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Written Question
Audiology: Paediatrics
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, as part of the Paediatric Hearing Services Improvement Programme, how many reviews of patient records have been undertaken, and how many children have been identified as requiring reassessment.

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

The Paediatric Hearing Services Improvement Programme is working to systematically introduce reviews, undertaken by subject matter experts, across the seven regions of the National Health Service in England. In the coming months, we will have further details of patient information reviewed, and the number of children requiring reassessment.


Written Question
Audiology: Paediatrics
Wednesday 6th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect all paediatric audiology services in England to be accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service's Improving Quality in Physiological Services scheme, and what plans they have to increase accreditation of audiology services nationally.

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

There is no NHS England national target set for when all services will be accredited, as the process for achieving accreditation for an individual service can take a number of years. NHS England recognises the United Kingdom Accreditation Service’s (UKAS) Improving Quality in Physiological Services (IQIPS) scheme as the only recognised accreditation standard for physiological science services. This includes audiology services and provides not only independent and impartial assurance of safe, high-quality services, but also the evidence needed for the Care Quality Commission’s regulatory purposes. In August 2023, NHS England recommended that all integrated care boards ensure that provider organisations work towards the UKAS IQIPS accreditation for paediatric audiology.

NHS England has worked with the UKAS to implement an updated process to support the early assessment of an individual site's readiness for achieving accreditation. NHS England is also working alongside the UKAS to support and enable more sites to successfully achieve accreditation. The 2024/25 National Health Service standard contract now includes the recommendation that all providers of paediatric audiology should work with their local commissioners to develop a Service Development Improvement Plan that will address the areas of quality concern, to allow all paediatric audiology services to move towards UKAS accreditation against the IQIPS standard.


Written Question
Audiology: Paediatrics
Thursday 1st February 2024

Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many paediatric audiology departments in England meet the 42-day waiting list target for an initial hearing assessment for babies and children.

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

National Diagnostic Waiting Times data is published monthly by NHS England. The latest data for November 2023, combining both adult and paediatric services, shows that 37% of patients are waiting more than six weeks for audiology assessment.


Written Question
Audiology: Paediatrics
Thursday 1st February 2024

Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made by NHS England’s National Paediatric Hearing Improvement Programme; and what findings it has found following its review of data for newborn babies in England.

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

The Paediatric Hearing Services Improvement Programme is focussed on delivering several strategic interventions over a short, medium and long-term period. Some of the key areas of focus include: supporting the audiology workforce with training and education,; supporting services to achieve accreditation with the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS); and supporting paediatric audiology services regarding review of patient records, including ensuring that children identified as requiring reassessment are prioritised.

NHS England’s Newborn Hearing Screening Programme investigation indicated areas for improvement in:

- the quality of practice;

- workforce training and education;

- data, results and report management;

- quality assurance;

- the peer review process; and

- UKAS Improving Quality in Physiological Services accreditation.


Written Question
Audiology: Paediatrics
Thursday 1st February 2024

Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many paediatric audiology departments there are in England in total; and how many of those currently meet the UK Accreditation Services Improving Quality in Physiological Services Accreditation standards.

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

There are 134 paediatric audiology services nationally and of those, approximately 20% are accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service for Improving Quality in Physiological Services. NHS England has a dedicated programme of work that will support the increase of accreditation for audiology services nationally.


Written Question
Defibrillators
Tuesday 25th July 2023

Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to standardise the colour of defibrillation units to allow easier identification by the general public, and when they plan to communicate any such plans to the general public.

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

There are no plans to standardise the colour of defibrillation units.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF), in partnership with the Resuscitation Council UK, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives and the National Health Service, have set up The Circuit, a national defibrillator network database.

The Circuit provides a national database of where defibrillators can be found so that ambulance services can identify the nearest defibrillator at the time of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The Circuit is live in in all ambulance services across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In addition, at the end of January 2022, the BHF launched defib finder, a website that will assist members of the public to locate their nearest defibrillator, including a mapping function.


Written Question
Defibrillators
Tuesday 25th July 2023

Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the public’s knowledge of the availability defibrillation units and where these units can be found.

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

There are no plans to standardise the colour of defibrillation units.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF), in partnership with the Resuscitation Council UK, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives and the National Health Service, have set up The Circuit, a national defibrillator network database.

The Circuit provides a national database of where defibrillators can be found so that ambulance services can identify the nearest defibrillator at the time of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The Circuit is live in in all ambulance services across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In addition, at the end of January 2022, the BHF launched defib finder, a website that will assist members of the public to locate their nearest defibrillator, including a mapping function.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Vaccination
Friday 11th February 2022

Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any campaign encouraging COVID-19 vaccination has been linked to the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

Answered by Lord Kamall

While there are no current plans for a specific campaign linked to the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, we will keep this under review.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Vaccination
Wednesday 24th March 2021

Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide (1) Olympic athletes, and (2) Olympic officials, of any nation with COVID-19 vaccines after all vulnerable groups in the UK have been offered the vaccine.

Answered by Lord Bethell

We have no plans to do so.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Vaccination
Wednesday 24th March 2021

Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide surplus COVID-19 vaccines to athletes from Commonwealth countries to ensure that they are vaccinated in time for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Answered by Lord Bethell

We have no plans to do so.