Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which health trusts have employed the approximately 3,000 individuals who were allowed to join the medical register because they claimed to have a qualification from another country which exempted them from taking the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board exam.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the Government will take steps to suspend from the medical register individuals who have been allowed to join that register because they claimed to have a qualification from another country which exempted them from taking the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board exam until that qualification has been independently verified.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
It is a function of the General Medical Council (GMC), the independent regulator of doctors across the United Kingdom, to maintain a register of doctors in the United Kingdom. Where appropriate, it is for the GMC to investigate complaints about doctors on their register and assess whether they should be referred to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, who determine whether any sanction should be applied with respect to their registration.
The GMC is currently reviewing the qualification of currently licensed doctors, who applied for registration via a route allowing graduates of medical schools in certain Commonwealth countries to obtain registration based on their qualification alone. This route to registration ceased in 2003.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) affordability and (b) NHS procurement options for Liothyronine T3.
Answered by Steve Brine
The costs of branded medicines are controlled by the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme and the statutory scheme for branded medicines. Liothyronine is an unbranded generic medicine. For unbranded generic medicines, the Department encourages competition between suppliers to keep prices down. In primary care, community pharmacies are incentivised to source products at the lowest possible cost and in secondary care, competitive tenders ensure value-for-money to the National Health Service.
Liothyronine is currently the subject of an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority, which has provisionally found that the single supplier of the product abused its dominant position to overcharge the NHS by millions of pounds for liothyronine tablets. A provisional decision does not necessarily lead to an infringement decision. Where companies have breached competition law, the Department will seek damages and invest that money back into the NHS.
Liothyronine was included in NHS England guidance last year; ‘Items which should not routinely be prescribed in primary care’ because more cost effective products than liothyronine are available. That guidance recommends that:
- prescribers in primary care should not initiate liothyronine for any new patient;
- individuals currently prescribed liothyronine should be reviewed by a consultant NHS endocrinologist with consideration given to switching to levothyroxine where clinically appropriate; and
- a local decision, involving the Area Prescribing Committee (or equivalent) informed by National guidance (e.g. from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence or the Regional Medicines Optimisation Committee), should be made regarding arrangements for on-going prescribing of liothyronine. This should be for individuals who, in exceptional circumstances, have an on-going need for liothyronine as confirmed by a consultant NHS endocrinologist.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made on meeting priority 21 of the Ending Violence against Women and Girls Strategy 2016-2020, published in March 2016.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Progress continues to be made by the health sector against all three of these actions in the Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Action Plan.
On priority 21, discussions are ongoing between the Chief Medical Officer and relevant policy officials. A survey has been completed of domestic violence teaching in medical schools and this has been accepted for publication. Medical Royal Colleges are considering how to increase the profile of VAWG teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
On priority 22, the Department produced in March 2017 an online publication, ‘Responding to Domestic Abuse – a resource for health professionals’ is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-abuse-a-resource-for-health-professionals
The publication calls for routine enquiry into domestic abuse to become a fundamental part of the skills and practice of every health professional. More broadly the National Health Service provides care and support to victims of domestic abuse and domestic violence through a wide range of health care services, including services for physical and mental health. Routine enquiry is already in place in maternity and mental health services, to improve earlier disclosure and support people to get the care that they need. The Department has supported the Royal College of General Practitioners to develop a Violence Against Women and Children e-learning training course for general practitioners (GPs) and other primary care professionals to improve their recognition of and response to patients suffering from violence and abuse is available at:
http://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/search.php?search=violence+against+women+and+children
The Identification and Referral to Improve Safety (IRIS) programme provides staff training and a support programme to bridge the gap between the voluntary sector and primary care, providing an improved domestic violence service. It is designed to encourage clinicians and administrative staff to ask clients about domestic abuse and violence and then either to react with an appropriate support, treatment and care). IRIS has been developed as a commissionable model for implementation nationally – it has been commissioned in 34 sites in England and one in Wales, where it is running in over 1,000 GPs. IRIS Advise is a further development of IRIS targeted precisely at sexual health services and has been successful in pilots in Bristol and east London.
On priority 23, the Department is working with NHS Digital to develop a work programme to support this commitment. In October 2017 NHS Digital will be submitting the Emergency Care Dataset (ECDS). This addresses an identified information gap, and will achieve substantial benefits for patients and the wider urgent care system. It will be implemented across emergency departments in England including all Type 1 Accident and Emergency (A&E) wards, and injury data will be collected as an integral part of the dataset. The introduction of ECDS should encourage consistent data collection, helping A&E wards to meet the Information Sharing to Tackle Violence standards. The new version of the Mental Health Services Dataset went live in April 2017. Discussions are ongoing regarding how mental health data can support delivery of priority 23.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made on meeting priority 23 of the Ending Violence against Women and Girls Strategy 2016-2020, published in March 2016.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Progress continues to be made by the health sector against all three of these actions in the Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Action Plan.
