Blog

  • Jo Cox – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jo Cox – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Cox on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the new contract with junior doctors on recruitment in the NHS.

    Ben Gummer

    The independent Doctors and Dentists Review Body (DDRB) made recommendations for the reform of the junior doctor contract as a basis for national level negotiations. The new contract will be introduced from August 2016 and will be included in any evidence we provide to the DDRB for the 2017/18 pay round on the recruitment, retention and motivation of junior doctors.

    Junior doctors are the backbone of National Health Service, but their current employment contract lets them down by failing to prevent some from working unsafe hours and not rewarding them fairly. This is why doctors deserve a new contract that will be fairer for doctors, safer for patients and juniors alike, better for training, and will better support a seven day NHS.

    The contract will ensure that pay relates more fairly to actual work done; increase basic pay, recognising the professional nature of the role in a seven day NHS: and pay a higher rate for work at the most unsocial times. In addition, flexible pay premia will apply for: general practitioner trainees, to maintain current earning levels; other shortage specialties who would otherwise lose out under the new pay structure; those switching to shortage specialties; clinical academic trainees and public health trainees undertaking PhDs etc; and those undertaking approved academic/other work that benefits the wider NHS and improving patient care.

  • Debbie Abrahams – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Debbie Abrahams – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) men and (b) women by (i) age and (ii) incident have been diagnosed with secondary breast cancer in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England (PHE) is responsible for collecting cancer data to support national cancer registration in England and recognises the importance of collecting data on recurrent breast cancer; however data on the number of people diagnosed with secondary breast cancer is not currently available. Pilot work undertaken in April 2012 in acute trusts has improved the reporting for breast cancer recurrence and metastasis to the National Cancer Registration Service (NCRS). In order to drive up data completeness for the submissions to the NCRS, monthly reports on data quality and completeness of the Cancer Outcomes and Services Dataset are made available to all acute providers.

    Since the completion of the pilot project the NCRS in PHE has been working with all acute National Health Service providers in England to improve the reporting of breast cancer recurrence. The collection of this particular item of data remains challenging because relapsed patients may represent in many different ways and through many referral routes.

    Further work is being scoped by NHS England and PHE based on the recommendation in the recent Independent Cancer Taskforce report to establish robust surveillance systems to collect this data on all cancers.

  • Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to ensure that claimant lawyers can continue to pursue low-value claims in clinical negligence cases in a fixed recoverable cost regime.

    Ben Gummer

    Admissions should be made and compensation paid to those who are entitled to it based on the evidence. The proposed scheme will also apply to defendants and incentives for early resolution are included in the consultation. NHS Litigation Authority data shows that on average clinical negligence claims resolve within 1.31 years of the claim being made, and those valued under £25,000 are resolved in less than 12 months.

    Following the pre-consultation process, the Department is currently working with the Civil Procedure Rule Committee on the rules to support the Fixed Recoverable Cost work before an open public consultation is undertaken.

  • Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the incentives for defendants in clinical negligence cases to encourage early admissions and settlements.

    Ben Gummer

    Admissions should be made and compensation paid to those who are entitled to it based on the evidence. The proposed scheme will also apply to defendants and incentives for early resolution are included in the consultation. NHS Litigation Authority data shows that on average clinical negligence claims resolve within 1.31 years of the claim being made, and those valued under £25,000 are resolved in less than 12 months.

    Following the pre-consultation process, the Department is currently working with the Civil Procedure Rule Committee on the rules to support the Fixed Recoverable Cost work before an open public consultation is undertaken.

  • Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the propriety of his Department overseeing the consultation on a fixed recoverable cost regime in clinical negligence cases when it is the defendant in most such cases.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department is working closely with stakeholders to develop the proposal to introduce fixed recoverable costs. We have undertaken a pre-consultation exercise with a number of key stakeholders, including representatives of claimant lawyers, and are planning an open public consultation shortly. We welcome views on the proposal from all sectors.

    The consultation documentation, including the Impact Assessment, will be published in early 2016 subject to relevant Committee clearances. We are working upon the assumption that there is nothing about Fixed Recoverable Costs regime which will alter the percentage of unmeritorious claims.

    Any scheme proposed will include consideration of the right incentives to support a fairer and quicker process that provides the improvements to the system whilst maintaining access to justice.

    The NHS Litigation Authority reported in their annual report for 2014/15 that it resolves over 4,000 clinical negligence cases annually for no payment of damages and in 2014/15 it saved over £1.2 billion for the National Health Service in rejecting claims which had no merit.

  • Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the costs to his Department associated with unmeritorious claims resulting from changes to a fixed cost recoverable scheme for clinical negligence.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department is working closely with stakeholders to develop the proposal to introduce fixed recoverable costs. We have undertaken a pre-consultation exercise with a number of key stakeholders, including representatives of claimant lawyers, and are planning an open public consultation shortly. We welcome views on the proposal from all sectors.

    The consultation documentation, including the Impact Assessment, will be published in early 2016 subject to relevant Committee clearances. We are working upon the assumption that there is nothing about Fixed Recoverable Costs regime which will alter the percentage of unmeritorious claims.

    Any scheme proposed will include consideration of the right incentives to support a fairer and quicker process that provides the improvements to the system whilst maintaining access to justice.

    The NHS Litigation Authority reported in their annual report for 2014/15 that it resolves over 4,000 clinical negligence cases annually for no payment of damages and in 2014/15 it saved over £1.2 billion for the National Health Service in rejecting claims which had no merit.

  • Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of introducing a fixed recoverable cost regime in clinical negligence cases on the number of claims brought by claims management companies and litigants in person.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department is working closely with stakeholders to develop the proposal to introduce fixed recoverable costs. We have undertaken a pre-consultation exercise with a number of key stakeholders, including representatives of claimant lawyers, and are planning an open public consultation shortly. We welcome views on the proposal from all sectors.

    The consultation documentation, including the Impact Assessment, will be published in early 2016 subject to relevant Committee clearances. We are working upon the assumption that there is nothing about Fixed Recoverable Costs regime which will alter the percentage of unmeritorious claims.

    Any scheme proposed will include consideration of the right incentives to support a fairer and quicker process that provides the improvements to the system whilst maintaining access to justice.

    The NHS Litigation Authority reported in their annual report for 2014/15 that it resolves over 4,000 clinical negligence cases annually for no payment of damages and in 2014/15 it saved over £1.2 billion for the National Health Service in rejecting claims which had no merit.

  • Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of claims management companies on the number of unmeritorious claims brought forward in clinical negligence cases.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department is working closely with stakeholders to develop the proposal to introduce fixed recoverable costs. We have undertaken a pre-consultation exercise with a number of key stakeholders, including representatives of claimant lawyers, and are planning an open public consultation shortly. We welcome views on the proposal from all sectors.

    The consultation documentation, including the Impact Assessment, will be published in early 2016 subject to relevant Committee clearances. We are working upon the assumption that there is nothing about Fixed Recoverable Costs regime which will alter the percentage of unmeritorious claims.

    Any scheme proposed will include consideration of the right incentives to support a fairer and quicker process that provides the improvements to the system whilst maintaining access to justice.

    The NHS Litigation Authority reported in their annual report for 2014/15 that it resolves over 4,000 clinical negligence cases annually for no payment of damages and in 2014/15 it saved over £1.2 billion for the National Health Service in rejecting claims which had no merit.

  • Tim Farron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tim Farron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to publish the review of national radiotherapy capacity commissioned by NHS England.

    Jane Ellison

    HS England has not commissioned a national capacity review of radiotherapy. Earlier this year, NHS England provided local commissioning teams with a tool to assist planning of radiotherapy services with their local providers in order to assess a different set of planning assumptions developed by the Radiotherapy Clinical Reference Group in line with rapidly changing clinical practice.

  • John Healey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    John Healey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to ensure improved outcomes for patients who undergo stem cell transplantation in the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    The number of patients receiving potentially life-saving stem cell transplants in the United Kingdom continues to increase. The availability of suitably matched donors is a key factor in determining the outcome of stem cell transplantation. The Government has invested £16 million to improve stem cell transplantation services in the UK since 2010 with a further £3 million funding available for the current financial year. This funding has seen more efficient service delivery though the creation of a single unified bone marrow donor registry, more UK patients receiving a stem cell transplant (increasing from 802 in 2010/11 to 1060 in 2013/14) and over 60% of Black, Asian and minority ethnic patients finding a well matched donor compared to only 40% in 2010.

    Further improvements include NHS Blood and Transplant introducing next generation sequencing technology that is quicker and more accurate in matching donor and patient and delivering improved clinical outcomes. Research is an important part of improving patient outcomes and the National Institute for Health Research Clinical Trials Network supports clinical trials on the development of novel treatment for patients with blood cancer.