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  • Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Dental Contract Reform: Prototypes pilot in (a) improving the quality of dental care and (b) improving access to dental care.

    David Mowat

    The Government is committed to replacing the current National Health Service dental contract with one that better rewards dentists for improving the oral health of their patients in addition to providing treatment where needed.

    The dental pilots which ran from 2011-16 tested a new way of delivering care focussed on prevention. Based on the learning from that scheme, 79 high street practices are continuing to test the prevention based clinical pathway with the addition of testing a possible new remuneration system.

    The prototype scheme evaluation is expected during 2017-18. The evaluation will be overseen by an evidence and learning group, which includes clinical and stakeholder representation. If successful the new system could start to be rolled out nationally from 2018-19.

  • Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure residents in deprived areas have access to dental care.

    David Mowat

    NHS England has a legal duty to commission National Health Service dental services to meet the needs of the local population. NHS dental services are commissioned by NHS England through contracts with independent providers. These contracts are set based on the outcome of an oral health needs assessment undertaken in partnership with local authorities, which identifies the level of dental need for a particular community.

    NHS England is also working up plans to start testing new ways to improve children’s oral health in 10 high needs areas by innovative commissioning, focussed on encouraging take up of services that are available. The 10 high needs areas selected will be announced in November 2016.

  • Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to conduct a review of dentistry provision contracts.

    David Mowat

    The Government is committed to replacing the current National Health Service dental contract with one that better rewards dentists for improving the oral health of their patients in addition to providing treatment where needed.

    The dental pilots which ran from 2011-16 tested a new way of delivering care focussed on prevention. Based on the learning from that scheme, 79 high street practices are continuing to test the prevention based clinical pathway with the addition of testing a possible new remuneration system.

    The prototype scheme evaluation is expected during 2017-18. The evaluation will be overseen by an evidence and learning group, which includes clinical and stakeholder representation. If successful the new system could start to be rolled out nationally from 2018-19.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to encourage clinical commissioning groups to abide in full by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines on funding in vitro fertilisation.

    Nicola Blackwood

    Clinical commissioning groups have a legal duty to have regard to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. As such, NHS England expects that all those involved in commissioning infertility treatment services to be fully aware of the importance of having regard to the NICE fertility guidelines.

    Representatives from NHS England, the British Fertility Society and Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority are looking at how commissioning of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) services could be improved. Commissioning of IVF will remain a local decision but there may be scope to improve the quality of commissioning through, for example, the development of a benchmark price that the National Health Service pays for infertility treatments and by encouraging the adoption of best practice when making clinical decisions.

  • Marie Rimmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Marie Rimmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Marie Rimmer on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the report of the Independent Cancer Taskforce, Achieving world-class cancer outcomes: A strategy for England 2015-2020, published in July 2015, what progress has been made on implementation of recommendation 47 on NHS England commissioning NICE to develop updated guidelines for adjuvant treatment for breast cancer.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guideline on early and locally advanced breast cancer: diagnosis and management (CG80) recommends the use of adjuvant bisphosphonates for the management of breast cancer treatment-induced bone loss in specified clinical circumstances. This guideline is currently being updated and the use of adjuvant bisphosphonates has been identified as one of the key areas that will be covered in this update. NICE expects to publish its updated guideline in July 2018.

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress his Department has made on reaching a decision on NHS England’s commissioning responsibilities for drugs capable of preventing HIV infection in high-risk groups.

    Nicola Blackwood

    In September the Court of Appeal heard an appeal against an earlier judgement of the High Court, which ruled that NHS England does have powers to commission pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for people at risk of contracting HIV. Judgement is still awaited. No decisions on commissioning of PrEP have yet been made.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that medicines distributed within the UK on European Medicines Agency licence continue to be distributed once the UK leaves the EU.

    David Mowat

    The Government is very aware of the need to ensure that medicines already on the United Kingdom market, and which were licensed through the European Medicines Agency’s centralised procedure, remain approved for use across the UK after our exit from the European Union. This is not an issue which needs to form part of any negotiation, but will be within the UK’s own competence.

  • 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 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects NICE to publish guidance on the use of bisphosphonates for the indication of preventing secondary breast cancer.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guideline on early and locally advanced breast cancer: diagnosis and management (CG80) recommends the use of adjuvant bisphosphonates for the management of breast cancer treatment-induced bone loss in specified clinical circumstances. This guideline is currently being updated and the use of adjuvant bisphosphonates has been identified as one of the key areas that will be covered in this update. NICE expects to publish its updated guideline in July 2018.

  • Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugo Swire on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the number of (a) doctors and (b) nurses recruited by the NHS.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The responsibility for recruitment and staffing rests with National Health Service organisations as they are best placed to ensure they have the right staff, in the right place, at the right time to provide safe and effective care for their patients.

    On 4 October 2016 the Secretary of State for Health announced that from September 2018, the Government will fund up to 1,500 additional undergraduate medical places through university medical schools each year.

    In November 2015 reforms to nursing, midwifery and allied health pre-registration training was announced, the reforms aim to increase the number of training places by up to 10,000 by the end of the Parliament.

    As outlined in its Workforce Plan for 2016-17, Health Education England has increased the overall volume of education and training with, in excess of, 38,000 new training places in 2016-17 for nurses, scientists, and therapists, and there are now over 50,000 doctors and dentists currently in training.

    The latest workforce statistics published by NHS Digital for June 2016 show that since May 2010, there are now almost 22,700 more professionally qualified clinical staff working in NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups, including over 8,500 more doctors and 4,600 more nurses and midwives.

  • Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much overtime was paid to NHS staff in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2013-14.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The total overtime payments to National Health Service staff are estimated to have been:

    – £380 million in 2015-16;

    – £362 million in 2014-15; and

    – £330 million in 2013-14

    These estimates are based on pay information from the NHS Electronic Staff Record (ESR), which is the Human Resources and Payroll system for almost all trusts in England. These estimates do not include overtime payments to general practitioners or their staff.

    ESR includes hundreds of payment type codes and payment figures are aggregated to high-level groupings using a mapping system. One of the high-level groupings is Overtime/Additional Duty Hours. The estimates provided in the answer above are based on this.

    Overtime/Additional Duty Hours is just one way of buying extra staffing resource in the NHS. Shifts, absence and vacancies are also filled using additional activity payments (e.g. additional programmed activities and additional hours at plain time rates for part-time staff), bank contracts, and agency staffing.