The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what legal costs have been incurred by NHS England in respect of the use of the NHS logo by the Vote Leave group; and if he will make a statement.
George Freeman
NHS England has not incurred any legal costs regarding this matter.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to encourage GPs to undertake out-of-hours shifts in primary care.
Alistair Burt
The Department and NHS England are committed to addressing the issue of increasing medical indemnity costs for general practitioners (GPs), including those working out of hours.
Increasing costs of indemnity cover associated with out of hours work may discourage GPs from undertaking out-of-hours shifts in primary care.
The Department was represented at a roundtable event held by NHS England on 17 November 2015 to develop a shared understanding of how to address rising medical indemnity costs. A range of stakeholders, including the British Medical Association and Medical Defence Organisations (MDOs), also attended.
On 9 December 2015, NHS England announced a winter indemnity scheme to offset the additional indemnity premium for GPs who wish to work additional sessions for their out-of-hours providers. In addition they have negotiated changes to the products offered by MDOs to bring down costs of indemnity for extended access.
Discussions are ongoing between the Department and NHS England on a long-term solution.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the role of social enterprises in delivering high-quality healthcare services.
Ben Gummer
It is a statutory obligation that decisions on healthcare provision should be taken independently by local commissioners. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) must decide how to use their resources in a way which is evidence based, clinically-led and cost-effective in order to provide high-quality healthcare for people in their area. CCGs must also balance both short-term need and long-term transformation in line with the NHS Five Year Forward View’s (5YFV) objectives.
However, the Government firmly believes that providers from all sectors, including social enterprises, play an important role in providing high quality, safe and efficient care to patients, as well as helping to realise the ambitions set out in the NHS 5YFV. That is why, working in partnership with Public Health England, NHS England and representatives from the voluntary sector, the Department is in the final stages of a review looking at partnerships and investment in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector. The final report of the review is expected to be published in the spring.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Department’s press release of 25 November 2015, entitled Department of Health’s settlement at the Spending Review 2015, how the figure of £2 billion of asset sales over five years was calculated; what the 25 potential asset sales with the highest prospective value are; what the value of projected asset sales scheduled to take place will be in each of the next five years; and if he will make a statement.
George Freeman
The £2 billion target was a Spending Review target agreed between the Department and HM Treasury. The target was derived from 2015-16 capital plans submitted to the Department from across the NHS Group, taking account of historic trends and additional future disposals needed to deliver the Department’s policy and finance objectives over the Spending Review period.
Land and buildings are the highest value asset class in the National Health Service. The Department works with a wide range of NHS and foundation trust’s bodies in confidence to identify and help bring forward surplus property. Data on the values of surplus land and property, before it is sold, is commercially sensitive and is not appropriate for the public domain.
The NHS continuously looks at ways of using its assets more efficiently, including disposing of what is surplus. It is not possible to provide a projected value of surplus assets at this stage while this work is ongoing but the Department is aiming to achieve circa £400 million per annum in sales from NHS and NHS Property Services’ assets over the Spending Review period.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children’s mental health beds there are (a) in each local authority or clinical commissioning group region and (b) per head of population in each such region.
Alistair Burt
The data of how many children’s mental health beds in each clinical commissioning group by region and per head of population in each such region, is contained in the below table:
|
Commissioned Beds |
Number of Children 0-19 |
Commissioned Beds per 1,000 Children |
|
|
London |
242 |
2,198,488 |
0.11 |
|
East Midlands |
137 |
1,146,555 |
0.12 |
|
East of England |
187 |
1,461,845 |
0.13 |
|
West Midlands |
175 |
1,434,330 |
0.12 |
|
North East |
98 |
703,514 |
0.14 |
|
North West |
196 |
1,641,767 |
0.12 |
|
Yorkshire and Humber |
90 |
1,328,961 |
0.07 |
|
South Central |
152 |
1,154,356 |
0.13 |
|
South East Coast |
94 |
1,080,080 |
0.09 |
|
South West |
54 |
1,069,126 |
0.05 |
|
Totals |
1,425 |
13,219,022 |
0.11 |
Notes:
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Djanogly on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to undertake consumer information campaigns in preparation for the introduction of the EU Tobacco Products Directive.
