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  • 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, what targets his Department has set for the uptake of seasonal influenza vaccination in each at-risk group for the winter of 2015-16.

    Jane Ellison

    A copy of the Annual Flu Plan and Annual Flu letter 2015/16 is attached, this provides guidance on the seasonal flu vaccination programme. In 2015-16, the seasonal flu vaccination will be offered to the following at risk-groups:

    – people aged 65 years and over;

    – people aged six months to under 65 with long-term conditions;

    – pregnant women;

    – people living in a residential or nursing home; and

    – the main carer of an older or disabled person.

    We also encourage all frontline health and social care workers to get the flu vaccination to help protect themselves, their families and the vulnerable patients they come into contact with.

    This year we aim to reach a minimum 75% uptake for those aged 65 years and older, and frontline health and social care workers.

  • Stuart Andrew – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stuart Andrew – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much funding was allocated to each NHS Trust for children’s congenital heart disease services in each year since 1995.

    Jane Ellison

    Information on the amount of funding allocated to each region for providing congenital heart disease services and to each National Health Service trust for children’s congenital heart disease services is not collected centrally.

  • Stuart Andrew – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stuart Andrew – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much funding has been allocated to each region for providing congenital heart disease services.

    Jane Ellison

    Information on the amount of funding allocated to each region for providing congenital heart disease services and to each National Health Service trust for children’s congenital heart disease services is not collected centrally.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what forecasts his Department has made of the proportion of NHS (a) nurses and (b) doctors that will be recruited from agencies in each of the next five years.

    Ben Gummer

    The information requested is not held by the Department.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to tender for additional proton beam therapy treatment providers.

    Jane Ellison

    The decision to commission services from additional proton beam therapy (PBT) centres would likely be triggered by an existing supplier no longer being able to deliver services and/or NHS England having capacity requirements that could not be met by the existing providers.

    In the event NHS England required additional PBT providers, these would be selected through a procurement exercise.

    There is currently no indication that NHS England will need to seek additional providers but it will, of course, keep this position under review.

  • Dr Tania Mathias – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dr Tania Mathias – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Tania Mathias on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much central government funding was provided for (a) adult and (b) children’s hospices in the last year for which figures are available.

    Ben Gummer

    Adult hospices in England receive National Health Service funding locally for services commissioned by clinical commissioning groups. Central Government funding of £570,951 was provided as part of the Nursing Technology Fund Grant in 2015/16 to three adult hospices in England.

    In addition to NHS funding for locally commissioned services, children’s hospices received £11 million in 2015/16 through the Children’s Hospice and Hospice-at-Home Grant, which is administered by NHS England.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rosie Cooper – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to encourage restraint in increases in senior NHS executive’s pay.

    Alistair Burt

    My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to all Chairs of NHS organisations on 2 June 2015 setting out a range of measures to ensure executive pay is proportionate and justifiable. He asked the Chairs urgently to review their policies on executive pay; to seek the views of Ministers before making any executive appointment paid more than £142,500 per year; to advise him of all current executive pay more than £142,500 and to provide a justification; to ensure that the HM Treasury guidance on off-payroll executive appointments is followed rigorously. He also announced his intention of introducing a limit on the rates payable to off-payroll interim executives; of introducing a national framework for deciding executive pay throughout the NHS; of clamping down on executives who retire and then return to NHS employment so that they do not gain financially from this; and set out his expectation that new redundancy terms should apply to all executive staff. We are taking this work forward.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rosie Cooper – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much Professor Patricia Hart was paid in total as Chief Executive of South Tees Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; and how many days in total she worked in that post.

    Alistair Burt

    These are matters for the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. We have written to Deborah Jenkins, Chair of South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, informing her of the hon. Member’s enquiry. She will reply shortly and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rosie Cooper – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the article entitled Greed of the NHS fat cats published in the Daily Mail on 20 April 2015, whether he has instituted an investigation of salaries paid to NHS senior executives.

    Alistair Burt

    My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to all Chairs of NHS organisations on 2 June 2015 setting out a range of measures to ensure executive pay is proportionate and justifiable. He asked the Chairs urgently to review their policies on executive pay; to seek the views of Ministers before making any executive appointment paid more than £142,500 per year; to advise him of all current executive pay more than £142,500 and to provide a justification; to ensure that the HM Treasury guidance on off-payroll executive appointments is followed rigorously. He also announced his intention of introducing a limit on the rates payable to off-payroll interim executives; of introducing a national framework for deciding executive pay throughout the NHS; of clamping down on executives who retire and then return to NHS employment so that they do not gain financially from this; and set out his expectation that new redundancy terms should apply to all executive staff. We are taking this work forward.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what training is available to (a) full-time carers and (b) full time carers caring for an adult with dementia.

    Alistair Burt

    Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities have a responsibility to support carers in a number of ways. Local authorities will be required to undertake carers’ assessments, based on the appearance of a need for support. An assessment must establish the impact of caring on the carer, and the outcomes they wish to achieve, including engaging in work, education, training or recreation. For the first time, local authorities have a duty to meet carers’ eligible needs for support: this may include access to training to support them in their caring role or support to maintain employment where this is a desired outcome.

    Through the Care Act 2014 local authorities are required to provide information and advice and universal preventative services for carers. Local authorities can also support the person in understanding other types of support available to them for example to seek to promote access to appropriate employment, education or training, which can be an effective way of maintaining independence.

    In May 2014, NHS England published an action plan NHS England’s Commitment to Carers, which includes a series of commitments around 8 priorities, among which are raising the profile of carers. The Department of Health has also made available additional funding of £400 million to the National Health Service between 2011 and 2015 to enable carers to take a break from their caring responsibilities to sustain them in their caring role. The carers’ breaks funding of £130 million for 2015 – 16 will also be in the Better Care Fund.

    In February 2015 the Government launched a joint Department of Health, Government Equality Office and Department for Work and Pensions investment of £1.6 million in pilots in nine local authority areas to explore ways in which people can be supported to combine work and care.

    We also fund the Carers Direct service which includes web-based information and advice for all carers through NHS Choices, as well as a telephone helpline service through which carers can be signposted to information. Carers Direct includes training materials that build on the Caring with Confidence programme – a time-limited national programme funded by the Department of Health to support the development of carer training, which closed in September 2010.

    On July 2015 my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State (Mr Jeremy Hunt) announced that the Government will develop a new carers’ strategy that looks at the best of international practice and examines what more we can do to support existing carers and new carers. This will include consideration how best to support carers to maintain employment and of the training requirements of carers and whether current measures are fully meeting these.

    Specifically regarding carers of people with dementia, the Department of Health contributed to the funding of the Alzheimer’s Society’s ‘Dementia Guide’, designed to help guide people with dementia and their carers through their journey with dementia. The Guide provides useful information for carers, following a diagnosis of dementia, and includes advice to help people understand a diagnosis of dementia to enable them to live well with the condition.

    With Department of Health funding, the Royal College of General Practitioners has developed a Dementia Roadmap that can be accessed by families and carers. It is a web based platform that provides high quality information about the dementia journey alongside local information about services, support groups and care pathways, primarily to assist primary care staff to more effectively support people with dementia, their families and carers.

    The Department is supporting the Dementia Action Alliance’s Carers Call to Action and the establishment of a Life Story Network for family carers of people with dementia. The Department provided funding of £30,000 to the Life Story Network during 2014/15 to support the establishment of a new involvement network for family carers of people with dementia, which is being established as part of the legacy of the Dementia Action Alliance’s Carers Call to Action.

    NHS England’s 2015/16 Dementia Enhanced Service encourages GP practices to increase the health and wellbeing support offered to carers of patients diagnosed with dementia.