Asked by: Alison Seabeck (Labour - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department issues to NHS England on sharing accountability for prescribed specialised services with clinical commissioning groups.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department does not issue guidance to NHS England on sharing accountability for prescribed specialised services with clinical commissioning groups.
It is for Ministers to take the final decision as to which services should be prescribed within Schedule 4 of The National Health Service Commissioning Board and Clinical Commissioning Groups (Responsibilities and Standing Rules) Regulations 2012, and therefore which services are directly commissioned by NHS England. It is for NHS England to determine the approach through which to carry out its responsibility for the commissioning of specialised services.
Asked by: Alison Seabeck (Labour - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) children and (b) adults in the civilian population in England have been fitted with recreational prosthetics in each of the last four years.
Answered by Norman Lamb
There is currently no policy on the use of 3D printers.
Information on the provision of recreational prosthetics is not held centrally.
Asked by: Alison Seabeck (Labour - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on the use of 3D printing in research, design and production of recreational prosthetics.
Answered by Norman Lamb
There is currently no policy on the use of 3D printers.
Information on the provision of recreational prosthetics is not held centrally.
Asked by: Alison Seabeck (Labour - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the workforce development strategy is for (a) GPs and (b) other healthcare professionals in the field of musculoskeletal disorders.
Answered by Dan Poulter
Health Education England commissions education for a range of healthcare professionals who care for patients with musculoskeletal disorders, for example, general practitioners, occupational health physicians, physiotherapists and nurses. The need for these staff is reflected in local and national workforce plans which are developed by providers working with Local Education and Training Boards and service commissioners.
The General Medical Council (GMC) is developing a system of credentialing areas of medical practice which would include areas not covered by existing specialty or sub-specialty curricula. This would enable doctors who have demonstrated competence in defined areas of practice to have their credentials in those areas recorded on the GMC register. Practitioners from musculoskeletal medicine have previously expressed an interest in applying the concept of credentialing to the field of musculoskeletal medicine.
The GMC will be consulting on its proposals for credentialing later this year. Subject to the outcome of that consultation, and the necessary enabling legislation, it would, in due course, be possible for authoritative bodies in the field of musculoskeletal medicine to seek approval for the establishment of a GMC recognised credential in their field.
Asked by: Alison Seabeck (Labour - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether it is a requirement of (a) the CQC monitoring process and (b) another source for each care home to have a registered manager on site; what information his Department holds on the number of registered managers in England; and whether the training of registered managers is monitored and assessed by the CQC.
Answered by Norman Lamb
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the 2008 Act) all providers of regulated activities, including National Health Service and independent providers, have to register with the CQC and meet a set of requirements of safety and quality.
The 2008 Act, together with the CQC (Registration) Regulations 2009 require that all providers must have in place one or more registered managers for its regulated activities. The regulations set out some exceptions to this (for example if the provider is a health service body, or a lone individual who meets certain criteria) but in practice, the vast majority of registered providers in the social care sector must have a registered manager.
Registered managers have legal responsibilities in relation to their position. The person appointed as registered manager should be in day-to-day charge of carrying on the regulated activity or activities they apply to be registered for. The regulations do not specify that the registered manager must be on the premises at all times, but in all cases, the registered manager must be able to demonstrate how they will manage the day-to-day running of the regulated activities at each of their locations.
The CQC has supplied the following information about the registered manager regulations:
As of 5 February 2015 there are 16,426 locations which provide the regulated activity of accommodation for people who require nursing or personal care. The provider is required to have a registered manager in place for each of these locations. 14,758 locations have a registered manager in place and 1,668 locations do not.
The CQC inspectors ensure that where a manager is not in place the provider complies with Regulation 14 Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, Notice of absence, to ensure the safe management of the home while a manager is absence or in the process of being appointed. The expectation is that providers will take timely and strenuous action to appoint a manager who is suitably competent and qualified to apply for and secure registration. If providers fail to do so, in addition to enforcement action which can include the issue of a Fixed Penalty Notice or prosecution CQC will limit the rating when judging the “Well led” question as part of CQC’s new approach to inspection and ratings.
The requirements state that registered managers must have the necessary qualifications, skills and experience to manage the carrying on of the regulated activity. The CQC assesses against the requirements in Regulation 7(2) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 when it registers providers and managers (by asking about qualification, induction and ongoing training programmes, for example), as well as monitoring continuing compliance with this requirement through inspection. In CQC’s Key Lines of Enquiry, CQC inspectors are prompted to look at how providers are making sure that staffing levels have the right mix of skills, competencies, qualifications, experience and knowledge, to meet people’s individual needs, to determine whether or not a care home provider is delivering safe care.
Asked by: Alison Seabeck (Labour - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with bodies responsible for medical training on the broadening of the GP training curriculum to ensure there is a workforce development strategy for healthcare professionals within the field of musculoskeletal disorders.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The content and standard of medical training is the responsibility of the General Medical Council (GMC), which is an independent statutory body. It has the general function of promoting high standards of education and co-ordinating all stages of education to ensure that medical students and newly qualified doctors are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for professional practice.
Health Education England (HEE) will work with bodies that set curricula such as the GMC and the Royal College of general practitioners to seek to ensure general practice training meets the needs of patients.
In addition, HEE has established an independent Primary Care Workforce Commission which is chaired by Professor Martin Roland of University of Cambridge. The Commission will identify models of primary care that will meet the needs of the future National Health Service including greater emphasis on community, primary and integrated services. It will focus on patient and population need; emerging models of care to respond to the population need; and maximising new skill sets and education and training.
Asked by: Alison Seabeck (Labour - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which local commissioning bodies have commissioned a fracture liaison service; and what steps he is taking to encourage such commissioning.
Answered by Norman Lamb
The provision of fracture liaison services (FLS) is a matter for local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and data on numbers is not collected centrally. NHS England advises that it is aware that provision of good FLS is not uniform across the country and is working with CCGs to support them to develop appropriate local services. It also advises that the FLS model recommended by the International Osteoporosis Foundation and the National Osteoporosis society is recognised as best practice and is being promoted.