Asked by: Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 22 June (HL Deb, col 132) on human rights at sea, when they will write with further details on their vaccination programme for seafarers.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The Department for Transport has advised that Baroness Vere of Norbiton wrote to the noble Lady on 9 July regarding the vaccination programme for seafarers. A copy of this letter is attached. All seafarers are able to access COVID-19 vaccinations, regardless of nationality, providing they meet the eligibility criteria. Officials at the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with the Department for Transport to provide clarity on the eligibility of seafarers in the United Kingdom for COVID-19 vaccination.
We are also working with the devolved administrations to ensure that operational challenges in vaccinating these groups are mitigated. The United Kingdom does not restrict access to the COVID-19 vaccine for seafarers who are not resident in the UK. Several local partnerships have been established between port authorities, seafarer welfare services and local National Health Service trusts which have successfully vaccinated several thousand seafarers. This has created protocols such as the provision of permanent or mobile vaccination hubs in or close to major ports.
Asked by: Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to NHS England's Delivering the Forward View: NHS Planning Guidance 2016-17 to 2020-21, whether additional funding will be made available to the Birmingham and Solihull Sustainability and Transformation Plan from April 2017.
Answered by David Mowat
On 27 February the chief executives of NHS England and NHS Improvement wrote to Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STP) leaders. They stated the upcoming NHS Delivery Plan will outline the steps NHS England and NHS Improvement will take to help ensure all areas have developed credible implementation plans.
The additional £325 million announced in the Spring Budget will help the STPs with the strongest projects make real progress in improving care for local communities.
This additional resource is solely for use by capital bid projects subject to the usual assurance processes by NHS England and HM Treasury. No decisions have been made regarding the allocation of funds.
Asked by: Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken, subsequent to its accepting recommendation 274 of the Francis report on the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Enquiry, published on 6 February 2013, to (a) issue guidance to NHS Trusts and their legal advisers and (b) monitor implementation of that guidance on disclosure of information to coroners, patients and families.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Recommendation 274 was in line with the government’s commitment to greater openness and transparency across the National Health Service, particularly when things go wrong.
The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 gives coroners powers to require a person or organisation in England and Wales to provide evidence and to require a witness in England and Wales to give evidence at an inquest. The 2009 Act makes it, “an offence for a person to do anything that is intended to have the effect of (a) distorting or otherwise altering any evidence, document or other things that is given, produced or provided for the purpose of an investigation…. (b) preventing any evidence, document or other thing from being given produced or provided for the purposes of such an investigation or to do anything that the person knows or believes is likely to have that effect.” This offence is limited to actions where there is “intention” to distort or alter evidence, and is punishable by a fine and / or imprisonment. The Ministry of Justice is currently conducting a post-implementation review of the 2013 coroner reforms in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, which includes the reforms’ provisions on disclosure of information. The call for evidence and survey element of the review finished at the end of 2015, and the Ministry of Justice is now considering the responses received. The Department of Health understands that it hopes to publish a response document in the spring.
In response to the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry the Government introduced a statutory duty of candour which came into force on 27 November 2014 for NHS Trusts, Foundation Trusts and some special health authorities that provide care and treatment to people that is regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and for all other providers registered with CQC on 1 April 2015. The statutory duty of candour applies to organisations, rather than to individual members of staff. However, it is designed to foster an open culture throughout the organisation, and providers are accountable to CQC for meeting the duty of candour. CQC are able to take enforcement action against the provider, and in certain circumstances its board and senior management, where breaches of the duty of candour have been found. Providers of care will therefore be expected to implement the new duty of candour through staff across their organisations - including educating, training and, if needs be, disciplining their staff appropriately.
In addition, The NHS Serious Incident Framework published in 2015 provides advice on provision of information regarding serious incidents to coroners, patients and their families. It is available at
https://www.england.nhs.uk/patientsafety/serious-incident/
CQC will look at how safe care is for patients as part of the inspection of NHS Trusts.