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Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his assessment is of the adequacy of the availability of talking therapies to young people.

Nicola Blackwood

The Future in Mind report published in March 2015 which followed the work of the Taskforce into Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing recognised the lack of access to treatment for children and young people with mental health difficulties. This suggested that less than 25% – 35% of children and young people with a diagnosable mental health condition, based on epidemiological data from 2005, accessed support. In response to this, the Government committed to realising the vision set out in Future in Mind to deliver a major, system-wide transformation in children and young people’s mental health services. This aims to improve access to services and make evidence-based psychological therapies, also known as talking therapies, more widely available across the country for those children and young people who need them.

To support this transformation, an additional £1.4 billion funding has been made available over the course of this Parliament for spending on children and young people’s mental health. This will be used to improve community-based services so that young people are helped earlier and are less likely to need to go into hospital. It will also enable the expansion and extension of the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme so that children and young people are able to access high quality and evidence-based interventions wherever they live.

All clinical commissioning groups have been asked to work with their partners to develop Local Transformation Plans to transform their local offer to improve children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. These Plans cover the full spectrum of mental health issues; from prevention and improving access to support and care for existing and emerging mental health problem to ensuring that inpatient services are available for those who need them.

01/01/2023

Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many calls NHS 111 has received in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Philip Dunne

NHS England publishes national data on the numbers of calls received (which are referred to as “offered”) through the NHS 111 number each month. This information provided in the table below.

Number of calls offered through the NHS 111 number, August 2015 to July 2016

August 2015	1,033,643
September 2015	933,786
October 2015	1,062,248
November 2015	1,140,196
December 2015	1,329,398
January 2016	1,343,248
February 2016	1,194,928
March 2016	1,488,928
April 2016	1,169,311
May 2016	1,282,993
June 2016	1,105,485
July 2016	1,222,866

Source: NHS England, NHS 111 Minimum Data Set 2016-17

01/01/2023

Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of NHS 111 on reducing the uptake of other NHS services.

Mr Philip Dunne

NHS 111 providers are expected to conduct a patient survey every six months for each area they provide services for.

Considering the latest year for which survey results are available (April 2015 to September 2015 and October 2015 to March 2016 surveys), for 11.6% of triaged calls an ambulance was dispatched by the NHS 111 service and in 8.4% of calls the caller was advised to attend accident and emergency (A&E). However, 18% of patients who responded to the survey reported they would have called for an ambulance if NHS 111 had not been available, and 28.3% would have attended A&E.

For the full year period (April 2015 to March 2016), 11.3 million calls were triaged. From this we can estimate the impact of the 111 service. The differences mean that due to availability of the NHS 111 service, over 2.25 million people this year were directed away from using A&E and over 750,000 were directed away from calling an ambulance.

Data about the service to which patients are recommended during an NHS 111 call (“dispositions”) are collected by NHS England and published on a monthly basis. Latest data are for July 2016 and can be found at the following website:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/nhs-111-minimum-data-set/nhs-111-minimum-data-set-2016-17/

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01/01/2023
Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to develop peer support networks for breastfeeding.

Mr Philip Dunne

Public Health England (PHE) works with local services to create breastfeeding friendly communities, with midwives and health visitors to promote best practice, and, through our Start4Life social marketing programme, to provide parents with trusted National Health Service advice.

PHE has developed an infant feeding commissioning resource in partnership with Unicef to support local authorities in the delivery of a comprehensive approach to the commissioning of services that protect, promote and support breastfeeding. PHE also shares innovative approaches for supporting breastfeeding.

01/01/2023
Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department issues to clinical commissioning groups and NHS trusts on recommended travel times to local health services.

Mr Philip Dunne

It is for local commissioners to ensure services are provided in a manner that combines quality of provision with timeliness of access, taking into account local geography and other issues.

When considering service reconfiguration, NHS England has issued guidance on Planning and Delivering Service Change for Patients, and as part of this guidance specify that: ‘Based on evidence and national clinical reference groups’ advice, commissioners need to determine the appropriate range of providers and interplay of key access requirements such as travel time.’

The guidance can be found at:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/plan-ass-deliv-serv-chge.pdf

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01/01/2023
Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to promote breastfeeding.

Mr Philip Dunne

Public Health England (PHE) works with local services to create breastfeeding friendly communities, with midwives and health visitors to promote best practice, and, through our Start4Life social marketing programme, to provide parents with trusted National Health Service advice.

PHE has developed an infant feeding commissioning resource in partnership with Unicef to support local authorities in the delivery of a comprehensive approach to the commissioning of services that protect, promote and support breastfeeding. PHE also shares innovative approaches for supporting breastfeeding.

01/01/2023
Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to develop milk banks.

Mr Philip Dunne

The United Kingdom Association for Milk Banking promote and support the accountable provision of safe, rigorously screened donor breastmilk for sick and premature babies. However they do not routinely supply milk for mother who through illness cannot breastfeed their babies even though they would consider providing the supply of breastmilk on a case by case basis.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends that all donor milk administered in the National Health Service should be from milk banks that can demonstrate adherence to the NICE guidelines on the operation of donor milk bank services.

It is up to the local NHS in each area to consider whether to introduce a milk bank for mothers attending maternity units. There are at present 14 milk banks in NHS trusts in England.

01/01/2023
Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to discourage pregnant mothers from consuming alcohol during pregnancy.

Nicola Blackwood

We want women to make decisions about their health based on the best possible information.

The new United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines provide clear advice for women across the UK that for those who are pregnant, or could become pregnant, the safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all. This is to keep any risk to the baby to a minimum.

Public Health England is working with relevant professional organisations in England to help midwives and health visitors educate and inform women about avoiding alcohol while pregnant.

01/01/2023
Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people who suffer from aphasia are given the support needed to communicate effectively.

David Mowat

Rehabilitation services, specifically speech and language therapy, provide much of the National Health Service support for people with aphasia. As clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning these services, they should be taking steps to ensure that support for people with aphasia is available and improve these services where appropriate.

Stroke is the most common cause of aphasia developing in adults. The vast majority of patients are admitted to hospital after a stroke and over 90% are managed on a stroke unit. All stroke units in England have access to speech and language therapy. After discharge from hospital about three quarters of areas in England have access to stroke specific early supported discharge teams of which 91% have a speech and language therapist.

01/01/2023
Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether it is his policy that community services for people with learning disabilities should employ people with learning disabilities to provide those services.

David Mowat

The Government is committed to increasing the number of people with learning disabilities employed across the full range of National Health Service organisations. NHS Employers and NHS England have a range of tools and guidance to support organisations to increase their recruitment of people with learning disabilities, including providing real examples of jobs currently being done. People with learning disabilities bring their own expertise, personal experience and knowledge to roles. As such, roles that can specifically draw on this experience should be considered.

Further information on the NHS Learning Disability Employment Programme is available on NHS England’s website at:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/gov/equality-hub/ld-emp-prog/

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01/01/2023