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  • Antoinette Sandbach – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Antoinette Sandbach – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will review the (a) commissioning framework and (b) tariff payment for bereavement care for families who have suffered a stillbirth or neonatal death.

    Ben Gummer

    A report in 2015 on Term, singleton, normally-formed, antepartum stillbirth from Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK found that 60% of parents currently receive a good standard of bereavement care but this is not the case for everyone and we are continuing to consider the actions that should be taken to improve bereavement care across England.

    NHS England has established a Maternity Transformation Programme Board, this will bring key partners together to oversee the implementation of a broad range of policies to deliver significant improvements to maternity care in England, including implementation of the recommendations of Better Births, Improving outcomes of maternity services in England (2016). The Transformation Programme includes work on supporting local transformation of maternity services, promoting best practice for safer care, increasing choice and reforming the payment system.

    In Delivering the Forward View: NHS planning guidance 2016/17-2020/21 localities have been asked to produce “Sustainability and Transformation Plans” to show how local services should transform and ensure they are sustainable over the next five years. As part of this, local health economies have been asked to plan how they will transform their maternity services in line with the vision outlined in Better Births, Improving outcomes of maternity services in England. NHS England will be reviewing how well commissioners are planning for delivery of this vision in signing-off plans; and how well those plans are being put into action and on an ongoing basis through its Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Assessment Framework, and annual Ofsted-style rating of each CCG on its commissioning of maternity services.

  • Antoinette Sandbach – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Antoinette Sandbach – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of differences between bereavement support services for families who have suffered a stillbirth or neonatal death commissioned by clinical commissioning groups and such services provided by hospital trusts; and if he will make a statement.

    Ben Gummer

    A report in 2015 on Term, singleton, normally-formed, antepartum stillbirth from Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK found that 60% of parents currently receive a good standard of bereavement care but this is not the case for everyone and we are continuing to consider the actions that should be taken to improve bereavement care across England.

    NHS England has established a Maternity Transformation Programme Board, this will bring key partners together to oversee the implementation of a broad range of policies to deliver significant improvements to maternity care in England, including implementation of the recommendations of Better Births, Improving outcomes of maternity services in England (2016). The Transformation Programme includes work on supporting local transformation of maternity services, promoting best practice for safer care, increasing choice and reforming the payment system.

    In Delivering the Forward View: NHS planning guidance 2016/17-2020/21 localities have been asked to produce “Sustainability and Transformation Plans” to show how local services should transform and ensure they are sustainable over the next five years. As part of this, local health economies have been asked to plan how they will transform their maternity services in line with the vision outlined in Better Births, Improving outcomes of maternity services in England. NHS England will be reviewing how well commissioners are planning for delivery of this vision in signing-off plans; and how well those plans are being put into action and on an ongoing basis through its Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Assessment Framework, and annual Ofsted-style rating of each CCG on its commissioning of maternity services.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will request that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation undertakes an assessment of the recommendation from the Britain Against Cancer conference held in December 2015 to report its review on extending HPV vaccination to boys in 2016.

    Jane Ellison

    The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s (JCVI) advice needs to be based on a robust cost-effectiveness analysis. This is underway and Public Health England is due to report by early 2017. The JCVI has agreed that shortcuts could undermine the validity of the results and will begin its deliberations on extending vaccination to adolescent boys once all the necessary evidence is available. It is important that we follow a proper process and that the JCVI has a full understanding of the cost-effectiveness of vaccination programmes.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve the recruitment and retention of paramedics employed by the London Ambulance Service.

    Ben Gummer

    We are advised by London Ambulance Service NHS Trust (LAS) that during 2015/16 it recruited 717 frontline staff. In doing so, LAS achieved its recruitment target and filled all its available frontline posts.

    We understand that LAS has put in place a number of measures to help it support and retain staff. These measures include updating the vehicle fleet and re-launching the trust’s learning and development function. LAS has also established a new clinical team leader role, with 50% of the role devoted to supporting staff.

