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  • 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 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the failures identified by the Care Quality Commission in the South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust were first drawn to his Department’s attention.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Department’s attention was first drawn to issues in relation to South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAMB) NHS Foundation Trust’s NHS 111 service in autumn 2015.

    In March 2015, NHS England convened a risk summit meeting involving all partners following the suspension by SECAMB of their unofficial call-handling project. NHS England commissioned an external investigation which was published on 5 November 2015, while an initial report was shared with families involved with the SECAMB’s project in September 2015.

    Monitor, the then independent regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts (now part of NHS Improvement), announced on 28 October 2015 that it was taking action against SECAMB. Monitor’s requirements included the development of three reviews. The first; a forensic review of the project itself undertaken by Deloitte was published on 15 March 2016. Second, the Trust has commissioned an independent expert to lead a patient impact review following the call-handling project, which will be finalised shortly. Third, the Trust is required to undertake a full governance review and this will take place once the substantive board is in place.

    In the meantime NHS Improvement are working closely with the Trust to support it in addressing known governance, operational and quality issues.

    The Government has no plans to set up an inquiry.

  • 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 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will instigate an inquiry into the past management of the South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Department’s attention was first drawn to issues in relation to South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAMB) NHS Foundation Trust’s NHS 111 service in autumn 2015.

    In March 2015, NHS England convened a risk summit meeting involving all partners following the suspension by SECAMB of their unofficial call-handling project. NHS England commissioned an external investigation which was published on 5 November 2015, while an initial report was shared with families involved with the SECAMB’s project in September 2015.

    Monitor, the then independent regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts (now part of NHS Improvement), announced on 28 October 2015 that it was taking action against SECAMB. Monitor’s requirements included the development of three reviews. The first; a forensic review of the project itself undertaken by Deloitte was published on 15 March 2016. Second, the Trust has commissioned an independent expert to lead a patient impact review following the call-handling project, which will be finalised shortly. Third, the Trust is required to undertake a full governance review and this will take place once the substantive board is in place.

    In the meantime NHS Improvement are working closely with the Trust to support it in addressing known governance, operational and quality issues.

    The Government has no plans to set up an inquiry.

  • Judith Cummins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Judith Cummins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Judith Cummins on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the potential contribution to raising community awareness of the dangers of testicular cancer of the work of the Oddballs testicular cancer charity and similar organisations.

    David Mowat

    Public Health England’s ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaigns do not currently include testicular cancer, so no assessment has been made of the potential impact of a campaign on the issue.

    The decision on which cancers should be the focus of ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaigns is informed by a steering group, whose members include primary and secondary care clinicians, and key voluntary sector organisations. A number of factors are taken into account when deciding which campaigns to develop and run, with one of the main criteria being the scope to save lives through earlier diagnosis and whether the cancer has a clear early sign or symptom that the general public can act upon should it arise.

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

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to make personal devices for instant monitoring of insulin levels available to people with diabetes on the NHS.

    Nicola Blackwood

    We are not aware of any clinical utility associated with the instant monitoring of insulin levels. However, continuous glucose monitoring devices can measure glucose levels 24 hours a day and it is for National Health Service commissioners to decide whether to make these available to their local populations.

    In August 2015, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published guidelines which recommend that such devices should not be made routinely available to people with Type 1 diabetes unless they are willing to commit to using them at least 70% of the time and to calibrate them as needed (as well as meeting certain other criteria).

    NICE has found that, for some people, continuous glucose monitoring can have clinical benefit but generally it is not more effective than current methods of self-monitoring.

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

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many women had their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed to prevent cancer in each of the last five years.

    David Mowat

    The following table provides the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) with a primary or secondary diagnosis identifying that prophylactic surgery has been performed due to a family or personal history of cancer and a main or secondary procedure of salpingo-oophorectomy (removal of ovaries and fallopian tubes) in each or the last five years.

    FCEs

    2010-11

    1,194

    2011-12

    1,348

    2012-13

    1,252

    2013-14

    1,362

    2014-15

    1,504


    Notes:

    – Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, Health and Social Care Information Centre.

