Tag: Luciana Berger

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) submitted a local transformation plan for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing before the first-wave deadline of 18 September 2015; and how many CCGs have still to submit such a plan.

Alistair Burt

31 local transformation plans, representing 54 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were submitted by the first wave deadline of 18 September. A total of 102 plans are expected to be submitted by 16 October representing the remaining 155 CCGs.

CCGs were given two opportunities to submit plans – on the 18 September and 16 October 2015. The first submission date is in recognition that some CCGs were advanced in their plans for local improvement and already had a Children and Adult Mental Health strategy and plan in place. It is expected that the vast majority of submissions will have been received by 16 October 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on what basis his Department took the decision to remove from the NHS Constitution the phrase ‘psychological therapies’ from the drugs and treatments that have been recommended by NICE; and what discussions his Department has had with NICE on steps to address the lack of parity in the way interventions for mental and physical health are addressed.

Alistair Burt

There has never been a specific reference to psychological therapies in the NHS Constitution.

For the most recent update, we did consult on whether to include a right to psychological therapies, as part of the wider right to drugs and treatments that have been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). However, the right to drugs and treatments reflects the legal funding requirement that applies to interventions recommended by NICE technology appraisal guidance. NICE has not been asked to undertake a technical appraisal of psychological therapies, so we decided that the most sensible outcome was to not include the phrase “psychological therapies” in the Constitution as it would otherwise risk confusion.

There have been no specific discussions with NICE on parity of mental and physical health interventions. The majority of new drugs and significant license extensions, including for mental health conditions, are referred to NICE for the development of technology appraisal guidance. Ifin the future psychological therapies are recommended in NICE technology appraisal guidance and consequently mandated for use in the NHS, we will consider consulting once again on including a right to psychological therapies within the Constitution.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what provisions are in place to support and promote the mental wellbeing of the NHS workforce.

Ben Gummer

Employers across the National Health Service are responsible for the mental health and wellbeing of their staff.

The Department commissions NHS Employers to help trusts improve staff mental health and wellbeing through advice, guidance and good practice[1].

In addition, trusts have access to local data from the NHS Staff Survey, the staff Friends and Family test as well as local information to help them develop and implement local improvement plans.

The recent launch of the How are you feeling NHS?[2] Toolkit by NHS Employers is aimed at enabling staff to talk more openly about their emotional health, improving the assessment of the impact emotional wellbeing has on staff and patients and enabling action planning to improve staff emotional health and wellbeing. Since it launched on 29 July it has had more than 16,000 views.

[1] http://www.nhsemployers.org/search-results?q=supporting+staff+who+are+experiencing+mental+health+issues

[2] http://www.nhsemployers.org/your-workforce/retain-and-improve/staff-experience/health-work-and-wellbeing/protecting-staff-and-preventing-ill-health/how-are-you-feeling-nhs-toolkit

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many adults received consultant-led mental health treatment in each of the last 10 years; what proportion of people receiving mental health support received consultant-led treatment in each such year; and what proportion of those people received that treatment within 18 weeks of referral in each such year.

Alistair Burt

Information on the number of people in contact with mental health services including those of whom who were in contact with consultant led services between 2011/12 and 2014/15 is given on the attached table The number of people in contact with mental health services and, of those, the number who were in contact with consultant led services 2011/12 -2014/15.

Mental health services are delivered by multidisciplinary teams with clinicians from various professional backgrounds working together in the delivery of care.

Information on the proportion of people who received consultant-led mental health treatment within 18 weeks of referral is not held centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what (a) proportion and (b) number of mental health providers have been inspected by the Care Quality Commission under its new inspection regime.

Ben Gummer

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. The CQC is responsible for assessing whether providers are meeting the fundamental standards. The CQC provided the following information:

Since the introduction of the CQC’s new inspection regime in September 2013 the CQC has conducted 34 ratings inspections across NHS mental health providers (these providers have 639 separate locations). This is around two thirds of all NHS providers with a primary inspection category of mental health registered with CQC. The CQC has also conducted 99 inspections across independent mental health locations, including substance misuse services.

The CQC is unable to provide a detailed breakdown of data prior to September 2013 when the new style of inspection was introduced due to the disproportionate cost of compiling this data.

There are a number of mental health locations that have not been inspected since 2010. When inspecting NHS mental health providers CQC does not necessarily inspect every single location.

The focus of all CQC inspections is on the quality and safety of services, based on the things that matter to people. We always ask the following five key questions of services: Are they safe? Are they effective? Are they caring? Are they responsive to people’s needs? Are they well-led?

The CQC expects to complete its inspections of mental health providers by the end of June 2016, with the exception of intendent standalone substance misuse services, which are on a longer timetable as we have just begun to roll out our new approach to these services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to publish the strategy for combating liver disease referred to in the Prime Minister’s message of support for World Hepatitis Day, published on the 10 Downing Street website on 28 July 2011.

Jane Ellison

Responsibility for determining the overall national approach to improving clinical outcomes from healthcare services, including services for people with liver disease, lies with NHS England.

NHS England advises that it is adopting a broad strategy for delivering improvements in relation to premature mortality. It is working with commissioners and Public Health England to support clinical commissioning groups to understand where local challenges lie and to identify the evidence in relation to the priorities for reducing mortality at a national level. NHS England is generally not working within a condition specific framework and has no plans to produce a liver specific strategy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many block contracts are in place for mental health services in England; and what the aggregate value is of those contracts.

Norman Lamb

The information requested is not collected for mental health services commissioned by clinical commissioning groups. In 2014/15, the value of specialised mental health services was £1,757 billion. There were 93 block contracts in specialised mental health services representing 19% of the total value of specialised mental health services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the costs to the NHS of untreated liver disease in one person.

Jane Ellison

The Department has made no recent assessment of the costs to the National Health Service of untreated liver disease.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-07-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of doctors against whom allegations of abuse made by patients have been in each year since 2010.

Dr Daniel Poulter

The information requested is not held centrally by the Department.

The information requested is held by the General Medical Council, an independent body responsible for dealing firmly and fairly with doctors whose fitness to practise is in doubt.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people aged (a) under 18 and (b) 18 years and over died as a consequence of a condition related to alcohol misuse in each year since 2010.

Mr Nick Hurd

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.