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Written Question
Older People
Tuesday 5th November 2019

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

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 potential merits of establishing the post of a commissioner for older people.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

We recognise that it is important that the fundamental rights of people continue to be respected throughout their lives and that the specific needs of older people are recognised and respected.

We have previously considered the merits of introducing an older person’s commissioner. However, we believe that the duties that would be covered by such a role are covered by work elsewhere in the system.

Establishing an older person’s commissioners would also have significant costs associated with it. Net expenditure in the first year that Northern Ireland’s Older People’s Commissioner was set up was around £101,674 in 2011-12 and has since increased to £876,272 in 2017-18. Recent estimates indicate that there are around 33% more over 65s in England than in Northern Ireland, suggesting such a body would create significant annual costs.

The Government is committed to making this country one of the best places to grow old in.

Across the health and social care system in England there are already systems in place, that are able to listen to the voices of older people and respond to their concerns.


Written Question
Antimicrobials: Drug Resistance
Tuesday 29th October 2019

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

What recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on vaccine research to tackle antimicrobial resistance.

Answered by Matt Hancock

My Right Honourable friend and I recognise the importance of vaccination in tackling antimicrobial resistance (or AMR). Our AMR national action plan, developed across Government, includes commitments to optimise use of vaccines in humans and animals, and stimulate vaccine research and development.

A cross-departmental Delivery Board, co-chaired by my Department and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, will drive and oversee delivery of this work and met for the first time this month.


Written Question
Diabetes: Mental Health Services
Thursday 17th October 2019

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

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 improve access to mental health support for people with type 1 diabetes.

Answered by Nadine Dorries

The NHS Long Term Plan committed to increasing the provision of mental health support for all patients who require it. The importance of addressing the mental health needs of people with diabetes is recognised and further work is underway to consider the most effective routes for supporting this as part of the future development of services.

On 21 March 2018, NHS England and NHS Improvement, along with the National Collaboration Institute for Mental Health, published ‘The Improving Access to Psychotherapy Therapy (IAPT) Pathway for People with Long-term Physical Health Conditions and Medically Unexplained Symptoms’. The guidance outlines the IAPT pathway, and accompanying benchmarks, to support the national expansion of IAPT services for adults with long term conditions and medically unexplained symptoms.


Written Question
Nurses: Training
Thursday 17th October 2019

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

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 potential merits of reinstating the nursing bursary.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The education funding reforms unlocked the cap which constrained the number of pre-registration nurse training places allowing more students to gain access to nurse degree training courses. Eligible pre-registration nursing students now receive at least 25% more support than under the National Health Service bursary system through tuition fee loans and living cost support from the Student Loans Company.

Additionally, to support pre-registration nursing students whilst attending the clinical placement element of their courses, the Government introduced a Learning Support Fund. Eligible loan funded students can apply for non means tested and non-repayable annual payments of £1,000 for child dependents allowance, reimbursement of all clinical placement travel costs above their usual daily travel and exceptional hardship payments of up to £3,000. These are in addition to the allowances paid by the Student Loans Company.

On 19 September 2019 the Universities and College Admission Services (UCAS) published data on full-time undergraduate applicants to nursing and midwifery courses. The data shows that there are 21,590 placed applicants on nursing and midwifery courses at English providers. This is 4% higher than the same point in 2018 when there were 20,690 place applicants.

UCAS will publish further data in December 2019.


Written Question
Patients: Safety
Tuesday 18th June 2019

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

What steps he is taking to ensure NHS patient safety.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

Patient safety remains a key priority for the National Health Service. NHS Improvement and NHS England are developing a new National Patient Safety Strategy that will sit alongside the NHS Long Term Plan.

The strategy will be published this summer and will build on existing work to provide a coherent framework that the whole NHS can recognise and support


Written Question
Hospitals: Data Protection
Friday 7th June 2019

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of subject access requests made to NHS hospitals were responded to within the correct timescale since the General Data Protection Regulation came into force; and what steps he is taking to reduce the volume of those requests.

Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price

We do not currently collect this data. Individual trusts may hold this data but are not required to share this with the Government. There are currently no steps being taken to reduce the volume of these requests.


Written Question
Pathology: Vacancies
Thursday 23rd May 2019

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

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 the shortage of pathologists that can carry out post-mortem examinations for coroners.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

Most post-mortem examinations are carried out by pathologists who specialise in histopathology. However, post-mortems are not a requirement of the Certificate of Completion of Training in histopathology, therefore, the number of histopathologists who are qualified to carry out post-mortem examinations for coroners is not held centrally.

Overall, in January 2019, there were 1,206 full time equivalent (FTE) consultant histopathologists in the National Health Service in England. This represents a 10% (119 FTE) increase compared to January 2010.

Health Education England has committed to attract and retain more histopathologists by 2021 as part of its Cancer Workforce Plan for England published in December 2017. In 2019, 100% of specialist histopathology training places were filled.


Written Question
Pathology
Thursday 23rd May 2019

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

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 number of pathologists available to conduct post-mortem examinations for coroners.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

Most post-mortem examinations are carried out by pathologists who specialise in histopathology. However, post-mortems are not a requirement of the Certificate of Completion of Training in histopathology, therefore, the number of histopathologists who are qualified to carry out post-mortem examinations for coroners is not held centrally.

Overall, in January 2019, there were 1,206 full time equivalent (FTE) consultant histopathologists in the National Health Service in England. This represents a 10% (119 FTE) increase compared to January 2010.

Health Education England has committed to attract and retain more histopathologists by 2021 as part of its Cancer Workforce Plan for England published in December 2017. In 2019, 100% of specialist histopathology training places were filled.


Written Question
Autism: Care Homes
Tuesday 12th February 2019

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the NHS spent on private contractors for residential care for patients with a diagnosis of autism in (a) 2016-17 and (b) 2017-18.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

The information requested is not held centrally.


Written Question
Medical Treatments: Innovation
Tuesday 11th September 2018

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on establishing an Accelerated Access Collaborative to manage the new accelerated access pathway.

Answered by Steve Brine

The Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) has been successfully established, meeting for the first time in January 2018 and agreeing terms of reference and ways of working. Lord Darzi is the new chair of the AAC, replacing Sir Andrew Witty, who stood down to avoid any conflict of interest with his new role as CEO of Optum. We expect that the Accelerated Access Pathway will launch at the next meeting of the AAC, which will be in the autumn.