The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received on the effect of the vote to leave the EU on his policy to provide full seven-day NHS services.
David Mowat
None.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the likely effect of proposed changes to pharmacy funding on home delivery of NHS prescriptions.
David Mowat
The Government’s proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond, on which we have consulted, are being considered against the public sector equality duty, the family test and the relevant duties of my Rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health, under the National Health Service Act 2006.
Our assessments include consideration of the potential impacts on the adequate provision of NHS pharmaceutical services, including the supply of medicines, access to NHS pharmaceutical services, supplementary hours, non-commissioned services, individuals with protected characteristics, impacts on other NHS services, health inequalities, individuals with restricted mobility and access to healthcare for deprived communities.
An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.
Our proposals are about improving services for patients and the public and securing efficiencies and savings. We believe these efficiencies can be made within community pharmacy without compromising the quality of services or public access to them.
Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive. We are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared with others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.
We want a clinically focussed community pharmacy service that is better integrated with primary care and public health in line with the Five Year Forward View. This will help relieve the pressure on general practitioners and accident and emergency departments, ensure better use of medicines and better patient outcomes, and contribute to delivering seven day health and care services.
The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, Dr Keith Ridge has commissioned an independent review of community pharmacy clinical services. The review is being led by Richard Murray, Director of Policy at The King’s Fund. The final recommendations will be considered as part of the development of clinical and cost effective patient care by pharmacists and their teams.
NHS England is also setting up a Pharmacy Integration Fund to support the development of clinical pharmacy practice in a wider range of primary care settings, resulting in a more integrated and effective NHS primary care patient pathway.
The rollout of the additional 1,500 clinical pharmacists announced by NHS England will help to ease current pressures in general practice by working with patients who have long term conditions and others with multiple medications. Having a pharmacist on site will mean that patients who receive care from their general practice will be able to benefit from the expertise in medicines that these pharmacists provide.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of boys were (a) White British, (b) White British eligible for free school meals, (c) White Non-British, (d) White Non-British eligible for free school meals, (e) Black, (f) Black eligible for free school meals, (g) Indian, (h) Indian eligible for free school meals, (i) Chinese ethnicity, (j) Chinese ethnicity eligible for free school meals, (k) other Asian, (l) other Asian eligible for free school meals, (m) any other ethnicity and (n) any other ethnicity eligible for free school meals received a place in a grammar school in each of the last five years.
Nick Gibb
Proportion of Year 7 pupils in Selective schools by selected ethnic groups, gender & FSM eligibility
|
Boys |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
|
White British |
3.6% |
3.6% |
3.8% |
3.7% |
3.7% |
|
White British – Eligible for FSM |
0.6% |
0.5% |
0.5% |
0.6% |
0.6% |
|
White non-British |
2.9% |
2.8% |
3.3% |
3.0% |
3.1% |
|
White non-British – Eligible for FSM |
0.3% |
0.4% |
0.3% |
0.5% |
0.5% |
|
Black |
2.3% |
2.7% |
2.9% |
2.9% |
3.3% |
|
Black – Eligible for FSM |
0.3% |
0.4% |
0.4% |
0.5% |
0.7% |
|
Indian |
13.0% |
12.9% |
14.0% |
15.2% |
15.5% |
|
Indian – Eligible for FSM |
3.0% |
2.5% |
2.4% |
3.5% |
3.2% |
|
Chinese |
18.9% |
20.5% |
22.4% |
17.9% |
18.5% |
|
Chinese – Eligible for FSM |
9.0% |
12.0% |
14.3% |
5.8% |
6.0% |
|
Other Asian |
5.9% |
5.7% |
6.3% |
6.0% |
6.4% |
|
Other Asian – Eligible for FSM |
1.9% |
1.2% |
1.5% |
1.5% |
1.8% |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the consultation on the community pharmacy contractual framework, what estimate he has made of the number of pharmacies he forecasts will close.
David Mowat
Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of community pharmacy services including public access to medicines. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we have a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population. Our reforms are about improving services for patients and the public and securing efficiencies and savings. A consequence may be the closure of some pharmacies but that is not our aim.
The Government announced the package of reforms for the community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond on 20 October 2016. This included full details of how the Pharmacy Access Scheme will operate, as well an impact assessment for the package of reforms. This can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-pharmacy-reforms
“
The speech made by Justin Madders, the Labour MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston, in Westminster Hall, the House of Commons, on 7 December 2022.
It is an absolute pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mrs Cummins. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Catherine West) on securing this really important debate.
