Tag: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-03-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they support NHS England’s decision to penalise providers for treating patients when numbers breach levels designated for Operational Delivery Networks, even if that treatment is in accordance with NICE guidance.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England is operationally independent, and it is for them to determine how best to deliver the objectives in the mandate to NHS England, as well as ensuring the best use of resources available to it.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) specifically requires Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) to prioritise hepatitis C patients on the basis of clinical need, as part of a progressive rollout of treatments over the next five years.

NHS England is funding providers to treat patients at the rate outlined in NICE’s guidance, apportioned to local ODNs based on local health needs. NHS England has invested in a Commissioning for Quality and Innovation scheme to incentivise ODNs to meet their agreed rate of roll-out. If their treatment rates deviate from this agreed rate of treatment, they are no longer eligible for these incentives.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-04-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many employees of (1) NHS England, and (2) Arden GEM Commissioning Support Unit, were seconded to the Special Projects Team in (a) 2014, and (b) 2015, and how many are currently seconded from each.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Special Projects Team (SPT) is a service hosted by Arden and GEM Commissioning Support Unit (CSU). In 2014 and 2015 the team had two full-time employees, one employed by NHS England, and then seconded to the CSU to work directly on SPT issues, and one person employed by the CSU (through the NHS Business Services Authority) working directly on SPT matters. This position continues at present.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-04-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how many patients have lost their vision as a result of not receiving timely follow-up appointments to see an ophthalmic specialist.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Given the size of England, and the diversity of the health needs of different communities, we believe commissioning needs to be owned and managed locally.

Therefore, there are no plans to develop a national strategy for eye care.

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for commissioning hospital eye services and for holding their providers to account in terms of contract performance. CCGs are also able to commission eye care services from community optometrists where they judge them to be needed in their areas over and above the sight tests commissioned by NHS England. Such services could include post cataract surgery reviews, glaucoma monitoring and low vision services which may reduce pressure on hospital eye departments, reduce waiting times and make patient care pathways more accessible in the community.

There is scope for further work to be done by community optometrists and the Clinical Council for eye health commissioning is working with commissioners to develop commissioning guidelines in this area.

CCGs have the ability to develop alternatives to hospital care. We would expect patients who require further planned stages of treatment in line with their agreed care plan, to receive this treatment without undue delay and in line with when it is clinically appropriate.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-04-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the rate of uptake by the NHS of faecal microbiota transplants in the treatment of recurrent clostridium difficile.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has produced guidance on faecal microbiota transplant for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection. NICE has recommended that the procedure is safe and effective for use in the National Health Service, but no assessment of its cost effectiveness has been made by NICE.

Data on the uptake of faecal microbiota transplants in the treatment of recurrent Clostridium difficile by the NHS is not collected centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-05-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on medicines policy and management of the reduction in the number of consultant clinical pharmacologist posts within the NHS.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Figures published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that there has not been a reduction in the number of consultant clinical pharmacologists employed in the National Health Service in England.

As part of its workforce planning, Health Education England (HEE) take account of a range of factors including forecast rates of retirement. HEE has recently undertaken a review of the clinical pharmacology and therapeutics workforce, the findings of which will contribute to future workforce planning for this specialty in England.

It is for the respective Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to consider workforce planning for their health system.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-06-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the risk that changes to the cost effectiveness threshold for vaccines as proposed by the Cost Effectiveness Methodology for Immunisation Programmes and Procurements working group would lead to England being restricted from paying for some new vaccines when compared to other health economies in Europe, and people in the UK receiving fewer innovative vaccines.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Government expects to receive the Cost Effectiveness Methodology for Immunisation Programmes and Procurement report shortly and will consider its recommendations once received. Until then, it would not be appropriate to speculate on possible recommendations or the impact they might have. We are committed to publishing their report. We will decide when to publish, and whether to consult, once we have had time to consider the report.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-07-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they will ensure consistency between the recommendations of the Cost Effectiveness Methodology for Immunisation Programmes and Procurements working group and those of the Department of Health’s Appraisal Alignment Working Group on similar issues.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The report of the Cost Effectiveness Methodology for Immunisation Programmes and Procurement (CEMIPP) review was received in the Department on 20 July. The Department is considering this report and its potential implications.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-10-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking in regard to those Clinical Commissioning Groups which plan to cut the proportion of their budget spent on mental health services for 2016–17.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England has set a clear requirement of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) that spending on mental health should increase year-on-year by an amount at least as great as the growth in their baseline allocations. CCGs are required through the NHS Operational Planning and Contracting Guidance 2017-2019 to increase their baseline spend on mental health. A copy of this guidance is attached. From this year, NHS England’s budget and financial reporting will be aligned to specific mental health priorities, increasing transparency and allowing additional resources to be tracked at CCG level.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-04.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what legislative changes they propose in order to bring together Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority within NHS Improvement.

Lord Prior of Brampton

We are bringing together Monitor, the Trust Development Authority (TDA), and patient safety and improvement functions from across the health system, under one single leadership and operating model – known as NHS Improvement.

A number of changes to secondary legislation, covering directions and regulations to the TDA, will be required to support this work. Work is ongoing to bring forward a set of proposals which will be laid before the House in the new year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the investigation General practice commissioning: in whose interests? by The Times and the British Medical Journal, what assessment they have made of whether the conflict of interest guidelines are fulfilled by asking board members with a conflict of interest in an item under discussion during a board meeting to remain silent or leave the room.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England is responsible for providing guidance to clinical commissioning groups on how to manage conflicts of interest.

The current guidance states that:

“Where certain members of a decision-making body have a material interest, they should either be excluded from relevant parts of meetings, or join in the discussion but not participate in the decision-making itself (i.e., not have a vote)….The chair of the meeting has responsibility for deciding whether there is a conflict of interest and the appropriate course of corresponding action.”

NHS England has commenced a review of the Conflicts of Interest Guidance, as part of a wider governance project to strengthen conflicts of interest management across the National Health Service, and this is expected to be published next year. NHS England will formally consult with a number of regulators and national partners in the development of this guidance.