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Dept of Health

Answer

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that the quality of prosthetic services available to patients in the UK are of at least an equal standard to those available in (a) the rest of Europe and (b) in North America. [5364] Jacqui Smith: Prosthetic services have moved from providing a "limb fitting service" to an "amputee rehabilitation service". Disablement service centres (DSCs) now treat users in a more holistic manner. This has resulted in the development of a whole package of care and has given more involvement to occupational therapists, physiotherapists and counsellors in the service. The United Kingdom is at the forefront of this multi-professional approach. Many DSCs prescribe state of the art components. The UK was the first country in the world to develop and adopt an intelligent prosthesis. Another important feature of the UK service is that product prescription is impartial, based on clinical need, whereas in some countries commercial considerations are taken into account. The delivery of prosthetic services around the world is far more fragmented than in the UK. For example England delivers prosthetic services from 33 DSCs which means that the service benefits from the concentration of expertise and economies of scale. The UK prosthetic service is well structured, provides good value for money and delivers a coherent service. A recent Government development is the introduction of silicon cosmesis, as outlined in HSC2001/01 and LAC (2001)1. We have made available £0.5 million in 2001-02 and £1.5 million and £2.0 million in 2002-03 and 2003-04 respectively to be invested in silicone cosmesis. The National Health Service Purchasing and Supply Agency have undertaken a tendering exercise to make these products available on the NHS during August 2001. This was announced by my predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Barrow and Furness (Mr. Hutton), in March 2001.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

5364; 372 c432-3W;372 c432-4W

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Disability aids Cosmetics NHS Medical equipment Products Standards Surgery Prosthetics

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk