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  • Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects to make a decision on the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust’s submission on a new hospital at Wynyard.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The Department is currently considering the business case submitted by North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust in August 2013. It is not possible to give an indication of when a final decision on the case will be made. The proposals represent a very significant financial commitment and it is vital we ensure they are value for money and affordable to the Trust.

  • Tessa Munt – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tessa Munt – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tessa Munt on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, to what extent NHS England is obliged to follow guidance issued by Monitor.

    Jane Ellison

    It is the National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No. 2) Regulations 2013 that place requirements on NHS England, including requirements as to good practice in relation to procurement.

    Enforcement of the procurement requirements by Monitor may only follow its investigation of a complaint that there has been a failure by a commissioner to comply with the requirements. Monitor has published guidance for NHS England and other commissioners of healthcare services which provides advice on how to comply with the regulations. Monitor expects to follow the interpretation of the regulations that it has set out in its guidance when exercising its enforcement powers under the regulations.

    In addition, to the extent that NHS England acts as a commissioner of services, it has a legal duty to have regard to guidance which Monitor publishes for commissioners of services which are designated as ‘commissioner requested services’. Before publishing the guidance or any revisions to it, Monitor must have first consulted NHS England.

  • Tessa Munt – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tessa Munt – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tessa Munt on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons NHS England is instructing hospitals with patients presenting as clinically urgent to treat such patients with innovative radiotherapy at the hospital’s financial risk while it decides whether to fund the patient; and how hospitals which have followed that instruction receive reimbursement for that expenditure if NHS England subsequently refuses to fund the treatment.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England is an independent arm’s length body and since 1 April 2013, it has been responsible for commissioning all radiotherapy services, including stereotactic radiosurgery. Gamma Knife treatment has been available to all patients who meet clinical criteria, without the need for individual funding requests, under NHS England’s national clinical commissioning policies for specialised services.

    University College London Hospitals is not contracted by NHS England, nor was it contracted by former primary care trusts, to provide Gamma Knife services. It is for this reason that National Health Service patients cannot normally be treated at this facility. Instead, NHS patients requiring Gamma Knife treatment should be treated by the Gamma Knife services commissioned by the NHS, that have been shown to meet NHS England service specifications. These can be accessed by patients in London without a waiting time, fully maintaining the continuity of their care and normally with the same consultant and clinical team.

    All patients need to be treated in accordance with the prescribed clinical pathways and in line with contractual agreements with providers.

  • Fabian Hamilton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Fabian Hamilton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fabian Hamilton on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will issue new guidance to NHS Trusts on the timely provision of information to victims’ families following a mental health homicide.

    Norman Lamb

    The NHS Serious Incident Framework issued by NHS England in March 2013 updated the National Framework for reporting and learning from serious incidents requiring investigation. It explains the responsibilities for actions and investigations following serious incidents, these include incidents where there may have been shortcomings in NHS-funded care prior to homicides committed by those receiving mental health care services.

    The NHS Serious Incident Framework is currently under review, to improve alignment and consistency of serious incident management and to provide further clarity to the NHS about principles, processes and expectations in response to serious incidents. As part of this work, NHS England is keen to develop systems to ensure that investigations are managed in a robust and transparent way. This includes ensuring that the carers and family members of both victims and perpetrators are supported from the onset, including being fully involved in the investigation process and the subsequent action planning and response.

    The framework will be published in autumn 2014 and will be implemented by spring 2015.

  • Virendra Sharma – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Virendra Sharma – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the proportion of the NHS budget allocated to (a) diabetes, (b) cancer, (c) dementia and (d) cardiovascular disease.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England allocates funding to clinical commissioning groups, which are responsible for distributing that funding in line with local clinical need. Funding is not generally allocated by disease area.

    However, the following table shows the most recent figures collated by NHS England on Primary Care Trust (PCT) expenditure in 2012-13 on diabetes, cancer, organic mental health disorders (including dementia) and problems of circulation (including cardiovascular disease). These figures exclude strategic health authority and arm’s length body expenditure.

    Expenditure (£ billion)

    Expenditure (% of overall PCT expenditure)

    Diabetes

    £1.54 billion

    1.6%

    Cancer

    £5.68 billion

    6.0%

    Organic Mental Health Disorders (including Dementia)

    £1.52 billion

    1.6%

    Problems of Circulation

    £6.90 billion

    7.3%

    NHS England has also identified around £90 million annually that is available nationally to the National Health Service to support timely diagnosis of dementia and to ensure that by 2015, two-thirds of people with dementia have a diagnosis and receive appropriate support following diagnosis.

    Notes on interpretation:

    Expenditure data included here is taken from the 2012-13 programme budgeting returns. Programme budgeting returns are based on a subset of PCT accounts data and represent a subset of overall NHS expenditure data.

    Calculating programme budgeting data is complex and not all healthcare activity or services can be classified directly to a programme budgeting category or care setting. When it is not possible to reasonably estimate a programme budgeting category, expenditure is classified as “Other”. Expenditure on General Medical Services and Personal Medical Services cannot be reasonably estimated at disease specific level, and is separately identified as a subcategory of “Other” expenditure.

