Tag: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to monitor the impact of the introduction of the NHS Supply Chain generic project plans for a national formulary for wound care.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The NHS Supply Chain can provide data analysis on the usage of products procured through their route.

Incidents raised through the use of the products would be monitored by individual NHS trust clinical staff and appropriate investigations would be instigated.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what arrangements will be made for those with relevant knowledge or experience to be able to contact those carrying out the investigation commissioned by NHS England into the circumstances leading up to the termination of the contract between Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group and UnitingCare Partnership to deliver urgent care for the over-65s and adult community services.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England advises that it has commissioned David Stout OBE to carry out an independent review of the contract between Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group and UnitingCare Partnership. The terms of reference are to establish, from a commissioner perspective, the key facts and root causes behind the termination of the contract in December 2015 and to draw out recommendations and lessons to be learned. This will include a review of documentation and discussion with staff members.

Relevant individuals will be contacted during the course of the review to inform the findings. NHS England is also setting up a web page which will include an email address where comments and responses can be submitted. This will enable the public to contribute.

The review is expected to start in January and to be completed in February 2016. NHS England plans to publish the review when complete.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-01-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made, broken down by region and subject, of the current levels of qualified teachers.

Lord Nash

The information requested is not available.

Latest figures show that 96 per cent of full-time equivalent teachers in service in state funded schools in England (November 2014) have qualified teacher status.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect of changes to maintenance grants on low-income students’ ability to afford prescription charges.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

An Equality Analysis of changes to the support package for full-time students in 2016/17 was published on the GOV.UK website on 3 December 2015. No specific assessment was made of prescription costs, but this reform provides more up-front support for living costs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 22 February (HL5978), how many, and which, management consultancies engaged in failed initiatives from the previous rounds of consultancy-driven recovery initiatives will be excluded from NHS Improvement’s current round.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS Improvement undertakes its procurements in compliance with procurement rules and good practice. As such, no consultancies are automatically excluded from any consultancy driven recovery initiatives. However as part of this, NHS Improvement takes into account past performance of suppliers to the fullest extent permissible in its procurements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 17 December 2015 (HL4371), whether they are now able to publish implementation plans for the roll-out of the system of medical examiners.

Lord Prior of Brampton

We remain committed to the principle of medical examiners and will be setting out further information in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-03-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the cost of abolishing the National Patient Safety Agency.

Lord Prior of Brampton

An internal report Abolition of the National Patient Safety Agency, Transition and closure (July 2012) states that “In total, the savings secured through closing the Agency have been calculated to be approximately £9.3 million per annum … The vast majority of the Agency’s cost base related to personnel. A significant amount of cost saving was secured through proactive management of headcount through restructuring and redundancy programmes.”

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-03-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many patients are waiting, and for how long, for appointments in hospital with ophthalmic specialists.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The information is not available in the format requested.

The referral to treatment waiting times standard is that 92% of patients still waiting to start consultant-led treatment for non-urgent conditions at the end of each month should have been waiting within 18 weeks from referral. At the end of January 2016, there were 327,066 patients waiting to start ophthalmology treatment, 94% of whom had been waiting within 18 weeks, with an average median waiting time of 6.9 weeks. It is not known how many of these patients were waiting for a first outpatient appointment rather than to be admitted to hospital.

Information on how many patients are waiting for follow-up appointments, and for how long, is not collected.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-04-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will retender the existing NHS Whistleblowing Helpline; and if so, on what basis, and when.

Lord Prior of Brampton

We are committed to improving openness in the National Health Service and ensuring whistleblowers receive proper support. Every NHS trust will have a ‘Freedom to Speak up Guardian’ who will support whistleblowers and foster an open and honest culture. The National Guardian will lead, advise, and support the local guardians in carrying out investigations on how concerns are being handled, share good practice, report on national or common themes, and identify any barriers that are preventing the NHS from having a truly safe and open culture.

The Whistleblowing Helpline was established in 2003 by the Department of Health to provide advice to NHS staff and employers on the raising of concerns and on the protection of employees who do raise concerns. The Department holds regular meetings with the provider of the Helpline, Mencap, to keep its performance under review.

In the context of changes in the broader health and care system, such as the establishment of the National Guardian and the local guardians network, the Department is considering what role the Helpline should play in ensuring support for whistleblowers. The Department extended the existing contract to allow the Helpline facility to continue operating while future options for the Helpline are considered.

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 effectiveness of pre-exposure prophylaxis in the prevention of HIV.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a new use of HIV drugs which has shown clinical effectiveness in research trials at preventing HIV in people at high risk of getting HIV such as men who have sex with men (MSM) and people with HIV-positive partners. The drug used in the trials, Truvada, is not yet licenced for use as PrEP. Public Health England (PHE) has undertaken modelling work looking at cost-effectiveness of PrEP. Much depends on the price of the drugs and HIV prevalence in the target group. However, as with any new intervention, PrEP now needs to be properly assessed in relation to cost effectiveness to see how it could be commissioned in the most sustainable and integrated way and how it compares with other cost-effective approaches. The Department is considering this with PHE, NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

NHS England has agreed to carefully consider their position on commissioning pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Planning continues on the early implementer tests sites in the meantime. Irrespective of the commissioning arrangements for PrEP, decisions to fund will depend on full assessment of clinical and cost effectiveness and how it can be integrated with other HIV prevention efforts.