§ Mr. ClaphamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pharmacy and general practitioner prescribing projects are operating; how many people they cover; and what assessment he has made of their(a) influence on the numbers of people seeking treatment and (b) impact on the level of crime. [168722]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe Department does not centrally collect numbers of general practitioner prescribing projects.
§ Geraldine SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the numbers of patients who fail to get prescriptions dispensed because of the charges. [165410]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe number of prescription items dispensed in the community is recorded centrally but no information is held centrally about the number of items prescribed. We have not, therefore, made any
816W
Hospital, Public Health Medicine and Community Health Services (HCHS): dental staff within the Orthodontics and Prosthodontics—England1 Orthodontics December 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2003 All staff 509 501 504 513 506 508 522 n/a Of which: Consultant 153 153 157 161 154 161 178 176 Doctors in training 110 120 117 101 115 130 118 n/a n/a = Not applicable. 1Data at 30 September 1997 to 2003 and 31 December 2003. Note: December 2003 data has been taken from the mini census which collected consultants only. Source: Department of Health medical and dental workforce census. assessment of the number of items which might be prescribed but not dispensed. However, in 2002 only 14 per cent. of prescriptions dispensed in the community attracted a charge.