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  • Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of NHS blood donation services.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is operationally responsible for providing a safe and reliable supply of blood, blood products and expertise to hospitals in England. Each year, donors voluntarily give around 1.7 million units of blood to ensure that hospitals receive the 6,000 blood donations they need every day, to treat patients. There has not been a shortage of blood for many years.

    NHSBT recruits around 200,000 new donors each year to replace those who can no longer donate for reasons such as ill health, pregnancy or foreign travel.

    To meet an on-going overall drop in demand but a more complex need for specific blood groups, NHSBT is increasing donation from O negative blood donors, A negative platelet donors and donors from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities. To increase blood donation, NHSBT recently launched a BAME toolkit to be used by Members of Parliament seeking to increase blood and organ donors in their constituencies.

    The toolkit can be found at:

    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/i5d5f93ppiqys38/AAB_Q44nwfOiRFMYUx9qKlH8a?dl=0

    “

  • Wendy Morton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Wendy Morton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wendy Morton on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the availability of (a) special care neonatal and level three cots and (b) transfers between neonatal units and between neonatal intensive care units.

    Ben Gummer

    The NHS Toolkit for High Quality Neonatal Services (2009) and NHS England’s service specification for Neonatal Intensive Care Transport (2013) sets out standards that neonatal services in England should be meeting to make sure babies born premature or sick get the care they need and deserve. For those babies who are born sick or premature, NHS England commissions Neonatal Care from 165 neonatal units. These units are organised and supported by 13 Operational Delivery Networks with well-defined service standards for all levels of neonatal care within the NHS England Maternity, Children and Young People Managed Clinical Networks. These are intended to provide appropriate levels of care for all babies identified with problems both before and following delivery. Neonatal transport services are a vital part of care for premature and sick babies, to ensure that babies can be moved quickly for the right care in the right place for their needs.

    We know that that there is still more to do to ensure neonatal services are consistent across the country and that is why the Neonatal Clinical Reference Group at NHS England has committed to review the findings of the ‘Bliss Baby report 2015’, (http://www.bliss.org.uk/babyreport) and consider plans for improvement in neonatal services.

    “

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many visits by (a) Ministers and (b) officials from his Department were made to Coventry in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    The Secretary of State for Health and his team have visited the following in an official capacity in the last five years:

    The former Secretary of State (Mr Andrew Lansley)

    1 March 2012 University Hospital Coventry

    The former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Anna Soubry)

    16 October 2012 Coventry City Council

    The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Jane Ellison)

    16 September 2014 Warwick University

    15 September 2015 Warwick University

    The former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Dr Daniel Poulter)

    24 January 2013 University Hospital Coventry

    The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)

    18 April 2013 Warwick University

    16 September 2015 Warwick University

    Information on visits by officials is not routinely collected and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when NHS England plans to publish its response to its consultation on developing a method to assist investment decisions in specialised services.

    George Freeman

    The proposed prioritisation methodology which went out to consultation was signed off by the Specialised Commissioning Committee at its meeting on 31 May 2016 – for use in 2016/17.

    The consultation outcome document will now be published on the website imminently.

    There will be further work undertaken on the methodology in due course to refine and improve it for use in future years.

  • Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that NHS England’s new prioritisation framework for making decisions on investment in specialised services will be aligned with the recommendations of the accelerated access review.

    George Freeman

    The Accelerated Access Review team has been working closely with colleagues across NHS England, including the specialised commissioning team to ensure that policy is aligned.

  • Colleen Fletcher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Colleen Fletcher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Colleen Fletcher on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the (a) efficiency of existing diagnostic tests and (b) effectiveness of current treatments for Lyme disease.

    Jane Ellison

    Lyme disease is a complex infection where challenges in understanding of disease progression, and consequently diagnosis and treatment, remain.

    The National Health Service and Public Health England (PHE) use well established validated diagnostic tests for Lyme disease that are highly reproducible between laboratories. International External Quality Assurance schemes are in place to ensure consistency between different test centres. Commercial manufacturers and international academic groups have research programmes into improved tests and PHE continuously reviews new Lyme serology tests and will validate and implement new tests if appropriate.

    All treatment for Lyme disease within the NHS should be evidence based, and targeted at the disease mechanisms underlying those symptoms. Most cases are diagnosed in primary care and PHE has published a referral pathway for general practitioners to follow to ensure problem cases are seen by an appropriate NHS specialist.

    To further strengthen the evidence base we have commissioned the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to develop a new clinical guideline on Lyme disease, for both primary and secondary care, for publication in 2018. The Department is also commissioning three Systematic Reviews by independent academic groups to cover

    ― diagnosis and diagnostic tests;

    ― treatment; and

    ― epidemiology/transmission routes.

  • Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether healthcare professionals in Greater Manchester expressed support for the introduction of charging for (a) primary care and (b) emergency care in response to his Department’s consultation, Making a fair contribution: consultation on the extension of charging overseas visitors and migrants using the NHS in England.

    Alistair Burt

    The Government is currently analysing responses to this consultation and will publish its response in due course.

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

    Catherine McKinnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 2 March 2016 to Question 29364, what the grounds are for the Public Health England Office for Data Release denying requests made to it for information collected via the Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy dataset; what the timescale is for that office to respond to any requests made; and whether there will be a public announcement setting out the date when requests for data may be made to that office.

    George Freeman

    Public Health England (PHE) is making data collected as part of the Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy dataset available through its Office for Data Release (ODR) function. The data have been available since April 2016 and the ODR is currently processing requests. The priority of PHE, and the ODR, is to maintain patient confidentiality and therefore data will only be released to external parties in a format that does not compromise patient confidentiality either directly or by inference.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons GP practice lists have been closed in East Grinstead; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England has advised that the Horsham and Mid Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is using the predicted population data from the developing estates strategy to model health services to meet the increased demand. NHS England further advises that it is working closely with the CCG to develop an action plan for local primary care services in East Grinstead.

    NHS England is responsible for commissioning of primary care in Mid Sussex. NHS England advises that only one general practitioner practice in Grinstead has closed its list to new patients and two others have applied to close their lists but are still currently being allocated patients by NHS England.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to expand health services in Mid Sussex to meet increased housing and population numbers.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England has advised that the Horsham and Mid Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is using the predicted population data from the developing estates strategy to model health services to meet the increased demand. NHS England further advises that it is working closely with the CCG to develop an action plan for local primary care services in East Grinstead.

    NHS England is responsible for commissioning of primary care in Mid Sussex. NHS England advises that only one general practitioner practice in Grinstead has closed its list to new patients and two others have applied to close their lists but are still currently being allocated patients by NHS England.