HC Deb 19 March 1999 vol 327 cc633-5W
Mr. Austin

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list his Department's expenditure on grants to voluntary bodies working on incontinence. [76767]

Mr. Hutton

In 1998–99 the Department has funded the following voluntary organisations for continence projects:

£
Continence Foundation 35,000
Disabled Living 24,750
InContact 6,250

Mr. Austin

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has(a) completed, (b) published and (c) commissioned on incontinence. [76768]

Mr. Hutton

The Department funds research and development to support its work on policy development and evaluation in health and social care. The Department also manages the National Health Service research and development levy, which is used to support research and development of relevance to the National Health Service in hospitals, general practice and other health care settings, and to fund the NHS research and development programme. In addition, the Medical Research Council (MRC), which receives most of its income via grant-in-aid from the Office of Science and Technology in the Department of Trade and Industry, funds medical research as part of the Government's funding of the science and engineering base.

The NHS research and development programme is currently supporting the following two projects on incontinence: Cost-effective night-time management of heavily incontinent adults (Dr. Cottenden, University College London); and The treatment of urinary incontinence in stroke patients (Professor Castledon, University of Leicester).

The Department's policy research programme supported the following research projects: The development of methodologies to identify urinary incontinence and set targets for health gain (Professor Pearson, University of Liverpool, completed September, 1995); and DH Post Doctoral Fellowship, Dr. Brenda Hilary Roe, University of Oxford, completed March, 1996. (Dr. Roe's research project evaluated health interventions by primary health care teams and continence advisory services related to incontinence.)

The MRC spent £953,000 in 1997–98 on the following three ongoing projects in the general area of incontinence: A randomised trial of open versus laparoscopic colposuspension for genuine stress incontinence, (Professor Kitchener, St. Mary's Hospital); Incontinence: a population laboratory approach to the epidemiology and evaluation of care, (Dr. McGrother, University of Leicester); and Ion channels in myoctes from human and pig urethra/ bladder-modulation by drugs and role in tissue contractile behaviour, (Dr. Brading, University of Oxford).

In addition, the MRC also made grants during the mid 1990s for the following projects: Can the lower urinary tract be controlled by sacral root stimulation? (Dr. Baxendale, University of Glasgow); Oestrogen replacement therapy on urinary tract dysfunction and urogenital collagens in postmenopausal women with stress, (Mr. Jackson, Bristol Urological Institute); Determining the outcome of surgery for stress incontinence in women (Professor Black, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine).

Mr. Austin

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list his Department's budget and planned expenditure relating to incontinence for each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [76766]

Mr. Hutton

The information requested is not available centrally. Local health authorities are responsible for commissioning continence services to meet the needs of their local population. The National Health Service Executive is currently reviewing continence services policy with a view to issuing updated guidance in the spring.