Blog

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of primary care inspections by the Care Quality Commission on improving clinical outcomes for patients.

    Ben Gummer

    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. It is responsible for assessing whether providers are meeting the fundamental standards below which care should not fall.

    The CQC has provided the following information.

    As of 31 March 2016, 3,281 general practitioner (GP) practices had received at least one overall published rating from the CQC. Of these, 4% are rated outstanding, 83% are rated good, 10% are rated requires improvement and 3% are rated inadequate. In addition to each overall rating, each practice also receives ratings for each of the CQC’s five key questions, is the service safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led set out above. This set of ratings for each practice, along with the overall rating provide a strong basis for improving clinical outcomes by highlighting where care is already good and where improvement is required.

    106 GP practices have been re-inspected following an overall rating of requires improvement or inadequate. Of these locations, 81 have had an improvement in their overall rating following re-inspection.

    There have been 153 GP practices / Out of Hours services placed into special measures. Subsequently, 43 have exited special measures and the majority of locations placed in special measures that have been re-inspected, have improved. At present 84% have improved, with over half of those improving moving up two categories to an overall good rating. Where the CQC has found unacceptably poor care, patients have been protected with a total of 16 de-registrations to date.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the Sustainability and Transformation Fund is applied to NHS Mental Health Trusts.

    Alistair Burt

    Full planning guidance for the National Health Service from England’s leading national health and care bodies was published in March 2016. This guidance sets out the steps to help local organisations deliver a sustainable, transformed health service and improve the quality of care, wellbeing and NHS finance. This includes some specific guidance on the use of the Sustainability and Transformation Fund and confirms that mental health providers will not receive allocations from the general element of the Sustainability and Transformation fund.

    In 2016-17 the fund is being used to help sustain services facing significant financial challenges, and the greatest need is in the acute sector.

    All trusts, including mental health trusts, will be able to bid for the separate targeted element of the fund.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how his Department measures and demonstrates parity of esteem between mental and physical health in the NHS.

    Alistair Burt

    The Government accepted the Mental Health Taskforce recommendation to identify the gaps in provision between mental health and physical health and has increased funding for mental health to an estimated £11.7 billion last year and have introduced waiting time standards so people know they will be treated quickly.

    This Government continues to hold NHS England to account through the NHS Mandate for the achievement of measurable progress towards the parity of esteem for mental health and clinical commissioning groups are required through the annual planning guidance to increase spending each year on mental health at least in line with the increase in their overall allocation.

    In line with practice in physical health, from 1 April 2015, waiting times standards for mental health came into effect for:

    – treatment within two weeks for more than 50% of people experiencing a first episode of psychosis; and

    – treatment within six weeks for 75% of people referred to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme, with 95% of people being treated within 18 weeks.

    The National Health Service has already achieved waiting time standards for IAPT and we have made changes to the Mental Health Services Dataset to measure performance against the standard for Early Intervention in Psychosis.

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many doctors have applied for a Certificate of Good Standing in the last six months.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department does not hold this information.

  • Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of nurses that will need to be recruited from abroad to maintain levels of health care provision during the 2016-17 financial year.

    Ben Gummer

    The number of nurses that will need to be recruited from abroad to maintain levels of health care provision during the 2016-17 financial year is a matter for local National Health Service organisations with their knowledge of the healthcare needs of their local populations.

    Local organisations must ensure they have sufficient levels of nurses to deliver safe and sustainable care. We remain committed to moving forwards towards a self-sustaining workforce and to reduce the demand for migrant labour, including nurses. Nurses have been included on the Home Office’s Shortage Occupation list but this Government remains committed to the principle that our nurses should be able to secure the jobs they are qualified for. Employers will have to satisfy the resident labour market test before they can employ a nurse from outside of the European Economic Area.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, under which statute he has the power to impose contracts on junior doctors.

    Ben Gummer

    The Secretary of State acted entirely lawfully in deciding to announce, on 11 February 2016, Official Report, columns 1763 – 1778 that he would proceed with the introduction of a new contract without further negotiation with the British Medical Association.

    In deciding that a new contract – which would be safer for patients and fair and reasonable for junior doctors – should proceed to be introduced, the Secretary of State was exercising a range of powers under the National Health Service Act 2006.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what specialist training in mental health commissioning is provided to clinical commissioning group mental health commissioners.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England does not provide specialist mental health training to clinical commissioning group (CCG) commissioners.

    NHS England provides a range of information, tools and guidance to support mental health commissioning and the transformation of services. NHS England Commissioning Support Units provide a wide range of commissioning support services that enable clinical commissioners to focus their clinical expertise and leadership in securing the best outcomes for patients and driving up quality of National Health Service patient services.

    NHS England Strategic Clinical Networks also provide support to CCG commissioners as part of their support and development role. One of the Strategic Clinical Networks is focused on Mental Health, Dementia and Neurological Conditions.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to collect data from private sector providers of NHS mental health services.

    Alistair Burt

    The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) is responsible for the Mental Health Services Data Set which is a patient level, output based, secondary uses dataset which will deliver robust comprehensive, nationally consistent and comparable person based information for children, young people and adults who are in contact with mental health services.

    Data submission is mandatory for all instances of care including from independent providers that are wholly or partially funded by the National Health Service.

    The Department is also working with the HSCIC and other health system partners to improve data submissions from independent providers.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure paramedics receive appropriate psychological support after witnessing traumatic events.

    Jane Ellison

    Management of the frontline workforce, including arrangements for any psychological support, is the responsibility of individual ambulance trusts. All ambulance trusts have internal debriefing support services and through occupational health, staff have access to professional counselling services.

    The Department commissions NHS Employers to support providers of NHS services in ensuring and improving staff health and wellbeing. They provide a wide range of advice, guidance and best practice, including toolkits on mental health and stress in the workforce.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department has received from NHS employers on the number of junior doctors who have worked weekends in the last six months.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department does not routinely collect this information. However NHS Employers conducted a survey of employers in January 2016, which asked what percentage of junior doctors worked 1 in 4 weekends or more frequently. The data returned reflected a snapshot (rather than the last six months).

    Based on a response from 14 employers in England, 40% worked more frequently than 1 in 4 Saturdays.

    Our manifesto commitment, which was translated into the mandate that shaped the contract negotiation, was for the National Health Service to standardise urgent and emergency care, it is not about elective care. It is true that some hospitals do elective work at weekends. That is part of the trust’s local decision-making and it is right for the hospital to make that decision.