Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the proportion of NHS-registered GPs in England who offer all patients the ability to make an appointment in person or by phone rather than through the NHS app or other online booking facilities.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The GP Contract requires all practices to enable patients to telephone or visit their practice in person to make appointments. Online tools must always be provided in addition to, rather than as a replacement for, other channels for accessing a general practitioner, and practice receptions should be open so that patients without access to telephone or online services are in no way disadvantaged.
To support patients who depend on telephone bookings, recent contractual changes require all general practices to offer online booking throughout core hours, from 8:00am to 6:30pm. This is designed to ease pressure on phone lines by allowing those who prefer online booking to do so at any time, freeing up phone lines, reducing long phone queues, and improving the experience for those reliant on telephone bookings.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of treatment for eating disorders for (1) people under 18, and (2) people over 18, in each of the health boards in England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has recently updated guidance for children and young people’s eating disorder services, strengthening early identification, and ensuring care is joined up across schools, primary care, and specialist services, with faster access to treatment where an eating disorder is suspected.
NHS England expects to publish the Mental Health Personalised Care Framework shortly. The mental health personalised care framework sets out the approach and related principles and actions for delivering personalised care for adults and older people with severe mental health problems.
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England has established 15 Adult Eating Disorder Provider Collaboratives across England to oversee specialised adult eating disorder services. In addition to delivering inpatient care, these collaboratives are supporting the development of intensive community and day treatment models, helping more people receive care closer to home where clinically appropriate, reducing reliance on inpatient admission and geographical variation, while implementing improved processes supporting earlier discharge from hospital.
NHS England has also published guidance for commissioners and providers on adult eating disorders across community, inpatient, and intensive day-patient care, to support local systems in developing coherent pathways across different levels of treatment intensity.
Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing local need and commissioning appropriate community and outpatient provision for their populations, while specialised provision supports those adults whose needs require a higher level of intensity, medical monitoring, or specialist intervention.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for child and adolescent mental health services in Bristol.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
It is the responsibility of Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board to make available appropriate provision to meet the mental health and other care needs of the local population in Bristol.
Nationally, we are supporting the expansion and transformation of mental health services for children and young people through the NHS Long Term Plan. As part of the accompanying investment of at least an extra £2.3 billion a year by March 2024, an additional 345,000 children and young people will be able to get the mental health support they need.
We also provided an additional £79 million for 2021/22 to allow around 22,500 more children and young people to access community mental health services and around 2,000 more to access eating disorder services.
We continue to roll out mental health support teams in schools and colleges across the country, offering early support to children experiencing anxiety, depression, and other common mental health issues. As of May 2022, eight mental health support teams were in place or planned in the area covered by the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire integrated care system.
NHS England has consulted on the potential to introduce five new waiting time standards as part of its clinically-led review of National Health Service access standards, including that children, young people and their families presenting to community-based mental health services should start to receive care within four weeks from referral. As a first step, NHS England has shared and promoted guidance with its local system partners to consistently report waiting times to support the development of a baseline position.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help reduce regulatory barriers for companies and healthcare providers importing medical devices and equipment from the European Union.
Answered by Will Quince
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) are unable to intervene in issues relating to capacity in the EU system. However, the MHRA recognises that there is a need to increase Approved Body capacity to ensure the continued supply of imported medical devices and equipment to the UK market by reducing regulatory barriers for companies and healthcare providers importing said devices. The MHRA are engaging with, reviewing applications from and auditing a number of organisations who have applied to be designated as a UK Approved Body. The MHRA is taking a pragmatic approach to the designation of these Approved Bodies, balancing the need to establish an independent UK system against avoiding any unnecessary duplication
On the 25th October 2022, the MHRA announced that there will be a 12-month extension to the implementation of new UK Medical Device Regulations to accommodate for any disruption caused by the Great Britain’s departure from the European Union. Manufacturers will be able to continue to place CE marked devices on the Great Britain market after 1 July 2023. Following this, from July 2024 the transitional arrangements will apply for CE and UKCA marked devices placed on the Great Britain market. Manufacturers are also able to apply to the MHRA for an Exceptional Use Authorisation (EUA) which permits the supply of a medical device without a valid CE or UKCA mark in certain circumstances.
In addition to building Approved Body capacity and extending the implementation of the revised UK regulations, the MHRA is working, with industry partners and designated Approved Bodies, to assess what further actions can be taken to ensure ongoing supply of medical devices where manufacturers have been unable to secure ongoing certification.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that 111 advice line has adequate capacity to provide a timely service, including for members of the public calling when they are not able to access other parts of the NHS.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Health Service is building the capacity of NHS111 to give patients the help they need, including arranging clinical advice direct from healthcare professionals, making urgent appointments at a range of health services, or offering a timed slot at a local accident and emergency where appropriate.
NHS England has invested an additional £50 million in funding for NHS111 in 2022/23 to increase capacity and NHS111 call handling performance is also being improved through the implementation of regional call management, enabling better integration between providers, and ensuring total NHS 111 capacity is being used effectively.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Government's decision on Evusheld, what steps he is taking to help protect those people acutely vulnerable to covid-19.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government continues to make a range of antiviral treatment options available in the community for patients at highest risk of COVID-19 infection. For those in this cohort who test positive for the virus, antiviral treatments can be accessed through COVID Medicines Delivery Units. Patients identified as potentially eligible for antiviral treatments can also order lateral flow device tests from GOV.UK or NHS 111.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department plans to take steps to end the requirement for staff working in care homes to wear face masks.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
At present, adult social care guidance continues to recommend that all care home staff and visitors wear masks to provide protection for residents from COVID-19. The guidance allows for masks to not be used if, as part of a risk assessment, they are considered particularly challenging for the resident. We continue to keep this under review. Further personal protective equipment may also be recommended to carry out specific tasks.
The Department continues to work with the UK Health Security Agency to review relevant guidance to ensure it reflects the latest available evidence and safe and proportionate infection prevention and control principles.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help support young people with eating disorders in Bristol West constituency.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
In September we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will increase access to National Health Service mental health and eating disorder services, including in Bristol West. Ensuring easier access to general practice will expand this route to access mental health services.
Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to expand NHS mental health and eating disorder services for adults, children and young people in England, including in Bristol West. We will invest approximately £1 billion in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness. including eating disorders, by 2023/24 and an additional £53 million per year in children and young people's community eating disorder services to increase capacity in the 70 community eating disorder teams.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help improve access to mental health services in Bristol West constituency.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
In September we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will increase access to National Health Service mental health and eating disorder services, including in Bristol West. Ensuring easier access to general practice will expand this route to access mental health services.
Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to expand NHS mental health and eating disorder services for adults, children and young people in England, including in Bristol West. We will invest approximately £1 billion in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness. including eating disorders, by 2023/24 and an additional £53 million per year in children and young people's community eating disorder services to increase capacity in the 70 community eating disorder teams.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the NHS dentist provision in Bristol West constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
No specific assessment has been made. In September, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care, including in Bristol West.
The plan includes improvements to ensure dentists are renumerated fairly for more complex work, allowing greater flexibility to reallocate resources and to utilise dentists with greater capacity to deliver National Health Service treatment, whilst enabling full use of the dental team. The plan also includes streamlining processes for overseas dentists and holding the local NHS to account for dentistry provision. In addition, Health Education England is also reforming dental education to improve the recruitment and retention of dental professionals.