§ Mr. GillTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what procedures are in place to inform doctors of the symptoms of organophosphate exposure; [67123]
(2) what measures his Department has taken to educate doctors regarding the recognition and treatment of chronic organophosphate poisoning. [67121]
§ Ms JowellThe Chief Medical Officer wrote to all doctors in England in 1991, and again with the Chief Executive of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate in June 1993, to alert doctors to the possibility of adverse effects from exposure to pesticides and certain veterinary medicines and to remind them of the reporting schemes for human adverse reactions to veterinary products operated by the Employment Medical Advisory Service and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's Veterinary Medicines Directive. The Chief Medical Officers in Scotland, in Wales and in Northern Ireland also wrote to doctors in those countries.
An article in the October 1995 edition of Chief Medical Officer's Update, a quarterly publication sent to all doctors in England, dealt with both the acute and chronic effects of organophosphates (OPs) and the methods for reporting adverse reactions to them.
A further article, in the April 1996 edition of Update (England only) informed all doctors of the publication, in the same month, of the new edition of the book "Pesticide Poisoning: Notes for the Guidance of Medical Practitioners". This book contains a section on the acute and chronic toxic effects of OP insecticides and was sent by all United Kingdom Health Departments to general practices, accident and emergency departments and consultants in communicable disease control (and equivalents) with a covering letter.
Copies of this book were also sent to the presidents of the Royal Colleges (Royal College of Physicians, Royal 521W College of Surgeons, Royal College of Anaesthetists, Royal College of General Practitioners, Royal College of Pathologists, Faculty of Public Health Medicine and Faculty of Occupational Medicine) under cover of an explanatory letter which encouraged them to draw the book to the attention of their Fellows/Members through their continuing medical education programmes.
Copies of the book "Pesticide Poisoning: Notes for the Guidance of Medical Practitioners" are available in the Library.
A report of a joint working party of the Royal College of Physicians of London and the Royal College of Psychiatrists set up at the invitation of the Department to advise on clinical aspects of long-term low-dose exposure to OP sheep dips was published in November 1998. An article in the February 1999 edition of the CMO's Update will draw doctors' attention to the report and the recommendations it contains on diagnosis and management of patients.
Over the coming months, we will also be discussing with other bodies such as the National Poisons Information Service, the working party's recommendations for improving awareness amongst general practitioners and other measures which might improve aspects of the diagnosis and management of this group of patients.