Blog

  • Michael Fabricant – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Michael Fabricant – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Fabricant on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on (a) the mandatory display by restaurants of ratings and (b) empowering local authorities to charge restaurants for reassessment under the Food Standards Agency’s food hygiene rating scheme; if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make the display of such ratings by restaurants mandatory; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    The Food Standards Agency is collecting evidence on the effectiveness of the mandatory display of Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme ratings. The Government will consider this evidence carefully once it is available.

  • Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for autism diagnosis.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department has discussed with NHS England the difficulties that people on the autistic spectrum can have in getting an appropriate diagnosis in a timely manner. With support from the Department, NHS England and the Association of Directors of Social Services will undertake a series of visits to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to gather information that can be shared between areas that have arrangements in place to meet National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Quality Standard 51 Autism: support for commissioning, and those that do not, with the aim of supporting more consistent provision. These NICE guidelines already recommend that there should be a maximum of three months between a referral and a first appointment for a diagnostic assessment for autism. We expect the National Health Service to be working towards meeting the recommendations.

    NHS England has also been working with the Health and Social Care Information Centre to develop the Mental Health Minimum Data Set. This will include provision for the diagnosis of autism to be recorded. This mandatory data set will, for the first time, provide data about diagnosis rates. The data will be published and available for everyone to use to support and develop services. NHS England has a commitment, over the next five years, to improve waiting times and this data will be invaluable for this. Information on average waiting times for autistic diagnosis in each clinical commissioning group area is not collected centrally.

    The Department issued new statutory guidance in March this year for local authorities and NHS organisations to support the continued implementation of the 2010 Autism Strategy, as refreshed by its 2014 Think Autism update. This guidance sets out what people seeking an autism diagnosis can expect from local authorities and NHS bodies including general practitioners.

    We are due to consult on how we set the mandate to NHS England prior to publication of the mandate itself. The mandate will be published following the Government’s Spending Review which is due to complete on 25 November.

  • 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, what steps he is taking to (a) address geographic inequalities in and (b) move towards comprehensive coverage for Community Children’s Nursing provision; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    Community Children’s Nurses are commissioned by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). Since the publication of Facing the Future Together, by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of General Practitioners, CCGs are considering how Community-based Children’s Nurses can provide a safe, high-quality service that meets the health needs of every child and young person. This includes training Advanced Practitioners, with additional skills such as prescribing, and considering how children’s community nurses should support continuing care and new integrated arrangements for children with special educational needs and disability.

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

    Andrew Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of public sector pay restraint on (a) staff recruitment, (b) staff retention and (c) expenditure on agency staff in the NHS.

    Alistair Burt

    Over the last five years, neither the NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB) nor the Doctors and Dentist Pay Review Body (DDRB) which make pay recommendations to government for employed non-medical and medical National Health Service staff, have identified any significant recruitment and retention issues because of pay restraint or expenditure on agency staff. In fact there are 8,500 more full time equivalent doctors and 6,800 more nurses since 2010.

    In addition to consolidated and non-consolidated pay increases, over the last five years, just under half of all employed NHS staff also received incremental pay at an average of over 3% each year.

    The Government has said that it will fund public sector workforces for a pay award of 1% for four years from 2016/17. The NHSPRB and DDRB will make recommendations to Government for 2016/17 and in making their recommendations will take into account the funding available to the NHS and expenditure on the workforce, including temporary staffing through agencies. They will also consider how their recommendations might affect the retention, recruitment and motivation of all their remit group.

    It is recognised that the policy of pay restraint is challenging and difficult for NHS staff, however at a time of necessary decisions, the Government’s pay policy will help to ensure the NHS workforce is affordable and protect jobs.

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

    John Glen – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if NHS England will develop a clinical commissioning policy on the use of extended half-life blood clotting factor products in people with haemophilia.

    George Freeman

    The Department plans to tender for extended half-life Clotting Factor VIII and Factor IX for use in the National Health Service once the products are granted European Union licences and are commercially available.

    NHS England has made no decision at this time to whether it will develop a clinical commissioning policy for extended half-life productsbut, through the Clinical Reference Group and discussion with the Department’s Commercial Medicines Unit, will continue to review commissioning of these extended half-life products in the future.

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

    John Glen – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to procure extended half-life blood clotting factor products for use in the NHS.

    George Freeman

    The Department plans to tender for extended half-life Clotting Factor VIII and Factor IX for use in the National Health Service once the products are granted European Union licences and are commercially available.

    NHS England has made no decision at this time to whether it will develop a clinical commissioning policy for extended half-life productsbut, through the Clinical Reference Group and discussion with the Department’s Commercial Medicines Unit, will continue to review commissioning of these extended half-life products in the future.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what comparative assessment he has made of uptake and use by the NHS of new treatments for people living with diabetes with health systems in other EU countries.

    Jane Ellison

    The Office of Health Economics (OHE) report International Comparison of Medicines Usage: Quantitative Analysis, published last year, showed that uptake of newer and more expensive drugs to treat diabetes was lower than comparator countries. However, uptake of more established therapies was considerably higher.

    It is important to note that high use of drugs does not mean more people are cured. There are a number of legitimate factors which influence usage, and therefore variation, such as populations with differing health needs. The Research and Development (RAND) Europe report International variation in drugs usage: an exploratory analysis, published at the same time as the OHE report – seeks to define some of these factors and can be found at the link below:

    http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR800/RR899/RAND_RR899.pdf

    Our focus is on tackling unjustified variation where it exists.

    “

  • Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many medical students are currently studying in medical schools in London.

    Ben Gummer

    The Medical and Dental Students Survey records the total intake for medical schools for the 2014/15 academic year for London as1,616.Data is not held centrally on numbers of medical students studying in London for their final year of study or current totals of medical students in medical schools in London.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many junior doctors worked in the NHS in London in each year since 2006.

    Ben Gummer

    The number of full time equivalent NHS Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) doctors in training and equivalents1 in London, as at 30 September each year between 2006 and 2014 and at 30 June 20152 is shown in the following table.

    2006

    2007

    2008

    2009

    2010

    2011

    2012

    2013

    2014

    2015

    10,360

    10,443

    10,916

    11,645

    11,971

    12,083

    12,187

    12,455

    12,584

    12,288

    Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre Medical and Dental Workforce Census.

    Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre, Provisional NHS HCHS Monthly Workforce Statistics.

    Notes:

    1 Doctors in training and equivalents refers to the Registrar group, Senior House Officer, Foundation Year 2, House Officer & Foundation Programme Year 1, other doctors in training and other staff at these grades that do not hold an educationally approved training post.

    2 June 2015 data is the latest data available. This is sourced from the NHS HCHS Monthly Workforce Statistics.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many medical students studying in London medical schools are in their first year of study.

    Ben Gummer

    The Medical and Dental Students Survey records the total intake for medical schools for the 2014/15 academic year for London as1,616.Data is not held centrally on numbers of medical students studying in London for their final year of study or current totals of medical students in medical schools in London.