Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of care packages handed back by care agencies in each of the past three years which have been distributed (1) privately, and (2) by public authorities, broken down by region.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A limited amount of information on care packages handed back by home care agencies has been collected by the Department since September 2022. We have recently reviewed how this information is gathered and are starting to gather more detailed information. However, we are unable to publish the data as the majority is supplied on a voluntary basis, and is therefore not representative.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what their estimate is of the percentage of total care packages funded by public authorities that have handed back in each of the past three years, broken down by region.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A limited amount of information on care packages handed back by home care agencies has been collected by the Department since September 2022. We have recently reviewed how this information is gathered and are starting to gather more detailed information. However, we are unable to publish the data as the majority is supplied on a voluntary basis, and is therefore not representative.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what their estimate is of the percentage of total care packages funded privately that have handed back in each of the past three years, broken down by region.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A limited amount of information on care packages handed back by home care agencies has been collected by the Department since September 2022. We have recently reviewed how this information is gathered and are starting to gather more detailed information. However, we are unable to publish the data as the majority is supplied on a voluntary basis, and is therefore not representative.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of care packages that have been handed back by care agencies in each of the past three years, broken down by region.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A limited amount of information on care packages handed back by home care agencies has been collected by the Department since September 2022. We have recently reviewed how this information is gathered and are starting to gather more detailed information. However, we are unable to publish the data as the majority is supplied on a voluntary basis, and is therefore not representative.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of payments made by the NHS in each of the last three years to (1) Cerner, (2) Epic and (3) EMIS; and of the cost of the contractual commitments the NHS has entered into with them over the next 10 years.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Information for all National Health Service payments, including at local level, in each of the last three years to Cerner, EPIC and EMIS is not held centrally. Additionally, no overall estimate has been made for all NHS contractual commitments for the next 10 years with these companies. The NHS adheres to central Government transparency requirements when publishing contracts.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, in each of the past five years, of the economic costs of the effects of post-operative cancer treatments.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department is working jointly with NHS England and Cancer Alliances to ensure every person receives personalised care and support from cancer diagnosis onwards, including post-treatment. As outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan for cancer, where appropriate, every person diagnosed with cancer will have access to personalised care, including needs assessment, a care plan and health and wellbeing information and support. After treatment, the person will move to a follow-up pathway that suits their needs, and ensures they can get rapid access to clinical support, where they are worried that their cancer may have recurred.
Post-operative cancer treatments encompass a wide variety of care, depending on the type and stage of cancer, the treatment the patient has had, and the patient’s needs. Follow-up care often includes regular check-ups, blood tests, scans, and procedures. It may also involve further treatments to deal with late and long-term side effects, including chemotherapy or radiotherapy to reduce the risk of cancer coming back. These highly individualised treatments have varying economic costs.
Asked by: Lord Wills (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 impact since March of the under-utilisation of capacity in hospitals operated by the Independent Healthcare Providers Network under their partnership agreement with the NHS on (1) postponed (a) diagnoses, and (b) treatment, and (2) costs to taxpayers.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The National Health Service is working in partnership with private hospitals in the United Kingdom to combat the outbreak of COVID-19. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with the Independent Healthcare Providers Network and with independent sector providers themselves to secure all appropriate inpatient capacity and other resource across England.
The addition of around 6,500 additional beds has increased NHS capacity and ensured that facilities are available for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 whilst ensuring continuity of service for non-COVID-19 patients requiring elective activity, including cancer and other urgent treatment.
It is not possible to make an assessment of the impact since March of any underutilisation of independent sector capacity on postponed diagnoses or treatment.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 7 October (HL8398), whether they will now answer the question put, namely, what estimate they have made of spare capacity between 1 April and 1 September in hospitals operated by the Independent Healthcare Providers Network under their partnership agreement with the NHS.
Answered by Lord Bethell
A national agreement is in place between NHS England and NHS Improvement in collaboration with the Independent Healthcare Providers Network and independent sector providers to ensure National Health Service patients benefit from an unprecedented partnership with private hospitals as we battle the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with the independent sector to secure all appropriate inpatient capacity and other resource across England.
To maximise total elective activity, NHS England and NHS Improvement worked with independent providers to identify best of use of capacity, based on local need. From the end of March to June 2020 both equipment and staffing from independent sector providers were deployed by NHS trusts in order to ensure delivery of services for NHS patients. Since June, the use of independent sector sites has been focused on assisting the NHS to restore services and increase elective capacity.
As part of preparing for winter, the Government has provided an additional £3 billion to the NHS. This includes additional funding to the NHS to allow them to continue to use additional hospital capacity from the independent sector, and to maintain the Nightingale hospitals, in their current state, until the end of March 2021.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 7 October (HL8399), whether they will now answer the question put, namely, what procedures they put in place to ensure the maximum use of capacity between 1 April and 1 September in hospitals operated by the Independent Healthcare Providers Network under their partnership agreement with the NHS.
Answered by Lord Bethell
A national agreement is in place between NHS England and NHS Improvement in collaboration with the Independent Healthcare Providers Network and independent sector providers to ensure National Health Service patients benefit from an unprecedented partnership with private hospitals as we battle the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with the independent sector to secure all appropriate inpatient capacity and other resource across England.
To maximise total elective activity, NHS England and NHS Improvement worked with independent providers to identify best of use of capacity, based on local need. From the end of March to June 2020 both equipment and staffing from independent sector providers were deployed by NHS trusts in order to ensure delivery of services for NHS patients. Since June, the use of independent sector sites has been focused on assisting the NHS to restore services and increase elective capacity.
As part of preparing for winter, the Government has provided an additional £3 billion to the NHS. This includes additional funding to the NHS to allow them to continue to use additional hospital capacity from the independent sector, and to maintain the Nightingale hospitals, in their current state, until the end of March 2021.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what procedures they put in place to ensure the maximum use of capacity between 1 April and 1 September in hospitals operated by the Independent Healthcare Providers Network under their partnership agreement with the NHS.
Answered by Lord Bethell
A national agreement is in place between NHS England and NHS Improvement in collaboration with the Independent Healthcare Providers Network and Independent Sector providers to ensure National Health Service patients benefit from an unprecedented partnership with private hospitals as we battle the COVID-19 outbreak. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with the independent sector to secure all appropriate inpatient capacity and other resource across England.
The addition of around 6,500 additional beds has increased NHS capacity and ensured that facilities are available for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 whilst ensuring continuity of service for non-COVID patients requiring elective activity, including cancer and other urgent treatment. Latest collected information shows that over 215,000 patient contacts had taken place under the contract.