Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will increase their investment in (a) palliative and (b) hospice care for 2021 to support people approaching the end of life.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As with the vast majority of NHS services, the funding and commissioning of palliative and end of life care, is a local matter, over which individual National Health Service commissioners have responsibility. Local commissioners are best placed to understand the needs of local populations and commission services to meet those needs accordingly.
Following the publication of the NHS Long Term Plan in January 2019, NHS England and NHS Improvement committed to increasing its contribution towards palliative care over the next five years, by match-funding clinical commissioning groups who commit to increase their investment in local children’s palliative and end of life care services, including children’s hospices. This should more than double the NHS support, from £11 million up to a combined total of £25 million a year by 2023/24.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of improved recognition of palliative care needs and services outside hospitals on (a) the standard of palliative care in the UK and (b) annual hospital costs.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific recent assessment of palliative and end of life care needs and services outside hospitals in England has taken place. As health is a devolved matter, any such action or assessment in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would be decisions for the respective devolved administrations.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to an NHS email of 21 May 2020 from a Regional Chief Midwife on the reported escalating risk relating to home medical abortions, what assessment he has made of the veracity of incidents cited in that email of (a) women attending ED with significant pain and bleeding related to the process through to ruptured ectopics, major resuscitation for major haemorrhage and the delivery of infants who are up to 30 weeks gestation, (b) three police investigations including a murder investigation as there is a concern that the baby was live born and (c) a woman receiving pills at 32 weeks' gestation; and whether he holds information on similar incidents and in that or other regions in the last eight months.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Safe, continued access to key services is our priority during this difficult period. We are aware of a small number of incidents which we are looking into alongside with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and other partners.
The Department is aware of reports of two women who died after seeking abortion treatment earlier this year. Both deaths have been appropriately investigated and in one case investigations are continuing. For the other case, the coroner concluded that there was no evidence to suggest the pregnancy or abortion contributed to the death either directly or indirectly. Both women attended an abortion service in person and based on information provided to the Department at least one of these women was supplied with pills to take at home under the 2018 approval.
We continue to closely monitor the impact of the temporary approval for women’s homes to be classed as of place where both sets of medication for early medical abortion can be taken. Officials have regular meetings with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the CQC and abortion service providers to ensure the appropriate safeguards are in place to protect women accessing this service.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
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 3 November 2020 to Question 99518 on Abortion: Private Sector, whether the incidents of complications relating to home medical abortion referred to in an NHS email of 21 May 2020 from a regional chief midwife describing an escalating risk of the Pills by Post scheme have been investigated.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Safe, continued access to key services is our priority during this difficult period. We are aware of a small number of incidents which we are looking into alongside with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and other partners.
The Department is aware of reports of two women who died after seeking abortion treatment earlier this year. Both deaths have been appropriately investigated and in one case investigations are continuing. For the other case, the coroner concluded that there was no evidence to suggest the pregnancy or abortion contributed to the death either directly or indirectly. Both women attended an abortion service in person and based on information provided to the Department at least one of these women was supplied with pills to take at home under the 2018 approval.
We continue to closely monitor the impact of the temporary approval for women’s homes to be classed as of place where both sets of medication for early medical abortion can be taken. Officials have regular meetings with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the CQC and abortion service providers to ensure the appropriate safeguards are in place to protect women accessing this service.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the HSA4 Abortion Notification forms received by the Department of Health and Social Care since 1st January 2020, how many abortions have been carried out under Ground E; and how many of the Ground E abortions (a) mentioned medical condition, (b) method of diagnosis, and (c) whether that was the only ground for abortion given.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Abortion Act 1967, a pregnancy may be lawfully terminated by a registered medical practitioner in approved premises, if two medical practitioners are of the opinion, formed in good faith, that the abortion is justified under one or more of grounds A to G. Ground E refers to cases where “there is substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped”. There can be multiple reasons for an abortion for a fetal abnormality, therefore there can be more than one medical condition mentioned on a HSA4 form.
This data should be treated as provisional, meaning that it may be subject to revision if the Department receives further information from hospitals and clinics on missing information from HSA4 forms, or more forms are received.
There were 1,619 abortions performed under ground E between January to June 2020.
The attached table shows abortions performed under ground E, between January to June 2020 as follows:
- Total number of abortions performed under ground E alone or with any other ground;
- Total number of abortions performed under ground E alone;
- Total mentions of medical conditions; and
- Method of diagnosis.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to review the 2010 guidelines on the Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality in England, Scotland and Wales from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists with respect to advancements in antenatal screening since those guidelines were published.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not set clinical practice. It is for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to consider whether to revise their guidelines, having looked at the available evidence.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on second trimester abortion of the finding of the British Medical Journal article, Reconsidering fetal pain, published on 14 January 2020 that pain emerges around 18-20 weeks of gestation.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not set clinical practice. To support clinical practice, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has considered the issue of fetal pain and awareness in its guideline on ‘Fetal Awareness: Review of Research and Recommendations for Practice’, published in March 2010.
The Department has brought the article by Dr Stuart W G Derbyshire and John C Bockmann to the attention of the RCOG. It is for the RCOG to consider whether to revise the guidelines, having looked at the available evidence.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to investigate the reasons for the annual increase in the number of abortions performed in private clinics.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has no specific plans to investigate the reasons for the number of abortions performed in private clinics. However, the Department has commissioned the King’s Fund to undertake a piece of work to provide insights into factors contributing to changing patterns of abortion uptake in England.
Clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning termination of pregnancy services and are increasingly commissioning from the independent sector abortion providers. All independent sector clinics wishing to perform abortions must be approved by the Secretary of State under section 1(3) of the Abortion Act 1967 and registered with the Care Quality Commission.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have died as a result following abortion carried out in a private clinic in the last five years.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Mortality statistics published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that between 2015 and 2019 there was one death where abortion was listed as the underlying cause of death on the death certificate. It is not possible to identify whether this abortion was performed at a National Health Service hospital or at an independent clinic.
The Department is aware of reports of two women who died after seeking abortion treatment earlier this year. Both deaths have been appropriately investigated and in one case investigations are continuing. For the other case, the coroner concluded that there was no evidence to suggest the pregnancy or abortion contributed to the death either directly or indirectly.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure that safe and healthy pregnancy information is communicated effectively as outlined in the NHS' guidance entitled Saving Babies’ Lives Version Two, published in March 2019.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The second version of the Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle has been updated since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to reflect the most up to date information for women to receive safe and healthy pregnancy information. NHS England and NHS Improvement are asking trusts to work towards full implementation of the Care Bundle as the safety of maternity services is a key priority.
Information and advice for the public from the Care Bundle is contained on the NHS.UK Start 4 Life webpages, which women are encouraged to use. The Care Bundle document is also available on NHS England and NHS Improvement’s webpages, and has been promoted widely to all Local Maternity Systems.