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Dental Services
6. Mr. Peter Viggers (Gosport): If he will make a statement on how national health service dentists are paid for root canal work. [50981]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. Alan Milburn): Root canal treatments are included as items of treatment in the statement of dental remuneration for which dentists can claim an NHS fee.
Mr. Viggers: Well, I am grateful for that reply, as far as it went. Does the Minister agree that the fees payable to dentists for root canal work, at £24 for an incisor operation and £58 for a molar operation, which takes about two hours, are completely inadequate? Does he agree that dentists can undertake those operations only at a loss to themselves, if they are reputable and competent, and that recent studies show that in many cases dentists are undertaking such operations speedily and unprofessionally, which is resulting in low standards with further operations sometimes being necessary thereafter? What is he going to do about it? Before he replies, may I point out that dentists and patients in my constituency do not want to know what happened last year and the year before, but what will happen next year and the year after?
Mr. Milburn: I am sure that they do not want to know what happened last year and the year before. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that an independent review body deals with fees for procedures performed by dentists. We submit evidence to that body, as other Governments have; dentists submit evidence too, and the body recommends the fees that it considers appropriate. Over the past few years, the doctors and dentists remuneration review body has made recommendations for increases in fees well above the rate of inflation.
Mr. Eddie O'Hara (Knowsley, South): It may come as a surprise--although it should not--to some Opposition Members to learn that the more important question in some parts of the country is whether one can receive root canal treatment on the NHS. What steps is my hon. Friend taking to ensure better availability of NHS dental treatment in the poorest areas to provide such important procedures as root canal work?
Mr. Milburn: The Government have taken a significant step forward on that. My hon. Friend will be aware that we inherited great difficulties with access to NHS dental services in some parts of the country. We have introduced a new investing in dentistry scheme, which is already bringing home the bacon because it is recruiting dentists back to the national health service. As a consequence, 250,000 extra patients now have access to NHS dental services which they would not have had under the previous Government.
Out-patient Consultations
7. Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham): What estimate he has made of the number of people awaiting out-patient consultations on (a) 1 May 1997 and (b) 1 May 1998. [50982]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Mr. Paul Boateng): Information on the number of people nationally awaiting out-patient consultations is not available centrally. However, information on first out-patient appointments shows that at March 1998, 81 per cent. of patients were seen within 13 weeks of general practitioner written referral and 96 per cent. were seen within 26 weeks. That compares with figures for March 1997 of 83 per cent. and 97 per cent. respectively.
Mr. Bercow: At Stoke Mandeville hospital, which serves thousands of my constituents, there has been an 88 per cent. increase in the number of people waiting for out-patient appointments for between 13 and 26 weeks since the Government came to office. What proportion of the alleged fall in waiting lists--which is, as yet, unpublished--is due to an increase in the waiting list to get on the waiting list?
Mr. Boateng: We have made it crystal clear that our targets on waiting lists should not be achieved at the expense of out-patient appointments, and we shall implement that policy. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will give credit to, indeed thanks for, the additional resources that have been made available in his constituency which have provided 51 extra beds, which would not have been available if the hon. Gentleman's party were in government, and 4,280 extra treatments. It is time we received some gratitude from Opposition Members for those resources.
Mr. Andrew Dismore (Hendon): Is my hon. Friend aware that part of the £2 million awarded to Barnet health authority to tackle waiting lists will be used to increase out-patient sessions at Edgware hospital, which the previous Government closed? Does not that show that this Government are trying to restore health services to the area, unlike the Conservatives when they were in government?
Mr. Boateng: My hon. Friend has performed a sterling service for Edgware hospital in his constituency and in north-west London generally. It is good news that the hospital is now delivering the new, modernised health service for which the people of his constituency and many others voted.
Mr. Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge): Will the Minister acknowledge that what matters to patients is the total waiting time from GP referral to treatment? Will he further acknowledge that reduced numbers on the waiting list for surgery will be a pyrrhic victory if the waiting list to get on the waiting list is getting longer? Will he therefore arrange for data on the total out-patient waiting lists in the UK to be collected and published with in-patient waiting lists in future?
Mr. Boateng: Those data were never available under the previous Government, and they will not be available under
the present one. What counts is that we should shorten waiting lists across all fronts. Out-patients and in-patients alike will benefit from that. They did not benefit in that way under the previous, Conservative-led Government.
