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  • Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children up to the age of four received the meningitis B vaccination in (a) Lancashire and (b) the UK in 2015.

    Jane Ellison

    The Meningitis B (MenB) immunisation for infants was introduced on 1 September 2015.

    The vaccine is offered alongside other routine immunisations at two and four months of age, with a booster dose at 12-13 months. A limited one-off catch-up programme was also offered, targeting infants born in May and June 2015. Information on the number of children who received the meningitis B vaccination as part of National Health Service programme in 2015 is not yet available.

    Coverage of vaccines offered in the routine childhood immunisation programme is usually evaluated at 12 months of age, however, in order to provide more timely information about the newly introduced MenB vaccine, a temporary sentinel surveillance programme was set up to extract monthly coverage data direct from general practice systems for children who had just reached six months of age in England. Preliminary vaccine coverage at six months of age for children born in May, June and July 2015 is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake.

    It is anticipated that coverage for both doses of vaccine will increase when evaluated again when they are 12 months of age.

    “

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on maintaining the social work bursary; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    The Government is committed to ensuring a good supply of high quality social workers. This ambition will be achieved through a range of different training initiatives.

    There is room for standards of training and the quality of intake to be improved, however, no final decision has been taken on the future of the social work bursary. Any changes would be subject to public consultation.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2015 to Question 23840, on cancer: drugs, whether his Department plans to undertake an impact assessment of NHS England’s consultation proposals for a new Cancer Drugs Fund.

    George Freeman

    The Department has no such plans.

    NHS England is responsible for the operational management of the Cancer Drugs Fund. NHS England has advised that it does not, as a rule, produce impact assessments as standalone documents. Instead, it seeks to ensure that, as part of its processes to develop any policy or proposal, it considers quality, value for money, equality and accessibility issues.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department has issued on the length of time a patient should expect to wait between a telephone consultation taking place and being given an appointment to see their GP.

    Alistair Burt

    There is no central guidance to general practitioner (GP) practices on waiting times for telephone consultations.

    GPs can conduct telephone consultations with patients if they feel it is appropriate to do so. This could remove the need for the patient to go on to have a face to face consultation, however, it is for the GP to use his or her clinical judgement to decide if and when a face to face consultation should take place, and for the patient to decide if they wish to attend.

    This Government is committed to improving access to GP consultations and the Prime Minister’s GP Access Fund encourages practices in the schemes to use innovative methods to provide appointments to patients.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to address historic allegations of mistreatment of whistleblowers in the NHS.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department supports the right of staff working in the National Health Service to raise concerns and expects all NHS organisations to support staff in raising concerns. We expect all NHS organisations to adopt the national whistleblowing policy for the NHS as a minimum standard, which will be published by NHS Improvement and NHS England next month, and comply with the Employment Rights Act 1996, as amended by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.

    A regulation-making power was included in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 to prohibit discrimination against whistleblowers (or applicants believed by the prospective employer to have been whistleblowers) when they apply for jobs with prescribed NHS employers. The Department is aiming to consult shortly on draft regulations to implement this power.

    NHS England, Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority are currently developing a support scheme for NHS workers and former NHS workers, whose performance is sound and who can demonstrate that they are having difficulty finding employment in the NHS as a result of having made protected disclosures. This scheme will be piloted in the next financial year.

  • Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of trends in waiting times for elective surgery for people with inflammatory bowel disease.

    Jane Ellison

    Inflammatory bowel disease is not uniquely identified in the International Classification of Diseases and therefore it is not possible to specifically identify waiting times for people with this condition.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has issued guidance to GP practices on waiting times for patients seeking telephone consultation appointments.

    Alistair Burt

    There is no central guidance to general practitioner (GP) practices on waiting times for telephone consultations.

    GPs can conduct telephone consultations with patients if they feel it is appropriate to do so. This could remove the need for the patient to go on to have a face to face consultation, however, it is for the GP to use his or her clinical judgement to decide if and when a face to face consultation should take place, and for the patient to decide if they wish to attend.

    This Government is committed to improving access to GP consultations and the Prime Minister’s GP Access Fund encourages practices in the schemes to use innovative methods to provide appointments to patients.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much funding was allocated to Heathwatch England in each of the last three years; and how much such funding will be allocated in 2016-17 in cash terms and real terms.

    Ben Gummer

    Healthwatch England was allocated £4.083 million in 2013/14, £4.157 million in 2014/15, and £4.5 million in 2015/16. The figures are a combination of funding for core running costs and additional non-recurrent funding.

    A final allocation for 2016/17 is yet to be finalised.

  • 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 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to develop a long-term workforce strategy for learning disabilities.

    Ben Gummer

    Health Education England (HEE) was established to deliver a better healthcare workforce for England and using all available data is accountable for ensuring that we have a National Health Service workforce in the right numbers, with the right skills, values and behaviours to respond to the current and future needs of patients.

    HEE has been working with Skills for Care, Skills for Health and national transforming care partners to deliver a comprehensive workforce strategy to transform services for people with a learning disability, autism and/or behaviour that challenges to make a significant and lasting improvement to their care and lives.

    HEE has developed and made available a number of enabling tools and resources that can be utilised throughout Transforming Care Partnership including:

    – a Learning Disability Skills and Competency Framework which adopts a competency based approach to workforce planning and development;

    – a series of role templates to support the development of community and enhanced community teams; and

    – HEE Learning Disability Expert Reference Group Chaired by Baroness Hollins is exploring the career framework opportunities within health and social care for the development of new roles and education and training pathway.

  • Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the average length of time taken to be diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease.

    Jane Ellison

    Information concerning the average length of time taken to be diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease is not collected.