HC Deb 19 April 2004 vol 420 cc193-4W
Mr. Sheerman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his strategy for cutting inpatient and outpatient waiting times for access to magnetic resonance imaging scanners in England. [1653451

Mr. Hutton

Data on waiting times for diagnostic tests, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are not collected centrally; however, data may be collected locally by some strategic health authorities.

(3) what estimate his Department has made of the incidence of (a) hepatitis C, (b) liver cancer and (c) all liver disease in England in the next decade. [162073]

Miss Melanie Johnson

Laboratory reports of antibody to hepatitis C in England, between 1992 (when national surveillance began) and 2003 are available on the Health protection Agency's website at http:// www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics/ az/hepatitis c/data lab region.htm The majority of cases of acute hepatitis C infection do not result in symptoms and therefore new infections are not usually identified. These laboratory reports do not distinguish between new (incident) and past infections and represent newly diagnosed cases of hepatitis C.

Studies suggest that about 0.5 per cent. of the general population in England (250,000 people) has been infected with hepatitis C. The number of cumulative laboratory reports is lower than the estimate for the overall population prevalence and suggests that the majority of hepatitis C infections have not been diagnosed.

Finished admissions into National Health Service hospitals in England for liver disease from 1995–96 to 2002–03 are shown in the table.

As recently announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, work is under way to eradicate waits for MRI through national procurement of a mobile MRI service. This will deliver an approximate 10 per cent. increase in the capacity already available to the national health service. In practical terms, approximately 80,000 extra MRI scans will be available to patients by July 2004.

Mr. Sheerman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made with the(a) recruitment and (b) training of radiographers to reduce waiting times for access to magnetic resonance imaging scanners in England. [165347]

Mr. Hutton

There has been significant progress in increasing both the numbers of radiographers employed in the national health service and the number of radiographers entering training each year. Between 1997 and 2003, the number of NHS radiographers increased by 1,573 or 13 per cent. and between 1996–97 and 2002–03, the number of training places for radiographers has increased by 634 to 107 per cent.

Information is not collected centrally on waiting times for access to magnetic resonance imaging scanners.