§ Dr. MurrisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department plans to offer financial support to the compulsory continued education and training programmes for(a) opticians and (b) dispensing opticians. [171045]
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Primary Diagnosis (ICD-10 C00-D48)—Neoplasms: Count of finished admission episodes for London Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) of treatment NHS hospitals. England 2002–03 SHA of treatment Female Male Not known Not specified Total Q04 North West London HA 22,179 18,842 6 — 41,027 Q05 North Central London HA 18,975 17,048 1 — 36,024 Q06 North East London HA 18,519 17,883 — — 36,402 Q07 South East London HA 13,369 12,714 — 4 26,087 Q08 South West London HA 22,057 19,705 2 — 41,764 London SHAs 95,099 86,192 9 4 181,304 Finished admission episodes A finished admission episode is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Please note that admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. Diagnosis (Primary Diagnosis) The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (7 prior to 2002–03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital. Ungrossed Data Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed). Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health.
§ Ms Rosie WintertonAs part of a three-year agreement on fees for sight-tests under the general ophthalmic services (GOS), the Department has agreed to make a financial contribution towards the costs of continuing education and training. These arrangements cover optometrists who are obliged to undertake continuing education to maintain their registration with the General Optical Council and also those ophthalmic medical practitioners who undertake no professional work other than conducting sight tests and who are also obliged to undertake continuing education as part of the registration requirements of the General Medical Council.
Under the terms of the three-year sight-test fee agreement, the financial support towards continuing education has been set at £270 for the year 2004–05 and £425 for the year 2005–06.
Dispensing opticians are not contracted to provide GOS and are therefore outside of these national health service arrangements and were not part of the pay agreement reached with contractors.
The Department is due shortly to begin a review of the GOS and the position of dispensing opticians within the NHS will be considered as part of that review.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons dispensing opticians are not recognised by his Department as healthcare professionals. [172703]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonDispensing opticians are recognised as health care professionals and are regulated under the Opticians Act. Under legislative changes introduced in 1986, dispensing was deregulated and became a private transaction. Dispensing opticians are therefore not included on primary care trust lists.