HC Deb 10 November 1999 vol 337 c660W
Mr. Chaytor

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the services available on the NHS for arachnoiditis sufferers. [97411]

Mr. Hutton

Arachnoiditis sufferers should have access to any service offering investigation, care or treatment, according to individual clinical need. They will have access to local chronic pain relief services which are available in almost all acute hospitals. Additional pain relief may be provided to day case patients either as ordinary admission or to those requiring special facilities such as physiotherapy, psychotherapy or radiology.

Mr. Chaytor

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the total number of people in the United Kingdom suffering from arachnoiditis. [97410]

Mr. Hutton

The information requested is not available centrally. Statistics held by the Department of Health reflect only diagnostic information collected on in-patients attending National Health Service hospitals in England. In 1997 there were 2,200 cases diagnosed with arachnoiditis admitted to hospital in England1. The Department cannot determine the prevalence of arachnoiditis from these statistics.

Source:

1 Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) system.

Mr. Coaker

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has commissioned or evaluated into arachnoiditis; and what plans he has to introduce a compensation scheme for people who developed arachnoiditis following the administration to them of myodil lumbar myelography. [97996]

Mr. Hutton

Neither the Department of Health nor the Medical Research Council have directly commissioned or evaluated research into arachnoiditis.

The Department has no plans to introduce a compensation scheme for people suffering from arachnoiditis.