§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services in how many cases the decision of pneumoconiosis medical boards has been in conflict with the finding of coroners in cases attributing death to pneumoconiosis.
§ Mr. PrenticeI regret that the information is not available in the form requested. The table below shows the number of disagreements between pneumoconiosis medical panel doctors and coroner's pathologists as to whether death resulted from pneumoconiosis, over the four-year period 1975–1978. During the same period pneumoconiosis medical panel doctors gave opinions on the cause of death in over 20,000 cases.
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Cases where in the PMP doctor's opinion death was not due to pneumoconiosis, but the coroner's pathologist disagreed. 1975 … … … … 114 1976 … … … … 109 1977 … … … … 115 1978 … … … … 147
Cases where in the PMP doctor's opinion death was not due to pneumoconiosis, but the coroner's pathologist disagreed. 1975 … … … … 60 1976 … … … … 60 1977 … … … … 60 1978 … … … … 36
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services in how many cases the decision of pneumoconiosis medical boards has been in conflict with the opinion of family doctors and local consultants about the diagnosis of pneumoconiosis.
§ Mr. PrenticeI regret that this information is not available.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will introduce legislation to provide that anyone suffering from the industrial disease of pneumoconiosis shall be eligible for disability benefit irrespective of the medical percentage classification of the disease.
§ Mr. PrenticeThe industrial injuries scheme provides preferential benefits for those who have accidents or contract prescribed diseases at work and, as a result, become incapable of work or disabled. It is a fundamental principle of the scheme that disablement benefit should be paid only where the accident or disease leads to loss of mental or physical faculty resulting in disablement. The cause and extent of disablement must therefore be assessed in order to determine entitlement to benefit. I have no plans to alter these provisions.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will introduce legislation to abolish pneumoconiosis medical boards and provide that diagnosis of general practitioners and independent consultants be accepted for disability benefit, or that the decision of coroners and pathologists be accepted in the case of widows' benefits, subject to the right of appeal by his Department or the claimant.
§ Mr. PrenticeNo.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many claims for disability benefit have been considered by pneumoconiosis medical boards in each 316W year since their inception; how many have been rejected; and what proportion these are of the total each year.
§ Mr. PrenticeThe information requested, which is available only for the period from April 1950, is as follows:
Year Total number of pneumoconiosis medical boards considering disablement benefit claims Number of cases not diagnosed Proportion not diagnosed (percentage) 1950 … 5,153 2,000 39 1951 … 5,836 2,238 38 1952 … 5,516 1,996 36 1953 … 7,257 2,313 32 1954 … 9,247 3,692 40 1955 … 10,171 3,995 39 1956 … 10,725 4,469 42 1957 … 9,230 4,398 48 1958 … 8,578 4,541 53 1959 … 9,601 5,094 53 1960 … 9,340 5,283 57 1961 … 8,307 4,696 57 1962 … 7,157 4,167 58 1963 … 7,459 4,417 59 1964 … 5,711 3,792 66 1965 … 5,459 3,833 70 1966 … 4,768 3,315 70 1967 … 4,454 3,143 71 1968 … 4,244 2,980 70 1969 … 3,666 2,591 71 1970 … 3,469 2,224 64 1971 … 3,059 2,086 68 1972 … 2,919 1,916 66 1973 … 2,762 1,922 70 1974 … 3,178 2,234 70 1975 … 4,995 3,793 76 1976 … 3,935 2,821 72 1977 … 3,742 2,740 73 1978 … 3,125 2,248 72
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services in how many cases since their inception medical appeal tribunals have overruled the findings of pneumoconiosis medical boards; and how many and what proportion these are for each of the specified industrial chest diseases.
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§ Mr. PrenticeA limited right of appeal against a decision of a pneumoconiosis medical board on the diagnosis of pneumoconiosis and byssinosis was in
(i) (ii) (iii) Disease Cases heard Diseases diagnosed Cases diagnosed as a percentage of those heard Per cent. Pneumoconiosis (other than asbestosis) 213 36* 17(13) Asbestosis 65 18 28 Byssinosis 3 2 67 All 281 56* 20(17) Additionally in respect of diffuse mesothelioma, for which disease a right of appeal without restrictions was restored with effect from 31 January 1977, one case has been heard and the disease was diagnosed. * Includes nine cases where the disease had already been diagnosed by the pneumoconiosis medical board but was diagnosed from an earlier date by the tribunal. If these nine cases are excluded, the percentage figures are as shown in brackets in column (iii).
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the total number of doctors employed on pneumoconiosis medical boards; how many of them are consultants; how many are junior staff; and how many required refresher courses in chest medicine before being placed on the boards.
§ Mr. PrenticeThe total number of doctors currently employed on the pneumoconiosis medical boards is 61; 31 are employed full-time and 30 part-time, of whom 20 are consultants. It is not clear what the right hon. Gentleman has in mind in referring to "junior staff", but of the 31 full-time doctors, eight are graded as senior medical officers and 23 as medical officers.
In accordance with accepted medical practice, it is the Department's policy to give both newly recruited doctors and doctors already in post the opportunity to attend postgraduate courses and medical meetings relevant to their work. In the case of the pneumoconiosis medical boards, doctors have attended, for example, courses arranged by the University of London cardiothoracic institute. During the last 12 months, three of the four doctors who have taken up post as full-time panel doctors have attended a course at the institute.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the turnover of members of pneumoconiosis medical boards; and how this compares with other medical boards under Government auspices.
318Wtraduced from 31 January 1979. Details of the cases heard by medical appeal tribunals from that date until 30 September 1979 are as follows:
§ Mr. PrenticeDuring the last 12 months the turnover of members of the pneumoconiosis medical panel, from which members of the pneumoconiosis medical board are drawn, was 6.6 per cent. This is based on the number of terminations of appointment—four—calculated as a percentage of the number of doctors on the panel-61—at 31 October 1979. Of these 61, 30 are employed part-time on a sessional basis and 31 are employed full time.
During the same period the turnover was 2.3 per cent. of members of the panel from which members of the medical boards are drawn to deal with cases of industrial injury, mobility allowance and war pensions. This is based on the number of terminations of appointment—32—calculated as a percentage of the number of doctors on the panel—1,385—at the same date, all of whom are employed on a sessional basis.
Comparative information is not readily available about medical boards which operate under auspices of other Government Departments.