Tag: Justin Madders

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress his Department has made in achieving seven day services in the NHS which provides the same consultant assessment, diagnostic tests and consultant led interventions for patients seven days a week for (a) 50 per cent of the population by 2018 and (b) 100 per cent of the population by 2020.

Ben Gummer

The Government has set out that hospitals will achieve more seven day services by delivering four priority clinical standards developed by the NHS Services, Seven Days a Week Forum. NHS England will work with the National Health Service and NHS Improvement to support the NHS to meet the four clinical standards and realise the benefits of seven day services for patients.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the (a) number and (b) proportion of junior doctors who work on average more than (i) 48, (ii) 56, (iii) 72 and (iv) 91 hours a week.

Ben Gummer

The Electronic Staff Record System shows that 1% (around 500) of junior doctors receive a Band 3 pay supplement – 100% addition to basic salary – which applies to working patterns that are in breach of the current contractual limits on hours or rest.

The Working Time Regulations (WTR), which provide the same protection to junior doctors as to other workers, limit working hours to an average of 48 per week. Junior doctors, as is the case for all workers, may choose to opt-out of the WTR and work beyond the limits; however, where they do so, their contract imposes a limit of 56 hours per week.

The vast majority – 99% – of junior doctors are working average hours within these current limits of 48 or 56 per week.

Under the proposed new contract the limits on average weekly hours will continue to apply and there will also be limits that go further. There will be a cap on the maximum number of hours that junior doctors can work in any one week: whilst it is possible under the WTR to work 91 hours in a single week and still remain within the 48 hour weekly average, the proposed new contract will limit the maximum number of hours that can be worked in a single week to 72.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the financial monitoring and accounts returns submitted to his Department, what the (a) year to date and (b) forecast outturn spend is in each NHS (i) trust and (ii) foundation trust on total agency nursing costs, excluding outsourced bank, in 2015-16.

Alistair Burt

Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority have confirmed that they plan to publish data on the implementation of the agency caps in coming months.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many members of staff aged under 18 have been employed by NHS 111 in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Jane Ellison

This information is not held centrally.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 26284, on what date NHS England took the decision to seek external consultancy support for the development of its clinical commissioning policies; whether the contract for external consultancy support for the development of NHS England’s clinical commissioning policies was competitively tendered; who in NHS England took the decision to award the contract to Deloitte; what discussions his officials have had with NHS England on the contract with Deloitte since 1 January 2016; what the subject of those discussions was; and which clinical commissioning policies are being developed by NHS England.

Ben Gummer

NHS England decided to seek external support to supplement in-house capacity to deliver its clinical commissioning policy programme for specialised services in early 2015. The recommendation for contract award followed consideration by the Efficiency Controls Committee, which is a subcommittee of NHS England’s Board. This was subject to ministerial sign off.

Following the completion and approval of a business case by NHS England’s Efficiency Controls Committee, a competitive tendering process was undertaken within the Department of Health’s Framework Agreement. A contract award was subsequently made in September 2015, following ministerial approval.

NHS England has not published a list of the clinical commissioning policies under development in 2015/16. However, individual clinical commissioning policy proposals are made available through NHS England’s website once they have met NHS England’s governance gateways and have been agreed as ready for public consultation, together with a range of supporting information including a clinical evidence review and impact assessment.

While the Department approved the initial procurement of these services, they have not been involved in official discussions with NHS England regarding the contract since 1 January 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-23.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Office for Budget Responsibility on the potential implications of the UK withdrawing from the EU.

Mr David Gauke

The Office for Budget Responsibility have set out their approach to assessing the implications of a UK withdrawal from the EU in their March 2016 Economic and fiscal outlook (see Box 3.4).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for how many hospital shifts a full complement of staff was not available in each of the last five years.

Ben Gummer

The Department does not hold this information.

All National Health Service providers of regulated activities have to register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall. One of the fundamental standards relates to staffing and requires that a provider must have sufficient numbers of suitability qualified, competent, skilled and experienced persons in order to meet the requirements of residents.

The CQC has a wide range of enforcement powers that it can use if the provider is not does not meet the fundamental standards.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of agency costs as a proportion of the total nursing costs in each NHS (a) trust and (b) foundation trust in 2015-16.

Alistair Burt

The information requested is not currently available centrally. It could only be obtained from NHS Improvement at a disproportionate cost.

In November 2015, the Government introduced a series of tough financial controls to help the National Health Service tackle overspending on agency staff, including an hourly price cap.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the King’s Fund Quarterly Monitoring Report 19, published in May 2016; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

We recognise that very real financial and operational challenges face our health and care services. However, we are committed to a sustainable future for our National Health Service.

The Government has reaffirmed its commitment to the NHS by again committing to increase health funding each year in this parliament, in spite of the continuing fiscal challenges.

By 2020-21, the Government will increase funding for the NHS by £10 billion a year in real terms compared with 2014-15, to support the implementation of the NHS’s own plan – the NHS Five Year Forward View – to transform services across the country. And we will be giving the NHS £3.8 billion more this year (2016-17), over and above inflation, and almost £6 billion of the £10 billion in the first two years of the six-year period.

It is not, however, down to funding alone. The health system needs to match the increase in funding with service transformation and it is vitally important that we continue to strive for efficiency and give support to the development of new, more integrated, models of care; to the use of technology and transparency of data to drive up quality and choice for patients; to local areas to determine what is right for them through devolution; and to drive up the focus on prevention.

The NHS achieving 2-3% net efficiency gains each year until 2020-21 would represent a strong performance but it is achievable. We have already begun introducing measures to help spend taxpayers’ money more efficiently and reduce waste immediately and for the future – making sure every penny possible is spent on patient care.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2016 to Question 39429, on NHS logos, what the cost to his Department has been of legal advice on the use of the NHS logo by the Vote Leave Campaign; and what plans he has to apply for injunctive proceedings related to the use of that logo.

George Freeman

To date, the Department has incurred costs of approximately £5,000 (exclusive of recoverable VAT) for advice from specialist intellectual property lawyers, regarding misuse of the NHS logo by Vote Leave. The Department’s lawyers have also done some work on the matter. Their costs are covered in a block fee, which is paid by the Department to the Government Legal Department on an annual basis.

Given the Vote Leave campaign has now finished, the Department has no current plans to apply for injunctive proceedings.