Blog

  • Helen Hayes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Helen Hayes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the ceiling for agency nurse spending for each NHS trust will be made publicly available from 2015-16.

    Alistair Burt

    Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority currently have no plans to make publically available the ceilings for agency nurse spending for each trust in 2015-16. However, if members of the public wish to know this information then they can approach individual trusts for this information.

    The ceiling levels are available at the following website:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nursing-agency-rules

    “

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the update on the current Cancer Drugs Fund list, published on 4 September 2015, what estimate he has made of the number of patients who would have been expected to receive the treatments which are being removed from that list in each of the next three years.

    George Freeman

    NHS England has advised that negotiations are continuing which may result in some drugs remaining in the Cancer Drugs Fund making it difficult to provide a meaningful estimate at this time.

    NHS England also advises that the planned removal of these drugs from the Fund will have no or minimal impact on survival rates for the cancers listed.

  • Chris Stephens – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chris Stephens – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what meetings his Department has had with representatives of (a) the Taxpayers’ Alliance, (b) the Confederation of British Industry, (c) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (d) the Adam Smith Institute, (e) the Freedom Association, (f) the Politics and Economics Research Trust and (g) the Midlands Industrial Council in the last 12 months.

    Jane Ellison

    The information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the BCG vaccines for non-invasive grade 3 aggressive bladder cancer.

    George Freeman

    One of the two United Kingdom licensed Bacillus Calmette-Guérin bladder instillations has been unavailable since 2012, and the manufacturer of the other has increased its production as far as possible to help meet the shortfall. The Department and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency are working closely with both suppliers, as well as others in the supply chain, to ensure that everything possible is being done to make supplies available for patients who need this treatment. The British Association of Urological Surgeons has issued advice for clinicians to ensure that all patients with high risk, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer receive effective evidence based treatment.

  • Robert Neill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Robert Neill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Neill on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to page 20 of the 2014 Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, what recent assessment he has made of the compliance of NHS bodies with the requirement for the incorporation of NICE technology appraisal recommendations into local NHS formularies.

    George Freeman

    NHS England is specified in the 2014 Pharmaceutical Pricing Regulation Scheme agreement as the body responsible for ensuring there are no local barriers to ensuring access to technologies recommended in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal and highly specialised technology guidance.

    NHS England has advised that there are a range of initiatives which assist NHS England in this obligation:

    – NICE technology appraisalrecommendations are required to be incorporated automatically into relevant local medicines formularies;

    – providers are required to publish local medicines formularies;

    – the NICE Implementation Collaborative (NIC) examines barriers to the prompt implementation of NICE guidance;

    – an innovation scorecard is published quarterly by the Health and Social Care Information Centre and tracks uptake of many NICE-approved medicines by the NHS;

    – a joint NHS England and Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry work programme on medicines optimisation is ongoing, which seeks to improve outcomes and value from all medicines;

    – NHS England works closely with Academic Health Science Networks to accelerate the adoption and diffusion of innovation.

    The Department’s analysis of medicines spend for the first year of the PPRS shows that branded medicines spend grew by 8.2%, with new medicines on the Innovation Scorecard seeing growth of 18.4%. Further details have been published on the Government’s website at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/analysis-of-growth-in-branded-medicines-2013-to-2014

    Commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended in NICE technology appraisal and highly specialised technology guidance within three months of NICE’s guidance being published. There is provision for this funding period to be extended where there are particular barriers to implementation within three months.

    “

  • Robert Neill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Robert Neill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Neill on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to page 20 of the 2014 Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, which body is responsible for ensuring there should be no local barriers to accessing technologies recommended in NICE guidance; what assessment that body has made of the existence of local barriers since 1 January 2014; and if he will make a statement.

    George Freeman

    NHS England is specified in the 2014 Pharmaceutical Pricing Regulation Scheme agreement as the body responsible for ensuring there are no local barriers to ensuring access to technologies recommended in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal and highly specialised technology guidance.