Dr. Brian Iddon (Bolton, South-East): According to figures that I have received from the Library, at the end of the financial year 1995-96, the debt owed to the national health service by non-NHS debtors was a staggering £543 million. Does my hon. Friend agree that many of the difficulties that the previous Administration bequeathed to the national health service could be dealt with if some of the debt that they left us were collected?
Mr. Boateng: The previous Administration have a great deal to answer for, and that is a small part of it.
Premature Deaths
8. Mr. Norman Baker (Lewes): What research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the causes of premature deaths each year which can be ascribed to (i) tobacco, (ii) alcohol and (iii) cannabis. [50983]
The Minister for Public Health (Ms Tessa Jowell): The harmful effects of tobacco are well researched and documented--most recently, by the Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health. An estimated 120,000 people die every year from smoking or smoking-related causes.
The latest evidence on the harmful effects of alcohol on health was analysed thoroughly in the preparation for the 1995 sensible drinking reports, the recommendations of which we have adopted as continuing policy. It is estimated that between 4,000 and 40,000 people die each year from alcohol misuse.
The harmful effects of smoking cannabis--for example, bronchitis, cancers, short-term memory loss and aggravation of existing mental disorders--are well documented. It is estimated that five people have died in the past four years from cannabis abuse.
Mr. Baker:
It is interesting that the one illegal recreational drug of the three is the one that, apparently, caused the fewest deaths. However, will the Minister address a problem that many health professionals have identified? There appears to be a beneficial medicinal use for cannabis, yet at the moment it is improper--indeed, illegal--for health professionals to prescribe cannabis for any purpose. Will the Minister reconsider the matter, to discover whether those who would benefit from the medicinal use of cannabis might be enabled to do so without being criminalised?
Ms Jowell:
There are perfectly clear procedures for applying to conduct research to establish the medicinal benefits of cannabis. The Government have absolutely no intention of making the use of cannabis legal, but this is an opportunity for Opposition Front Benchers to clarify their position on the issue, and perhaps for the hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Mr. Duncan) to make clear his position in relation to his recent book, "Saturn's Children", in which he said:
Mr. Desmond Swayne (New Forest, West):
Of the 120,000 people who die prematurely from smoking- related diseases each year, 53,000 are over the age of 75. Given that the Minister's Department has stated that life expectancy for men is 75 years, how can those people possibly be described as having died prematurely?
Ms Jowell:
I made it clear that, every year, more than 120,000 people die from smoking or smoking-related causes. I did not identify those who died under the age of 75, but, with life expectancy increasing, it is absolutely clear that, for people who smoke, the chances of dying from tobacco or tobacco-related causes are increased by something like 100 per cent. Half of smokers die from causes related directly to smoking.
Mr. Paul Flynn (Newport, West):
Does not my hon. Friend recall that tens of thousands of people in this country who suffer from multiple sclerosis, the effects of chemotherapy and glaucoma take cannabis illegally as it provides the best relief from the serious pain that they endure? Why does she continue to condemn those people to dealing in an illegal market where they cannot guarantee the quality or strength of the product--and can only smoke it, which is the most dangerous method of using cannabis?
Did my hon. Friend see the "Watchdog" programme last night, which presented both sides of the argument? It received a massive public reaction, with some 96 per cent. of people voting in favour of the medicinal use of cannabis. When will the Government get in touch with public opinion and stop maligning the hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Mr. Duncan) for the four most intelligent pages in his book, which he has withdrawn--although, quite rightly, he has not changed his mind about them? It is about time the House allowed intelligent thought among Front Benchers.
Ms Jowell:
I join my hon. Friend in assuming that the failure of the hon. Member for Rutland and Melton to respond to that point means that he has not changed his mind about the legalisation of hard drugs.
Madam Speaker:
Order. The hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Mr. Duncan) is not allowed to respond. He does not have an opportunity to do so; he has had his question. Let us have a little justice.
Ms Jowell:
To my hon. Friend the Member for Newport, West (Mr. Flynn), who has long argued the case in relation to people who suffer from multiple sclerosis, I reiterate that those who wish to undertake research into the beneficial medicinal effects of cannabis use may apply to the Home Office for permission to conduct that work.
Mr. Nigel Waterson (Eastbourne):
Does the Minister agree that, when examining the use of drugs--recreational or otherwise--we should consider not only premature deaths but ruined lives? Does the Minister agree that the Liberal Democrats' policy of legalising cannabis is both dangerous and irresponsible?
"Nor are drugs a particularly threatening health problem."
The Government disagree.
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