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  • Rupa Huq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rupa Huq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rupa Huq on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment has been made by his Department or NHS England of the effect of minor ailments services provided by community pharmacies on demand for the services of GP practices and other parts of the NHS; and what assessment he has made of the effect of planned reductions in funding for pharmacies on those services.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England has taken account of the potential impact of a pharmacy minor ailments service on general practitioner services and other parts of the National Health Service. The findings of the Minor Ailment study (‘MINA’ study), conducted by the University of Aberdeen, in collaboration with NHS Grampian and the University of East Anglia, on behalf of Pharmacy Research UK in 2014, were considered. In addition, evaluations of local minor ailments schemes have continued to inform decision-making about local commissioning of such schemes.

    Community pharmacy is a vital part of the NHS and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

    The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public.

    We are consulting the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, other pharmacy bodies and patient and public representatives on our proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond. An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.

    Local commissioning and funding of services from community pharmacies, such as minor ailment services, will be unaffected by these proposals.

  • Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time is from referral to the commencement of a talking therapy course in (a) the North West and (b) Warrington.

    Alistair Burt

    The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the following table. The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) dataset contains information on referrals to IAPT services which provide talking therapies. Information is provided both for Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and for all 33 North West CCGs combined for the year 2014/15.

    Table: The number of referrals entering treatment1 in the year, with mean and median waiting times to first treatment (days), for IAPT services in 2014/15. Data shown for NHS Warrington CCG and all North West CCGs combined2.

    Total number of referrals entering treatment3

    Average (mean) waiting time to first treatment appointment (days)4

    Median5 waiting time to first treatment appointment (days)

    Organisation name

    NHS Warrington CCG

    3,265

    31

    28

    All North West CCGs combined

    123,445

    44

    24

    Notes:

    1In order to enter treatment a referral must have a first treatment appointment (an appointment with a therapy type recorded) in the year.

    2CCG is based on GP Practice. Where GP Practice is not recorded, or cannot be assigned to a CCG, the referral is categorised as ‘Unknown’.

    3In order to enter treatment a referral must have a first treatment appointment in the year. Referral received date not necessarily in the year.

    4The mean was used as the average.

    5Means and medians have been rounded to the nearest whole number.

    Waiting time is measured by counting the number of days between a referral being received and the first treatment appointment. For 2014/15, the presence of a valid therapy type is used as an indicator of whether treatment was provided in the course of the appointment.

    Entering treatment figures are rounded to the nearest 5

    Please note: It is generally advised that the median is used as the more reliable measure of average waiting time, as this accounts better for any outliers in the data

    Source: Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Dataset

  • Maggie Throup – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Maggie Throup – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maggie Throup on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what budget he plans to allocate to each clinical commissioning group in England to support the effective transfer of obesity surgery in April in a manner consistent with NICE’s clinical guidelines.

    George Freeman

    NHS England is not currently able to provide a figure for individual clinical commissioning groups on 1 April 2016 as the basis for calculating the figures is still being finalised.

  • Nadine Dorries – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Nadine Dorries – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nadine Dorries on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many women have died from primary cervical cancer at the age of (a) 20, (b) 21, (c) 22, (d) 23, (e) 24 and (f) 25 in each year since 2003.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department have had with representatives of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee since May 2015.

    Alistair Burt

    Ministers and officials in the Department meet with representatives of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) on a regular basis to discuss issues such as drug reimbursement, remuneration and service developments and amendments to legislation. We have been in discussions with the PSNC since December 2015 regarding the Government’s proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond.

  • Maggie Throup – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Maggie Throup – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maggie Throup on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2015 to Question 18621, what further assessment he has made of levels of preparedness among clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) for the planned transfer of obesity surgery commissioning responsibilities to CCGs in April 2016.

    George Freeman

    NHS England is supporting the transfer of commissioning responsibilities to ensure that clinical commissioning groups are fully prepared to assume the role working through collaborative commissioning forums.

    NHS England have provided a commissioning information pack including a stocktake of local services, care pathways, waiting times and a quality overview for each local area. National clinical experts are currently finalising commissioning and clinical guidance on standards for the adult obesity surgery pathway.

    The draft service specification reflects best practice and describes the standard providers will need to meet for the surgical service.

  • 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 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the (a) policy and (b) other responsibilities are of each special adviser in his Department.

    Jane Ellison

    The Code of Conduct for Special Advisers sets out the role of special advisers and describes the range of activities they may undertake. Copies of the Code of Conduct are available in the Library and on-line at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/468340/CODE_OF_CONDUCT_FOR_SPECIAL_ADVISERS_-_15_OCTOBER_2015_FINAL.pdf

    “

  • 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 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department’s wellness strategy is.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department has a health and well-being programme developed in partnership with trade union representatives, staff networks and the sports and social club.

    The Department signposts staff to sources of help and support, such as the employee assistance programme, occupational health provider and its own bank of mental health first-aiders.

    The content and impact of the programme is kept under review by a stakeholder group made up of representatives from the department and external partners, such as the Charity for Civil Servants and the Corporate Alliance Against Domestic Violence.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on NHS (a) services and (b) governance of NHS England’s decision to discontinue the role of national clinical director for neurology services from March 2016; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s Medical Director, has undertaken a review of the National Clinical Director (NCD) resource designed to focus clinical advisory resources on areas where major programmes of work are currently being taking forward, or areas identified as priorities for improvement. As a result of the review, NHS England has proposed to change the way in which clinical advice is received in speciality areas in the future.

    Where there will no longer be a specific NCD role, NHS England will secure expert clinical advice from its clinical networks and through its relationships with professional bodies and by appointing clinical advisors. For neurology it is planned that access to advice will be through clinical leads and members of the NHS England-funded neurology clinical networks, the Neurology Clinical Reference Group and Royal Colleges. It is expected that these new arrangements will be in place from 1 April 2016.

  • Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Murrison on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of changes in the number of registrations of care home residents at GP surgeries since the end of retainer fees in 2015.

    Alistair Burt

    Information is not collected centrally on whether a patient, registered with a general practitioner (GP) practice, is resident in a care home or their own home.

    GP practices provide National Health Service primary medical services under contracts with NHS England. These contracts do not distinguish between residents of care homes and other patients. Residents will be registered with a GP practice for core primary medical services whether or not a retainer is paid to a practice and are entitled to receive the same treatment from their GP as those living in their own homes.

    Retainer fees may be charged by a practice for providing services not covered by their contract with NHS England. However, the refusal of a care home to pay practices a retainer should not affect access to NHS primary medical services for residents of care homes.