Tag: David Amess

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-10-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what arrangements are in place for assessing a patient’s eye health on discharge from hospital.

Alistair Burt

Prior to hospital discharge every patient will have a discharge assessment which will look at their ongoing healthcare needs and in light of that an individual care plan will be established.

These plans are formed in line with each individual hospital’s discharge policy, which will vary.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2015 to Question 13645, (a) how and (b) by whom each head teacher was selected to work with her Department on improving the provision of PSHE in schools; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Timpson

The Department for Education regularly speaks to a wide range of head teachers, academy chief executives, teachers and subject associations. We invited a group of headteachers and PSHE practitioners to work with us on improving the quality of PSHE.

These individuals were selected because of the high quality provision in their schools. The list of contributors will be known when the report is published.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of whether clinical commissioning groups are fully prepared to assume active commissioning of tier 4 obesity from April 2016.

George Freeman

NHS England is supporting the transfer of commissioning responsibilities for obesity surgery services to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to ensure that they are fully prepared to assume the role.

They will provide technical and operational guidance to commissioners, including undertaking an evaluation of Tier 3 and Tier 4 interfaces within regions to assist CCGs. This guidance is in development.

NHS England is also supporting CCGs through national and local collaborative meetings on commissioning.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-01-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to encourage countries hosting Syrian refugees in that region to allow NGOs to provide non-formal education opportunities.

Mr Desmond Swayne

At the Conference on Supporting Syria and the Region being held in London on 4^th February, we want the international community to agree a new goal that all Syrian refugee children and affected host country children are in education – formal school or non-formal – by the end of 2016/17. Equally, for inside Syria, it is our aim to increase access to good quality schooling or other learning opportunities such as self-learning and non-formal education. In neighbouring countries we will also increase access to vocational or skills training and higher education for children and youth.

At the Conference our ambition is that international donors, governments from countries in the region hosting refugees, non-governmental organisations and the private sector come together to agree a set of reciprocal financial and policy commitments. The UK and co-hosts are working with donors and other partners to secure increased funding for education under the UN-led appeals for 2016 and longer term, multi-year education funding commitments to ensure sustainability. We are also working with refugee hosting governments in particular to agree the policy commitments necessary to turn increased funding into delivery on the ground.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2016 to Question 24408, if she will discuss with the Sustainable Energy Association and other relevant bodies how to achieve the potential for buildings to contribute to the Government’s goals on reducing carbon and tackling fuel poverty.

Andrea Leadsom

DECC officials and ministers will continue to discuss, with a range of stakeholders, the options for buildings to contribute to reducing carbon and tackling fuel poverty. Our approach is to consider the overall use of energy in buildings, and not energy efficiency or heat in isolation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the findings of the Annual Report of the National Clinical Audit for Rheumatoid and Early Inflammatory Arthritis, published on 22 January 2016, on links between waiting times and consultant numbers, what steps he is taking to increase the number of consultant rheumatologists.

Jane Ellison

National Clinical Audits are commissioned and managed on behalf of NHS England by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP). Audits help drive improvement by providing local trusts with individual benchmarked reports on their performance against a range of measures, feeding back comparative findings to help participants identify necessary improvements for patients

The first annual report of the national clinical audit of rheumatoid and early inflammatory arthritis was published on 22 January 2016. The report identifies that although most services offer prompt educational support and agree targets for treatment with their patients, performance against criteria for referral and assessment could be improved. Since the audit, HQIP has reported that a number of trusts have successfully reconfigured their services in order to improve patient care. More information can be found at the following link:

www.hqip.org.uk/national-programmes/a-z-of-nca/arthritis-rheumatoid-and-early-inflammatory

To help clinicians to identify the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and make prompt referrals to specialists, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published Rheumatoid arthritis: The management of rheumatoid arthritis in adults, in 2009. This best practice guideline sets out the signs and symptoms of the disease and emphasises the need for early diagnosis with urgent referral to a specialist rheumatologist on suspicion of RA. For those diagnosed with the condition, the guidance also recommends they should be offered the opportunity to take part in educational activities, including self-management programmes.