    The allocation of expenditure to programme budgeting subcategories is not always straightforward, and subcategory level data should therefore be used with caution.

    Estimates of expenditure are calculated using price paid for specific activities and services purchased form healthcare providers. PCTs follow standard guidance, procedures and mappings when calculating programme budgeting data.

  • Tessa Munt – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tessa Munt – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tessa Munt on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many individual funding requests per indication were received by NHS England for radiotherapy treatment in the last financial year; and how many requests, per indication, were refused by NHS England.

    Norman Lamb

    Since April 2013, radiotherapy treatment has been planned and paid for nationally by NHS England.

    NHS England has informed us that information on the number of individual funding requests made to NHS England is not currently available. NHS England is improving its data collection mechanisms and aims to improve availability of such information in the future.

  • Fabian Hamilton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Fabian Hamilton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fabian Hamilton on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will extend victims’ rights to victims of mentally disordered offenders to be more comparable with those rights afforded to victims in the criminal justice system.

    Mike Penning

    The Government’s new Victims’ Code, which came into force on 10 December 2013, strengthens the rights of victims of crime, including where the offender is mentally disordered. The Code provides victims with clearer entitlements and better tailors services to individual need. Under the Code, criminal justice agencies must provide enhanced services to victims of the most serious crime; persistently targeted victims; and vulnerable and intimidated victims.

    Since 2001, victims of specified sexual and violent offences where the offender receives a sentence of twelve months or more have been offered the Probation Victim Contact Scheme, which enables them to make representations about which licence conditions a prisoner should be subject to on release, and to be informed about key stages of sentence such as release on temporary licence and full release.

    The Victim Contact Scheme was extended by legislation to victims of mentally disordered offenders with restrictions in July 2005, and to victims of mentally disordered offenders without restrictions in November 2008.

    Since April 2014, there has been a presumption that victims of restricted mentally disordered offenders will be told if they are granted permission for escorted or unescorted leave from hospital for rehabilitative purposes.

  • Fabian Hamilton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Fabian Hamilton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fabian Hamilton on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the new Single Operating Model for investigating mental health homicides for the NHS in England will become operational.

    Norman Lamb

    The NHS Serious Incident Framework issued by NHS England in March 2013 updated the National Framework for reporting and learning from serious incidents requiring investigation. It explains the responsibilities for actions and investigations following serious incidents, these include incidents where there may have been shortcomings in NHS-funded care prior to homicides committed by those receiving mental health care services.

    The NHS Serious Incident Framework is currently under review, to improve alignment and consistency of serious incident management and to provide further clarity to the NHS about principles, processes and expectations in response to serious incidents. As part of this work, NHS England is keen to develop systems to ensure that investigations are managed in a robust and transparent way. This includes ensuring that the carers and family members of both victims and perpetrators are supported from the onset, including being fully involved in the investigation process and the subsequent action planning and response.

    The framework will be published in autumn 2014 and will be implemented by spring 2015.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rosie Cooper – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what role NHS England plays in the development of advice given by the Prescribed Specialised Services Advisory Group to Ministers on which specialised services should be included in regulations setting out those services which NHS England must commission.

    Norman Lamb

    NHS England puts forward proposals to the Prescribed Specialised Services Advisory Group (PSSAG), and provides information to support the Group’s considerations chiefly via its Clinical Reference Groups. NHS England also provides expert members of PSSAG in areas such as finance, informatics, medicine and nursing. Further information about NHS England’s input to the process by which advice is prepared for ministers is set out in the publication "Prescribed Specialised Services Advisory Group – Recommendations to Ministers" published on 2 May 2014, which includes a complete list of PSSAG members. www.gov.uk/government/publications/specialised-service-recommendations-to-ministers In addition, as required by section 3B of the National Health Service Act 2006 (as amended), NHS England is consulted before regulations are made by the Secretary of State.

  • Tessa Munt – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tessa Munt – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tessa Munt on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reason none of the £42 million his Department has made available for increasing the use of radiotherapy is to be spent on treating cancer patients with Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy this year.

    Jane Ellison

    In July 2011, the National Radiotherapy Implementation Group concluded that current evidence supports treatment withstereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) for only a small number of patients. The evidence supports its use in the treatment of early stage lung cancers for patients who are unsuitable for surgery (approximately 1,000 per annum).

    NHS England recognises the positive clinical impact that its national policy on SABR for the treatment of early non-small cell lung cancer has had. It is currently examining the potential use of SABR in patients with oligometastatic disease – where a cancer is in the early stages of spreading.

    NHS England is also currently undertaking a review of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and SABR for intracranial conditions to establish what the national demand is in line with its national clinical commissioning policies on SRS and SABR, and what the national capacity requirements are for this specialised treatment. Following the review it is planned that a final decision will be taken by the Specialised Commissioning Oversight Group in October 2014.

    Later this year, the Radiotherapy Clinical Reference Group will review its current policy position on SABR to assess whether there is new evidence to recommend its use on other conditions. It is important to ensure that treatments commissioned are supported by robust evidence of their benefit to patients.