Tag: Luciana Berger

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of in which type of healthcare there is greatest geographical disparity of treatment (a) availability, (b) choice and (c) outcomes across England.

Jane Ellison

No such assessment has been made. However, the Right Care programme actively uses variation between clinical commissioning groups to help identify those diseases or conditions that have the potential for greatest improvement. Indicators used include prevalence, treatment and outcomes.

The NHS Atlas of Variation, Commissioning for Value Packs and indicators in the National Health Service Outcomes Framework and Public Health Outcomes Framework provide publicly accessible resources to compare geographical areas and highlight health inequalities and other variation across a wide variety of indicators.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have read the NHS England Mental Health Taskforce report.

Alistair Burt

We have read the report, which marks a big step towards our ambition of parity of esteem for mental and physical health.

We have welcomed the Taskforce’s recommendations for government in the report and will be considering how best to integrate them into our current work programme, as well as new policies as they develop.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers are able to access mental health services.

Alistair Burt

No estimate has been made of the proportion of refugees and asylum seekers who require mental health treatment as this data is not routinely collected.

Both refugees and asylum seekers are offered health assessments which include consideration of mental health issues, however we do not hold data on the outcome of these.

NHS England and clinical commissioning groups are committed to ensuring fair and equitable mental health care services for all, which includes all Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities, including vulnerable migrants, in particular, refugees and those seeking asylum.

NHS England recently launched the Five Year Forward View Mental Health Task Force Report which clearly outlines action to be taken nationally, regionally, and locally to help improve mental health services for BME communities in England.

The full report is available via the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Mental-Health-Taskforce-FYFV-final.pdf

NHS England supported MIND to co-produce the Guidance for commissioners – ‘Commissioning mental health services for vulnerable adult migrants’ September 2015 launched February 2016. The Guidance aims to ensure National Health Service commissioners and providers provide timely and good quality mental health services for vulnerable migrants in particular refugees and those seeking asylum. The full report is available at:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/gov/equality-hub/migrants/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many co-commissioning pilots aimed at improving clear access routes between schools and specialist mental health services have been launched in each (a) year since 2010 and (b) month of 2015-16 to date.

Alistair Burt

On 3 December 2015 the Education Secretary announced 22 pilot areas across the country would develop better joint working arrangements to support timely and appropriate referrals to services and implement a joint training programme for named contacts in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and schools.

To take forward these actions, the Department and NHS England are working together to test the named lead approach and to trial a joint training programme for them. The training workshops element of the pilot began in November 2015 and it is expected that all of the workshops will be delivered by the middle of March 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps Public Health England has taken in conjunction with the National Public Health Workforce Advisory Group to implement the public mental health leadership and workforce development framework, published in March 2015.

Jane Ellison

Since publication, Public Health England (PHE) has worked with national partners and with local authorities to co-ordinate implementation of the public mental health leadership and workforce development (PMHLWD) framework. Twenty national partners have signed the Call to Action to implement the framework.

PHE is working closely with Health Education England (HEE) to incorporate the PMHLWD framework into the forthcoming Mental Health Skills and Knowledge Framework (commissioned by the Department). It has been cited in the Mental Health Task Force report and PHE will continue to work with HEE to implement the PMHLWD framework’s priorities via the Task Force and Future in Mind working groups.

PHE has incorporated the PMHLWD framework into the revised Public Health Skills and Knowledge Framework, the review of the future workforce and its wider workforce programme. This has included integrating mental health and wellbeing into the Making Every Contact Count programme.

PHE has supported delivery via local public mental health networks joint commissioning of training, collating examples of training programmes, developing e-learning modules and delivering local workshops and presentations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) serving personnel and (b) veterans have had mental health issues in each year since 2010.

Mr Julian Brazier

The following table shows the number of UK Armed Forces serving personnel who were assessed as having a mental health condition, either at one of the military Departments of Community Mental Health (DCMHs) or one of the facilities contracted by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to provide in-patient treatment, from 1 January 2010 to 30 September 2015 (the latest date for which verified data is available).

Year	Number of personnel assessed
2010	3,875
2011	3,953
2012	4,816
2013	5,093
2014	4,896
2015	3,811 (up to 30 September 2015)

The MOD does not hold information on the number of veterans who were diagnosed with a mental disorder after leaving Service. However UK Armed Forces personnel identified with a mental health problem prior to leaving Service are entitled to access care in a UK DCMH for up to six months beyond their discharge date to continue their care. These personnel would be diagnosed prior to leaving Service and thus would be included in the statistics provided.

Veterans in England, Scotland and Wales are entitled to priority treatment at NHS hospitals for Service-related conditions (subject to the clinical need of all patients) and a Veterans’ Transition Protocol ensures any Service person discharged with a diagnosed mental health disorder is transferred appropriately to the NHS in England and the Devolved Administrations. A number of enhancements have been made to the care available for them, including more NHS veterans mental health nurses, follow-up of Service leavers 12 months after discharge, and a 24 hour mental health helpline.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the principles to underpin reform in the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health report from the Independent Mental Health Taskforce to the NHS in England, published in February 2016, what steps his Department plans to take to integrate care spanning people’s physical, mental and social needs.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Spending Review set out an ambitious plan so that health (including mental health) and social care are integrated across the country by 2020. My Department is working closely with the Department of Health and others on delivering this ambition. Every part of the country must have a plan for achieving integration in 2017, implemented by 2020.

The Government has provided a package of support of up to £3.5 billion to ensure councils are able to support some of their most vulnerable residents. This includes an extra £1.5 billion funding through the improved Better Care Fund, which will continue to bring together funding and services across health and social care to support the provision of integrated care for vulnerable people.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time for children between referral for an autism diagnosis and first diagnostic appointment was in each clinical commissioning group and primary care trust area in each year since 2010.

Alistair Burt

The Department does not collect this information centrally.

No formal statistics are collected of autism referrals, initial assessments or diagnoses. The Department does however commission Public Health England each year to carry out a self-assessment exercise with local authority areas on progress they are making in implementing the Autism Strategy for Adults in England.

NHS England has almost completed a programme to visit clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to identify and share good practice in accessing timely autism diagnosis. NHS England with support from the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services has visited a selection of areas to talk to CCGs and local authorities about their Autism Diagnostic Care Pathways and post diagnostic support. A report on this work will go initially to the June meeting of the Cross Government Autism Programme Board.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what (a) baselines and (b) targets are used to measure the performance of the Care Quality Commission.

Ben Gummer

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has developed baseline performance indicators across its functions which are included in the Business Plan for 2016-17 together with the relevant indicators and targets to measure progress. The CQC will publish the business plan on its website shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 4 May 2016 to Question 35736, when he expects the qualitative analysis on key themes to become available.

Alistair Burt

The qualitative analysis of the Local Transformation Plans will be published by NHS England as soon as possible.