HC Deb 13 January 1997 vol 288 cc165-6W
Mr. Cousins

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he has issued on the availability of sterilisation reversals within the NHS; and what estimate he has made of how many(a) health authorities and (b) GP fundholders will commission such services for their NHS patients. [10284]

Mr. Horam

The priority given to sterilisation reversal operations generally is a matter for local decision in the light of health authorities' first-hand knowledge of local priorities and competing claims on resources.

Mr. Prentice

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 6 December,Official Report, columns 820–21, on the largest annual NHS payments to dentists, if he will list the categories of treatment and the percentage of the total NHS fee income for each category earned by the dentist in each of the years given. [9073]

Mr. Malone

Gross fee payments are made up of the following categories of treatmentCapitation payments: monthly fees received for each child under 18 registered to cover the cost of "routine" treatments; Continuing care payments: small monthly fees received for each adult aged 18 and over registered; Weighted entry payments: one-off payments made in respect of child patients with poor oral health to restore the child's teeth to a reasonable standard; Adult item of service: payments made in respect of adult treatments; Child item of service: payments made in respect of mainly advanced child treatment.

Gross fee earnings and the percentage of the total national health service gross fee income attributable to each category for the highest earning dentist of each year is in the following table.

No guidance has been issued specifically on the availability of sterilisation reversals on the NHS. However, information on family planning services generally is contained in "Guidelines for reviewing family planning services" (January 1992) copies of which are available in the Library.

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