§ Mrs. Ray MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people on average are covered by a single speech therapist; and what is the recommended number of people which one speech therapist should cover.
§ Mr. FreemanIn England in 1988, approximately 17,000 people were on average covered by a single (whole-time equivalent) NHS speech therapist. The Quirk committee report of 1972 recommended that there should be six whole-time equivalent speech therapists per 100,000 population.
427W
§ Mrs. Ray MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if any study is currently underway into national target levels of speech therapy service in relation to patient groups; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. FreemanThe Department has sponsored a research study by Dr. Philip Davies of Oxford university which will provide estimates of the level of speech therapy service required by various groups of speech and language impaired people. The study is expected to be published shortly and we would expect health authorities to take account of the results of the study in planning speech therapy services. There are no plans to establish national target levels for the speech therapy service.
§ Mrs. Ray MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give a breakdown of the percentages of speech therapy referrals which come from doctors and consultants, and from clinical medical officers, health visitors, community nursing, educational services, social services, speech therapists in other districts, from self-referrals and other sources.
§ Mr. FreemanAn estimate of the percentage breakdown of initial contacts in the year is given in the table.
Speech Therapy Services: Percentage of initial contacts by Source of Referral: 1988–89 England Source of Referral Percentage of initial contacts Consultants 25 General Practice 5 Other Medical 12 Health Visitor 19 Community Nursing 2 Education Service 12 Social Services 3 Self Referral 9 Speech Therapists in other Districts 2 Other Sources 11 Total all locations 100
§ Mrs. Ray MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will provide a percentage breakdown of the communication—handicapped population who receive speech therapy in(a) the hospital site, (b) National Health Service premises, (c) local authority premises, (d) patients' homes and (e) other locations.
§ Mr. FreemanThe figures are not available in exactly the form requested. An estimate of the percentage breakdown of face to face contacts in the year is given in the table.
Speech Therapy Services: Percentage of face to face contacts by site: 1988–89 England Type of Location Percentage of face to contacts Hospital site 24 NHS premises other than a hospital site 30 Local Authority premises 37 Patient home 4 Other locations 5 Total all locations 100
§ Mrs. Ray MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will provide statistics on the levels of speech therapy service currently available in each district in the428W United Kingdom, if work is currently in progress to analyse the levels of service required for districts; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. FreemanThe number of speech therapy staff (including helpers) in English district health authorities and the London postgraduate special health authorities at 30 September 1987, (the latest year for which information is available in the form requested) is given in the tables. It is for individual health authorities to assess the level of service required in their area.
429W
Speech therapy (includes helpers) Whole-time equivalents September 1987 Number TOTAL 2,657 Northern Hartlepool 5 North Tees 10 South Tees 15 East Cumbria 9 South Cumbria 9 West Cumbria 7 Darlington 7 Durham 12 North West Durham 5 South West Durham 8 Northumberland 16 Gateshead 8 Newcastle 22 North Tyneside 10 South Tyneside 6 Sunderland 12 Yorkshire Hull 12 East Yorkshire 10 Grimsby 8 Scunthorpe 6 Northallerton 5 York 10 Scarborough 7 Harrogate 8 Bradford 13 Airedale 10 Calderdale 10 Huddersfield 14 Dewsbury 11 Leeds Western 12 Leeds Eastern 14 Wakefield 8 Pontefract 6 Trent North Derbyshire 21 South Derbyshire 30 Leicestershire 39 North Lincolnshire 12 South Lincolnshire 13 Bassetlaw 5 Central Nottingham 19 Nottingham 45 Barnsley 13 Doncaster 14 Rotherham 8 Sheffield 38 East Anglian Cambridge 22 Peterborough 15 West Suffolk 11 East Suffolk 16 Norwich 26 Great Yarmouth and Waveney 10 West Norfolk and Wisbech 8 Huntingdon 9 430W
