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  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children under 18 were referred to Sexual Assault Referral Centres in each financial year since 2010-11.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England co-commissions sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) in England with police and crime commissioners and police forces in England.

    Data on the number of children referred to SARC’s is not collected centrally. However, as part of improving SARC services, NHS England are requiring all SARCs to return from April 2016, a mandatory, standardised data set that will include the ages of people seen.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will ensure the needs of children who have been abused are considered when allocating the £1.25 billion for Child and Adolescent Mental Health services over the next five years.

    Alistair Burt

    This Government is committed to delivering the vision set out in Future in Mind and is driving forward the transformation of children and young people’s mental health services to improve access and make services more widely available across the country so that, where possible, children can access high-quality support locally.

    This transformation programme, backed by additional investment of £1.25 billion and an extra £150 million to improve eating disorders, allocated over the next five years, will deliver a step change in the way children and young people’s mental health services are commissioned and delivered.

    All clinical commissioning groups, working closely with their partners, were asked to develop and submit Local Transformation Plans (LTPs) to transform their local offer for children and young people’s mental health. Plans must cover the whole spectrum of services from prevention to intervention for emerging or existing mental health problems and address the full spectrum of need, including children who have been abused and/or exploited. LTPs should also demonstrate that services have been designed with children and young people and their families, and meet the needs of their local population of children.

    LTPs covering all local areas were submitted in October 2015 and are currently being assured by NHS England’s regional teams.

  • David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 6 November 2015 to Question 14029, for what reasons his Department allows the use of individual funding requests for palivizuamb without an assessment of the suitability of those requests for preventative treatments.

    George Freeman

    NHS England has advised that only patients who meet the criteria listed in the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s guidance, Immunisation against infectious disease, will be eligible for routine funding for palivizumab. Where a patient does not meet these criteria, and a clinician feels that a patient is clinically exceptional, an application should be made through the normal regional individual funding request process.

    A letter and specialised services circular (SSC1535) has been sent to all providers and commissioners explaining the commissioning arrangements for palivizumab for the 2015 vaccination season. This is available at:

    www.bnssgformulary.nhs.uk/includes/documents/SSC1535%20Commissioning%20of%20Palivizumab%20for%20the%202015%20Vaccination%20Season.pdf

  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the increased spending on the NHS is being used to reduce the £2 billion budget shortfall forecast by the NHS Trust Development Authority for NHS trusts in 2015-16.

    Alistair Burt

    The National Health Service budget is entrusted to NHS England, which shares with the Secretary of State for Health the legal duty to promote a comprehensive health service. The Government sets out its priorities for NHS England in “The Mandate: A mandate from the Government to NHS England: April 2015 to March 2016”, and within that document a clear commitment is made to make £2 billion of extra funding available for front line spending.

    Progress against this commitment and details of spending on front line services by type of provider and type of service will be made available at the end of 2015-16, in NHS England’s Annual Report and Accounts 2015-16.

    The Government is committed to the NHS and will invest an additional £10 billion by the end of this parliament, to fund the NHS’s own plan for the future. Next year, in 2016-17 the NHS will receive an extra £3.8 billion allocated in the Spending Review, a first step towards an extra £8 billion by the end of this Parliament.

  • Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the new Care Quality Commission inspection regime on hospital performance; and if he will make a statement.

    Ben Gummer

    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. The CQC monitors, inspects and regulates services against fundamental standards of quality and safety below which care should never fall.

    The CQC’s new inspection regime provides a comprehensive assessment of hospitals performance. During an inspection, the CQC asks five questions of every service and provider; are they safe, effective, caring, well led and responsive to people’s needs. Following an inspection the CQC rates a provider on a four point scale running from outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate. In addition to an aggregate rating at a provider level, the CQC produces ratings for individual services and locations. This gives patients and the public a fair, balanced and easy to understand assessment of performance of a provider.

    Where a provider is rated as inadequate the Chief Inspector of Hospitals can recommend that the trust be placed into special measures. This means that trusts receive a tailored package of support to enable them to improve.