This debate is apposite, because only last week Barclays bank announced that it is going to close its branch in Ellesmere Port. What is particularly frustrating about that is that I was approached a couple of months ago by a constituent who told me that when they went into the branch they were discouraged from using the counter services. In fact, they were told that it was not available to personal customers and that there were other options available. Lo and behold, two months later Barclays bank says, “We don’t really have people coming into the branch any more, so we don’t need to keep it open.” I am afraid this drive to online services is being used by banks that can frankly afford to keep those branches open. It is part of a wider trend.
We will now go through a 12-week consultation period that has been described as nothing more than a box-ticking exercise. I am pretty clear that Barclays is not going to change its mind. Has any bank ever decided to remain open after announcing its closure? The code of practice needs to be looked at seriously, because we are being treated as a box-ticking exercise. The wider impact of such decisions on our communities needs to be considered much more.
It was 20 years ago that Barclays closed its branch in Little Sutton. It told us then, “It’s not a problem because you can still use the branch in Ellesmere Port.” Now my constituents will be sent further and further afield. HSBC announced that it would close its branch in Ellesmere Port back in March. It said, “You can go and use the branch in Bromborough, about five miles away,” but this week it announced that it is going to close the Bromborough branch. The cumulative effect is there for all to see. It seems that we are powerless to stop this trend, and our high streets are the worse for it.
Some banks say that post offices can be used, but we are seeing closure after closure of post offices. In my constituency, two have announced their closure in the past couple of months. The Post Office’s flawed model means that they will reopen only if there is commercial partner. That means the great likelihood is the people of Great Sutton and Elton will not see those branches reopen. The people of Elton have already suffered: they had to wait more than a year for a commercial partner to be found the previous time their branch closed, and the people of Neston had the same problem. The Post Office needs to completely reappraise its responsibility to communities, instead of operating on a completely commercial basis.
Barclays made £2 billion profit in the last quarter, so frankly it can afford to keep open every single branch that in recent weeks it announced would close. We need to draw a line in the sand. Will we continue to accept these closures? Will we continue to accept the decline of the high street? Or will we ask these organisations to take a bit more corporate responsibility for their areas, for the communities they are supposed to serve and for people who cannot go online for many understandable reasons?
Councils are not able to offer a solution while they are restricted by ever-shrinking budget rounds and competitive bids that are not always successful. We need a sustainable, long-term strategy for our high streets that requires big anchor organisations, such as banks and post offices, to serve their communities. Without that, the civic pride that people feel in their high streets will continue to erode, and we will all be the poorer for that.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-10-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress he has made on introducing independent medical examiners to the death certification process.
Ben Gummer
We will provide an update on our plans once the Spending Review has been completed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-10-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made with delivering £22 billion of efficiency savings in the NHS identified in its five-year forward plan.
Alistair Burt
The Government is committed to investing £10 billion to fund the National Health Service’s own plan for the future, and the NHS needs to deliver efficiency savings in order to live within its means.
Since May 2015, the Government has taken action to help hospitals clamp down on excessive agency staffing costs, use of management consultants and fees charged by lawyers. Lord Carter’s interim report has outlined how hospitals can save around £5 billion by reducing variations in the way operations and treatments are carried out. Further programmes at work are under way in partnership with NHS England and others.
The Department is working together with the health service, our partners and patients to further develop the programme required to fully achieve the efficiency savings set out in the Five Year Forward View.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-10-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether on any occasion under-qualified pilots have been provided in the compulsory pilotage area at Londonderry Port.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Department does not hold this information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-10-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of pilotage standards at Londonderry Port.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Competent Harbour Authorities, such as the Londonderry Port & Harbour Commissioners, have a statutory duty to determine what pilotage services need to be provided to secure the safety of ships navigating their waters, and may authorise those persons they consider suitably qualified to act as pilots. The Department has no power to oversee or direct them in their execution of these duties.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-10-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what new performance target for Trusts and Foundation Trusts has been introduced since May 2010; and which new performance targets he plans to introduce for those bodies over the next five years.
Jane Ellison
A number of operational standards related to access and waiting times have been introduced or amended since May 2010. All the changes were based on recommendations from clinical experts.
As part of our response to the Independent Cancer Taskforce’s report, we have announced our commitment that – by 2020 – 95% of National Health Service patients will be given a definitive cancer diagnosis or the all clear within 28 days of being referred by a general practitioner. This will be underpinned by investment – expected to be £300 million more in diagnostics a year by 2020.
We are also introducing the first waiting times standards specifically for mental health so that, from April 2016:
– 75% of people will be referred to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme within six weeks, with 95% of people being referred within 18 weeks; and
– 50% of people experiencing a first episode of psychosis will be treated within two weeks.