Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to his oral statement of 2 May 2018, Official Report, column 315, on Breast Cancer Screening, how many women have been affected by the NHS breast screening programme failure in (a) Newcastle Gateshead clinical commissioning group and (b) South Tyneside clinical commissioning group.
Answered by Steve Brine
Data on the number of women affected by the National Health Service breast screening programme failure will be published by the end of May.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding has been allocated from the public purse for NHS services in South Tyneside in each of the last five years.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
NHS England publishes clinical commissioning group (CCG) allocations on its website. The published CCG allocations for NHS South Tyneside CCG for the past five years for core services are set out in the following table. It should be noted that these figures do not include allocations for primary medical care or specialised services and that these figures are as published, and may not reflect any adjustments that have occurred since the time of publication. Furthermore, allocations for 2017/18 are not strictly comparable with those of earlier years as a number of changes have been made to CCG baselines.
NHS South Tyneside CCG | Allocation (£000s) |
2013-14 | 222,913 |
2014-15 | 227,683 |
2015-16 | 238,697 |
2016-17 | 242,525 |
2017-18 | 245,116 |
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
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 ensure that NHS services in (a) Jarrow constituency and (b) South Tyneside are adequately funded.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
NHS England meets regularly with each clinical commissioning group (CCG) to review its financial position as the year progresses. This will periodically include a review of expenditure by service type. NHS England is also currently working through the annual planning process for the National Health Service through which all CCGs are required to set their spending plans for the coming year.
The allocation of funding to CCGs is informed by the estimation of the relative health needs of local areas, based on a formula. The formula is based on independent academic research and includes the factors statistically associated with higher or lower need per head for NHS services.
The funding formula is based on the expected size of the population of each CCG and adjustments, or weights, per head for relative need for health care services and unavoidable costs between CCGs.
The CCG then decides how this funding is deployed across the geography and population for which it is responsible to ensure that the needs of the local population are met.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the South Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group on funding for NHS services in South Tyneside.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
NHS England meets regularly with each clinical commissioning group (CCG) to review its financial position as the year progresses. This will periodically include a review of expenditure by service type. NHS England is also currently working through the annual planning process for the National Health Service through which all CCGs are required to set their spending plans for the coming year.
The allocation of funding to CCGs is informed by the estimation of the relative health needs of local areas, based on a formula. The formula is based on independent academic research and includes the factors statistically associated with higher or lower need per head for NHS services.
The funding formula is based on the expected size of the population of each CCG and adjustments, or weights, per head for relative need for health care services and unavoidable costs between CCGs.
The CCG then decides how this funding is deployed across the geography and population for which it is responsible to ensure that the needs of the local population are met.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will undertake a review of the decision made by Sunderland and South Tyneside clinical commissioning groups to downgrade South Tyneside District Hospital.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Decisions on configuration are best taken by the local National Health Service, who can best assess how to meet the needs of people in their area.
For any significant system reconfiguration, we expect all local parts of the system to be talking to the public and stakeholders regularly — it is vital that people can shape the future of their local services.
All significant service change is subject to a full public consultation and proposals must meet the government’s four reconfiguration tests. These are support from clinical commissioners, clarity on the clinical evidence base, robust patient and public engagement and support for patient choice. There is additional NHS England guidance (fifth test) which means that proposed service reconfigurations should be tested for their impact on overall bed numbers in the area.
Local authorities play a key role in ensuring the democratic accountability of local health services, through their statutory oversight and scrutiny committees. Should such a committee remain unsatisfied with the handling of a proposed service change, one of their options is to ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to consider undertaking his own review.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
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 potential effect on healthcare provision in South Tyneside of the decision to move acute NHS services out of South Tyneside.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Decisions on configuration are best taken by the local National Health Service, who can best assess how to meet the needs of people in their area.
For any significant system reconfiguration, we expect all local parts of the system to be talking to the public and stakeholders regularly — it is vital that people can shape the future of their local services.
All significant service change is subject to a full public consultation and proposals must meet the government’s four reconfiguration tests. These are support from clinical commissioners, clarity on the clinical evidence base, robust patient and public engagement and support for patient choice. There is additional NHS England guidance (fifth test) which means that proposed service reconfigurations should be tested for their impact on overall bed numbers in the area.
Local authorities play a key role in ensuring the democratic accountability of local health services, through their statutory oversight and scrutiny committees. Should such a committee remain unsatisfied with the handling of a proposed service change, one of their options is to ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to consider undertaking his own review.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government has made an assessment of the reasons for the sustained decrease in life expectancy in some areas of the UK since 2011; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
Public Health England reviewed evidence for recent trends in mortality rates and life expectancy and the report can be viewed here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-profile-for-england
It is not yet clear whether there has been a statistically significant interruption in the long-term increase in life expectancy. The Office for National Statistics is currently investigating if the recent figures represent a significant change in the trend, and if so, what demographic groups are affected.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce pressure on NHS A&E departments in (a) South Tyneside, (b) Gateshead, (c) the North East and (d) England.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
NHS England advises that the North East and North Cumbria Urgent and Emergency Care Network, working on behalf of local clinical commissioning groups , has produced a winter surge management campaign to help reduce pressure on accident and emergency (A&E) services in the region. The campaign launched on 13 November during the national self-care week, and the winter activity will last until the end of March 2018.
South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust has robust winter plans in place to ensure the proactive management of patient flow, facilitation of safe and timely discharge and the efficient use of inpatient capacity during the winter period. These plans are operational from November 2017 to May 2018 and were submitted as part of the local A&E delivery board plans and in line with the North East region’s urgent and emergency care network. The Trust planned extra bed capacity for the winter period, with up to 24 additional acute inpatient beds available as needed.
Nationally, the National Health Service planned earlier than ever before to cope with this winter, supported by an additional £437 million which includes funding to make sure people going to A&E get directed to the right service for their needs, and an extra £1 billion of funding to be spent on meeting adult social care needs, supporting the social care market and reducing pressure on the NHS this year.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on patient safety of the decision temporarily to suspend (a) births and (b) the special care baby unit at South Tyneside District Hospital; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Any possible reconfiguration of services is a matter for the local National Health Service. It is right that these decisions are led by local clinicians, who best understand the healthcare needs of their local populations, and in consultation with local people.
South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust has taken the decision temporarily to suspend births and the Special Care Baby Unit at South Tyneside District Hospital in the interests of patient safety. The local NHS is working hard to address its staffing challenges and to be able to return to the level of care patients expect.
No permanent changes to maternity services would be made without formal consultation.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to support acute services at South Tyneside District Hospital.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Any possible reconfiguration of acute services is a matter for the local National Health Service. It is right that these decisions are led by local clinicians, who best understand the healthcare needs of their local populations, and in consultation with local people.
‘The Path to Excellence’ is a five-year transformation of healthcare service across South Tyneside and Sunderland and has been set up to secure the future of local NHS services and to identify new and innovative ways of delivering high quality, joined up, sustainable care that will benefit the local population, both now and in the future.
A consultation to gather public views about the different ways some aspects of NHS hospital services could be arranged in South Tyneside and Sunderland was launched in July 2017 and ended in October 2017. This has focused particularly on choices around areas of hospital care which are delivered at South Tyneside District Hospital and Sunderland Royal Hospital.
No decisions will be made on reconfiguration matters until the responses to ‘The Path to Excellence’ have been thoroughly analysed. Final decisions are expected to be made by South Tyneside and Sunderland Clinical Commissioning Groups in 2018.