Tag: Lord Mawhinney

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawhinney on 2016-09-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many provider NHS trusts achieved an improvement in operating efficiency of four per cent or more without aggravating their debt position in the last financial year.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

There is no nationally agreed metric for operating efficiency. However, an annual efficiency requirement is built into the tariff uplift calculation that is used by commissioners in their contract negotiation with providers. In 2015-16 this efficiency requirement was 3.5% over 2014-15. Therefore, we can assume that organisations are delivering this efficiency if they improve their financial position based on these efficiency adjusted prices.

In February 2016, the Department published Lord Carter’s Operational productivity and performance in English NHS acute hospitals: Unwarranted variations report, a review of efficiency in hospitals which provided details of how operational savings can be achieved. A copy of the report is attached. This programme, along with ‎additional funding provided by the government, will help reduce deficits in this year and bring the sector back into financial balance in future years.

The National Health Service will receive additional funding of £10 billion per year by the end of the current Spending Review period, with £3.8 billion provided in 2016-17 alone. From this £3.8 billion, we have created a £2.1 billion Sustainability and Transformation Fund that will help providers move to a sustainable financial footing.

NHS Improvement’s 2016-17 quarter 1 performance report confirmed that things are improving in this year, with lower levels of deficit, fewer trusts reporting a deficit and savings on agency staff.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawhinney on 2016-01-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of how many people in the UK have Lyme disease.

Lord Prior of Brampton

It is not practical to eradicate Lyme disease in the United Kingdom through treatment of human cases, therefore no cost estimate has been made. The disease is endemic in much of the small mammal and bird population in the UK, and is spread to humans by the bite of infected ticks which have fed on these animals. The number of human cases can be reduced by raising public awareness of how to avoid tick bites, and by environmental measures in public places to reduce the long grass and scrub which harbour ticks.

The number of laboratory confirmed cases of Lyme disease in England and Wales varies annually, in 2013 there were 878 and in 2014 there were 730, but the majority of diagnoses are made clinically by general practitioners and those figures are not recorded. Patients with late or complicated Lyme disease may be diagnosed in a variety of specialist clinics, and the numbers are not recorded. Based on the clinical information supplied with the laboratory request, only a small proportion of the annual number of cases fall into this category.

The Health Protection Research Unit of the University of Liverpool in partnership with Public Health England (PHE) has funding from the National Institute of Health Research for research into Lyme disease, covering diagnostics and biomarkers and public awareness. PHE is working on clinically linked studies for diagnostics with the Czech Republic, as no single centre in the UK has sufficient patients for a suitable study; funding for this work is not yet in place. PHE undertakes limited studies on ticks and Lyme disease in the UK. The Research Councils fund some additional work on ticks and the environment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawhinney on 2016-09-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they envisage any form of public consultation before they decide their negotiating position, once Article 50 has been invoked, on those relationships with Ireland that fall outside EU competence.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The Department for Exiting the EU will be conducting the UK’s negotiations to leave the European Union in support of the Prime Minister. We will be working closely with Parliament, devolved administrations, and a wide range of other interested parties.

Our relationship with Ireland is unique and we have already engaged extensively with Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The Prime Minister and the Taoiseach met in London on 26 July and the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU visited both Belfast and Dublin in early September to engage with government and business stakeholders.

We look forward to working closely with the Irish Government and other key stakeholders as we develop our approach, and to make the most of the opportunities for both countries.