Written question asked by Barry Gardiner (Labour) on Wednesday, 10 December 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 18 December 2003. It was answered by Stephen Ladyman (Labour) on Thursday, 18 December 2003 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many referrals of children up to the age of five years there were to the Community Paediatric Service in England and Wales in each year since 1997; and who initiated the referrals. - Including table and ref to Patient Care in the Community, NHS Specialist Care Nursing, Summary information for 2002-03, England - available at http://www.doh.gov.uk/kc590203.

Answer: Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many referrals of children up to the age of five years there were to the Community Paediatric Service in England and Wales in each year since 1997; and who initiated the referrals. [144137] Dr. Ladyman: Information is not available in the form requested. Data about new episodes of care with the community paediatric nursing services in England are published in "Patient Care in the Community, NHS Specialist Care Nursing, Summary information for 2002-03, England"-- available at http://www.doh.gov.uk/kc590203. The data collected do not include the age of the children involved or source of referral. The table shows numbers of new episodes in the financial years 1997-98 to 2002-03. Initial contacts with community paediatric nurses, England, 1997-98 to 2002-03 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Number of initial contacts 1997-98 33,200 1998-99 36,000 1999-2000 37,100 2000-01 40,200 2001-02 41,100 2002-03 43,600 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Note: Referrals to community paediatric nurses are not necessarily the same as referrals to community paediatric services--which usually relate to medical services and a different client mix.

Secondary information