Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - 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 8 February (HL5380), whether they have considered trialling the integration of money advice in mental health settings in England.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The number of mental health patients referred to money advice services is not collected.
There are currently no plans to trial the integration of money advice services in mental health settings. However, the Government recognises the impact that debt may have on mental health and wellbeing and the difficulties that may be experienced by people with mental health problems in managing their debt.
We know that mental health services, including Improving Access to Psychological Therapy services, can signpost patients to money and debt advice services as part of their care. General practitioner practices can also signpost patients to money and debt advice services as part of their care and some practices have arrangements in place with local Citizens Advice Bureaux and debt advice services to provide outreach support in primary care.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - 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 8 February (HL5380), what percentage of mental health patients in England are referred to money advice services.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The number of mental health patients referred to money advice services is not collected.
There are currently no plans to trial the integration of money advice services in mental health settings. However, the Government recognises the impact that debt may have on mental health and wellbeing and the difficulties that may be experienced by people with mental health problems in managing their debt.
We know that mental health services, including Improving Access to Psychological Therapy services, can signpost patients to money and debt advice services as part of their care. General practitioner practices can also signpost patients to money and debt advice services as part of their care and some practices have arrangements in place with local Citizens Advice Bureaux and debt advice services to provide outreach support in primary care.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that people with mental health problems are getting the practical support they need with issues such as money and debt.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government recognises the impact that debt may have on mental health and wellbeing and the difficulties that may be experienced by people with mental health problems in managing their debt. We know that mental health services, including Improving Access to Psychological Therapy services, can signpost patients to debt advice services as part of their care. General practitioner (GP) practices can also signpost patients to debt advice services as part of their care and some practices have arrangements in place with local Citizens Advice Bureaux and debt advice services to provide outreach support in primary care.
In January 2017, the Prime Minister announced the Government would review the practice of GPs charging patients experiencing debt issues to complete Mental Health Evidence Forms when they require medical evidence for their creditors. The Department is working with the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute and a range of stakeholders from the financial and debt advice sectors and the British Medical Association to undertake the review.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the cost to the NHS over the last five years of midwives leaving the profession; and what is their estimate of such future costs.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The information requested is not collected by the Department.
To help secure a sustainable National Health Service workforce for the future, NHS Improvement recently launched a new Retention Programme to improve staff retention in trusts across England and bring down the leaver rates in the NHS by 2020.
NHS Improvement has developed plans for a raft of measures, tools and support to help trusts understand why employees are leaving their organisation and how to keep them on. This includes launching new Direct Support Programmes to provide intensive targeted support to trusts with above average leaver rates.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of why midwives are leaving the profession; and whether (1) salary levels, and (2) the culture of the NHS, are relevant factors.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The information requested is not collected by the Department.
To help secure a sustainable National Health Service workforce for the future, NHS Improvement recently launched a new Retention Programme to improve staff retention in trusts across England and bring down the leaver rates in the NHS by 2020.
NHS Improvement has developed plans for a raft of measures, tools and support to help trusts understand why employees are leaving their organisation and how to keep them on. This includes launching new Direct Support Programmes to provide intensive targeted support to trusts with above average leaver rates.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, of those midwives who completed their training in the last five years, what was the average length of time they stayed in the profession.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The information requested is not collected by the Department.
To help secure a sustainable National Health Service workforce for the future, NHS Improvement recently launched a new Retention Programme to improve staff retention in trusts across England and bring down the leaver rates in the NHS by 2020.
NHS Improvement has developed plans for a raft of measures, tools and support to help trusts understand why employees are leaving their organisation and how to keep them on. This includes launching new Direct Support Programmes to provide intensive targeted support to trusts with above average leaver rates.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the last five years, what percentage of midwives have left the profession within (1) one, (2) two, and (3) three years of completing their training.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The information requested is not collected by the Department.
To help secure a sustainable National Health Service workforce for the future, NHS Improvement recently launched a new Retention Programme to improve staff retention in trusts across England and bring down the leaver rates in the NHS by 2020.
NHS Improvement has developed plans for a raft of measures, tools and support to help trusts understand why employees are leaving their organisation and how to keep them on. This includes launching new Direct Support Programmes to provide intensive targeted support to trusts with above average leaver rates.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they or NHS England have made of the effectiveness of minor ailments services provided by community pharmacies in reducing pressure on GP practices and other parts of the NHS, and what assessment they have made of the impact of their planned pharmacy cuts on such services.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
NHS England has taken account of the potential impact of a pharmacy minor ailments service on general practitioner services and other parts of the National Health Service. The findings of the Minor Ailment Study (MINA), conducted by the University of Aberdeen, in collaboration with NHS Grampian and the University of East Anglia, on behalf of Pharmacy Research UK in 2014, were considered. The study’s main conclusions were:
- consultations for minor ailments continue to be a burden on high cost service providers but there needs to be consensus amongst healthcare professionals regarding what constitutes a minor ailment suitable for treatment in the community pharmacy setting;
- the evidence considered suggests that community pharmacy-based minor ailment schemes are an effective and cost-effective strategy for managing patients;
- health professionals and patients need to be confident in the ability of pharmacists and their staff to manage minor ailments; and
- future initiatives to shift demand from high cost settings to community pharmacy should adopt an interdisciplinary approach to explore and address patient decision-making behaviour.
In addition, evaluations of local minor ailments schemes have continued to inform decision-making about local commissioning of such schemes.
Community pharmacy is a vital part of the NHS and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.
The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public.
We are consulting the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, other pharmacy bodies and patient and public representatives on our proposals. An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.
Local commissioning and funding of services from community pharmacies, such as minor ailment services, will be unaffected by these proposals.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - 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 their planned pharmacy cuts on patients and health services in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review, the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020-21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.
The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public.
We are consulting the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, other pharmacy bodies and patient and public representatives on our proposals. An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.
NHS England has a statutory duty to ensure the adequate provision of NHS pharmaceutical services across England and will ensure that duty continues to be met, including in respect of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.