Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Shaughnessy on 7 February (HL4908), how many residential and nursing home places there were in Oxfordshire in (1) 2015, and (2) 2016.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The number of beds in residential and nursing homes Oxfordshire in April 2015 and April 2016 is shown in the following table. The table shows the number of beds at the beginning of each financial year as the numbers fluctuate slightly month on month.
Oxfordshire Local Authority | |||
Month | Total care beds | Residential care beds | Nursing care beds |
April 2015 | 4,897 | 1,353 | 3,544 |
April 2016 | 4,943 | 1,333 | 3,610 |
Source: The Care Quality Commission
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Shaughnessy on 19 January (HL4501), whether the Answer also applies to the Automated Repeat Prescription Service offered by some high street pharmacies; and what checks there are to ensure that this does not lead to over-ordering.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
My Written Answer of 19 January applies also to repeatable prescriptions provided through the Electronic Prescription Service.
Any service provided by a pharmacist including ordering prescriptions on behalf of patients, should be carried out in accordance with their professional code of conduct, ethics and performance and the standards for registered pharmacies – both regulated by the General Pharmaceutical Council. This would include obtaining all the information they require to assess a person’s needs in order to give safe and effective treatment and to obtain consent for professional services they provide.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the capacity available in care homes in Oxfordshire for patients who are ready to leave hospital.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) collects data on numbers of places in care and nursing homes in England as part of its regulatory work.
We are informed by the CQC that there are 5,138 residential and nursing home places in Oxfordshire at present. The CQC does not collect occupancy data, so information on the number of places that are vacant is not available.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the widespread adoption of the Electronic Prescription Service by pharmacies, whether an audit has been undertaken to determine the impact on the cost of providing prescriptions; and if so, whether those costs rose or fell, and by how much.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The impact of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) has been extensively validated and continuously reviewed by NHS Digital, including for pharmacies and other dispensers. For example, provisional findings from an independent audit, which measure cost in time rather than a monetary value, have identified time savings per prescription dispensed. These findings have yet to be finalised and the final audit report is expected to be published in due course.
Greater efficiencies, an improved audit trail and better customer service have also been found by NHS Digital and the independent audit, in respect of pharmacies using EPS.