Jim Higgins
Question:182 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for Health and Children the amount of finance spent on smoking related illnesses in 1998 and 1999. [5836/00]
Written Answers. - Tobacco Related Illnesses.
The hospital in-patient enquiry collects detailed data on all patient discharges from publicly funded acute hospitals and is the only routine source of information allowing health service treatment costs to be attributed to specific illnesses. Consumption of tobacco increases the risk of morbidity from a wide range of conditions. These include cancers, diseases of the heart and circulatory system, and respiratory disorders. According to HIPE there were approximately 50,000 hospitalisations due to these illnesses in 1998 accounting for an estimated 20% of total hospital inpatient costs. Caution should be exercised in the interpretation of these figures since they include all hospitalisations from the specified illnesses irrespective of whether or not they were due to smoking. Data on detailed hospital activity and costs for 1999 are not yet complete.
International studies indicate that 19% of all deaths in Ireland can be attributed to smoking. This figure derives from the publication Mortality from Smoking in Developed Countries, 1950-2000 by Richard Peto and others who used the results of epidemiological studies of mortality in smokers versus non-smokers in the United States to assign proportions of total mortality due to tobacco for each relevant cause of death. Similar proportions are not available for morbidity, and it is, therefore, not possible to estimate with any precision the cost of smoking related illness.
In terms of improved treatment and prevention services for cancer and heart disease, my Department is in the process of implementing a number of major initiatives. Under the national cancer strategy a sum of £40 million has been spent on the development of cancer services between the years 1997 and 2000. The full implementation of the recently launched national cardiovascular strategy will cost upwards of £150 million with an investment of £70 million required over the next three years. The budget increase in excise duty on cigarettes will assist in providing for further investment in cardiac infrastructure; – £3.6 million extra provided next year; – cancer services – £8.3 million extra next year; – breast screening; – £2.4 million extra next year; – palliative care; – £3.3 million extra next year; – cervical screening; – £3.6 million extra next year; – and the prevention and treatment of other smoking related illnesses.