Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - 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 page 7 of the report entitled Paying to Breathe: Why unfair asthma prescription charges must be stopped, published in February 2019, what plans he has to change the Prescription Charges exemptions list as a result of the finding in that report that 57 per cent of people with asthma are skipping medication due to the cost.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department has no plans to make such an assessment. This is because extensive arrangements are in place to help people afford National Health Service prescriptions. These include a broad range of prescription charge exemptions, for which someone with asthma may qualify. The Department has no current plans to amend these exemptions, including the list of medical conditions that provides exemption from prescription charges.
People on a low income, who do not qualify for an exemption, may be eligible for full or partial help with prescription charges through application to the NHS Low Income Scheme.
To support those with greatest need who do not qualify for an exemption or the NHS Low Income Scheme, prescription prepayment certificates are available. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just £2 per week.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - 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 page 7 of the report entitled Paying to Breathe: Why unfair asthma prescription charges must be stopped, published in February 2019, what assessment he has made of the effect of prescription charges on people on low incomes who have asthma.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department has no plans to make such an assessment. This is because extensive arrangements are in place to help people afford National Health Service prescriptions. These include a broad range of prescription charge exemptions, for which someone with asthma may qualify. The Department has no current plans to amend these exemptions, including the list of medical conditions that provides exemption from prescription charges.
People on a low income, who do not qualify for an exemption, may be eligible for full or partial help with prescription charges through application to the NHS Low Income Scheme.
To support those with greatest need who do not qualify for an exemption or the NHS Low Income Scheme, prescription prepayment certificates are available. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just £2 per week.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the cross-Government strategy on the costs of clinical negligence.
Answered by Steve Brine
The rising costs of clinical negligence are a major concern. As set out by the National Audit Office in their September 2017 report ‘Managing the Costs of Clinical Negligence in Hospital Trusts’, between 2006-07 and 2016-17, annual cash costs for clinical negligence quadrupled from £0.4 billion to £1.6 billion. In the same period the number of claims registered with NHS Resolution doubled from 5,300 to 10,600. Funds spent on clinical negligence claims are resources that are not available for patient care and this rate of rise is unsustainable.
We are committed to tackling this issue and we are working intensively across Government, looking at all the drivers of cost. We will bring forward proposals in due course.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether provisions will be made for sleep-in shift payments in the upcoming green paper on social care.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
An ageing society means that we need to reach a longer-term sustainable settlement for social care. This is why the Government has committed to publishing a Social Care Green Paper setting out its proposals for reform. The Green Paper will cover a range of issues including funding, workforce, carers and commissioning. It is right that social care funding is agreed alongside the rest of the local government settlement at the forthcoming spending review.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - 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 make an assessment of the implications for his Department's policies of the report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Eye Health and Visual Impairment on capacity issues in eye care in England published in June 2018.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department is carefully considering the recommendations of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Eye Health and Visual Impairment report ‘See the Light: improving capacity in NHS eye care in England’, and our response to those recommendations, alongside NHS England.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the level of availability of learning disability liaison nurses in Dudley.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - 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 (a) financial and (b) other resources available to family carers.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government is committed to continuing to support informal carers, and to do so in a way that supports their own health and wellbeing, employment and other life chances. On the 5 June the Department published a cross-Government action plan of targeted work to support carers over the next two years.
The Care Act 2014 also introduced important new rights for carers, for the first time putting them on the same footing as the people for whom they care. They now have legal rights to an assessment of, and support for, their needs where eligible.
In addition, carers have access to the full range of social security benefits according to their circumstances. Since 2010 the rate of Carer’s Allowance has increased from £53.90 to £64.60 a week, meaning an additional £550 a year for carers.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - 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 ensure that people without a family to support them are supported otherwise.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Those in need of care without a family to support them may be eligible for support as set out in the Care Act 2014. The Care Act 2014 requires that where an adult or carer appears to have care and support needs the local authority must carry out an assessment. It must then decide if the person has eligible needs by considering the outcomes the person wants to achieve, what needs they have, and how these impact on their wellbeing.
Where a person is assessed as having eligible care and support needs, these must be met by their local authority.
Once an eligibility determination has been made the local authority should then carry out a financial assessment to determine whether or not the person should pay anything towards their care.
For those who do not meet the eligibility criteria, local authorities should signpost people to relevant services.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - 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 he has made of the adequacy of funding available for research into motor neurone disease research.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department funds research mainly through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The usual practice of the NIHR and other research funders is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including motor neurone disease (MND). In 2016-17, the NIHR invested £4.58 million into MND and closely-related conditions research.
The NIHR Research Infrastructure supported 23 studies and trials on MND and closely-related conditions in the NIHR Biomedical Research Centres, Units and other research infrastructure during 2016-17. The majority of these studies have been funded by research charities including the Motor Neurone Disease Association, other research funders and the life sciences industry. In April 2018, the NIHR Clinical Research Network was supporting 19 non-commercial studies and clinical trials on MND and closely-related conditions.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he or a Minister of his Department has (a) met and (b) plans to meet representatives of Vertex Pharmaceuticals; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lord O’Shaughnessy) met with representatives from Vertex in October 2017.
The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and I wrote to Vertex in April following a Westminster Hall debate, to encourage the company to work with NHS England on a proposal that represents value to the National Health Service and the taxpayer.