Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Baroness Masham of Ilton (Crossbench). It was answered on Tuesday, 30 June 2009.

Health: Tuberculosis

Question: My Lords, I thank the Minister for that Answer, which was not quite what I had hoped. Is she aware that there is now an exceedingly serious situation in London with drug-resistant tuberculosis among the homeless and within the prisons, which is where the mobile unit goes? The recommendation was that there should be at least two units, but the Health Protection Agency has actually recommended that there should be three. The only unit that there is at present is now getting very old, so they desperately need another one. That would enable them also to do schools and children.

Answer: My Lords, I am absolutely in agreement with the noble Baroness, as are the Government. What is required here is that the London PCTs agree to take this programme forward. The cost of one mobile unit per PCT in London would be £16,000 per year, and the cost of two would be £32,000 per year. We are not talking about enormous sums, but it will require co-operation among the London PCTs. We are doing our very best to encourage this. I know that the noble Baroness has a particular interest in TB in prisons, and I am very pleased to report that we are funding the installation of screening systems in eight of the high turnover prisons, with a link into their local acute trusts. Those are Belmarsh, Brixton, Pentonville, Wandsworth and Wormwood Scrubs, with three other prisons outside London being chosen for those facilities later this year.

Secondary information