    Demand on the service has increased significantly over the past five years. During March 2016, demand was the highest on record for patients with serious and life threatening illnesses. LAS continues to work to improve services for patients by focusing on reducing demand, recruiting more staff and supporting staff to work more efficiently.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the King’s Fund Quarterly Monitoring Report 19, published in May 2016; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    We recognise that very real financial and operational challenges face our health and care services. However, we are committed to a sustainable future for our National Health Service.

    The Government has reaffirmed its commitment to the NHS by again committing to increase health funding each year in this parliament, in spite of the continuing fiscal challenges.

    By 2020-21, the Government will increase funding for the NHS by £10 billion a year in real terms compared with 2014-15, to support the implementation of the NHS’s own plan – the NHS Five Year Forward View – to transform services across the country. And we will be giving the NHS £3.8 billion more this year (2016-17), over and above inflation, and almost £6 billion of the £10 billion in the first two years of the six-year period.

    It is not, however, down to funding alone. The health system needs to match the increase in funding with service transformation and it is vitally important that we continue to strive for efficiency and give support to the development of new, more integrated, models of care; to the use of technology and transparency of data to drive up quality and choice for patients; to local areas to determine what is right for them through devolution; and to drive up the focus on prevention.

    The NHS achieving 2-3% net efficiency gains each year until 2020-21 would represent a strong performance but it is achievable. We have already begun introducing measures to help spend taxpayers’ money more efficiently and reduce waste immediately and for the future – making sure every penny possible is spent on patient care.

  • Andrea Jenkyns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrea Jenkyns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrea Jenkyns on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the relationship between hand hygiene compliance levels across the NHS and rates of trust-assigned MRSA bacteraemia in 2015.

    Ben Gummer

    As hand hygiene is known to be an important part of a robust approach to infection prevention and control the Department’s guidance to the National Health Service on infection prevention and control was strengthened last year. However, a national assessment for 2015 is not available as information on hand hygiene compliance is not collected centrally. Auditing of hand hygiene is a local responsibility.

  • Fabian Hamilton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Fabian Hamilton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fabian Hamilton on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many heart valve replacements have been undertaken in the last five years for which figures are available; and whether those figures are comparable to France and Germany.

    Jane Ellison

    The number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) with a main or secondary procedure for a heart valve replacement in England from 2010/11 to 2014/15 is shown in the table below:

    Year

    FCEs

    2010-11

    10,543

    2011-12

    11,360

    2012-13

    11,434

    2013-14

    12,137

    2014-15

    12,833

    The Government does not hold comparable data for heart valve replacement in France and Germany.

  • Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to review the current time limits for abortion.

    Jane Ellison

    The Abortion Act 1967 sets out that an abortion may be carried out after 24 weeks gestation only where:

    ― the termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman Section 1(1)(b); or

    ― the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated Section 1(1)(c); or

    ― there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped Section 1(1)(d).

    In England and Wales it is accepted Parliamentary practice that proposals for changes to the Abortion Act come from backbench members and that decisions are made on the basis of free votes. The Government has no plans to review this legislation.

  • Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on the introduction of abortion up to birth.

    Jane Ellison

    The Abortion Act 1967 sets out that an abortion may be carried out after 24 weeks gestation only where:

    ― the termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman Section 1(1)(b); or

    ― the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated Section 1(1)(c); or

    ― there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped Section 1(1)(d).

    In England and Wales it is accepted Parliamentary practice that proposals for changes to the Abortion Act come from backbench members and that decisions are made on the basis of free votes. The Government has no plans to review this legislation.

  • Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that training in the diagnosis and treatment of ME forms part of medical students’ training.

    Ben Gummer

    It is the responsibility of the professional regulators, such as the General Medical Council (GMC), to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricula to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care.

    Higher Education Institutions are responsible for ensuring the programmes they provide allow healthcare students to meet the outcomes set out by the regulators upon graduation.

    The royal colleges, for example the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Surgeons, also have responsibility for developing curricula for doctors and nurses, in particular postgraduate curricula.

    Health Education England works with bodies that set curricula such as the GMC and the royal colleges to seek to ensure training meets the needs of patients.