§ Mr. SinghTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures he intends to adopt as part of the National Plan to lower death rates from coronary heart disease, diabetes and tuberculosis, strokes, liver cancer and diabetes among older persons in ethnic minorities. [138319]
§ Yvette CooperOn 14 November my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced additional resources for the National Health Service totalling £450 million targeted at tackling cancer and heart disease including extra money for life saving drugs and to reduce waiting times, and extra support for smoking cessation services. We will also double the money targeted at dealing with the health effects of deprivation in England's poorest areas, many of which have significant ethnic minority communities.
The NHS Plan sets out the actions to be taken to reduce inequalities through investment and reform in key services. These significant new resources will help the NHS to deliver these commitments.
Tackling cancer and coronary heart disease, which are the two biggest killer diseases, will make a significant inroad into inequalities in health. We recently published the NHS Cancer Plan, a comprehensive programme of action linking prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and research. The Plan pledges to cut the death rate from all cancers by one fifth by 2010; this includes the death rate from liver cell cancer secondary to hepatitis C.
A National Service Framework (NSF) coronary heart disease and the NHS Cancer Plan have already been published. These set the standards for improving a range of services which older people use, including those from ethnic minorities. The Diabetes National Service Framework, to be published in 2001 for implementation in the NHS from 2002, will pay particular heed to the needs of those who are disproportionately affected by diabetes, such as people from minority ethnic groups. The National Service Framework for Older People, which is to be introduced from April 2001, will also help to ensure that the health and social care needs of older people from all backgrounds are properly addressed.
166WControl of communicable disease, including tuberculosis, is identified in the National Priorities Guidance as a "must do" activity. Control of tuberculosis in older persons is based on a strategy of treatment of identified cases and screening of their close contacts, screening and treatment for immigrants from countries with a high prevalence of tuberculosis and active surveillance of tuberculosis. Surveillance of tuberculosis has been enhanced to allow more detailed identification of risk groups and to assess the success of treatment in individual cases. Detailed Guidance to the NHS is set out in the report of the Interdepartmental Working Group on Tuberculosis entitled "The Prevention and Control of Tuberculosis in the United Kingdom: Recommendations for the Prevention and Control of Tuberculosis at Local Level", copies of which are available in the Library.