Tag: David Amess

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness 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.

Where a social enterprise provides a regulated activity, under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, it will have to register with the CQC and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall. Following inspection of individual social enterprise providers, the CQC will publish a report on its website.

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 David Amess on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the implications for his policies are of the findings of the Annual Report of the National Clinical Audit for Rheumatoid and Early Inflammatory Arthritis on treatment targets in England and Wales for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

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 2016-05-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in the Fit For Work scheme have a musculoskeletal condition.

Justin Tomlinson

2,144 people have been referred to Fit for Work with a musculoskeletal condition since the launch of the programme in March 2015.

All statistical information has been provided by either HML or Scottish Government. It has not previously been published and is non-validated.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent representations he has received on the work of SSAFA, the armed forces charity.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence has excellent relations with SSAFA and maintains regular contact with them; including through the Service Charities Partnership Board, which I will be attending on 18 October.

I have received SSAFA’s recent report on Veterans welfare and I am considering the recommendations provided.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to meet the UK’s international obligations to refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria, other than by supporting countries in that region.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Prime Minister’s consistent focus has been on providing a comprehensive solution to the refugee crisis. He has reiterated the need for the EU to deal with the root causes of the crisis, not just respond to the consequences. The UK has committed more than £1.1 bn – the largest ever UK response to a humanitarian crisis. This goes to those in need inside Syria and the region. The Prime Minister announced on 8 September that the UK would resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years. This will build on an existing scheme for Syrians designed to support refugees based on their vulnerability. The UK has provided financial assistance (£3.6 million/€5 million per year for two years) to fund a project aimed at protecting the most vulnerable people in the migrant camps in Calais. We continue to provide practical support to frontline Member States (particularly Greece), including to support them in securing the EU external border. The Department for International Development announced a £5 million package to the Start Network, a group of humanitarian organisations, to provide emergency relief supplies for refugees and migrants in Greece, Serbia and Macedonia. Overall funding to the Europe wide response, which is not allocated to specific countries is £6,050,000. Of this £550,000 is allocated to International Federation of Red Cross and £500,000 to the Civil Protection Mechanism.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether NHS England is responsible for implementation of (a) the option in the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation guidance, Immunisation against infectious disease, that allows clinicians to use their clinical judgement where patient circumstances strongly suggest that prophylaxis with palivizumab would prevent serious respiratory syncytial virus infection in infants who are at a particular risk of complications and (b) other options in that guidance.

Jane Ellison

NHS England has responsibility under the Section 7A Agreement to commission specific NHS Public Health programmes on behalf of Secretary of State. This responsibility includes implementation of the service specification for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) which includes both options described in the question.

RSV is a common cause of respiratory tract infections. It usually causes a mild self-limiting respiratory infection in adults and children, but it can be severe in infants who are at increased risk of acute lower respiratory tract infection.

There is no licensed vaccine available for RSV. Preventative treatment for RSV is available by passive immunisation with protective antibodies to protect at risk infants.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many technologies have been assessed through NHS England’s commissioning through evaluation process in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.

George Freeman

In 2014, five treatments commencedevaluation under NHS England’s Commissioning through Evaluation programme.

In 2015, six treatments commenced evaluation under NHS England’s Commissioning through Evaluation programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-02-08.

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, 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.

Discussions are ongoing between the Department and NHS England on a long-term solution.

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 Annual Report of the National Clinical Audit for Rheumatoid and Early Inflammatory Arthritis, published on 22 January 2016, what plans his Department has to introduce national measurements for rheumatology services for commissioners and NHS England to inform service design and funding.

Jane Ellison

National Clinical Audits are commissioned and managed on behalf of NHS England by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP). 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.

In terms of plans to introduce national measurements for rheumatology services, NHS England’s National Indicators Group is reviewing service level metrics that could provide commissioners with assurance in this area. NHS England will also review whether a new best practice tariff in rheumatoid arthritis could be developed, subject to suitable data being available.

The Department is currently taking a number of steps to improve the systems for capturing, coding and integrating data from National Health Service outpatient clinics. For example, where trusts have identified local requirements for improving the capture of information, including for outpatient data, funds have been made available for improved electronic systems through the Integrated Digital Care Fund and the South Local Clinical Systems Programmes. This includes for improvements to patient administration, patient records, and document management systems which will help the recording and accessing of data at the point of care.

Going forward, through the work of the National Information Board, the Department is taking the following steps to improve the systems for capturing, coding and integrating data from NHS outpatient clinics:

– supporting providers to implement technology systems further in outpatient departments where they do not already exist, to collect better data and become paper free at the point of care. £1.4 billion of the recently announced investment of £4.2 billion in NHS technology over the next five years is intended for this purpose;

– examining the potential to move outpatient departments to capture activity in a standardised terminology (SNOMED CT) so it may be available elsewhere in the hospital and to support reporting and clinical audit. SNOMED CT includes representation of codes pertaining to rheumatoid and inflammatory arthritis that are generally well-developed; and

– In 2017/18, expanding the a current programme of work which is looking information exchange for inpatient transfers, to cover other care domains including the exchange of outpatient information between acute trusts and patients’ general practitioners.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-05-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the Work and Health Programme meets the needs of people with arthritis.

Priti Patel

Development of the Work and Health Programme design is well underway, including engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. The Department has commenced the commercial process for the programme by releasing the Prior Information Notice for potential providers on 28 April.

Decisions on what the information reporting requirements will be for people with a disability or health condition are yet to be made.