Jane Ellison
The Department has no plans to undertake consumer facing information campaigns in preparation for the introduction of the revised Tobacco Products Directive’s (TPD) requirements.
The TPD introduces a number of new product, labelling and reporting requirements for businesses supplying tobacco products, herbal products and e-cigarettes. The Department has and will continue to engage with businesses to make them aware of the new requirement and has recently held training sessions on the new legislation for enforcement officers. The Department will work alongside enforcement officers to build compliance over the transition period set out in the Regulations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many instances of adverse reactions have been reported under the Yellow Card Scheme; and what the nature of the reaction reported was in the case of (a) dabigatran, (b) rivaroxaban and (c) apixaban.
George Freeman
Reports of suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are collected by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Commission for Human Medicines through the spontaneous reporting scheme, the Yellow Card Scheme. The scheme collects suspected ADR reports from the whole of the United Kingdom in relation to all medicines and vaccines. Reporting to the Yellow Card Scheme is voluntary for healthcare professionals and members of the public. There is also a legal obligation for pharmaceutical companies to report all serious ADRs for their products that they are aware of.
The table below provides the number of UK suspected spontaneous ADR reports received via the Yellow card Scheme in association with each drug substance as requested.
The information in the table shows the number of UK spontaneous suspected ADR reports in association with Dabigatran, Rivaroxaban and Apixaban up to and including 7 March 2016.
|
Drug substance |
Number of reports |
|
Dabigatran |
1,552 |
|
Rivaroxaban |
3,291 |
|
Apixaban |
900 |
A full list of the type and number of reactions, broken down by the reaction term, is publically available for each medicine on the MHRA website. It is important to note that Yellow Card reports are not proof of a side effect occurring due to the medicine but only a suspicion by the reporter that the medicine may have caused the side effect. Yellow Card reports may therefore relate to true side effects of the medicine, or they may be due to coincidental illnesses that would have occurred in the absence of the medicine.
Dabigatran, rivaroxaban and apixaban are anticoagulant medicines used to prevent or treat blood clots. The most commonly reported adverse reaction for all three medicines is gastrointestinal haemorrhage or bleeding, which is in keeping with the known anticoagulant effects of these medicines. Other relatively commonly reported suspected adverse reactions include bleeding at other sites of the body, gastrointestinal symptoms (such as nausea, pain and diarrhoea), anaemia, and rash. These adverse reactions are described in the product information, in both the Patient Information Leaflet for patients and the Summary of Healthcare Products for healthcare professionals.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Djanogly on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the reductions in the number of people who use Stop Smoking Services in the last five years.
Jane Ellison
Although no formal assessment has been made of the reduction in the number of people accessing Local Stop Smoking Services in the last five years, Public Health England has been working with local areas, practitioners and experts in the field to better understand the reasons for the reduction in the number of people accessing services and consider how best to continue to help people stop smoking.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2016 to Question 28945, what the statistics referred to in that question were for (a) Barnet Hospital, (b) Chase Farm Hospital and (c) Royal Free Hospital.
Jane Ellison
Data on accident and emergency (A&E) attendances, emergency admissions, and performance against the A&E waiting time standard is not published for individual hospital sites. The data is published at trust level only, and this information is available at the links provided in the response to question 28945.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that access to Everolimus for children with tuberous sclerosis complex-related kidney tumours is included in the NHS England draft commissioning policy on that drug.
George Freeman
The commissioning of most health services for children is the responsibility of local clinical commissioning groups. NHS England has the role of commissioning the specialised services which patients with tuberous sclerosis access. In addition clinical policies are developed for new treatments that potentially change the impact of the disease.
NHS England has approved, as an in year service development, the routine commissioning of Everolimus for angiomyolipomas associated with tuberous sclerosis. The policy statement will be published in the next few days which will define the clinical criteria for which access is supported.
A full clinical policy for the use of Everolimus for subependymal giant cell astrocytoma is currently out for public consultation. This policy proposition will be considered for investment in the annual prioritisation round in June 2016.