Tag: Justin Madders

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he made of the potential merits of expanding the monitoring of healthcare-associated infections.

Ben Gummer

Public Health England undertakes monitoring of healthcare associated infections, which includes the mandatory healthcare associated infections surveillance system. These arrangements are regularly reviewed and changes introduced in 2015 include enhanced surveillance for very antibiotic resistant infections (carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many UK citizens have a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC); and how many such people have used their EHIC to obtain state provided healthcare in other EU countries in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt

The United Kingdom European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) means that people living in the UK are able to travel to the European Economic Area (EEA) safe in the knowledge that they will be able to receive free or reduced cost healthcare should they need it.

There are currently 27,570,911 cards in circulation, as of January 2016. The number of cards granted since 2006, providing such cover is:

2014/15 – 5,414,977

2013/14 – 5,571,060

2012/13 – 5,240,608

2011/12 – 6,830,734

2010/11 – 5,703,895

2009/10 – 4,162,170

2008/09 – 4,269,023

2007/08 – 4,160,935

2006/07 – 5,163,121

Source: Business Services Authority

The Department does not hold information about on how many people have used their UK EHIC to obtain state provided healthcare in another EEA country in any 12 month period. This is because data on UK EHIC usage is recorded by individual treatment episode rather than the card holder.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how his Department plans to increase the understanding and use of social value in the design of healthcare services.

Alistair Burt

The Department is reviewing its work with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector and will consider how to enhance the understanding and use of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 as part of this work. The Department also intends to develop guidance for procurers and non-procurers on how to make best use of the Act. In addition, the Sustainable Development Unit, funded by NHS England and Public Health England, has established a programme of work on social value which includes providing guidance to commissioners and embedding social value in the Sustainability and Transformation Planning process underway across the health and care system.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to adopt a target encouraging the reclassification of medicines from (a) prescription only medicine to pharmacy medicine status, (b) pharmacy medicine to general sales list medicine status and (c) prescription only medicine to general sales list medicine status; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman

The Government is committed to the continued reclassification of medicines from prescription only to pharmacy classification and from pharmacy to general sales list classification when it is safe to do so and there is a clear benefit to public health. This is an important part of empowering patients to manage their own care. The Government’s medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, is at the forefront of moves to reclassify medicines to non-prescription and is recognised as a leader in Europe in this regard.

Over the years reclassification has been facilitated by improving the regulatory environment for manufacturers to achieve successful reclassification of their products. Amendments to legislation were introduced in 2002 to reduce the legislative burden for reclassification; new guidance was published in 2012 to streamline the process; and in 2015 a United Kingdom platform was set up to maximise stakeholder engagement with the aim of encouraging further reclassification of medicines.

Patient safety remains the prime consideration in any decision to make a medicine available without prescription.

We are unable to calculate the total difference in cost to the public purse following these medicine reclassifications.

The attached tables contain the information for each of the last 25 years on medicines reclassified from prescription only medicine (POM) to Pharmacy (P) medicine and P medicine to general sales list (GSL) medicine. There are no examples of medicines which have been reclassified from POM to GSL. Where relevant, brand names have been included in brackets.

The lists represent the first reclassification either from POM to P or P to GSL of the product and further extensions such as wider indications, additional pack sizes or higher strengths have not been included.

Not all products listed are currently available, for various reasons, including both commercial and regulatory.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-04-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many formal complaints were made against NHS111 providers in each month since that service was launched.

Jane Ellison

This information is not held centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS trusts and foundation trusts met the 10 seven-day services clinical standards and the four priority standards set out by Sir Bruce Keogh in his December 2013 report, NHS Services, Seven Days a Week Forum: Summary of Initial Findings, in 2015-16.

Ben Gummer

There is a phased approach to implementation of the four priority standards. By March 2017, 25% of the population will be guaranteed access to the four standards, seven days a week, rising to the whole country by 2020.

An initial self-assessment of progress on meeting the four priority clinical standards was carried out by trusts in August 2015. This showed that around half of trusts are meeting two or more of the clinical standards. Following feedback from trusts, the self-assessment process is being improved for future surveys.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether members of the public will have a right to attend Sustainability and Transformation Plan board meetings.

George Freeman

We have made clear that the on-going engagement of patients and the public is part of good planning. However the Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) are not statutory boards. Rather they are meetings attended by representatives of the wider health system, and are not required to meet in public as are formal boards.

The local, statutory architecture for health and care remains. As such, the local governance for STPs will ultimately be through individual organisations. Public access to Board meetings of their local organisations will be unchanged.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons his Department discontinued the nursing, midwifery and allied health professionals policy unit; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Gummer

As part of the DH 2020 plan, the Department is making significant changes to the way it works. The Department’s approach is to flexibly access professional advice from a wide range of sources, including arm’s length bodies, regulators and professional bodies, rather than from a fixed standing team of internal advisers.

These changes do not affect the role of the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), who as CNO of the Department already advises, and will continue to advise all Ministers and the Department on the range of nursing issues.

All staff in the Department, including staff in the current nursing, midwifery and allied health professions policy unit are eligible to apply for new roles in the organisation or to apply for a voluntary early severance scheme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which hospitals he has visited in each of the last 12 months.

David Mowat

The Secretary of State for Health has visited the following hospitals in the last 12 months.

The Secretary of State for Health Mr Jeremy Hunt

9 September 2015 St Thomas Hospital, Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (FT)

12 November 2015 St Thomas Hospital, Guys and St Thomas’ NHS FT

07 December 2015 Wrightington Hospital- Wrightington, Wigan, and Leigh Hospital NHS FT

09 December 2015 University College London Hospital FT

26 December 2015 Milford Hospital, Surrey

29 January 2016 Kings College Hospital London NHS FT

26 May 2016 Kings College Hospital London NHS FT

10 June 2016 Medway Hospital NHS FT

16 June 2016 Royal Lancaster Infirmary-University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS FT

22 June 2016 Queen’s Medical Centre-Nottingham University Hospital FT

23 June 2016 Queen’s Hospital-Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust

23 June 2016 William Harvey Hospital-East Kent Hospitals University NHS FT

27 July 2016 Yeovil District Hospital-Yeovil District Hospital NHS FT

27 July 2016 Southmeade Hospital-North Bristol NHS Trust

27 July 2016 Royal Bristol Infirmary-University of Bristol Hospitals NHS FT

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce the autism employment gap.

Penny Mordaunt

We will shortly publish a Green Paper on work and health and conduct a consultation aimed at disabled people, their representative organisations and a wide range of other stakeholders.

We have put in place the Autism Alliance UK contract to upskill autism leads across the JCP+/DWP Network – Delivering autism and associated hidden impairments training by specialists in this area. So far we have reached over 1,100 staff.

It is hoped the training will help increase the proportion of autistic adults in full-time employment, which currently stands at 15%, according to the National Autistic Society.

DWP has also developed an uncovering hidden impairments toolkit to help colleagues support those with hidden impairments, including autism.