Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the announcement that the Welsh Government is giving additional payments to care workers, what consideration they have given to making similar payments.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The National Minimum Wage and Living Wage apply across social care and we expect local authorities to work with providers to determine a fair rate of pay.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in providing all NHS staff with adequate personal protection equipment; and what plans they have to raise the salaries of NHS workers in order to provide financial support to families of such staff.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We are incredibly proud of all our National Health Service staff. We are working hard to ensure that staff feel supported and safe to continue the fight against COVID-19.
The Government is working around the clock with industry and the army to give the NHS the equipment and support they need to tackle this outbreak. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, we have delivered over 1 billion items of personal protective equipment (PPE) across the United Kingdom. The guidance on PPE is consistent with World Health Organization guidance for protecting health and social care workers from COVID-19.
The Government recognises the extraordinary commitment of NHS staff, working day and night putting our care and safety at the centre of everything they do. Annual pay awards for NHS staff are determined by an independent transparent pay review body process. We want to ensure that the NHS employment offer continues to attract, retain and reward staff and this offer continues to be kept under review.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the risk of the Wuhan coronavirus spreading to the UK, what steps are being taken to ensure that there are sufficient face masks in production for use in any such eventuality.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We have centrally held stocks of a range of medical products, including face masks, to mitigate supply problems and help ensure the uninterrupted supply to the National Health Service. We have well established procedures to deal with supply problems, regardless of the cause, and work closely with industry, the NHS and others in the supply chain to help prevent shortages and to ensure that any risks to patients are minimised. Face masks for the general public are not recommended to protect from infection, as there is no evidence of the benefit of their use outside healthcare environments.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (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 11 February (HL13173) which stated that the "Social Care Green Paper remains a priority for this Government", how they define priority in this instance; and what are the Department of Health and Social Care's other priorities.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Building a sustainable care and support system where people understand their responsibilities and can prepare for the future is a key priority for this Government. It is important that people know that the care they receive will be to a high standard and will help them maintain their independence and well-being.
The Department continues to work closely on the Green Paper. Minsters meet regularly with officials and ensure that other departments and key stakeholders are consulted regularly.
In line with the Government’s planning and performance framework process, the Department’s priorities are published online in the Single Departmental Plan.
The Department’s priorities for 2018/19 are that we will:
- keep people healthy to support economic productivity and sustainable public services;
- transform primary care, community, and social care to keep people living more independent, healthier lives for longer in their community;
- support the National Health Service to deliver high quality, safe and sustainable hospital care and secure the right workforce;
- support research and innovation to maximise health and economic productivity;
- ensure accountability of the health and care system to Parliament and the taxpayer, and create an efficient and effective Department;
- create value (reduced costs and growing income) by promoting better awareness and adoption of good commercial practice across the Department and our arm’s length bodies.
The Department’s 2019/20 Single Departmental Plan will be published in due course in line with the usual processes.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to ensure that any recommendations arising from the green paper on social care to be published in the summer will be considered separately to plans for the allocation of the £20.5 billion additional funding to NHS England announced by the Prime Minister on 18 June.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
It is right that social care funding is agreed alongside the rest of the local government settlement at the forthcoming spending review. However, we recognise that the health and social care systems are two sides of the same coin and we will ensure that social care places no additional pressure on the National Health Service. We also know that decisions on future reforms must be aligned, and this is precisely why it makes sense that we are now publishing the Green Paper in the autumn, around the same time as the NHS plan.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the estimated cost to the NHS of the treatment of obesity in (1) 2016, and (2) 2017.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The economic burden of ill health due to diet, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol and obesity in the UK: an update to 2006-07 NHS costs estimated that overweight and obesity cost the National Health Service in the United Kingdom £5.1 billion per year. This figure was uplifted to £6.1 billion in 2014/15 to take account of inflation. No estimates have been made centrally of the cost of obesity in 2016 or 2017.
A copy of The economic burden of ill health due to diet, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol and obesity in the UK: an update to 2006-07 NHS costs is attached.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (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 need to reduce vacancy levels amongst medical professionals and ancillary staff in the NHS.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
As set out in NHS Improvement’s most recent quarterly Performance of the NHS provider sector report, management information shows that over the course of the last year medical vacancy rates have reduced, from 10,848 whole time equivalent (WTE) in the first quarter of 2017/18 to 9,676 WTE in the third quarter of 2017/18.
A copy of Performance of the NHS provider sector for the month ended 31 December 2017 is attached.
NHS Improvement supports providers to reduce these rates. This includes programmes to reduce reliance on medicals locums and the development of new roles to support advanced clinical practice.
Information on the vacancy rates of ancillary staff is not available centrally.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to address the reported practice of drugs manufacturers supplying unlicensed medicines or special orders to the NHS at an inflated cost.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Our priority is to ensure that patients have access to safe and effective medicines.
For unlicensed medicines known as ‘specials’, reimbursement arrangements are in place that provide value for money in the majority of instances.
No company should exploit the National Health Service. That is why the Department will lay new regulations in the next few months that will require all specials manufacturers to provide information to the Department related to their sales. This will provide more transparency about the costs of specials and make our reimbursement arrangements more robust.