HC Deb 19 April 2000 vol 348 cc516-7W
Mr. Andrew George

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of current standards of care for patients in the acute stage of Guillain-Barré syndrome. [119775]

Ms Stuart

We are not aware of any assessments made into the current standards of care for patients in the acute stage of Guillain-Barré Syndrome.

There are a number of National Health Service services which patients with Guillain-Barré Syndrome may access. These services can include care and advice from their general practitioner, support from therapists and nursing support.

Mr. Andrew George

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of patients suffering from Guillain Barré Syndrome received(a) intravenous immunoglobin and (b) plasma exchange in (i) 1997, (ii) 1998, (iii)1999 and (iv) 2000. [119776]

Ms Stuart

The tables show the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) where the main diagnosis was Guillain-Barré Syndrome, for selected procedures, in National Health Service hospitals in England, for the years 1996–97 to 1998–99. Data for 1999–2000 are not yet available.

Table 1: Finished consultant episodes (FCEs) where primary diagnosis was G61.0 (Guillain-Barré Syndrome) with any mention of the selection procedures
NHS Hospitals England 1996–97 to 1998–99
1996–97 1997–98 1998–99
Diagnosis G61.0 1,316 1,222 1,318
With procedure
X30.1—Injection of rh immune globulin 28 14 11
X30.2—Injection of gamma globulin 83 68 88
X34.2—Transfusion of plasma 16 2 7
X35.2—Intravenous immunotherapy 63 59 61

Table 2: FCEs where primary diagnosis was G61.0 (Guillain-Barré Syndrome) with any mention of the selected procedures
NHS Hospitals England 1996–97 to 1998–99
1996–97 1997–98 1998–99
Diagnosis G61.0 1,316 1,222 1,318
Percentage with
X30.1—Injection of rh immune globulin 2 1 1
X30.2—Injection of gamma globulin 6 6 7
X34.2—Transfusion of plasma 1 0 1
X35.2—Intravenous immunotherapy 5 5 5

Source:

Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES), Department of Health

An FCE is defined as a period of patient care under one consultant in one health care provider. The figures do not represent the number of patients, as one person may have several episodes in one year.

There are four operation fields in the HES record—the above table shows a count of every mention of the procedures X30.1, X30.2, X34.2 or X35.3 in the episodes where G61.0 was the main diagnosis.

Data in the tables are grossed for both coverage and unknown/invalid clinical data, except for 1997–98 and 1998–99 which are ungrossed.