Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to improve access to eye care for people with learning disabilities.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The NHS Long Term Plan made a commitment to ensure that children and young people with a learning disability and/or autism in special residential schools have access to sight checks in school. To fulfil that commitment, NHS England commenced a proof-of-concept programme in 2021, piloting sight testing and the dispensing of glasses in special schools.
This programme is currently subject to independent evaluation, which includes engagement with a wide range of parents, special schools and other stakeholders with an interest. We expect the evaluation to have concluded by May 2023. The evaluation of and learning from this work will inform decisions about how the eye care needs of people with learning disabilities should be commissioned.
The Department will also be hosting a roundtable currently scheduled for 28 March 2023, to discuss eye care services for people with learning disabilities.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to conduct a public consultation to inform the (a) structure, (b) funding and (c) commissioning of a potential model of eye care in special schools.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The NHS Long Term Plan made a commitment to ensure that children and young people with a learning disability and/or autism in special residential schools have access to sight checks in school. To fulfil that commitment, NHS England commenced a proof-of-concept programme in 2021, piloting sight testing and the dispensing of glasses in special schools.
This programme is currently subject to independent evaluation, which includes engagement with a wide range of parents, special schools and other stakeholders with an interest. We expect the evaluation to have concluded by May 2023. The evaluation of and learning from this work will inform decisions about how the eye care needs of people with learning disabilities should be commissioned.
The Department will also be hosting a roundtable currently scheduled for 28 March 2023, to discuss eye care services for people with learning disabilities.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his planned timetable is for publication of the independent evaluation of the NHS England special schools eye care service.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The NHS Long Term Plan made a commitment to ensure that children and young people with a learning disability and/or autism in special residential schools have access to sight checks in school. To fulfil that commitment, NHS England commenced a proof-of-concept programme in 2021, piloting sight testing and the dispensing of glasses in special schools.
This programme is currently subject to independent evaluation, which includes engagement with a wide range of parents, special schools and other stakeholders with an interest. We expect the evaluation to have concluded by May 2023. The evaluation of and learning from this work will inform decisions about how the eye care needs of people with learning disabilities should be commissioned.
The Department will also be hosting a roundtable currently scheduled for 28 March 2023, to discuss eye care services for people with learning disabilities.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many individuals are provided with publicly-funded support for glasses associated with the Myopia Nystagmus condition as of 6 December 2022.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding is spent on providing glasses for patients with the myopia nystagmus condition annually.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people in the UK suffer from Myopia Nystagmus.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Legionnaires Disease (a) cases and (b) deaths in hospitals there have been since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic; what steps hospitals have taken to protect people with that condition from additional harm during the pandemic; and whether this will be investigated as part of the covid-19 Inquiry.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The data is not available in the format requested. The COVID-19 infection prevention and control guidance aimed to support healthcare organisations to maintain the safety of patients and staff. Organisations continue to be responsible for managing the risks associated with infectious agents, such as legionnaires, by completing risk assessments approved through local governance procedures.
The recommended terms of reference for the COVID-19 Inquiry include examining the management of the pandemic in hospitals, including infection prevention and control and the consequences of the pandemic on provision for non-COVID-19 related conditions and needs. The Government will consider these recommendations and publish the Inquiry's final terms of reference in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department's policy is on how the £50 million for targeted motor neurone disease research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Motor Neurone Disease Research Unit can be accessed.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Government delivers research on motor neurone disease (MND) through the Department of Health and Social Care, via the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and through the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The Government has committed to make £50 million available for MND research over the next five years through NIHR and UKRI. The Government has also committed to establish an NIHR MND research unit to coordinate innovative research applications. The NIHR and UKRI rely on researchers submitting high-quality applications to access funding. All applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether money allocated to people under the Windrush Compensation Scheme is exempted from consideration in means testing for social care.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
Where a local authority charges a person for their care and support, they may take most of the income and benefits people receive into account when determining how much they should pay. This is unless it is specifically required to be disregarded by The Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014 or the associated statutory guidance. The Windrush Compensation Scheme is not currently disregarded, although we are keeping this under active review.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the validity of reports that the NHS track and trace app will not work in (a) Croydon, (b) London and (c) other densely populated areas.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Following rigorous field testing and a trial on the Isle of Wight, we have chosen to bring forward a solution that brings together the work that NHSX and Google/Apple have carried out separately. This is an important step that will bring together the necessary functionality required to carry out contact tracing across all parts of the United Kingdom.