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30 Oct 2006 : Column 160W—continued
| Table 2: Death rates( 1) from female breast cancer( 2) by strategic health authorities in the North East Government Office Region,( 3 ) 1996 to 2005( 4) | ||
| Death rates per 100,000 population | ||
| Northumberland, Tyne and Wear | County Durham and Tees Valley | |
| (1 )Rates per 100,000 population standardised to the European Standard Population. (2) The cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, 9(th) Revision (ICD-9) for years 1996-2000, and the International Classification of Diseases, 10(th) Revision (ICD-10) for 2001-05. The codes used are listed as follows: Breast cancer—ICD-9174; ICD-10 C50. Records were selected using the original underlying cause of death. (3) Usual residents of these areas. (4) Deaths registered in each calendar year. | ||
Angela Watkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the geographical consistency of testing of women newly diagnosed with breast cancer for suitability for treatment with herceptin. [95443]
Ms Rosie Winterton: In October 2005, Professor Mike Richards, the national cancer director, wrote to all cancer networks to identify the current level of HER2 testing and to inform them that they would need to put arrangements for HER2 testing in place.
This exercise confirmed that access to HER2 testing facilities was patchy and few networks were testing all women with early breast cancer to determine their HER2 status.
In March 2006, the national cancer director sought a progress report from cancer networks. This showed that there had been a significant improvement in the number of cancer networks providing HER2 testing for all women diagnosed with early breast cancer.
28 out of 34 cancer networks reported that they were HER2 testing all women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. The remaining six reported that they would be testing all these women by the end of October 2006.
Cancer Treatment
Kitty Ussher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what change there has been in waiting times for cancer treatment in Burnley constituency since (a) 1997 and (b) 2001. [95708]
Andy Burnham: The information is not available in the format requested. Information for national health service trusts in the Burnley area relating to cancer waiting times for the most recent years where figures are available has been set out in the following table.
| Number of patients treated for children’s cancer, testicular cancer and acute leukaemia, and proportion of patients starting treatment within 31 days of general practitioners referral, in Burnley region in 2001-02 quarter 4 and 2006-07 quarter 1( 1) | ||||||
| 2001-02 Q4 | 2006-07 Q1 | |||||
| Number and percentage of patients treated within 31 days of referral | Number and percentage of patients treated within 31 days of referral | |||||
| Total number of patients treated during the quarter | Number | Percentage | Total number of patients treated during the quarter | Number | Percentage | |
| Number of patients treated for breast cancer, and proportion of patients starting treatment within 31 days of diagnosis, in Burnley region in 2001-02 quarter 4 and 2006-07 quarter 1( 1) | ||||
| 2001-02 Q4 | 2006-07 Q1 | |||
| Total number of patients treated during the quarter | Percentage of patients treated within 31 days of diagnosis | Total number of patients treated during the quarter | Percentage of patients treated within 31 days of referral | |
| (1) The only figures available relating to treatment (rather than time waited for first out-patient appointment) in 2001-02 are for rare cancers and breast cancer. (2) Figures are for Burnley Healthcare NHS Trust, Preston Acute Hospital NHS Trust and Chorley and South Ribble NHS Trust in 2001-02 Q4 and for East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 2006-07 Q1. Note: Burnley Healthcare NHS Trust and Blackburn Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Health Care NHS Trust merged to form East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (1 April 2003). Preston Acute Hospital NHS Trust and Chorley and South Ribble NHS Trust merged to form Lancashire Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (1 August 2002). Source: CWT-Db, Department of Health | ||||
Care Homes
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether general practitioners may (a) remove from their patient lists and (b) refuse to take on to their lists people who are resident in hospitals, nursing homes and residential homes managed by independent or voluntary sector organisations. [93381]
Caroline Flint: Where a general practice removes any patient from its list of registered patients it must have reasonable grounds for doing that to the individual. Unless the list is formally closed to new applications this requirement also applies if a general practice wishes to refuse any application to join its list of registered patients.
Central Budget Review
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 19 July 2006, Official Report, column 510W, on the Central Budget Review, what the minor reductions considered inescapable were. [90330]
Andy Burnham: The previous answer detailed the timing of the completion of the Central Budget Review and stated that allocations have been subject to minor reductions to cover a small number of pressures that were considered inescapable. It was the pressures not the reductions that were inescapable.
It is not possible to supply a like-for-like comparison of budgets in 2005-06 and 2006-07 because, as a consequence of the review of 2006-07 budgets, responsibility and resource for a significant proportion have been transferred to the national health service via strategic health authorities. This reflects the desire to ensure better, more timely targeting of central funding to meet local priorities.
Cholesterol Medication
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients there were on cholesterol lowering medication in each of the last 20 years. [93838]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department does not hold data on the number of patients treated with cholesterol lowering medication. The following tables detail prescriptions dispensed in the community.
| Total number of items, in thousands, dispensed in the community in England for cholesterol lowering medication since 1991. | ||||||||
| Thousand | ||||||||
| BNF chemical name | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 |
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