Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many local authorities have used the provisions of the Coronavirus Act 2020 to suspend or reduce (1) care assessments, (2) carer assessments, (3) financial assessments and (4) care reviews.
Answered by Lord Bethell
As of 6 May, seven local authorities have used the provisions of the Coronavirus Act 2020.
Under the guidance for local authorities, there is no requirement to notify the Department about the details of the use of this provision. Recording by local authorities remains a priority and will help them to ensure accountability and provide evidence for the thought processes behind the decisions they will be making.
Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the timetable for distributing the £10m payments to the fishing sector to support those affected by COVID-19, announced on 17 April; and what additional resources will be made available to the Marine Management Organisation to ensure applications for the grants to fishers whose business has suffered severe market disruption are processed in an efficient manner. [T]
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
This Government shares Baroness Wheeler’s concern that support reaches those most in need in the English fishing and aquaculture sectors as quickly as possible and that is why we are treating the distribution of this funding as a matter of urgency.
The £10 million financial assistance announced on 17 April 2020 will be broken down into two funds, the Fisheries Response Fund (FRF) and the Domestic Seafood Supply Scheme (DSSS), both delivered by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO).
The FRF, worth £9 million, will contribute to the fixed costs of catching and aquaculture businesses adversely affected by the downturn in export and domestic markets for fish and shellfish.
The MMO has contacted all 1,179 eligible vessel owners; of these, 950 have applied and by 1 May the MMO have made payments totalling £3.6 million to 786 applicants.
The aquaculture portion of the FRF was launched on 6 May.
The Domestic Seafood Supply Scheme will provide £1 million in grants to support seafood businesses to sell their products in their local communities and nationally. This scheme opened on 29 April. And applications close at noon on Monday 11 May.
The MMO has reprioritised resources to ensure efficient and timely delivery of this support and has extended its opening hours to 7pm and Saturdays. This is being kept under review.
Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (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 report by the Royal College of Physicians The National Review of Asthma Deaths, published on 6 May 2014; and what plans they have to implement that report's recommendations.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Department collaborated with the Royal College of Physicians on the National Review of Asthma Deaths and welcomed this report. Since its publication, significant improvements have been made in asthma care.
Respiratory disease, including asthma, is a clinical priority within the NHS Long Term Plan, which aims to improve outcomes for patients through earlier diagnosis and increased access to treatments. The Respiratory Delivery Board will take forward respiratory proposals set out in the Plan by working with key partners.
The National Health Service is supporting the national asthma audit programme which provides data on a range of indicators to show improvements and opportunities in asthma outcomes. NHS RightCare will be publishing an asthma toolkit later this year to support local commissioners and systems in delivering quality care. A best practice tariff for asthma, which aims to reduce variation in asthma care, is also in development.
The current quality outcomes framework indicators for asthma are in consultation and changes for the annual review indicators may include data on asthma control; exacerbations; and written personalised action plans.
As set out in the Long Term Plan, pharmacies in primary care networks will undertake medicine reviews for asthma patients. This will include education on inhaler use and uptake of dry powder and smart inhalers where clinically appropriate.
Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress NHS Improvement and NHS England have made in developing new (1) outcomes-based, and (2) capitated budget, reimbursement models for the provision of specialised services.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
NHS England and NHS Improvement are working on a number of different reimbursement models for specialised services. The actual payment model will depend on the characteristics of the service, and an assessment of the approach likely to be most conducive to improved patient outcomes. NHS England and NHS Improvement are exploring models built on payment based on episodes of care, on the fixed costs of providing a service, or on the adoption of a pathway or year of care payment model.
NHS England and NHS Improvement are also working with the New Care Model Vanguards to develop a capitation-type payment model, called a Whole Population Budget, which could also be used to reimburse specialised services.
Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made on the Data Services Platform which is being developed by the Department of Health's arm's-length bodies to standardise the collection of health and social care performance and costing data.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The delivery of the Data Services Platform (DSP) is on-going as part of NHS Digital’s Personalised Health and Care 2020 Programme. The business case for the DSP is currently being finalised and NHS Digital are expected to seek approval for this shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how NHS England will ensure that levels of data publication on outcomes and costs are maintained, once responsibility for commissioning specialised services is devolved or delegated to clinical commissioning groups.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
NHS England will continue to remain responsible for specialised services, including when the day-to-day commissioning of those services is delegated to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).
To support CCGs to move to place-based commissioning arrangements for relevant specialised services, NHS England is in the process of developing a framework of options for CCGs, ranging from less formal ‘seat at the table’ type arrangements, to more formal joint arrangements, delegated commissioning, or devolution.
Depending on the type of arrangement that is pursued in a given geographical area, there will be different implications for governance arrangements and how reporting and assurance arrangements would operate.
NHS England is working through these various implications – including reviewing the existing reporting and assurance arrangements for specialised commissioning and determining whether these may need to change in light of moving to place-based arrangements. This will include exploring the issues set out here around ensuring adherence to national standards and data transparency.
NHS England is keen to test and engage with key stakeholders as it develops its framework of options.
Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how NHS England will ensure adherence to national standards, once responsibility for commissioning specialised services is devolved or delegated to clinical commissioning groups.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
NHS England will continue to remain responsible for specialised services, including when the day-to-day commissioning of those services is delegated to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).
To support CCGs to move to place-based commissioning arrangements for relevant specialised services, NHS England is in the process of developing a framework of options for CCGs, ranging from less formal ‘seat at the table’ type arrangements, to more formal joint arrangements, delegated commissioning, or devolution.
Depending on the type of arrangement that is pursued in a given geographical area, there will be different implications for governance arrangements and how reporting and assurance arrangements would operate.
NHS England is working through these various implications – including reviewing the existing reporting and assurance arrangements for specialised commissioning and determining whether these may need to change in light of moving to place-based arrangements. This will include exploring the issues set out here around ensuring adherence to national standards and data transparency.
NHS England is keen to test and engage with key stakeholders as it develops its framework of options.
Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to support NHS England's engagement with interested clinical commissioning groups in developing collaborative commissioning arrangements.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Over the past two years, NHS England has been working to support greater clinical commissioning group (CCG) engagement in specialised services through the collaborative commissioning programme. Arrangements have been put in place at a regional and sub-regional level to support engagement between NHS England and CCGs.
The programme has recently been refreshed in light of the emergence of sustainability and transformation plans (STPs). Working with STPs provides a significant opportunity to use collaborative commissioning to better join up care, improve outcomes, and benefit patients.
In January 2016, to support the move to place-based commissioning, nominal CCG allocations for 2016/17 – 2020/21 were published. The allocations included approximately £14.5 billion of the total specialised budget of approximately £15.7 billion, excluding items such as highly specialised services. These place-based allocations were included in STP control totals and supported discussions on specialised commissioning with STPs.
NHS England is developing options for its regional teams, CCGs and STPs to work more collaboratively, with a priority focus on mental health, learning disabilities, and cancer services. It is also working with a small number of STP areas to support implementation and disseminate the learning to the wider system.
Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with NICE concerning the implementation of an abbreviated highly-specialised technologies process.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government has had no such discussions. There are no plans for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to introduce an abbreviated highly specialised technologies evaluation process.
Asked by: Baroness Wheeler (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when NHS England will publish the details of clinical and patient and public voice members who have been appointed to Clinical Reference Groups since May 2016.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
NHS England is in the process of refreshing the Clinical Reference Group (CRG) webpages and the names of all CRG members will be published by April 2017.