    NHS England has advised that there are a range of initiatives which assist NHS England in this obligation:

    – NICE technology appraisalrecommendations are required to be incorporated automatically into relevant local medicines formularies;

    – providers are required to publish local medicines formularies;

    – the NICE Implementation Collaborative (NIC) examines barriers to the prompt implementation of NICE guidance;

    – an innovation scorecard is published quarterly by the Health and Social Care Information Centre and tracks uptake of many NICE-approved medicines by the NHS;

    – a joint NHS England and Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry work programme on medicines optimisation is ongoing, which seeks to improve outcomes and value from all medicines;

    – NHS England works closely with Academic Health Science Networks to accelerate the adoption and diffusion of innovation.

    The Department’s analysis of medicines spend for the first year of the PPRS shows that branded medicines spend grew by 8.2%, with new medicines on the Innovation Scorecard seeing growth of 18.4%. Further details have been published on the Government’s website at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/analysis-of-growth-in-branded-medicines-2013-to-2014

    Commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended in NICE technology appraisal and highly specialised technology guidance within three months of NICE’s guidance being published. There is provision for this funding period to be extended where there are particular barriers to implementation within three months.

    “

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Department’s response to e-petition No. 104334, what the evidential basis is of the statement that (a) if you are admitted to hospital on a weekend, you have 16 per cent. greater chance of dying and (b) the average earnings for a hospital consultant are £118,000.

    Ben Gummer

    The 16% figure is taken from a study published in 2012 in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine entitled ‘Weekend hospitalization and additional risk of death: an analysis of inpatient data’ by Freemantle et al. The authors analysed all hospital admissions in 2009-10 and found that patients admitted to hospital on a Saturday had a 11% increased chance of dying compared to a Wednesday, and patients admitted on a Sunday had a 16% increased chance of dying compared to a Wednesday.

    This analysis has recently been updated by the study’s authors to look at 2013-14 admissions. The latest study, published in the British Medical Journal in September 2015, found that patients admitted to hospital on a Saturday had a 10% increased chance of dying compared to a Wednesday, and patients admitted on a Sunday had a 15% increased chance of dying compared to a Wednesday.

    The figure of average hospital consultant earnings is an estimate of the derived average earnings of consultants per full time equivalent, and is based on data covering the 2013/14 financial year. The figure was published as part of evidence submitted by the NHS Employers organisation to the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists Remuneration ahead of their report published in July, ‘Contract reform for consultants and doctors and dentists in training – supporting healthcare services seven days a week’. The evidence is publicly available here:

    http://www.nhsemployers.org/your-workforce/pay-and-reward/pay/medical-pay/ddrb-evidence—in-detail

    “

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Matthew Pennycook – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies referrals in Greenwich and Woolwich constituency received an assessment within 28 days in the last 12 months.

    Alistair Burt

    The information is not collected in the format requested.

    The following attachment, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies contains referrals assessed in 28 and 90 days or less and referrals that waited 28 and 90 days or less to enter treatment, as a proportion of all referrals assessed between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2014, for England and NHS Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group.

    Data is not published at constituency level.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the aggregate income of all hospital trusts was from private patients, excluding overseas patients in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13, (e) 2013-14 and (f) 2014-15; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    The table below shows the aggregate revenue from private patients excluding overseas patients for all hospital trusts in England for 2009-10 to 2014-15.

    Year

    Aggregate Non NHS: Income from private patients £000s

    2009-10

    408,583

    2010-11

    428,641

    2011-12

    452,491

    2012-13

    478,649

    2013-14

    501,708

    2014-15

    526,138
  • Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS spent on cancer services in each year since 2009-10; and what the year-on-year change in that amount was in real terms.

    Jane Ellison

    Due to the transition to new commissioning structures, it is not possible to create a time-series consistent with the years prior to 2012-13 because expenditure on some services covered by primary care trusts has transferred to local authorities and Public Health England.