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  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme recovery rate reaches 50 per cent by March 2016.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England (NHSE) monitors clinical commissioning groups’ (CCGs) performance against the recovery target for people who have received psychological therapies through the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme. In October 2015, 77 CCGs met the 50% Recovery Standard.

    The Department is working closely with NHSE to reduce the variation in recovery rates across CCG areas.

    NHSE is also supporting lowest performing IAPT providers to improve their recovery rates and is offering workshops to spread good practice to all commissioners and providers.

    The Government is aware of evidence that shows that people from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities are less likely to use psychological therapies. There is ongoing activity by NHSE in collaboration with the Department to encourage access to IAPT services by the under-represented groups.

    A BAME benchmarking tool has been developed and is currently being piloted by a number of IAPT services. This will assist services to improve access to people from BAME communities by helping those services understand the ethnicity of the population and whether this is reflected within the population they see. It asks services to assess whether outcomes for BAME communities are equivalent to non-BAME patients whilst also checking whether improvements for access to people from BAME communities have been made and specific training for therapists have been utilised. Once pilots are complete NHS England will publish the benchmarking tool for all services to access.

    Equality of access is an issue for wider mental health services and that is why the Mental Health Partnership Board is considering the issues around equality of access in mental health services, which includes the IAPT programme.

    The Health and Social Care Information Centre publish referrals and outcomes data by ethnic groups. NHSE intends to compare those numbers with BAME prevalence population data to highlight referrals and access rates for ethnic groups at CCG level. CCGs are responsible for taking the necessary actions to address any disparity.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to improve the support available to mental health professionals to manage their own mental health.

    Alistair Burt

    Regular clinical supervision with an experienced and trained supervisor has been shown to ameliorate the negative impact of therapeutic work on the health and well-being of therapeutic staff.

    Guidance on the Principles of Supervision for an IAPT Service recognises the importance of clinical supervision in this regard and recommends one hour of clinical supervision with an experienced trained supervisor per week.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many qualified counsellors worked in child and adult mental health services in each of the last three years.

    Alistair Burt

    This information is not held centrally.

  • 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 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to make translarna available to boys who could benefit from it.

    George Freeman

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body that provides guidance for the National Health Service on whether to fund selected drugs and treatments. NICE is currently evaluating Translarna (ataluren) for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy through its highly specialised technology programme. The publication date for NICE’s final guidance is to be confirmed.

    The NHS in England is legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended in NICE highly specialised technology guidance within three months of its final guidance being issued. In the absence of guidance from NICE, it is for commissioners to make decisions on whether to fund medicines based on an assessment of the available evidence.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to prioritise therapeutic services for children who have suffered abuse.

    Alistair Burt

    The Government is committed to delivering the vision set out in the Future in mind report and is driving forward the transformation of children and young people’s mental health services to improve access to high quality support across the country. This transformation is being supported by £1.25 billion of additional Government investment, as well as an extra £150 million to help young people with eating disorders.

    Local Transformation Plans (LTPs) will set out how local organisations will use the additional investment of £1.4 billion the Government is making available during the course of this Parliament to transform local Child and Adolescent Mental Health services. All clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), working closely with their partners in local government, Children’s Services and education, have developed plans to transform their local offer. These plans cover the full spectrum of mental health issues: from prevention and resilience building, to support and care for existing and emerging mental health problems, as well as transitions between services and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable. This includes those who have been exposed to sexual abuse or exploitation. Decisions on access to services are based on assessment of clinical need.

    NHS England increased funding of sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) from £8.98 million in 2013/14 to £16.5 million in 2014/15, especially to improve the paediatric response to the needs of sexually abused children. NHS England continues to make the health services response to sexual abuse a priority, and in addition to producing a five year plan for commissioning SARCs, they are planning to engage with CCGs on the delivery of therapeutic care to support survivors.

    The Government has set up the first ever cross-Government Ministerial Child Protection Taskforce to overhaul the way police, schools, social services and others work together in tackling abuse of children. The Taskforce’s work will build on the Government’s wide-ranging reforms to create a care system that puts children’s needs first.

