Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to provide additional funding for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services post 2020.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The current Spending Review period covers the four years from 2016-17 to 2019-20. The Government will consider its plans for funding of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services following 2020 as part of the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that the whole of (1) the £1.25 billion of Future in Mind Funding announced in the March 2015 Budget, and (2) the £150 million announced in the Autumn Statement 2014, will be released to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services by 2020.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government and NHS England’s plan for the use of this additional investment is set out in Implementing the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health.
To ensure that clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) invest this money as intended we are using the full range of support, levers and incentives including:
- Clear information on what constitutes a high quality service. NHS England is producing guides for commissioners and providers which set out best practice, evidence based interventions and what roles professionals and organisations should play to ensure quality. They have already published guidance on eating disorders and early intervention in psychosis. Guidance on urgent and emergency care for children and young people and a generic pathway for all children and young people with mental health problems are being developed.
- A requirement for all CCGs to increase spend on mental health services by a greater amount than their overall funding increase (the Mental Health Investment Standard).
- Publishing every CCGs spend on children and young people’s mental health as part of the Mental Health Dashboard.
- NHS England’s National Director for Mental Health, Medical Director and National Director for Operations and Information wrote jointly in February 2017 to all CCGs and NHS trusts to get their assurance that the money is indeed being spent as intended and investments meet mental health planning guidance and deliver the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations in the report by the Local Government Association, Adult social care funding: State of the nation 2017.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government has taken note of the report by the Local Government Association, Adult social care funding: State of the nation 2017, which calls for additional funding for social care, an effective response to tackling delayed transfers of care and increased integration between local government and the local National Health Service.
The Budget in March 2017 announced an additional £2 billion to be given to councils over the next three years for social care. This additional funding means that councils have access to £9.25 billion in total more dedicated funding for social care over the next three years.
Reducing pressures on the NHS, including supporting more people to be discharged from hospital when they are ready, is one of the three purposes of the £2 billion provided in the Spring Budget. This is, of course, a shared endeavour between councils and the different parts of the local NHS. Everyone must do their part.
The Better Care Fund (BCF) has set the foundation to integrate health and social care, but the Government wants to deliver joined up care further and faster. Relevant areas will be notified in due course whether they will be shortlisted with a view to becoming a ‘graduate’ within the BCF once they have demonstrated that they have moved beyond the requirements of BCF reporting and are exemplars of integration.
The Government has set out plans to publish a Green Paper by summer 2018 presenting its proposals to reform care and support for older people.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the link between mental health and problem gambling; and what steps they are taking to address that link.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government has not made any formal assessment of a direct link between mental health and problem gambling.
Problem gambling can cause physical and mental health problems, including anxiety disorders and depression. The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme began in 2008 and has transformed treatment of adult anxiety disorders and depression in England. Over 900,000 people now access IAPT services each year, and the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health has pledged to expand services further to see a further one million more people treated for mental health problems every year by 2020, alongside improving quality. Although problem gambling is not listed amongst the provisional diagnosis categories that IAPT treats, IAPT practitioners would be able to treat common mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety which problem gamblers may present with.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the findings of a recent Which? investigation into the quality of optical prescriptions, whether they have any plans to review the regulation of opticians and the performance of the General Optical Council.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government is consulting on proposals for the reform of the professional regulation of healthcare professionals, including opticians, in the United Kingdom. This consultation closes on 23 January 2018.
The Professional Standards Authority (PSA) is the independent body responsible for overseeing the work of the nine statutory bodies that regulate health professionals in the UK and social workers in England. The PSA reviews the performance of the General Optical Council on an annual basis.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to raise awareness amongst GPs of post-operative problems.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
General practitioners are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development. This activity should include taking account of new research and developments in guidance, such as that produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, to ensure that they can continue to provide high quality care to all patients.
