Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many men and women over the age of 74 have opted in to the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme by (1) screening hub, and (2) screening centre.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme holds data for the number of men and women screened aged 75 and over, observing that nearly 15,000 men have self-referred to be screened for bowel cancer and just over 13,000 women. A table showing the number of screenings in each centre in England is attached.
Further, at the end of January 2015, nearly 25 million Faecal Occult Blood test (FOBt) kits had been sent out to men and women aged 60-74 to self-sample at home. Over 15 million kits have been returned by post to one of five regional laboratories (programme hubs). Since the Programme began in 2006, over 21,000 cancers have been detected and over 122,000 patients have been managed for polyps, including polyp removal.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (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 number of trained and certified colonoscopists needed to meet the demand for colonoscopies and flexible sigmoidoscopies over the next five years.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Between May 2010 and November 2014, we have seen a 29.1% increase in consultant gastroenterologists, from 1,788 to 2,302.
A Joint Endoscopy Working Group, set up by NHS England's National Clinical Director for Diagnostics and Imaging, has been analysing the latest data, and an action plan is being developed to ensure sufficient endoscopy capacity in the short and long term. The action plan will cover a wide range of organisations including Health Education England, NHS England, clinical commissioning groups and providers of endoscopy services. Potential actions identified include: developing robust endoscopy capacity and demand data; a national workforce strategy for endoscopy; supporting the training of non-medical endoscopists; including sufficient endoscopy capacity in business planning; and identifying new pathways and models of working.
In addition NHS Improving Quality has developed The Productive Endoscopy Series, a set of self-directed learning resources that will help all staff working in endoscopy units to make better use of existing resources and deliver a more efficient and effective service to patients seven days a week.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (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 impact of introducing mandatory Joint Advisory Group on gastrointestinal endoscopy (JAG) Accreditation for both public and private endoscopy units.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Joint Advisory Group (JAG) on Gastro-Intestinal Endoscopy, hosted by the Royal College of Physicians, aims to ensure quality across endoscopy services. It agrees and sets standards for endoscopy units, and quality assures endoscopy services and training. It achieves these objectives through accreditation visits, annual self-reporting using the Global Rating Scale (GRS), offering training, quality assuring training courses, certifying individuals and providing a knowledge management system. The JAG accreditation of an endoscopy unit is the formal recognition that an endoscopy service has demonstrated that it has the competence to meet the measures set out in the endoscopy GRS standards. The JAG accreditation scheme is a patient-centred and workforce focused scheme, which is independently assessed against recognised endoscopy standards. The scheme was developed for all endoscopy services and providers across the United Kingdom in the National Health Service and independent sector.
The JAG accreditation process encourages continuous improvement in processes and patient outcomes, strengthens endoscopy services, provides a knowledge base of best practices, improves the management and efficiency of services, and provides a knowledge base and education on best practices.
There is an endoscopy procedure Best Practice Tariff introduced in 2013-14 to encourage endoscopy units to achieve and maintain the required quality levels to meet the JAG accreditation standard for endoscopy services.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what investment they have made in endoscopy services over the last five years; and what investment will be made in endoscopy services in the next five years, in the light of changes in expected demand for endoscopy services.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to address any shortage of nurses in the North East of England; and whether they have considered the implications of the possible failure to renew the contract currently held by Northumbria University for nurse and other related training.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Health Education North East (HENE) is working closely with the nurse leaders across the region to develop a Nursing Recruitment and Retention Strategy to address the shortage of nurses. The development of the strategy was agreed by HENE’s governing body at its meeting in September 2014.
HENE has a successful history of working with two high quality providers of nursing education, Northumbria and Teesside Universities, and there is no current intention to terminate either of these annual nursing contracts. Additionally, HENE has begun working with the Open University (OU) to develop future flexible routes into nursing by commissioning extra adult nurse places through the OU programme.
Health Education England has reached agreement with Universities UK and the Council of Deans on contracts with universities, including Northumbria, for the provision of nurse and other related training.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have, in the light of the recently published report of the Care Quality Commission on health services in prisons and other custodial institutions, to investigate the commissioning and provision of health services for ex-offenders on their return to the community.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Offenders often have complex health needs and poor health outcomes and it is important that care they have been receiving in custodial settings continues when they return to the community. For offenders leaving custody, National Health Service guidance sets an expectation that prisoners are either registered with a general practitioner (GP) practice before they leave or are provided with the necessary information to register with a GP on release and, where possible, provided with support in doing so. The Transforming Rehabilitation reforms within the justice system should enable continuity of care through the prison gate by supporting offenders from custody to community.
Registration with a GP ensures access to the healthcare services that the offender needs. Quality and Surveillance Groups (QSGs), which have been established at both local and regional level, enable partners across the health and care system to share information and intelligence about the quantity and quality of care across their localities, including those services accessed by ex-offenders on their return to the community.
Where a QSG identifies issues or concerns about the quantity or quality of care being provided in their area, members will be able to coordinate any action that is needed to respond to these concerns.
The Department of Health and Ministry of Justice have jointly funded an initiative to improve the “through the gate” provision for prisoners who are dependent on drugs and alcohol. Ten prisons in the North West are currently piloting a range of innovative interventions to provide more intensive support and supervision for people leaving custody which include the use of peer mentors, recovery housing services and take-home naloxone as they return to the community.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to assist local authorities to address the consequences of the Supreme Court’s judgments in <i>P v Cheshire West and Chester Council</i> and <i>P and Q v Surrey County Council</i> on deprivation of liberty of mentally incapacitated persons, in the light of the likely costs of compliance with those judgments.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
So that we might better understand the consequences of the 19 March 2014 Supreme Court judgment in the case of Cheshire West, we have asked the Health and Social Care Information Centre to perform additional data collections as to the number of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguard (DoLS) applications made and the number authorised. The first data set was published in early October 2014. The next will be published in early November 2014.
In the meantime, to assist local authorities, the Government has commissioned the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services to review and redesign the standard forms that support the DoLS process. This will reduce bureaucracy on local authorities whilst maintaining robust safeguards for the service user.
In addition, the Government has commissioned the Law Society to produce guidance to assist local authority DoLS practitioners (including social workers) to understand what constitutes a deprivation of liberty following the Supreme Court judgment.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why the deadline for full roll-out of liaison and diversion services for offenders with mental health needs or learning disabilities has been extended from 2014 until 2017; and how many offenders will be affected by the delay.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
National roll-out of liaison and diversion services by NHS England will follow HM Treasury approval of a full business case. It has taken time to develop the business case and it will not be complete until 2015. This is because there is no existing evidence for the effectiveness of liaison and diversion services and this has to be developed as part of the phased roll-out of liaison and diversion services.
Information is not available about the potential number of offenders who would be affected by roll-out in 2017 instead of roll-out in 2014. Liaison and diversion services enable people entering the criminal justice system with mental health-related conditions and learning disabilities to get the right support and the best possible care as soon as possible. For offenders whose needs are not identified by a liaison and diversion service in police custody or the courts, these will continue to be identified through court procedures or at reception in prison.