  • 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 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress he is making on improved access to specialist psychology support for people with muscle-wasting conditions.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England commissions specialised neurological services at a national level, including those with muscle-wasting conditions. The relevant service specification sets out what designated specialised providers must have in place to offer evidence based safe and effective care. Patients should have access to a multidisciplinary team (MDT) to assess, diagnose and provide support. The MDT will include neuromuscular consultants, neuromuscular physiotherapists, psychologists, specialist nurses, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and other health professionals.

    The specification also sets out that neuromuscular clinics need to identify those at risk of respiratory problems and refer for specialist respiratory assessment and monitoring.

    The specification can be found at the following link:

    www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdf

    A separate specification covers services for children:

    www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/e09-paedi-neurology.pdf

    “

  • 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 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure provision of specialist respiratory care for people with muscle-wasting conditions; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England commissions specialised neurological services at a national level, including those with muscle-wasting conditions. The relevant service specification sets out what designated specialised providers must have in place to offer evidence based safe and effective care. Patients should have access to a multidisciplinary team (MDT) to assess, diagnose and provide support. The MDT will include neuromuscular consultants, neuromuscular physiotherapists, psychologists, specialist nurses, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and other health professionals.

    The specification also sets out that neuromuscular clinics need to identify those at risk of respiratory problems and refer for specialist respiratory assessment and monitoring.

    The specification can be found at the following link:

    www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdf

    A separate specification covers services for children:

    www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/e09-paedi-neurology.pdf

    “

  • Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take in response to increases in the cost to the NHS of Liothyronine; and if he will make a statement.

    George Freeman

    The Government’s policy on generic medicines is to allow manufacturers freedom of pricing for their products, relying on competition to deliver value for money. Any potential pricing abuses are a matter for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The Department is in regular contact with the CMA.

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

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the overall quality of (a) primary health, (b) hospital and (c) community services for older people.

    Alistair Burt

    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England and has a key responsibility in the overall assurance of safety and quality of health and adult social care services.

    The CQC published its State of Care 2014-15 report in October 2015. It reported that 85% of the general practitioner (GP) practices CQC have rated are good or outstanding. The CQC inspects GP practices against six population areas, which includes older people.

    The latest results of the GP Patient Survey, published on 7 January 2016, indicate that patients over 75 have consistently higher rates of satisfaction with their GP services than other age groups.

    Overall care quality of providers is assessed regularly by Monitor and the CQC. And there are large scale national audits reporting on specific areas that are likely to be more relevant to older people for example the National Hip Fracture Data Base and the National Audit of Intermediate Care.

    The CQC’s State of Care 2014-15 report (October 2015) reported that 35% of acute hospitals were rated as good or outstanding.

    NHS England published in 2014 “Safe, compassionate care for frail older people using an integrated care pathway: Practical guidance for commissioners, providers and nursing, medical and allied health professional leaders”. This document summarises the evidence of the effects of an integrated pathway of care for older people and suggests how a pathway can be commissioned effectively using levers and incentives across providers.

    The CQC registers and inspects community providers and community trusts to ensure that they follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall. 59% of adult social care providers were rated as good or outstanding in the CQC’s October report.

    The trends in patient satisfaction for community services are tracked and reported monthly through the Friends and Family Test (FFT). FFT is an important feedback tool that gives patients the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience and helps the National Health Service to drive improvement in the services it provides.

    The latest FFT results from September until November 2015 showed that 95% of respondents would recommend the services they have used in the community services settings.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to amend UK marriage certificates to include mothers’ names.

    James Brokenshire

    There is agreement that the names of both parents should be included in the marriage entry. The Home Office has, therefore, been working with all interested parties to consider the most efficient and effective way to achieve this. Doing so is likely to require additional funding and changes to legislation, IT systems and administrative processes. A timetable will be confirmed for changes as soon as there is an opportunity to legislate on this matter.