Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the availability to patients of NICE-approved anti-viral treatments.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has been developing recommendations for the National Health Service on whether licensed antivirals for COVID-19 should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. NICE published guidance in March 2023 that recommends the antiviral Paxlovid for those at highest risk of serious illness from COVID-19 and the NHS is now legally required to fund treatment in line with NICE’s recommendations. The Department procured stock of Paxlovid during the pandemic and has set up a distribution network to both primary and secondary care in England, as the devolved administrations have their own arrangements, so that all eligible patients can access the treatment.
NICE is developing recommendations for the NHS on the use of the antivirals molnupiravir and remdesivir, and is also developing guidance for the NHS on the potential expanded use of Paxlovid. NICE published final draft guidance that recommends expanded use of Paxlovid in August 2023. Following discussions between the Department, NHS England and NICE, NICE has recently consulted on an NHS England proposal to vary the funding requirement that normally applies three months after the publication of NICE guidance to allow a phased rollout to all eligible patients. NICE will carefully consider the comments received in response to the consultation in making its final recommendations.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions her Department has had with NHS England on implementing NICE's final draft guidance on patient access to Paxlovid.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has been developing recommendations for the National Health Service on whether licensed antivirals for COVID-19 should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. NICE published guidance in March 2023 that recommends the antiviral Paxlovid for those at highest risk of serious illness from COVID-19 and the NHS is now legally required to fund treatment in line with NICE’s recommendations. The Department procured stock of Paxlovid during the pandemic and has set up a distribution network to both primary and secondary care in England, as the devolved administrations have their own arrangements, so that all eligible patients can access the treatment.
NICE is developing recommendations for the NHS on the use of the antivirals molnupiravir and remdesivir, and is also developing guidance for the NHS on the potential expanded use of Paxlovid. NICE published final draft guidance that recommends expanded use of Paxlovid in August 2023. Following discussions between the Department, NHS England and NICE, NICE has recently consulted on an NHS England proposal to vary the funding requirement that normally applies three months after the publication of NICE guidance to allow a phased rollout to all eligible patients. NICE will carefully consider the comments received in response to the consultation in making its final recommendations.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
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 12 September 2023 to Question 198332 on Community Hospitals: Discharges, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the level of delayed discharges in community hospitals.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 15 September 2023, NHS England published the Intermediate Care Framework for Rehabilitation, Reablement and Recovery following Hospital Discharge. This best practice guidance aims to improve patient experience and outcomes, as well as improving flow and discharge from acute and community hospitals, freeing-up National Health Service hospital capacity for those who need it most.
Additionally, the Better Care Fund Policy Framework sets out the government’s priorities for 2023-25. These include tackling delayed discharge and bringing about sustained improvements in discharge outcomes and wider system flow. For 2023-25, we have committed at least £16.8 billion to the Better Care Fund. As in previous years, areas are free to contribute further voluntary contributions.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to help tackle incidents of (a) abuse and (b) discrimination against LGBT+ people in care settings.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
People have a right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect, and should expect high quality care and support tailored to meet their needs. Nobody should be disadvantaged due to their sex, sexual orientation or gender reassignment.
A range of measures are in place to prevent abuse and discrimination, and to investigate where any concerns are raised. Care providers have a key role in safeguarding and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines state that care homes should have a known safeguarding lead. The current Care Certificate standards cover equality and diversity.
As part of its inspection regime, the Care Quality Commission checks that care providers have effective systems to help keep adults safe from abuse and neglect. Looking at the quality of care for LGBT people in adult social care has been one of its Equality Objectives for several years. Finally, local authorities have a legal duty to investigate safeguarding concerns under the Care Act 2014.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department's planned timescale is for publishing a response to the consultation entitled Care workforce pathway for adult social care, which closed in May 2023.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We intend to publish the first version of the Care Workforce Pathway, focused on staff in direct care roles, in autumn 2023. This will include a response to the call for evidence which closed in May 2023.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
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 workforce retention rates in adult social care.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are investing at least £250 million over the next two years on workforce reforms, a key objective of which is to improve retention and turnover rates.
In July we announced the £570 million Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund – Workforce Fund to support increased adult social care capacity, improve market sustainability, and enable local authorities to make tangible improvements to adult social care services, with a particular focus on workforce pay. Local authorities can choose to use this funding to increase the adult social care workforce and improve retention.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
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 June 2023 to Question 190126 on Hospitals: Discharges, when his Department plans to allocate funding from the 2023-34 Discharge Fund.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As in 2022/23, the 2023/24 Adult Social Care Discharge Fund has been pooled via the Better Care Fund and divided between local authorities and integrated care boards. We began distributing the 2023/24 funding to local authorities in equal monthly instalments in April 2023, along with other adult social care grants. The integrated care board component was distributed by NHS England in a single instalment at the start of the financial year.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients in community hospitals had their discharges delayed since January 2023.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On average, since January 2023, 1,956 patients per week, with a length of stay of 14 days or over in a community hospital, no longer met the criteria to reside but had not been discharged. Data is not available on the proportion of beds occupied by those that no longer meet the criteria to reside in a community hospital.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
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 19 June 2023 to Question 189197 on Smoking, whether his Department holds information on the number of stop smoking services that have been available nationally in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department does not hold this data centrally as a variety of ‘Stop Smoking Services’ models are delivered by local authorities throughout England.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer 6 July 2023 to Question 192041 on Respiratory Syncytial Virus: Vaccination, when he expects to announce his policy position on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination programme.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Policy options based on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s advice on a potentially expanded respiratory syncytial virus vaccination programme are being developed. If policy is approved, only then will Government announce its plans.