The NICE RA quality standard (QS), published in 2013, is based on the NICE guideline, and one of the seven quality statements recommends that people with suspected RA are assessed in a rheumatology service within three weeks of referral. However, whilst providers and commissioners must have regard to these standards in planning and delivering services, they do not provide a comprehensive service specification and are not mandatory.

Regarding the establishment of early arthritis clinics, the configuration of services, including decisions to such arthritis clinics, is a matter for the local National Health Service.

The latest monthly workforce statistics published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre showed that, as of November 2015, there were 563 full time equivalent rheumatology consultants employed in the NHS. This is an increase of 119 (26.8%) since May 2010. The recruitment and retention of staff is matter for local NHS services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if the Government will bring forward proposals to limit the duration of public inquiries.

Matthew Hancock

The running of a public inquiry is normally a matter for the independent Chair. However, good practice is that when establishing a public inquiry, Departments should seek to include in the terms of reference an estimate of the likely duration of the Inquiry.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-10-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS spent on treating patients with glaucoma in each of the last three years.

Alistair Burt

Cost information is shown in the following table from reference costs, which are the average unit cost to National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts of providing defined services in a given financial year. The table shows the costs of a surgical procedure covering one episode of care under one consultant in an admitted patient or outpatient setting and does not include other elements of the patient pathway such as GP consultations or outpatient appointments. It is not possible to separately identify the costs of glaucoma in non-surgical appointments.

Costs associated with glaucoma procedures, 2011/12 – 2013/14

Healthcare Resource Group (HRG)	Activity	National average unit cost £	Estimated total cost £ million
2011/12
Major Glaucoma Procedures	2,248	£1,440	£3.2m
Intermediate Glaucoma Procedures	33,842	£387	£13.1m
Minor Glaucoma Procedures	17,194	£293	£5.0m
Total			£21.3m
2012/13
Major Glaucoma Procedures, with CC Score 1+	1,206	£1,665	£2.0m
Major Glaucoma Procedures, with CC Score 0	2,622	£885	£2.3m
Intermediate Glaucoma Procedures, with CC Score 1+	3,167	£1,250	£4.0m
Intermediate Glaucoma Procedures, with CC Score 0	17,410	£451	£7.9m
Minor Glaucoma Procedures, with CC Score 1+	2,014	£773	£1.6m
Minor Glaucoma Procedures, with CC Score 0	19,243	£198	£3.8m
Total			£21.6m
2013/14
Major Glaucoma Procedures with CC Score 1+	1,709	£1,689	£2.9m
Major Glaucoma Procedures with CC Score 0	3,129	£884	£2.8m
Intermediate Glaucoma Procedures with CC Score 1+	3,384	£1,236	£4.2m
Intermediate Glaucoma Procedures with CC Score 0	9,297	£772	£7.2m
Minor Glaucoma Procedures with CC Score 1+	2,142	£680	£1.5m
Minor Glaucoma Procedures with CC Score 0	24,688	£181	£4.5m
Total			£23.1m

Source: Reference costs, Department of Health

Notes:

1. The HRG classification groups procedures into categories such as major, intermediate and minor, according to their complexity.
2. Complication and comorbidity scores describe the illness severity and complexity of patients, and the additional resources required for their treatment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2015 to Question 13645, what the names of each head teacher and the school to which they belong are with whom her Department is currently working to improve the provision of PSHE in schools; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Timpson

The Department for Education regularly speaks to a wide range of head teachers, academy chief executives, teachers and subject associations. We invited a group of headteachers and PSHE practitioners to work with us on improving the quality of PSHE.

These individuals were selected because of the high quality provision in their schools. The list of contributors will be known when the report is published.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for its policies of the report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare, The Urgent Need for an Effective, Enforceable and Enforced Equine Identification System, published in February 2014; and if she will bring forward proposals for such a system to be in place before the end of the current Parliament.

George Eustice

Defra accepts that the current EU system for equine identification does not work well and has pushed for a strengthened regime which is fit for purpose throughout Europe. Defra is now working with the other Governments of the United Kingdom, enforcement authorities and the equine sector to implement a new EU regulation which will help to ensure the regime operates effectively and efficiently in the future.