The training curricula for postgraduate trainee doctors are set by the relevant medical royal college and have to meet the standards set by the General Medical Council. Whilst curricula do not necessarily highlight specific conditions for doctors to be aware of, they instead emphasise the skills and approaches that a doctor must develop in order to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many patients have had surgical mesh implants since the introduction of the procedure; and how many (1) women, and (2) men, have suffered complications following that treatment.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
NHS Digital has provided data regarding the count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) with a main or secondary procedure relating to surgical mesh implants from 2007/08 2016/17.
Year | Total FAEs | Male | Female | Not specified |
2007-08 | 6,284 | 2,259 | 4,025 | - |
2008-09 | 6,436 | 2,261 | 4,175 | - |
2009-10 | 6,993 | 2,401 | 4,591 | 1 |
2010-11 | 7,358 | 2,657 | 4,693 | 8 |
2011-12 | 7,581 | 2,807 | 4,773 | 1 |
2012-13 | 7,598 | 2,946 | 4,652 | - |
2013-14 | 7,608 | 3,161 | 4,445 | 2 |
2014-15 | 7,303 | 3,200 | 4,102 | 1 |
2015-16 | 7,203 | 3,320 | 3,882 | 1 |
2016-17 | 7,030 | 3,350 | 3,680 | - |
Data regarding the amount of men and women who have suffered complications following a surgical mesh implant treatment is not collected centrally.
However, the following data of self-reported adverse incidence is available as follows.
The number of adverse incident reports received by Medicines and Healthcare products Regulation Agency (MHRA) in cases where surgical mesh has been used to treat stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse in females are shown in the following table.
Years | Count of Incident Number |
2006 | 26 |
2007 | 5 |
2008 | 12 |
2009 | 12 |
2010 | 41 |
2011 | 52 |
2012 | 99 |
2013 | 106 |
2014 | 276 |
2015 | 392 |
2016 | 265 |
Grand Total | 1,286 |
The number of adverse incident reports received by MHRA in cases where surgical mesh has been used to treat abdominal and hernia repair are shown in the following table.
Year | Number of adverse reports |
2013 | 19 |
2014 | 29 |
2015 | 16 |
2016 | 23 |
2017 up to September | 35 |
Note:
Reported events including those from members of the public do not always provide details of the gender of the patient. The data above therefore does not distinguish between gender.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much of the £1.25 billion of the Future in Mind funding announced in the March 2015 Budget has been spent by Clinical Commissioning Groups in local areas; and which organisations have received that funding.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
As set out in Implementing the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, the planned allocations to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) over five years from 2016/17 of the additional funding to support implementation are shown in the table.
Year | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 |
Planned allocation to CCGs1 (millions) | £119 | £140 | £170 | £190 | £214 |
Source: Implementing the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health (NHS England)
Note: 1This does not include funding for eating disorders.
For 2016/17, £119 million was allocated as part of CCG budgets as planned. In the previous year, 2015/16, £75 million was allocated to CCGs.
NHS England’s Five Year Forward View for Mental Health dashboard shows how much each CCG is spending on children’s mental health, as part of the robust assurance processes we have put in place.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the publication in July of NHS England's Mesh Oversight Group final report, whether they intend to hold a formal investigation into the concerns attributed to the use of surgical mesh implants.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The final report of the Mesh Oversight Group led by NHS England sets out the action that has been taken to improve awareness of complications, to ensure the consent process for patients is strengthened and to put in place access to additional care where needed. The Government will continue to work with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to ensure that the potential complications of these devices are better understood and that any necessary action is taken.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether one possible outcome of NHS England’s consultation, Items which should not be routinely prescribed in primary care: consultation on guidance for CCGs, may be a limit imposed on the pain management treatments prescribed within NICE guidelines for cancer patients.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
NHS England’s consultation on draft guidance for clinical commissioning groups on a range of items that should not routinely be prescribed in primary care ended on 21 October. The draft guidance seeks to ensure that the National Health Service is able to secure best value from its use of medicines and therefore focuses on areas of prescribing that have been found to be unsafe, ineffective or where there are more cost effective alternatives.
We would not want to pre-empt any outcome following NHS England’s careful analysis of the responses it has received.