Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will undertake a review on the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of mould sickness in the UK.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Public Health England published a review in 2019 on bioaerosols, which include mould, related to composting and intensive farming, and their potential effects on the health of those living nearby. This followed two other reviews published in 2018.
NHS England is aware of how damp and mould can lead to respiratory problems, infections, allergies, asthma and affect the immune system. Aspergillus is a group of moulds common in the home. Most people are naturally immune and do not develop disease caused by Aspergillus. The European Respiratory Society have produced guidelines for the diagnosis and management of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the knowledge of mould sickness among doctors, and what steps he plans to take to improve the diagnosis of mould sickness.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Public Health England published a review in 2019 on bioaerosols, which include mould, related to composting and intensive farming, and their potential effects on the health of those living nearby. This followed two other reviews published in 2018.
NHS England is aware of how damp and mould can lead to respiratory problems, infections, allergies, asthma and affect the immune system. Aspergillus is a group of moulds common in the home. Most people are naturally immune and do not develop disease caused by Aspergillus. The European Respiratory Society have produced guidelines for the diagnosis and management of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of whether personal protective equipment used in the NHS has been made by forced labour in the Xinjaing province of China.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Detailed Government guidance is provided to public sector contracting authorities on how to assess and mitigate the risks of modern slavery in procurement. Contracts routinely include clauses requiring Good Industry Practice to ensure that there is no slavery or human trafficking in supply chains. In the event that allegations of modern slavery are substantiated in relation to a supplier, we will consider all available options.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that no personal protective equipment procured for the NHS has been made by forced labour.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Detailed Government guidance is provided to public sector contracting authorities on how to assess and mitigate the risks of modern slavery in procurement. Contracts routinely include clauses requiring Good Industry Practice to ensure that there is no slavery or human trafficking in supply chains. In the event that allegations of modern slavery are substantiated in relation to a supplier, we will consider all available options.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many horses slaughtered in UK abattoirs in (a) 2018, (b) 2019 and (c) 2020 held horse passports issued by Weatherbys passport issuing agencies.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We are unable to provide the information requested as it is commercially sensitive.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many soliped and equidae were slaughtered at each abattoir licensed to slaughter horses in 2019.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Food Standards Agency holds the following data.
In 2019, the numbers of soliped and equidae slaughtered at each abattoir licensed to slaughter horses was 2,146 and 24, totalling 2,170.
Notes: Numbers are recorded under one heading of ‘soliped’. No soliped or equidae were slaughtered in Northern Ireland in 2019.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of GP practices who have adopted the care for young carers package launched by NHS England.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
I refer the hon. Member to the answer the then Minister of State for Care (Caroline Dinenage MP) gave to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon MP) on 4 February 2020 to Question 8280.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many schools have mental health teams.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Our Green Paper on children and young people’s mental health aims to improve the provision of services in England. One of the key proposals of the Green Paper is to create new Mental Health Support Teams in and near groups of schools and colleges in their areas.
In December 2018, we announced 25 Trailblazer sites to run the first wave of 59 Mental Health Support Teams.
Initial estimates suggested that each of these teams should be working with 15-20 education settings, though this will vary depending on the number of pupils in each setting. We are collecting data as Mental Health Support Teams are established and will confirm the number of education settings they are working with once that process is complete.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made in improving access to specialist mental health support for children.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We have introduced two waiting times: for 95% of children (up to 19 years old) with eating disorders to receive treatment within a week for urgent cases and four weeks for routine cases, and for 50% of patients of all ages experiencing a first episode of psychosis to receive treatment within two weeks of referral. We are on target to meet these aims.
Our Children and Young People’s Green Paper sets out how we plan are piloting a four-week waiting time to improve access to services and are introducing new Mental Health Support Teams. In December 2018, we announced Trailblazer sites to test our Green Paper proposals. Twelve of these sites will trial four-week waiting times.
We have also committed at least a further £2.3 billion a year to mental health services by 2023/24. The NHS Long Term Plan and Mental Health Support Teams will see at least an additional 345,000 children and young people aged 0-25 will be able to access support by 2023/24.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to encourage the use of technology in the pharmacy sector.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
In ‘The future of healthcare: our vision for digital, data and technology in health and care’, my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care outlined his ambition that the best technology available is used across the National Health Service, including in community pharmacy. The use of technology can improve the safety and efficiency of our services, and patients experience of them. Therefore, among other things, the NHS is working with the pharmacy community to encourage the use of technology by:
- Providing the Summary Care Record, which over 95% of community pharmacies are using, supporting the clinical care they provide. NHS Digital is now integrating the Summary Care Record into clinical pharmacy systems to make it quicker and easier for pharmacy teams to access;
- Optimising the Electronic Prescription Service, which is now used in more than 92% of general practitioner (GP) practices and all community pharmacies. This means electronic prescriptions can be sent safely and securely to pharmacies directly from GP surgeries. We are currently rolling out electronic prescriptions for patients who have not nominated a regular pharmacy, which will be available in all community pharmacies;
- Piloting a digital system in several community pharmacies which automatically checks whether patients are eligible for free prescriptions, simplifying the process for patients and ensuring that people who are exempt from NHS prescription charges are not charged. Following a positive evaluation, we are now planning national roll out; and
- Working with the Professional Records Standards Body to publish new standards for data transfer between pharmacy systems and the GP patient record and will underpin the growing connectivity of community pharmacy service delivery with the rest of the NHS, for example allowing calls to NHS 111 to be redirected to a community pharmacy wherever appropriate.