On priority 21, discussions are ongoing between the Chief Medical Officer and relevant policy officials. A survey has been completed of domestic violence teaching in medical schools and this has been accepted for publication. Medical Royal Colleges are considering how to increase the profile of VAWG teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
On priority 22, the Department produced in March 2017 an online publication, ‘Responding to Domestic Abuse – a resource for health professionals’ is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-abuse-a-resource-for-health-professionals
The publication calls for routine enquiry into domestic abuse to become a fundamental part of the skills and practice of every health professional. More broadly the National Health Service provides care and support to victims of domestic abuse and domestic violence through a wide range of health care services, including services for physical and mental health. Routine enquiry is already in place in maternity and mental health services, to improve earlier disclosure and support people to get the care that they need. The Department has supported the Royal College of General Practitioners to develop a Violence Against Women and Children e-learning training course for general practitioners (GPs) and other primary care professionals to improve their recognition of and response to patients suffering from violence and abuse is available at:
http://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/search.php?search=violence+against+women+and+children
The Identification and Referral to Improve Safety (IRIS) programme provides staff training and a support programme to bridge the gap between the voluntary sector and primary care, providing an improved domestic violence service. It is designed to encourage clinicians and administrative staff to ask clients about domestic abuse and violence and then either to react with an appropriate support, treatment and care). IRIS has been developed as a commissionable model for implementation nationally – it has been commissioned in 34 sites in England and one in Wales, where it is running in over 1,000 GPs. IRIS Advise is a further development of IRIS targeted precisely at sexual health services and has been successful in pilots in Bristol and east London.
On priority 23, the Department is working with NHS Digital to develop a work programme to support this commitment. In October 2017 NHS Digital will be submitting the Emergency Care Dataset (ECDS). This addresses an identified information gap, and will achieve substantial benefits for patients and the wider urgent care system. It will be implemented across emergency departments in England including all Type 1 Accident and Emergency (A&E) wards, and injury data will be collected as an integral part of the dataset. The introduction of ECDS should encourage consistent data collection, helping A&E wards to meet the Information Sharing to Tackle Violence standards. The new version of the Mental Health Services Dataset went live in April 2017. Discussions are ongoing regarding how mental health data can support delivery of priority 23.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made on meeting priority 22 of the Ending Violence against Women and Girls Strategy 2016-2020, published in March 2016.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Progress continues to be made by the health sector against all three of these actions in the Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Action Plan.
On priority 21, discussions are ongoing between the Chief Medical Officer and relevant policy officials. A survey has been completed of domestic violence teaching in medical schools and this has been accepted for publication. Medical Royal Colleges are considering how to increase the profile of VAWG teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
On priority 22, the Department produced in March 2017 an online publication, ‘Responding to Domestic Abuse – a resource for health professionals’ is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-abuse-a-resource-for-health-professionals
The publication calls for routine enquiry into domestic abuse to become a fundamental part of the skills and practice of every health professional. More broadly the National Health Service provides care and support to victims of domestic abuse and domestic violence through a wide range of health care services, including services for physical and mental health. Routine enquiry is already in place in maternity and mental health services, to improve earlier disclosure and support people to get the care that they need. The Department has supported the Royal College of General Practitioners to develop a Violence Against Women and Children e-learning training course for general practitioners (GPs) and other primary care professionals to improve their recognition of and response to patients suffering from violence and abuse is available at:
http://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/search.php?search=violence+against+women+and+children
The Identification and Referral to Improve Safety (IRIS) programme provides staff training and a support programme to bridge the gap between the voluntary sector and primary care, providing an improved domestic violence service. It is designed to encourage clinicians and administrative staff to ask clients about domestic abuse and violence and then either to react with an appropriate support, treatment and care). IRIS has been developed as a commissionable model for implementation nationally – it has been commissioned in 34 sites in England and one in Wales, where it is running in over 1,000 GPs. IRIS Advise is a further development of IRIS targeted precisely at sexual health services and has been successful in pilots in Bristol and east London.
On priority 23, the Department is working with NHS Digital to develop a work programme to support this commitment. In October 2017 NHS Digital will be submitting the Emergency Care Dataset (ECDS). This addresses an identified information gap, and will achieve substantial benefits for patients and the wider urgent care system. It will be implemented across emergency departments in England including all Type 1 Accident and Emergency (A&E) wards, and injury data will be collected as an integral part of the dataset. The introduction of ECDS should encourage consistent data collection, helping A&E wards to meet the Information Sharing to Tackle Violence standards. The new version of the Mental Health Services Dataset went live in April 2017. Discussions are ongoing regarding how mental health data can support delivery of priority 23.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the most recent findings from the Care Quality Commission Inpatient Survey.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Listening to patient feedback and acting on it is a vital way for the National Health Service to improve the quality of care it provides. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) Inpatient Survey is one way patients can give feedback to the NHS and complements the Friends and Family Test which collects feedback from patients in real-time.
The findings from the CQC Inpatient Survey show that patient experience in hospital remains positive, with 84% of patients rating their experience with a score of seven or more out of ten compared with 81% in 2012. However, we know there is more to do. That is why we are transforming the way we deliver care in the community and through general practitioners, and working with staff to create a safe, open, compassionate, patient-centred culture throughout the NHS.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 1 May 2014, Official Report, columns 769-70W, on cochlear implants, how many cochlear operations there were in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15 to date; and what the ages were of the patients who had those operations.
Answered by Norman Lamb
Information concerning the number of patients who waited more than six weeks for an initial NHS hearing assessment and a follow-up NHS hearing aid assessment in each of the last five years is not available. Audiology is not one of the key referral to treatment functions which are recorded as a data set.
In the following table, we have provided a count of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) with a primary or secondary operative procedure of 'operation on cochlea' by five year age brackets for the years 2013-14, and provisional data for April to November 2014-15.
It should be noted that FCEs are not the number of patients because one patient may have had more than one episode of care within the time period.
Age | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
0-4 | 346 | 219 |
5-9 | 95 | 65 |
10-14 | 89 | 35 |
15-19 | 47 | 35 |
20-24 | 31 | 12 |
25-29 | 25 | 23 |
30-34 | 26 | 16 |
35-39 | 46 | 23 |
40-44 | 49 | 28 |
45-49 | 31 | 30 |
50-54 | 43 | 31 |
55-59 | 34 | 35 |
60-64 | 53 | 32 |
65-69 | 60 | 44 |
70-74 | 54 | 38 |
75-79 | 46 | 38 |
80+ | 46 | 32 |
Unknown | 3 | 0 |
Total | 1,124 | 736 |
Source: Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) Health and Social Care Information Centre.
Notes:
1. A finished consultant episode (FCE) is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year.
2. HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. Conversely, apparent increases in activity may be due to improved recording of diagnosis or procedure information. HES figures includes activity ending in the year in question and run from April to March, e.g. 2012-13 includes activity ending between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013.
3. The data for 2014-15 is provisional and may be incomplete or contain errors for which no adjustments have yet been made. Counts produced from provisional data are likely to be lower than those generated for the same period in the final dataset. This shortfall will be most pronounced in the final month of the latest period, ie November from the (month 9) April to November extract. It is also probable that clinical data are not complete, which may in particular affect the last two months of any given period. There may also be errors due to coding inconsistencies that have not yet been investigated and corrected.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients waited more than six weeks for (a) an initial NHS hearing assessment and (b) a follow-up NHS hearing aid assessment in each of the last five years.
Answered by Norman Lamb
Information concerning the number of patients who waited more than six weeks for an initial NHS hearing assessment and a follow-up NHS hearing aid assessment in each of the last five years is not available. Audiology is not one of the key referral to treatment functions which are recorded as a data set.
In the following table, we have provided a count of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) with a primary or secondary operative procedure of 'operation on cochlea' by five year age brackets for the years 2013-14, and provisional data for April to November 2014-15.
It should be noted that FCEs are not the number of patients because one patient may have had more than one episode of care within the time period.
Age | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
0-4 | 346 | 219 |
5-9 | 95 | 65 |
10-14 | 89 | 35 |
15-19 | 47 | 35 |
20-24 | 31 | 12 |
25-29 | 25 | 23 |
30-34 | 26 | 16 |
35-39 | 46 | 23 |
40-44 | 49 | 28 |
45-49 | 31 | 30 |
50-54 | 43 | 31 |
55-59 | 34 | 35 |
60-64 | 53 | 32 |
65-69 | 60 | 44 |
70-74 | 54 | 38 |
75-79 | 46 | 38 |
80+ | 46 | 32 |
Unknown | 3 | 0 |
Total | 1,124 | 736 |
Source: Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) Health and Social Care Information Centre.
Notes:
1. A finished consultant episode (FCE) is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year.
2. HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. Conversely, apparent increases in activity may be due to improved recording of diagnosis or procedure information. HES figures includes activity ending in the year in question and run from April to March, e.g. 2012-13 includes activity ending between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013.
3. The data for 2014-15 is provisional and may be incomplete or contain errors for which no adjustments have yet been made. Counts produced from provisional data are likely to be lower than those generated for the same period in the final dataset. This shortfall will be most pronounced in the final month of the latest period, ie November from the (month 9) April to November extract. It is also probable that clinical data are not complete, which may in particular affect the last two months of any given period. There may also be errors due to coding inconsistencies that have not yet been investigated and corrected.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of increases in the General Dental Council registration fee on availability of NHS dentists.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The increase in the General Dental Council (GDC) registration fee is not expected to impact on the availability of dentists for the National Health Service. All dentists must be registered with the GDC in order to practice whether this is for the NHS or privately.