Written question asked by Michael Jack (Conservative) on Monday, 2 April 2001, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 26 April 2001. It was answered by Yvette Cooper (Labour) on Thursday, 26 April 2001 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what standards are applied to determine the number of NHS CT scanners per head of the population for each NHS region. - Including figures. (Holding answer 9 April 2001).

Answer: Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what standards are applied to determine the number of NHS CT scanners per head of the population for each NHS region. [157017] Yvette Cooper: [holding answer 9 April 2001]: The provision of diagnostic CT scanners is decided locally in the context of regional capital investment plans. The NHS Cancer Plan announced new investment of £570 million, which will address inequalities in access to services for cancer, including the provision of diagnostic CT scanners. For funding of CT scanners we have produced a database of the numbers of CT scanners per head of population and have calculated the number of additional machines required in order to bring up the numbers in those regions which currently have a short-fall compared to the mean number of CT scanners per head of population nationally. This equates to: seven additional machines for South East region seven additional machines for Eastern region five additional machines for South West region two additional machines for Trent region one additional machine for West Midlands region 22 additional machines in all.

Secondary information