Number North West Thames North Bedfordshire 13 South Bedfordshire 15 North Hertfordshire 10 East Hertfordshire 12 North West Hertfordshire 15 South West Hertfordshire 10 Barnet 17 Harrow 11 Hillingdon 7 Hounslow and Spelthorne 15 Ealing 18 Brent 20 Paddington and North Kensington 11 Riverside 40 North East Thames Basildon and Thurrock 11 Mid-Essex 18 North East Essex 16 West Essex 9 Southend 14 Barking, Havering and Brentwood 20 Hampstead 22 Bloomsbury 29 Islington 9 City and Hackney 18 Newham 22 Tower Hamlets 14 Enfield 8 Haringey 12 Redbridge 9 Waltham Forest 13 South East Thames Brighton 18 Eastbourne 11 Hastings 7 South East Kent 9 Canterbury and Thanet 17 Dartford and Gravesend 6 Maidstone 9 Med way 12 Tunbridge Wells 15 Bexley 13 Greenwich 25 Bromley 15 West Lambeth 17 Camberwell 19 Lewisham and North Southwark 27 South West Thames North West Surrey 14 West Surrey and North East Hampshire 11 South West Surrey 11 Mid-Surrey 12 East Surrey 9 Chichester 8 Mid-Downs 12 Worthing 12 Croydon 20 Kingston and Esher 13 Richmond, Twickenham and Roehampton 14 Wandsworth 19 Merton and Sutton 16 Wessex East Dorset 13 West Dorset 9 Portsmouth and South East 28 Southampton and South West 22 Winchester 10 Basingstoke and North Hampshire 9 Salisbury 8 Swindon 15 Bath 16 Isle of Wight 7 431W
Number Oxford East Berkshire 17 West Berkshire 33 Aylesbury Vale 0 Wycombe 11 Milton Keynes 22 Kettering 15 Northampton 18 Oxfordshire 29 South Western Bristol and Weston 29 Frenchay 26 Southmead 18 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 10 Exeter 16 North Devon 6 Plymouth 15 Torbay 11 Cheltenham 10 Gloucester 19 Somerset 24 West Midlands Bromsgrove and Redditch 8 Herefordshire 3 Kidderminster 6 Worcester 10 Shropshire 15 Mid-Staffordshire 11 North-Staffordshire 19 South-Staffordshire 12 Rugby 0 North Warwickshire 11 South Warwickshire 19 Central Birmingham 16 East Birmingham 11 North Birmingham 9 South Birmingham 13 West Birmingham 12 Coventry 13 Dudley 18 Sandwell 18 Solihull 10 Walsall 16 Wolverhampton 9 Mersey Chester 9 Crewe 14 Halton 7 Macclesfield 11 Warrington 11 Liverpool 24 St. Helens and Knowsley 14 Southport and Formby 6 South Sefton 6 Wirral 13 North Western Lancaster 6 Blackpool Wyre and Fylde 17 Preston 14 Blackburn Hymburn and Ribb 14 Burnley Pendle and Rossend 18 West Lancaster 7 Chorley and South Ribble 4 Bolton 12 Bury 11 North Manchester 14 Central Manchester 15 South Manchester 16 Oldham 10 Rochdale 0 Salford 15 Stockport 20 Tameside and Glossop 16 Trafford 13
Number Wigan 19 The Hospital for Sick Children 9 The National Hospital for Nervous Diseases 17 Moorfields Eye Hospital 0 The Royal Marsden Hospital 2 Hammersmith and Queen Charlotte's 6
§ Mrs. Ray MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will provide statistics relating to the percentages of people receiving speech therapy services who have associated mobility problems or a level of social-economic difficulty.
§ Mr. FreemanStatistics are not collected in the form requested.
§ Mrs. Ray MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when the joint Department of Health-National Health Service manpower advisory group intends to publish its recommendations aimed at improving recruitment and retention patterns in speech therapy; and whether information or statistics on current patterns are at present available.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyIt is intended to publish the DOH-MPAG report concerning recruitment and retention in speech therapy by the middle of next year.
Statistics are currently being analysed. When this is complete a clearer picture of current patterns of recruitment and retention will be available.
§ Mrs. Ray MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when the results of the study currently under way into the use of speech therapy assistants will be published; and whether his Department intends to issue guidelines following completion of the study.
§ Mr. FreemanThe research study into the use of speech therapy assistants commissioned by the Department is in its early stages. It is expected to be completed by September 1991, with publication following a few months later. We will consider the results of the study when they become available.