Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what advice his Department provides to care homes on the use of funded nursing care payments for the fee charged to self-funded residents; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Guidance regarding the NHS-funded Nursing Care rate and a care home resident’s overall care fees, can be found in the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care.
This makes clear that the care home provider should set an overall fee level for the provision of care and accommodation, which should include any registered nursing care provided by them. If an individual is eligible for NHS-funded Nursing Care the clinical commissioning group will pay the NHS-funded Nursing Care rate direct to the care home, unless there is an agreement in place for this to be paid via a third party (e.g. a local authority). The balance of the fee will then be paid by the individual, their representative or the local authority unless other contracting arrangements have been agreed.
Contracts between individuals and/or local authorities, with providers, should have terms and conditions which are transparent and fair, including setting out what happens if a resident is admitted to hospital or what happens if a resident dies.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an estimate of the number of missed breast cancer screening appointments by women whose employers have not allowed them to attend during working hours; and if will he make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
This information is not collected.
The NHS Breast Screening Programme offers all women in England who are aged from 50 up until their 71st birthday and registered with a general practitioner or resident in an area are automatically invited for screening every three years. Although in some areas women may be invited from the age of 47 as part of the age extension trial.
A timed appointment at a specific screening location and date is offered. If the appointment scheduled is inconvenient, women can telephone to reschedule their appointment. Otherwise, if they do not attend, they will be sent a further timed appointment to attend for screening.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of spending on research into the causes and treatment of dementia; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The usual practice of NIHR is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics such as dementia. Research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health including dementia. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.
NIHR funding for dementia research was £43.0 million in 2017/18, having grown from £27 million in 2013/14. Overall public funding for dementia research continues to run well ahead of the Government’s 2020 Dementia Challenge commitment to maintain funding at £60 million a year. The other main public funders of dementia research are the Medical Research Council, which in 2017/18 spent £36.3 million, and the Economic and Social Research Council, which spent £3.2 million, to bring total Government spending on dementia research to £82.5 million.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will review the level of charges for social care payable by vulnerable people on benefits; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
To help local authorities design reasonable and fair policies, the Department has issued the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014 and statutory guidance in the Care and Support Statutory (CASS) Guidance. The CASS Guidance is issued under section 78 of the Care Act and local authorities must have regard to it.
The Regulations and Guidance do not require local authorities to charge. They seek to ensure that, where local authorities do charge, this will be based on fairer, well-designed charging policies and ensure in particular that service users on low incomes are protected from charging and that any charges levied on disability benefits are subject to an assessment of disability costs, to ensure their reasonableness.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance he has issued to local authorities on social care charges for vulnerable people receiving benefits; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
To help local authorities design reasonable and fair policies, the Department has issued the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014 and statutory guidance in the Care and Support Statutory (CASS) Guidance. The CASS Guidance is issued under section 78 of the Care Act and local authorities must have regard to it.
The Regulations and Guidance do not require local authorities to charge. They seek to ensure that, where local authorities do charge, this will be based on fairer, well-designed charging policies and ensure in particular that service users on low incomes are protected from charging and that any charges levied on disability benefits are subject to an assessment of disability costs, to ensure their reasonableness.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (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 tackle allegations of bullying and harassment of staff in the NHS and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government is committed to supporting National Health Service organisations in their responsibility for tackling allegations of bullying and harassment of staff in the NHS, having committed to this in its manifesto.
The national Social Partnership Forum (SPF) chaired by Departmental ministers, has been leading a ‘Collective Call to Action’ campaign aimed at achieving leadership and cultural change to tackle bullying; supporting staff to respectfully challenge problem behaviours; and encouraging organisations to publish their plans and progress so staff, patients and the public can hold them to account.
This will build on the wide range of advice, guidance and good practice available to employers which can be found at the following link:
Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on life insurance policies for people suffering from (a) long term medical conditions and (b) muscular dystrophy; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care meets Cabinet colleagues regularly to discuss a number of different issues.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to increase the level of spending on research into the causes and treatment of dementia; if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government remains strongly committed to supporting research into dementia and the United Kingdom research community is playing a significant role in the global effort to find a cure or a major disease-modifying treatment by 2025.
In the Challenge on Dementia 2020, the Government has committed to double spending on research by 2020. This is equivalent to around £60 million per annum and we have met and exceeded this to date. Much of the investment is for research to better understand the nature of dementia, to inform development of future treatments and ways to prevent the onset of the condition.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 10 September 2018 to Question 170887 on Child Sexual Abuse Independent Panel Inquiry, when his Department will respond to findings and recommendations made in the Child Migration Programmes report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We are currently carefully considering the findings and recommendations made in the Child Migration Programmes report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (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 the Government is taking to improve the early diagnosis of lung cancer; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England has made £200 million transformation funding available over two years to drive earlier diagnosis and support people living with and beyond cancer.
A number of initiatives are in place to improve early diagnosis of cancer, including lung cancer:
- NHE England is implementing the nationally agreed rapid assessment and diagnostic pathways for lung, prostate and colorectal cancers, ensuring that patients get timely access to the latest diagnosis and treatment.
- Public Health England ran a national Be Clear On Cancer respiratory symptoms campaign from April to August 2017, focusing on the symptoms of persistent cough and breathlessness. The campaign covered lung cancer along with other conditions such as heart disease and other lung disease. Further information is available at:
https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/16-be-clear-on-cancer/overview
- NHS England is also trialling new ways of diagnosing cancers faster and earlier, including through pilot programmes offering low dose computed tomography scanning based on an assessment of lung cancer risk in clinical commissioning groups with low lung cancer survival rates.