    As of 8 December there are 15 trusts in special measures. Eleven trusts have made sufficient progress to exit special measures, the most recent being the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust on 4 December.

    On 15 October 2015, the CQC published its State of Care Report 2014-15 and reported:

    * 83%1 of all providers agree that the new inspections helped them to monitor the quality of care they provide;

    * 73%1 of all providers said that a CQC inspection had helped to identify areas of improvement and 72% said that the inspection reports were useful; and

    * 68%1 of all providers said that they thought that outcomes for people who use services were improved as result of CQC inspection activity.

    1 The information provided in the State of Care report is for all registered providers not just Hospitals.

  • Ben Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ben Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support his Department provides to people with inflammatory arthritis to help them to stay in work.

    Jane Ellison

    We are aware that a high proportion of people with inflammatory arthritis are of working age. Inflammatory arthritis is a major cause of sickness absence.

    Treatment for inflammatory arthritis has improved dramatically with the development of new drugs. It is essential for people with relevant symptoms to present early to their general practitioner and for the condition to be diagnosed promptly. Ensuring that people have access to the best possible treatment and support provides the greatest scope to enable people with inflammatory arthritis to stay in work.

    The newly formed Work and Health Unit is a joint endeavour between Department of Health and Department for Work and Pensions. The Unit has been established to lead the drive for improving work and health outcomes for people with health conditions and disabilities, as well as improving prevention and support for people absent from work through ill health and those at risk of leaving the workforce.

    In the Spending Review the Government has provided at least £115 million of funding for the Unit including a Work and Health Innovation Fund.

  • Ben Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ben Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of inflammatory arthritis on an individual’s ability to stay in work.

    Jane Ellison

    We are aware that a high proportion of people with inflammatory arthritis are of working age. Inflammatory arthritis is a major cause of sickness absence.

    Treatment for inflammatory arthritis has improved dramatically with the development of new drugs. It is essential for people with relevant symptoms to present early to their general practitioner and for the condition to be diagnosed promptly. Ensuring that people have access to the best possible treatment and support provides the greatest scope to enable people with inflammatory arthritis to stay in work.

    The newly formed Work and Health Unit is a joint endeavour between Department of Health and Department for Work and Pensions. The Unit has been established to lead the drive for improving work and health outcomes for people with health conditions and disabilities, as well as improving prevention and support for people absent from work through ill health and those at risk of leaving the workforce.

    In the Spending Review the Government has provided at least £115 million of funding for the Unit including a Work and Health Innovation Fund.

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he plans for the Dementia Research Institute to conduct research into Parkinson’s dementia.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Prime Minister announced up to £150 million for the UK’s first Dementia Research Institute on 24 November. The institute will cover the full spectrum of discovery science into age-related neurodegenerative diseases that progress to dementia, including Parkinson’s Disease.

    Development of the Dementia Research Institute will be led by the Medical Research Council (MRC). In 2016 the MRC will open a competitive process to identify a host for the institute and lead the search for its director.

  • Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funding is available to assist with the travel costs of patients who have to travel more than 100 miles to receive a particular treatment for their condition.

    Alistair Burt

    The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme allows patients on low incomes and those in receipt of specific qualifying benefits or allowances to be reimbursed in part or in full for costs incurred in travelling to receive certain NHS services. Eligible patients can claim payment of travel expenses to appointments made to receive non-primary medical and non-primary dental services when referred by a primary care practitioner. There are no mileage restrictions on this scheme.

  • Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which NHS trusts make Docetaxel chemotherapy treatment available.

    George Freeman

    Information on which treatments are provided by different National Health Service trusts is not collected centrally.

    Commissioners are legally required to fund docetaxel for the treatment of hormone-refractory metastatic prostate cancer (where the disease becomes unresponsive to hormone treatment) as recommended in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s technology appraisal guidance.

    NHS England has advised that it does not routinely commission docetaxel chemotherapy for the treatment of hormone sensitive prostate cancer. However, an associated policy statement is currently being developed and NHS England expects this to be published in the early part of 2016, subject to appropriate approvals and governance arrangements.