HC Deb 09 March 1998 vol 308 cc64-5W
Mr. Burstow

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 3 March 1998,Official Report, column 562, concerning continence products purchased by the NHS National Supplies Trust, what evidence he evaluated to support the explanation for the overall drop in value and volume [33352]

Mr. Boateng

Data on incontinence products that are home delivered are not collected centrally. 104 National Health Service community trusts have some type of home delivery arrangements in place and further NHS trusts are considering making such arrangements. It is on this basis that it is considered likely that the drop in value and volume in continence products supplied by NHS Supplies Authority may be explained by the trend towards home delivery.

Mr. Burstow

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will discourage NHS trusts from selling continence products to NHS patients [33354]

Mr. Boateng

Section 1 of the National Health Service Act 1977 requires that NHS services provided under the Act to NHS patients must be free of charge, except where the making and recovery of charges is expressly provided for by legislation. The then Chief Executive of the NHS Management Executive, Sir Duncan Nichol, wrote to health authority managers and NHS trust chief executives on 24 October 1991, to bring this matter to their attention.

Mr. Burstow

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 3 March,Official Report, column 563, regarding advice on continence services, what assessment he has made of the availability of the manual bowel evacuation procedure; and if training is being provided for nursing staff. [33353]

Mr. Boateng

As yet, no assessment has been made by the Department into the availability of the manual bowel evacuation procedure. The English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting has approved post-registration training for patients with bladder and bowel continence care needs. National Health Service trusts also provide in-service training to enable practitioners to provide high quality continence care.