 1.10 of “General Lifestyle Survey 2009”. Information is presented by country and sex.
Information on the prevalence of cigarette smoking for adults in England aged 16 and over by sex and socio-economic classification (of the household reference person) from 2001 to 2009 can be found in table 1.7 of “General Lifestyle Survey: Smoking and drinking among adults 2009”. These tables are available at:
www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/GLF09/GLFSmoking-DrinkingAmongAdults2009.pdf
28 Mar 2011 : Column 193W
Table 3.1a of “Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England in 2009” shows smoking behaviour among young people aged 11 to 15 by sex for the period 1982 to 2000. Table 3.1b shows the same information for the period 2001 to 2009. These are available at:
www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/sdd09fullreport
Both of these publications have already been placed in the Library.
Smoking: Working Hours
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of working days lost due to the effects of (a) smoking and (b) alcohol consumption in each of the last five years. [48620]
Anne Milton: The data requested on smoking or alcohol are not centrally collected.
Smoking is a known cause of absenteeism. The Policy Exchange Report “Cough Up” estimated the cost of absenteeism due to smoking to be between £1.1 billion and £2.5 billion. This report has been placed in the Library.
The interim analytical report for the Alcohol Harm reduction project led by the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, published in 2003, estimated that 11 to 17 million working days were lost per year due to alcohol-related sickness and 15 to 20 million days were lost due to reduced employment.
Stroke
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has undertaken on best practice in managing the long-term consequences of stroke; and what consideration the NHS has given to potential changes to its services which could be made in consequence. [48842]
Mr Simon Burns: The Department supports a number of projects through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) that are looking at best practice in managing the long-term consequences of stroke.
For instance, the NIHR is supporting a programme of work that aims to understand users' perspectives of longer term need, and policy makers and providers' perspectives of service configurations to address these needs. This will help refine care solutions to implement the Stroke Strategy.
The NIHR also supports a series of Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRCs). The work of the South Yorkshire CLAHRC in stroke, aims to improve long-term provision and effectiveness of rehabilitation in the community, support self management, and encourage independence, recreation and employment for people living with stroke and their carers. The Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire CLAHRC is investigating the commissioning, management and delivery of services that enable stroke survivors to return to work.
To support the national health service to commission and provide evidence based, high quality services, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is currently developing a clinical guideline on rehabilitation after stroke. It expects to publish its final
28 Mar 2011 : Column 194W
guideline in April 2012. NICE is taking the latest available evidence and developments in clinical practice into account when developing this guidance.
In addition, the Stroke Improvement Programme was established to provide national support for local improvement of stroke services across the entire pathway—from early identification of stroke through to managing stroke as a long-term condition. In doing so, it has developed good practice evidence through its own national projects, the learning from which can be rolled out locally.
The Stroke Improvement Programme's (SIP) Accelerating Stroke Improvement programme has nine indicators to measure progress against; four of these cover the long-term part of the care pathway. Information about the activity of SIP is available at:
www.improvement.nhs.uk/stroke/
Surgery
Ian Swales: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many urgent operations on the NHS were cancelled in each year since 1997. [49204]
Mr Simon Burns: The information requested is provided in the following table. The number of operations cancelled prior to 2002 is not held centrally.
| Financial year | Number of urgent operations cancelled |
| (1 )Data for 2010-11 up to February 2011 only. | |
Surgery: Walsall
Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many surgical procedures have been cancelled in (a) Walsall Manor Hospital and (d) hospitals in Walsall Teaching Primary Care Trust area since May 2010. [49128]
Mr Simon Burns: This information is not available in the format requested.
From 1 April 2010 to 31 December 2010 there were a total of 149 last minute elective operations cancelled for non clinical reasons in Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust. The quarterly breakdown is shown in the following table.
| Number of last minute cancelled operations for non-clinical reasons at Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust | |||
|
|
Quarter | Period | Number of cancelled operations |
28 Mar 2011 : Column 195W
| Note: This information is only collected at provider trust level. However, Walsall Manor Hospital is the only acute hospital in the Walsall Teaching Primary Care Trust area. Source: Department of Health dataset quarterly monitoring cancelled operations | |||
Teenage Pregnancy
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of women in each region aged between 15 and 19 gave birth in each of the last five years. [48301]
Mr Hurd: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated March 2011:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what proportion of women in each region aged between 15 and 19 gave birth in each of the last five years. [48301]
The latest year for which figures are available is 2009. The table below shows the percentage of women aged between 15 and 19 that gave birth for the years 2005 to 2009. Percentages are based on the number of women aged under 20 giving birth (from birth registration) and the female population aged 15-19 (from mid-year population estimates). Figures are presented for England, Wales and each Government Office Region in England.