    – Activity in English National Health Service Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector.

    – An FCE is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FCEs should not be considered a count of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year.

    – The following OPCS classification of interventions and procedures codes were used to identify a salpingo-oophorectomy:

    Q22.1 – Bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (removal of both ovaries and fallopian tubes)

    Q23.1 – Unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (removal of one ovary and fallopian tube)

    Q23.2 – Salpingo-oophorectomy of remaining solitary fallopian tube and ovary

    Q24.1 – Salpingo-oophorectomy NEC (not elsewhere classified)

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, House of Lords, 9 July 2015, Official Report, column 286, what his policy is on part funding of the NHS through insurance and co-payments.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    There is no plan to change the way that the National Health Service is funded nor any consideration of changes. The Government remains committed to the principles of the NHS, enshrined in the NHS Constitution, that access to NHS services is based on clinical need, not the ability to pay.

    The Government is also committed to working with the NHS in implementing its own plan for the future of the NHS – the Five Year Forward View – backed up by the commitment made in the Spending Review to provide an additional £10 billion in real terms by 2020-21 compared to 2014-15. This fully funds the plan.

  • Corri Wilson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Corri Wilson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Corri Wilson on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what key priorities have been agreed by the National Autism Programme Board on improving data and information collected on autism to support the effective commissioning of services for autistic people.

    David Mowat

    Since the meeting of the cross government Autism Programme Board on 16 June 2016, discussions with NHS England have focused on taking forward the actions agreed to improve diagnostic waiting times and outcomes for people with autism. The National Autistic Society and the report of the Westminster Commission on Autism have both suggested that NHS England create a new role of National Clinical Director for autism, and this is a matter for NHS England to consider.

    The Autism Programme Board at its last meeting also considered current and possible future sources of autism data. The Board asked that further consideration be given to this issue and for the Department to report back to them before their autumn meeting. This work is on-going.

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Department’s evaluation of the autism awareness project, what measures his Department plans to use to demonstrate (a) how many more people understand autism as a result of that project and (b) its overall value for money.

    David Mowat

    After a public tendering process, the Autism Alliance UK were successful in receiving funding from the Department for their Connect to Autism project. This project has focused on improving awareness and understanding of autism in the general population by working with local and national providers of services in the private, public and voluntary sectors. A tendering process to evaluate the project will be undertaken shortly, with the evaluation aiming to identify, amongst other outcomes, how many people the awareness project has reached and its overall value for money.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the NHS requires organisations bidding for out of area contracts to have been inspected and rated by the Care Quality Commission before bidding.

    David Mowat

    Non-primary care services must be commissioned by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) or NHS England using the NHS Standard Contract. The NHS Standard Contract requires any provider to comply with the registration requirements of Care Quality Commission (CQC) where applicable. When this is the case the production of evidence of registration with the CQC will be a precondition of the commencement of service delivery.

    We would expect commissioners to require evidence of registration (if legally required) with the CQC as part of the tendering process for a new contract. In the case of delivery of services from a new premises or a newly-established provider, registration may not be in place at time the provider submits its bid, but should be before services commence.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how (a) residents, (b) patients, (c) clinical commissioning groups and (d) NHS England can assess the standard and quality of care offered by an NHS body that has not yet received a Care Quality Commission inspection rating.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. All providers of regulated activities, including National Health Service and independent providers, have to register with the CQC and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall. The CQC monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards. This gives patients and the public a fair, balanced and easy to understand assessment of the performance of a provider.

    During 2014, the CQC progressively introduced a new inspection regime for all providers. Since the CQC introduced its new inspection regime in 2014 it has issued ratings for the majority of providers. All remaining NHS hospitals and general practitioner providers will be inspected by March 2017.

    Some of the providers that do not have ratings have already been inspected within the new inspection regime but at a time when ratings were not completed. For all providers that were inspected in this way, the CQC has published an assessment of care quality that has been designed to be helpful to patients and the public.

    Other sources of information on care quality include the MyNHS website, NHS Choices, quality accounts, specialised services dashboards published by NHS England, and the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme.