Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what actions they have taken to ensure that personal protection equipment is available to all speech and language therapists treating patients with swallowing difficulties as a result of COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We are working around the clock to give the social care sector and wider National Health Service the equipment and support they need to tackle this outbreak.
The Government published Coronavirus (COVID-19): Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) plan on 10 April. It incorporates guidance on who needs PPE and when they need it, routes to ensure those who need it can get it at the right time and sets out actions to secure enough PPE to last through the crisis. A copy of the guidance is attached.
Sourcing sufficient supplies of PPE is a challenge that many countries are facing. We are working to expand supply from overseas, improve domestic manufacturing capability and expand and improve the logistics network for delivering to the frontline.
The full weight of the Government is behind this effort and we are working closely with industry, social care providers, the NHS, and the army to ensure the right equipment continues to be delivered.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what actions, if any, were placed on the National Risk Register to mitigate the risk to the nation's mental health in the event of a pandemic in (1) 2018, (2) 2019, and (3) 2020.
Answered by Lord Bethell
To improve the Government's understanding of the consequences of risks, such as the effect on the mental wellbeing of the population, the National Risk Register consults a wide variety of experts in Government departments, devolved administrations and outside of Government in agencies, academic institutions and industry.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will publish the full NHS People Plan.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The publication of the full NHS People Plan has been deferred to later in the year, so that the National Health Service can devote maximum operational effort to COVID-19 readiness and response.
While timing of publication continues to be kept under review, NHS England and NHS Improvement, together with Health Education England, are continuing to grow and transform the workforce and build lasting culture change, in line with the objectives of the People Plan.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many NHS hospital trusts in (1) Greater Manchester, (2) Lancashire, (3) Merseyside, (4) Cheshire, and (5) Cumbria, have completed mandatory autism training of staff.
Answered by Lord Bethell
This information is not available as autism training is not currently a mandatory requirement though under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, employers are required to take steps to ensure that their staff receive support and training to undertake their roles competently.
In ‘Right to be Heard’, which was published on 5 November 2019, we outlined our plans to introduce mandatory learning disability and autism training for health and social care staff in England. Work is currently underway with Health Education England and Skills for Care to develop and trial, during 2020/21, a standardised training package, which will be known as ‘the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Learning Disability and Autism Training’. The evaluation of the trial, which will be published at the end of March 2021, will inform future roll-out.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford on 23 January (HL387), in what format the data is held.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The number of individual patients aged under 18 cannot be provided, only the number of unplanned accident and emergency (A&E) attendances for patients aged under 18 with a primary diagnosis in A&E of ‘35 – Psychiatric Condition’.
Information can only be provided on the distance between a patient’s postcode and the A&E where they presented and not the hospital where the patient was subsequently admitted from A&E.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford on 23 January (HL388), in what format the data is held.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The number of individual patients aged under 18 cannot be provided, only the number of unplanned accident and emergency (A&E) attendances for patients aged under 18 with a primary diagnosis in A&E of ‘35 – Psychiatric Condition’.
Information can only be provided on the distance between a patient’s postcode and the A&E where they presented and not the hospital where the patient was subsequently admitted from A&E.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford on 23 January (HL451), in what format the data is held.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The number of individual patients aged under 18 cannot be provided, only the number of unplanned accident and emergency (A&E) attendances for patients aged under 18 with a primary diagnosis in A&E of ‘35 – Psychiatric Condition’.
Information can only be provided on the distance between a patient’s postcode and the A&E where they presented and not the hospital where the patient was subsequently admitted from A&E.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of the revenue resources specified in the NHS Funding Bill that will be allocated to mental health services for each year of the settlement.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
This NHS Funding Bill enshrines in law the biggest cash boost in National Health Service history, ensuring the NHS will get an extra £33.9 billion a year by 2023/24. The Bill does not limit the amount of funding we can put in the NHS, but instead sets that the budget must be “at least” what we have committed to.
The NHS Long Term Plan sets out that mental health will receive a growing share of the NHS budget, worth in real terms at least a further £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24.
Tables showing how NHS funding and mental health funding will increase year-on-year to 2023/24 are attached, due to the size of the data.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children with mental illness who presented at an accident and emergency department were admitted into hospital within (1) three miles, (2) five miles, (3) 10 miles, (4) 20 miles, and (5) more than 20 miles, from their homes, in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The data is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children with mental illness were admitted into hospital following attendance at Accident and Emergency departments in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The data is not held in the format requested.