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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 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will undertake a review of the effectiveness of the operation and governance of the South East Coast Ambulance Service.

    Jane Ellison

    Monitor, the then independent regulator of National Health Service foundation trusts announced on 28 October 2015 that it was taking action against South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust after the trust ran a project between December 2014 and February 2015 that increased how long some patients were waiting for ambulances.

    Monitor’s requirements included the development of three reviews; the first was a forensic review of the project itself which was undertaken by Deloitte and the report was subsequently published on 15 March 2016; the second was a wider governance review, and the third a comprehensive patient impact study which is subject to a separate, clinically-led independent review currently underway. This review is due to be concluded this summer and published in due course.

    Monitor used its regulatory powers to secure the appointment of Sir Peter Dixon as the new interim chair at the trust, following the resignation of its Chair Tony Thorne on 15 March 2015.

    From 1 April 2016 Monitor became part of NHS Improvement who has confirmed that it is providing constructive challenge to the foundation trust on the content of an agreed action plan and continues to hold the trust board to account for delivery of that plan via usual regulatory meetings.

  • 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 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will undertake a review of the effectiveness of the operations and governance of NHS Property Services.

    George Freeman

    NHS Property Services Ltd is a limited company that is fully owned by the Secretary of State for Health. Review of the effectiveness of its operations is an ongoing process by the company’s Board, which includes a Departmental senior civil servant as a Director, and by officials in the Department’s Commercial Division. Minsters have no plans for any further review of the company’s operations at this time.

    With regard to its governance, the company undertook a review of its corporate governance in 2014 to align itself more closely to UK Corporate Governance Code 2014, which applies to listed companies. This resulted in the introduction, during the year, of new Nomination and Facilities Management Committees.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if the Government will implement the recommendations made in the Time to Move report published by Blind Children UK in February 2016 to improve the number of children with sight loss who receive rehabilitation training.

    Jane Ellison

    The Children and Families Act 2014 requires local authorities to work with children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), and their parents, to develop a Local Offer of the services they have or expect to be available to children and young people with SEND, including those with visual impairment. As such, it is for local authorities, in consultation with children and young people with SEND and their families, to decide which services they offer in their area, which can include habilitation training.

    At a national level, the Department for Education has funded a partnership of charities through the National Sensory Impairment Partnership to help local authorities to compare their services, learn from the best in the country and make sure that services for blind children and their families (as well as those with other sensory impairments) are effective and meet local needs.

    In 2013/14 the Department of Health provided funding to Blind Children UK for their three year project training eight students for the Diploma in Habilitation Studies at the UCL Institute of Education. Officials have met with Blind Children UK recently as part of their engagement with key organisations which represent the interests of children and young people with complex needs.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the consultation on the database created by the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Act 2016 will involve (a) medical research charities, (b) the pharmaceutical sector and (c) the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

    George Freeman

    The Health and Social Care Information Centre will consult with stakeholders including charities, the relevant Royal Colleges, industry, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and other relevant bodies in the creation of the Database described in the Act, when the power vested on the Secretary of State is enacted.

  • 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 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients had epilepsy in the UK in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    Information concerning the number of people diagnosed with epilepsy in each of the last five years is not collected.

  • 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 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the epileptic drug Briviact will be available on the NHS.

    George Freeman

    Briviact (brivaracetam) became available on the National Health Service following its launch in the United Kingdom in February 2016. It is for clinicians to decide whether to prescribe it to patients.

    In the absence of guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence it is for commissioners to make decisions on whether to fund new medicines based on an assessment of the available evidence, such as clinical trials or peer-reviewed publications.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether EU member states from which the UK recoups the costs of treatment provided to EU nationals by the NHS pay the full amount requested of them by the UK.

    Alistair Burt

    All European Economic Area countries, including the United Kingdom, have a legal obligation to pay agreed claims relating to healthcare treatment provided. Once both sides are satisfied that such claims are accurate, they are paid in full.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the NHS budget has been allocated to GP surgeries in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

    Alistair Burt

    The table below shows the proportion of spend on general practice for each of the last 10 years for which data is available. The figures for spend on general practice are taken from the Health and Social Care Information Centre’s Investment in General Practice reports, which is the most comprehensive source of data on investment in general practice. The NHS Revenue Expenditure data is taken from the Department’s accounts.

    Year

    NHS Revenue Expenditure under Clear Line of Sight Rules (£ billion)

    Spend on general practice (£ billion)

    Spend on general practice as a proportion of total

    2005/06

    74.17

    7.747

    10.4%

    2006/07

    78.47

    7.757

    9.9%

    2007/08

    81.22

    7.867

    9.7%

    2008/09

    87.62

    7.961

    9.1%

    2009/10

    94.42

    8.321

    8.8%

    2010/11

    97.47

    8.350

    8.6%

    2011/12

    100.27

    8.397

    8.4%

    2012/13

    102.57

    8.459

    8.2%

    2013/14

    106.5

    8.766

    8.2%

    2014/15

    110.56

    9.001

    8.1%
  • Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to address (a) demand for eye clinic appointments and the (b) hospital eye services.

    Alistair Burt

    Clinical commissioning groups are able to commission eye care services over and above the sight test where they judge them to be needed in their areas.

    This could include post cataract surgery reviews, glaucoma monitoring and low vision services which may reduce pressure on hospital eye departments, reduce waiting times and make patient care pathways more accessible in the community.

    There is scope for further work to be done by community optometrists and the Clinical Council for eye health commissioning is working with commissioners to develop commissioning guidelines in this area.

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

    Chris Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the future of the Corsellis Brain Collection at the West London Mental Health NHS Trust; and if he will make a statement.

    George Freeman

    The excess costs of maintaining the collection compared with the income from specimen preparation over a number of years have rendered the collection unsustainable as a research resource. West London Mental Health Trust has therefore decided – once it has responded to current requests for samples – to respectfully dispose of those tissue samples for which no scientific purpose can be envisaged. Some tissue has also been requested by the University of Hong Kong for training purposes for their neuropathology students, which the Trust is providing as a more appropriate use of such clinical material than respectful disposal. The Trust has obtained the appropriate Human Tissue Authority licenses for this work. We understand that the collection will close by the end of June 2016.

    The Trust has provided figures for each of the three years to 2014/15. In each case the cost has been borne by the Trust, offset (to a relatively small extent) by fees received for tissue sample requests and – in 2014/15 – by a donation. The figures are shown in the following table.

    Financial Year

    Cost

    Income

    Donation

    2012/13

    £101,126

    Nil

    Nil

    2013/14

    £84,561

    £7,016

    Nil

    2014/15

    £80,684

    £1,003

    £69,316

    The Medical Research Council supports a range of brain tissue banks which have been set-up around specific disorders and diseases generally to collect post-mortem brain tissue from consented donors.