§ Mr. GoodmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many people in the Wycombe constituency are affected by(a) sickle cell, (b) thalassaemia and (c) other haemoglobinopathies; [18890]
(2) what partners in the community and voluntary sector are working with his Department on the neonatal screening programme for haemoglobinopathies in the Wycombe constituency. [19104]
§ Ms BlearsThe Department's hospital episodes statistics provide information on hospital treatment of beta thalassaemia and sickle-cell anaemia with crisis. No other information on haemoglobinopathies, including the information requested on screening, is held centrally.
Information on the number of finished consultant episodes (FCE) for patients resident in the Wycombe local authority area, treated in national health service hospitals in England during 2000–01, indicates 90 episodes of beta thalassaemia and seven of sickle-cell anaemia with crisis. Information is not available by constituency area.
The NHS plan sets out our commitment to introduce by 2004 a new and effective screening programme for women and children including a new national linked antenatal and neonatal programme for haemoglobinopathies. In order to ensure close involvement of voluntary sectors NHS Haemoglobinopathy Steering Group has representatives from the Sickle Cell Society and the United Kingdom Thalassaemia Society. These national support groups have membership at local, national and international level.
Notes
i.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 within the year.
ii.The main diagnosis is the first of seven diagnosis fields in the HES data set, and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.
iii.Figures in this table have not yet been adjusted for shortfalls in data.