Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to use the £500 million for mental health services announced in the Spending Review 2020, published on 25 November 2020, to provide mental health services to those with Parkinson's.
Answered by Lord Bethell
On 5 March, we announced £79 million of the funding from the Spending Review that will be used to significantly expand children’s mental health services.
Further details about how the remainder of the funding will be allocated will be given in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how the £500 million for mental health services announced in the Spending Review 2020, published on 25 November 2020, will be allocated.
Answered by Lord Bethell
On 5 March, we announced £79 million of the funding from the Spending Review that will be used to significantly expand children’s mental health services.
Further details about how the remainder of the funding will be allocated will be given in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many services have been commissioned through Improving Access to Psychological Therapies for People with Long-term Physical Health Conditions for people with (1) Parkinson's, and (2) neurological conditions.
Answered by Lord Bethell
No Improving Access to Psychological Therapies for Long Term Condition services have been commissioned specifically for people with Parkinson’s or neurological conditions.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish the outcome of the pilot for family members to be tested regularly to enable safer care home visits in Cornwall, Hampshire and Devon, carried out in November.
Answered by Lord Bethell
A full pilot evaluation report will be published shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether clinical commissioning groups should follow (1) the National framework for NHS continuing healthcare and NHS-funded nursing care guidance, or (2) the Coronavirus (COVID-19): hospital discharge service requirements guidance, when assessing people with a new or enhanced care and support package; and if the latter, whether funding will last for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency period.
Answered by Lord Bethell
During the COVID-19 emergency period, National Health Service Continuing Healthcare (CHC) and Funded Nursing Care (FNC) assessments have not been required due to changes made under section 14 of the Coronavirus Act 2020.
The COVID-19 Hospital Discharge Service Requirements were published on 17 March 2020 to support the safe and timely discharge of patients who no longer need acute care. A copy is attached.
We made £1.3 billion funding available via the National Health Service to support the discharge process. On 17 July 2020, as part of the £3 billion new funding announced for winter, extra funding was confirmed to continue enhanced discharge arrangements over winter.
As set out in the on the third phase of NHS response to COVID-19, from Sir Simon Stevens and Amanda Pritchard, published online by NHS England on 31 July 2020, NHS CHC assessments will resume from 1 September 2020. The COVID-19 discharge service requirements will continue to apply until 31 August 2020.
Where CHC assessments have continued during the emergency period, these must be compliant with the NHS Commissioning Board and Clinical Commissioning Groups Regulations 2012 and the National Framework for CHC and FNC 2018 (Revised).
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations of the report by the National Neurosciences Advisory Group on their June 2019 Mental Health and Neurosciences Leaders Away Day, published on 24 July.
Answered by Lord Bethell
While the Department has not made a specific assessment, NHS England and NHS Improvement work closely with the National Neurosciences Advisory Group (NNAG) which is a collaborative leadership group for neurosciences in England. The group is co-chaired by Professor Adrian Williams, who is also Chair of the Neurosciences Clinical Reference Group, at NHS England and NHS Improvement. The report published on 24 July, stems from the June 2019 Mental Health and Neurosciences Leaders Away Day, which was attended by senior NHS England and NHS Improvement officials.
The NNAG will begin consulting NHS England and NHS Improvement on the drafting of new clinical pathways across neurology shortly and aims to publish these on the Neurological Alliance website by the end of 2020. Furthermore, work is ongoing in other areas of NHS England and NHS Improvement to improve integration of care for neurology patients. For example, the training curriculum for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Long-Term Conditions programme is being updated and, once completed, mental health services will be able to pursue integration with neurological pathways
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people paid for a prescription each year in (1) 2015, (2) 2016, (3) 2017, (4) 2018, and (5) 2019.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The information requested on the number of people who have paid for prescriptions is not collected centrally. The NHS Business Services Authority collects data on the number of prescription items dispensed and paid for but does not hold data on the number of people who have paid for their prescriptions.
The NHS Business Services Authority processes the NHS Low Income Scheme and issues HC2 certificates. It does not hold data on how many people have used their certificate after it is issued; and multiple people in a household in addition to the applicant might be covered by a certificate, including partner and children. However, data is supplied on the number of HC2 certificates issued in 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19. This is shown in the following table:
Period | Number of HC2 certificates issued |
2014-15 | 214,975 |
2015-16 | 225,239 |
2016-17 | 214,867 |
2017-18 | 206,599 |
2018-19 | 182,661 |
Note: Data is recorded April-March. Data provided is recorded on a monthly basis and recorded in the NHS Low Income Scheme Annual Statistics Report. This data relates to the number of certificates issued, not the number of people supported by the NHS Low Income Scheme.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people have benefitted from the NHS low income scheme (HC2 certificate) each year in (1) 2015, (2) 2016, (3) 2017, (4) 2018, and (5) 2019.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The information requested on the number of people who have paid for prescriptions is not collected centrally. The NHS Business Services Authority collects data on the number of prescription items dispensed and paid for but does not hold data on the number of people who have paid for their prescriptions.
The NHS Business Services Authority processes the NHS Low Income Scheme and issues HC2 certificates. It does not hold data on how many people have used their certificate after it is issued; and multiple people in a household in addition to the applicant might be covered by a certificate, including partner and children. However, data is supplied on the number of HC2 certificates issued in 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19. This is shown in the following table:
Period | Number of HC2 certificates issued |
2014-15 | 214,975 |
2015-16 | 225,239 |
2016-17 | 214,867 |
2017-18 | 206,599 |
2018-19 | 182,661 |
Note: Data is recorded April-March. Data provided is recorded on a monthly basis and recorded in the NHS Low Income Scheme Annual Statistics Report. This data relates to the number of certificates issued, not the number of people supported by the NHS Low Income Scheme.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to suspend prescription charges with immediate effect for all people with long-term conditions in England.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department has no plans to suspend or conduct a review of the current system for prescription charges and exemptions, including for those people with long-term conditions in England. Extensive arrangements are already in place to help people access National Health Service prescriptions. These include a broad range of exemptions from the prescription charge for which someone with a long-term condition may qualify, including for people on low incomes through receipt of specific benefits and through the NHS Low Income Scheme.
To support those with the greatest need who do not qualify for an exemption, prescription pre-payment certificates are available for three months or 12-month periods. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just over £2 per week.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to conduct a review of the current system for prescription charges and exemptions in the light of COVID-19 and its impact.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department has no plans to suspend or conduct a review of the current system for prescription charges and exemptions, including for those people with long-term conditions in England. Extensive arrangements are already in place to help people access National Health Service prescriptions. These include a broad range of exemptions from the prescription charge for which someone with a long-term condition may qualify, including for people on low incomes through receipt of specific benefits and through the NHS Low Income Scheme.
To support those with the greatest need who do not qualify for an exemption, prescription pre-payment certificates are available for three months or 12-month periods. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just over £2 per week.