| Percentage of women aged 15 to 19 giving birth by area of usual residence (1) , 2005 -0 9 | |||||
| Percentage of women aged 15 to 19 giving birth | |||||
| Area of usual residence | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
| (1) Women who give birth in England and Wales whose usual residence is outside England and Wales are included in the figures for ‘England, Wales and elsewhere’ but are excluded from any subdivisions of England and Wales. In 2009, only 15 women aged 15 to 19 whose usual residence was outside England and Wales gave birth in England and Wales. | |||||
28 Mar 2011 : Column 196W
Trauma: Armed Forces
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will discuss with the Secretary of State for Defence the adoption in NHS hospitals of life-saving techniques developed in military conflict in Afghanistan for the treatment of trauma injuries; and if he will make a statement. [49626]
Mr Simon Burns: There are a number of processes in place to ensure that best practice is shared between the Ministry of Defence (MOD), Defence Medical Services (DMS) and the national health service. We accept that the NHS can learn from the skills and techniques developed in military conflict, to the benefit of civilian patients.
When not on deployment, DMS medical personnel maintain their clinical skills in the NHS ensuring cross pollination between skills developed whilst on deployment and NHS best practice. Similarly, NHS Reservists bring the crisis management skills they learn on operation back into the NHS.
We also collaborate on and share the results of defence medical research. The NHS works with MOD and other stakeholders to develop the Government’s response to major incidents, and share best practice through informal bilateral links and through the MOD and Department of Health Partnership Board and its working groups.
Voluntary Work
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on encouraging its staff to volunteer in each of the last five years; and how much it plans to spend in each of the next five years. [48621]
Mr Simon Burns: The Department of Health has spent £27,625 in 2010-11, so far, on encouraging its staff to volunteer. This cost covered membership fees for “Time & Talent Westminster” and “Leeds Ahead” to support teams and individuals to find volunteering opportunities in London and Leeds where our main offices are located. Prior to 2010 there was no specific budget for this purpose.
For 2011-12, the total cost will be £25,000. A breakdown of cost is provided as follows:
| £ | ||
| Period | Leeds Ahead | Volunteer Centre Westminster — Time & Talents Westminster |
Future spend after 2012 is under review, and has yet to be decided upon.
Young People: Alcoholism
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of people aged (a) 16 to 19 and (b) 12 to 15 in each region were alcohol dependent in the latest period for which figures are available. [48521]
28 Mar 2011 : Column 197W
Anne Milton: Information on dependency is available from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS), results for which were published in the report “Adult Psychiatric Morbidity in England, 2007” in 2009. This is available at:
www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/psychiatricmorbidity07
The survey includes information on the prevalence of alcohol use and dependence by age, sex, region and other factors for 2000 and 2007. The survey covered people aged 16 or over living in private households in England. Information on alcohol dependency among those aged 12 to 15 is not available. Due to the small sample sizes, figures for alcohol dependent 16 to 19-year-olds are not available at regional level.
The Department estimates alcohol dependence by reference to a score of 16 or more on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT)(1). In the APMS, it was estimated that 4.7% of 16 to 19-year-olds in
28 Mar 2011 : Column 198W
England were alcohol dependent in 2007 on the basis of this definition, equating to about 130,000 people.
In the APMS, alcohol dependence was also assessed using the Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SADQ-C), with a score of four or more indicating mild, moderate or severe dependence. This includes cases of mild dependence not requiring any interventions. It was estimated that 9.5% of 16 to 19-year-olds in England scored four or more on this measure in 2007, equating to about 260,000 people.
(1)AUDIT was developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a method of screening for excessive drinking and to help identify alcohol dependence. It consists of 10 questions about recent alcohol use, alcohol dependence symptoms, and alcohol-related problems. This definition is consistent with that used in the Alcohol Needs Assessment Research Project (ANARP) published in 2005. ANARP used a cut-off score on the AUDIT of 16 to identify “moderately or severely dependent” drinkers, and with a view to estimating the need for treatment.