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Written Question
Peers: Correspondence
Monday 12th June 2023

Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Markham on 23 February where he stated that they will "write to all the NHS chief executives" (HL Deb col 1751), when that letter will be sent; and how they will monitor progress on services restoration following that.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

On 22 March in answer to a Parliamentary Question on stroke rehabilitation and community services, I updated the House that I had written to Amanda Pritchard, the CEO of NHS England, on the issue of returning repurposed physiotherapy rehabilitation spaces to their original use, to support physiotherapists to best provide services that aid patient recovery. As a result, NHS England has asked National Health Service organisations to evaluate how space is being used, and to ensure that adequate space is allocated to functions such as physiotherapy, so that such services can operate efficiently. I will request regular updates on progress.


Written Question
Health Services: Integrated Care Boards
Tuesday 16th May 2023

Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how learnings from the two integrated care boards (ICBs) in South London that have taken on full commissioning responsibility for specialised services deemed suitable and ready will be applied to other ICBs ahead of full delegation from 2024–25.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) have not yet taken on full delegated commissioning responsibilities in any part of the country. In April 2023, nine joint committees between NHS England and ICBs were established and were given joint commissioning responsibilities for 59 specialised services. This is part of a transitional year during which NHS England and ICBs are jointly taking decisions about the design and delivery of services that are in scope.

As part of the 2023/24 transitional year arrangements, the two South London ICBs and NHS England London regional team have established a pathfinder programme. Learnings from the programme are shared with all other regions and national specialised commissioning leaders so that they can learn in real time as they develop their joint working arrangements ahead of delegation.


Written Question
NHS Trusts: Standards
Tuesday 16th May 2023

Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how NHS England and integrated care boards will hold trusts to account on performance in specialised services in line with latest service specifications.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England, together with integrated care boards when a specialised service is commissioned jointly in 2023/24, is responsible for assessing compliance with service specifications.

Actions resulting from non-compliance will vary depending on the reasons for and nature of non-compliance, as well as the location and availability of alternative service provision.


Written Question
Health Services
Tuesday 16th May 2023

Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish their timeline for the update of service specifications in specialised services.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England will confirm, by the end of June 2023, the list of national service specifications where work to review the specification has commenced and will be progressing in 2023/24.


Written Question
Health Services: Integrated Care Boards
Tuesday 16th May 2023

Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they are putting in place to ensure that unwarranted variation in access to specialised services does not increase due to the delegation of some of these services to the integrated care board level.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England remains the accountable commissioner for all prescribed specialised services, including for those services where commissioning responsibility may be delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs). For any services where commissioning responsibility is delegated to ICBs, NHS England will continue to set national standards, service specifications and clinical access policies which ICBs will be expected to apply. NHS England, alongside ICBs, will continue to seek to understand and address unwarranted variation in access to and outcomes from specialised services, making use of all available data sources.


Written Question
NHS: Staff
Thursday 11th May 2023

Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many full-time equivalent NHS England staff were transferred from specialised commissioning to the monkeypox response workstreams.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

This information is not held in the format requested. It is not possible to quantify the time spent by the NHS England specialised commissioning team in responding to the mpox outbreak. Staff made various contributions during the course of the outbreak, which varied as the patient numbers increased.


Written Question
Pharmacy: Standards
Thursday 30th March 2023

Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of (1) reduced pharmacy opening hours, (2) over-capacity pharmacy services, and (3) pharmacists’ staff shortages, on (a) GP, and (b) A&E, services.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

No specific assessment has been made. However, the Department closely monitors the market. In England, access to National Health Service pharmaceutical services remains good with a similar number of community pharmacies as a decade ago and 80% of the population living within 20 minutes walking distance of a community pharmacy.

The Pharmacy Access Scheme supports patient access and provision in areas where there are fewer community pharmacies by providing additional funding to those pharmacies. The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019-24 five-year deal committed £2.592 billion per year to the sector and outlined a joint vision for how community pharmacy would become more integrated into the NHS, deliver more clinical services, and become the first port of call for minor illnesses. The Government continues to implement this deal and has invested a further £100 million across 2022/23 and 2023/24 to support community pharmacies.


Written Question
Pharmacy: Standards
Thursday 30th March 2023

Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that there is an adequate supply of essential services provided by pharmacies, particularly the assembly of blister medication packs to support the safe administration of medicines at home by patients, care workers and unpaid carers.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Compliance support services, for example the dispensing of medicines in blister medication packs, are not nationally commissioned and therefore no data is available on how many compliance aids are assembled every year in England. Under the Equality Act 2010, pharmacies must make reasonable adjustments to their services to help patients covered by the Act which could include compliance aids where appropriate.


Written Question
Pharmacy
Thursday 30th March 2023

Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many blister medication packs per year are assembled by pharmacies for patients in England.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Compliance support services, for example the dispensing of medicines in blister medication packs, are not nationally commissioned and therefore no data is available on how many compliance aids are assembled every year in England. Under the Equality Act 2010, pharmacies must make reasonable adjustments to their services to help patients covered by the Act which could include compliance aids where appropriate.


Written Question
Pharmacy: Closures
Thursday 30th March 2023

Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding by the Company Chemists’ Association that 720 pharmacies had closed permanently since 2015, 41 per cent of which were in England’s most deprived areas; and what steps they are taking to reverse this trend.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

No specific assessment has been made. However, the Department closely monitors the market. In England, access to National Health Service pharmaceutical services remains good with a similar number of community pharmacies as a decade ago and 80% of the population living within 20 minutes walking distance of a community pharmacy.

The Pharmacy Access Scheme supports patient access and provision in areas where there are fewer community pharmacies by providing additional funding to those pharmacies. The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019-24 five-year deal committed £2.592 billion per year to the sector and outlined a joint vision for how community pharmacy would become more integrated into the NHS, deliver more clinical services, and become the first port of call for minor illnesses. The Government continues to implement this deal and has invested a further £100 million across 2022/23 and 2023/24 to support community pharmacies.