HC Deb 21 October 2003 vol 411 c544W
Mrs. Gillan

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many people in(a) Chesham and Amersham, (b) Buckinghamshire and (c) England suffer from neurological conditions; [132329]

(2) what plans he has to monitor the number of people with neurological conditions in (a) Chesham and Amersham, (b) Buckinghamshire and (c) England. [132330]

Ms Rosie Winterton

The information requested is not collected centrally. We do not ask the national health service to collect data on the incidence of individual conditions such as neurology because of the enormous range of conditions and diseases that exist.

I have no plans to monitor the number of people with neurological conditions. The administrative burden of developing and maintaining a diseases and conditions database would be expensive and would divert resources away from the main function of the NHS, which is the treatment of patients.

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