Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of health visitors in England in each year since 2010.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The data is not available in the format requested.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
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 trends in the level of health visitors in England on children's health.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Health visiting is an essential part of broader early years family support. The number of health visitors employed by National Health Service organisations reported through Electronic Staff Records shows reduction, but this is not a complete picture of the workforce as this goes not include social enterprises, private sector organisations or local authorities. It is the responsibility of local authorities to determine how the programme is provided to their communities based upon local needs.
Data on mandated health visitor reviews shows national coverage remains above those achieved in 2015. However, there is variation at a local level. Data is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/health-visitor-service-delivery-metrics-2018-to-2019
Progress against health and wellbeing outcomes for the zero to five years population, and inequalities in these outcomes, is published in Early Years Profiles at the following link:
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons parents and children of people who have died after being infected by contaminated blood products do not receive on-going financial support.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The England Infected Blood Support Scheme (EIBSS) currently makes provision for ex gratia one-off payments to eligible spouses, civil partners and long-term partners for individuals meeting qualifying criteria.
The EIBSS also makes provision to help with the costs of bringing up children of an infected beneficiary in the form of an income top-up payment. This is a discretionary monthly payment to increase household income to help with general living costs. These are means-tested payments for dependants who are defined as children of an infected beneficiary up to the age of 18 years, or up to 21 if in full-time education.
In July 2017 the then Prime Minister announced the establishment of the Infected Blood Enquiry. This statutory inquiry chaired by Sir Brian Langstaff, will examine why men, women and children in the United Kingdom were given infected blood and/or infected blood products and the impact on their families. The Inquiry will consider the nature and the adequacy of the treatment, care and support (including financial assistance) and the Government will carefully consider any recommendations made.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's News release, NHS taskforce to drive improvements in young people’s hospital mental health, learning disability and autism care, published on 10 October 2019, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the proposals in that announcement on people with ADHD.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The main focus of the Quality Task Force will be on driving improvements in in-patient care for children and young people with both mental health and the range of neuro-developmental disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This recognises that some of the children and young people who require an in-patient admission may have ADHD.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 7 October 2019 to Question 293726, how many meetings there have been between officials in his Department and officials in the Cabinet Office on the National Data Strategy over the last 12 months.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
There have been no specific meetings between ministers or officials in the Department of Health and Social Care and the Cabinet Office on the National Data Strategy as this is led by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
We have identified at least 12 meetings attended by officials from both the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the National Data Strategy since the strategy was announced in June 2018.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 7 October to Question 293726, how many meetings Ministers or officials in his Department have held with Ministers or officials in the Cabinet Office on the National Data Strategy since that strategy was announced.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
There have been no specific meetings between ministers or officials in the Department of Health and Social Care and the Cabinet Office on the National Data Strategy as this is led by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
We have identified at least 12 meetings attended by officials from both the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the National Data Strategy since the strategy was announced in June 2018.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many meetings Ministers in his Department have held with Ministers in the Cabinet Office on the National Data Strategy in the last 12 months.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
There have been no meetings between Ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care and Ministers in the Cabinet Office on the National Data Strategy in the last 12 months.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
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 22 July 2019 to Question 277855, what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of Windows XP machines operating across the NHS that are unable to be updated.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We estimate there are approximately 2,300 machines in the National Health Service currently still operating on Windows XP which is no longer supported by Microsoft. To be compliant with the mandatory Data Security and Protection Toolkit, NHS organisations must operate on supported systems or have plans in place to mitigate the risk such as segregating those machines from the network. There are valid reasons why some machines cannot be upgraded from Windows XP, primarily where they run essential locally developed clinical systems that cannot be upgraded or replaced.
We are supporting NHS organisations to upgrade their existing Microsoft Windows operating systems, allowing them to reduce potential vulnerabilities and increase cyber resilience.
We signed a multi-million pound contract with Microsoft in 2018 to support the NHS to upgrade their existing Microsoft Windows operating systems onto Windows 10.
All health and care organisations that have access to NHS patient data must annually complete NHS Digital’s Data Security and Protection Toolkit. This details the standards we expect them to adhere to and Data Security Standard 8 advocates that no unsupported operating systems, software or internet browsers are used within the IT estate.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
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 22 July 2019 to Question 277852 on Hyperactivity: Diagnosis, whether his Department has a timeframe for the exploration of data that can be made accessible via the mental health dataset; and whether that data may include average waiting times for an ADHD diagnosis for (a) children and (b) adults.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Work to explore what national level data on services for people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) could be made available, including what metrics may be identified, is ongoing. The scoping work is also considering timeframes for making ADHD data available.
The Government is committed to supporting people with ADHD to live healthy, independent lives and to participate in their communities. NHS Digital continues to work with the Department and NHS England on the development of access and waiting times reporting for mental health care pathways.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether patients with pulmonary fibrosis are entitled to free prescriptions.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Pulmonary fibrosis is currently not a medical condition that is covered by the National Health Service Medical Exemption Certificate, and therefore this condition does not automatically entitle people to free prescriptions.
However, extensive arrangements are in place to help people afford NHS prescriptions. These include a broad range of NHS prescription charge exemptions, such as free prescriptions for the individuals aged 60 and over, for which someone with pulmonary fibrosis may qualify.
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.