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 free abortions were performed on the NHS for citizens from (a) other EU countries and (b) non-EU countries under reciprocal healthcare arrangements in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Abortions provided to women from other European Union countries and non-EU countries are funded privately. The European Health Insurance Card cannot be used for an abortion, unless it is an urgent matter which cannot wait until the person can return home.
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 estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of providing free abortions on the NHS for citizens from (a) other EU countries and (b) non-EU countries under reciprocal healthcare arrangements in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Abortions provided to women from other European Union countries and non-EU countries are funded privately. The European Health Insurance Card cannot be used for an abortion, unless it is an urgent matter which cannot wait until the person can return home.
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 announcement, Spinal surgery for babies in the womb on the NHS, published by NHS England in December 2018, whether painkillers will be administered to the unborn baby; and at what age unborn babies will have that surgery.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Spinal surgery for spina bifida for babies in the womb is among new, innovative treatments that will be routinely available on the National Health Service for the first time.
The procedure for unborn children with spina bifida, whose spine and spinal cord do not develop properly, allows pregnant women to be treated closer to home and their families.
Pain relief for the unborn baby will be delivered intra-operatively. This is administered before the fetal surgery, after the uterus is opened. The fetus will be monitored during the procedure by ultrasound to check the fetal heart rate. The surgery takes place between 20 and 26 weeks of gestation.
This proposed new treatment was independently assessed for its clinical benefit and cost by the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group comprising doctors, health experts and patient representatives.
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 procedures his Department uses to monitor the effectiveness of abortion providers in screening for coercion.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Data on the number of abortions declined as a result of a suspicion of coercion is not collected centrally.
The Department has no current plans to commission a review of reproductive coercion.
The Department takes this issue very seriously. The Department’s required standard operating procedures (RSOPs) for independent sector abortion providers and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists clinical guideline on the Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion, specify that careful and sensitive enquiry as to the reasons for requesting an abortion should be made, with the opportunity for further discussion, especially where women express any doubts or there may be a suggestion of pressure or coercion. The Care Quality Commission inspects independent sector abortion providers against all of the Department’s RSOPs including looking at the procedures and policies services have in place to ensure that all women and young persons are seeking abortion voluntarily.
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 review entitled, Reproductive control by others: means, perpetrators and effects published in the BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health in January 2019, if his Department will commission a review of reproductive coercion.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Data on the number of abortions declined as a result of a suspicion of coercion is not collected centrally.
The Department has no current plans to commission a review of reproductive coercion.
The Department takes this issue very seriously. The Department’s required standard operating procedures (RSOPs) for independent sector abortion providers and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists clinical guideline on the Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion, specify that careful and sensitive enquiry as to the reasons for requesting an abortion should be made, with the opportunity for further discussion, especially where women express any doubts or there may be a suggestion of pressure or coercion. The Care Quality Commission inspects independent sector abortion providers against all of the Department’s RSOPs including looking at the procedures and policies services have in place to ensure that all women and young persons are seeking abortion voluntarily.
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 abortions have been declined as a result of a suspicion of coercion in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Data on the number of abortions declined as a result of a suspicion of coercion is not collected centrally.
The Department has no current plans to commission a review of reproductive coercion.
The Department takes this issue very seriously. The Department’s required standard operating procedures (RSOPs) for independent sector abortion providers and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists clinical guideline on the Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion, specify that careful and sensitive enquiry as to the reasons for requesting an abortion should be made, with the opportunity for further discussion, especially where women express any doubts or there may be a suggestion of pressure or coercion. The Care Quality Commission inspects independent sector abortion providers against all of the Department’s RSOPs including looking at the procedures and policies services have in place to ensure that all women and young persons are seeking abortion voluntarily.
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 report entitled, BPAS Merseyside, published by the Care Quality Commission in January 2017, what steps his Department taking to monitor the quality of care provided at British Pregnancy Advisory Service clinics.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Information on reports of serious incidents at British Pregnancy Advisory Service clinics and the number of women transferred to National Health Service trusts for emergency care after attending a British Pregnancy Advisory Service clinic is not reported to the Department. Serious incident notifications are sent to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which is responsible for ensuring that requirements under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 are met by the providers of termination of pregnancy services including meeting the fundamental standards of quality and safety as set out in Part 3 to the 2014 Regulations, and Regulation 20 of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, which is specific to independent sector termination of pregnancy providers.
In addition, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has the power to approve independent sector providers to perform termination of pregnancy. All approved clinics must agree to comply with the Secretary of State’s requirements in the form of Required Standard Operating Principles.
The CQC inspection report of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) Merseyside identified a number of areas of concern regarding all areas of operation at the service. These concerns were addressed locally through a joint action plan between BPAS Merseyside, the CQC and Halton Clinical Commissioning Group. The CQC monitors the action plan through ongoing engagement with BPAS Merseyside.
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 women have been transferred to NHS Trusts for emergency care after attending a British Pregnancy Advisory Service clinic in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Information on reports of serious incidents at British Pregnancy Advisory Service clinics and the number of women transferred to National Health Service trusts for emergency care after attending a British Pregnancy Advisory Service clinic is not reported to the Department. Serious incident notifications are sent to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which is responsible for ensuring that requirements under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 are met by the providers of termination of pregnancy services including meeting the fundamental standards of quality and safety as set out in Part 3 to the 2014 Regulations, and Regulation 20 of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, which is specific to independent sector termination of pregnancy providers.
In addition, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has the power to approve independent sector providers to perform termination of pregnancy. All approved clinics must agree to comply with the Secretary of State’s requirements in the form of Required Standard Operating Principles.
The CQC inspection report of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) Merseyside identified a number of areas of concern regarding all areas of operation at the service. These concerns were addressed locally through a joint action plan between BPAS Merseyside, the CQC and Halton Clinical Commissioning Group. The CQC monitors the action plan through ongoing engagement with BPAS Merseyside.
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 reports of serious incidents at British Pregnancy Advisory Service clinics there have been in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Information on reports of serious incidents at British Pregnancy Advisory Service clinics and the number of women transferred to National Health Service trusts for emergency care after attending a British Pregnancy Advisory Service clinic is not reported to the Department. Serious incident notifications are sent to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which is responsible for ensuring that requirements under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 are met by the providers of termination of pregnancy services including meeting the fundamental standards of quality and safety as set out in Part 3 to the 2014 Regulations, and Regulation 20 of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, which is specific to independent sector termination of pregnancy providers.
In addition, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has the power to approve independent sector providers to perform termination of pregnancy. All approved clinics must agree to comply with the Secretary of State’s requirements in the form of Required Standard Operating Principles.
The CQC inspection report of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) Merseyside identified a number of areas of concern regarding all areas of operation at the service. These concerns were addressed locally through a joint action plan between BPAS Merseyside, the CQC and Halton Clinical Commissioning Group. The CQC monitors the action plan through ongoing engagement with BPAS Merseyside.
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 steps his Department is taking to increase the number of GPs.
Answered by Steve Brine
The National Health Service needs at least 5,000 more general practitioners and is working hard to recruit them. New medical schools have been set up in Sunderland, Lancashire,Chelmsford, Lincoln and Canterbury. We have also increased the numbers entering general practice training to 3,250 places each year and Health Education England reported the highest ever number of doctors entering general practice training in 2017.