Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
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 support female kinship carers who care as a result of alcohol misuse.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department for Education has advised that the Government issued statutory guidance in 2011 for local authorities about supporting family and friends providing care for children who cannot live with their parents. The guidance makes it clear that children and young people should receive the support that they and their carers need to safeguard and promote their welfare. It explains that support, can be provided under section 17 of the Children Act 1989. There is no limit on the level of support, that local authorities can provide. Local authorities are required to publish a policy setting out their approach to promoting and supporting the needs of all children living with family and friends carers, regardless of their legal status.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will he will make it his policy to undertake a public consultation with patients in the north east of England on proposals to change NHS waiting time targets.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The clinically-led review of standards was announced by the Prime Minister in June 2018. The review is considering the appropriateness of operational standards for physical and mental health relating to planned, unplanned urgent or emergency care, as well as cancer. In the interest of patient safety, we are committed to ensuring that any changes to waiting time standards are based on clinical evidence.
The National Health Service Long Term Plan provides a platform upon which innovative models of patient care can and are being developed. In that context, the NHS National Medical Director has been working with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, Healthwatch England and many others to consider what matters most to patients, on the clinical issues with the current target regime, and what NHS staff believe will help them provide the best quality care for patients.
The review will report its interim findings in the spring of 2019, after which any recommended changes arising from the Clinical Standards Review will be carefully tested across the NHS and be subject to a rigorous approach before they are implemented. Any changes should, and will, only seek to further strengthen current operational standards.
Any changes to the NHS Constitution will be consulted on as is legally required. NHS waiting time targets are national standards and apply to all regions of the NHS.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
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 accessibility of services for treating lymphoedema in (a) the North East and (b) England.
Answered by Steve Brine
No specific assessment of the availability of lymphoedema services has been made. The commissioning of services for the treatment and care of lymphoedema patients is a local matter.
People with lymphoedema can usually be managed through routine access to primary or secondary care services. A range of guidance is available for the diagnosis, treatment and care for people with lymphoedema. This includes an international consensus document on best practice and guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
Further information can be found at the following links:
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ipg588
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to improve early diagnosis of lymphoedema.
Answered by Steve Brine
No specific assessment of the availability of lymphoedema services has been made. The commissioning of services for the treatment and care of lymphoedema patients is a local matter.
People with lymphoedema can usually be managed through routine access to primary or secondary care services. A range of guidance is available for the diagnosis, treatment and care for people with lymphoedema. This includes an international consensus document on best practice and guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
Further information can be found at the following links:
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ipg588
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve the outcomes of pancreatic cancer diagnoses in line with the NHS England 2015 cancer strategy.
Answered by Steve Brine
The 2015 cancer strategy set ambitions for higher survival and improved patient experience and quality of life for all cancer patients, including pancreatic cancer patients. The NHS Long Term Plan takes forward those ambitions, stating that by 2028 three in four cancers will be diagnosed at an early stage and 55,000 more people will survive their cancer for five years or more.
Over the last two years, NHS England have allocated over £200 million funding through their Cancer Alliances for earlier diagnosis and personalised care. In addition, £130 million funding has been invested in over 80 new or replacement linear accelerators in the modernisation of radiotherapy services.
NHS England will shortly be introducing a Faster Diagnostic Standard of 28 days for all cancer patients, including those with pancreatic cancer, which when taken together with the 62-day referral to treatment standard, will mean that all patients should expect to start their treatment within 34 days of diagnosis. This is a maximum, and trusts should continue to treat patients more quickly particularly where there is a strong clinical need.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to reduce patient waiting lists for mental health services in England.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Government published Achieving Better Access to Mental Health Services by 2020 in autumn 2014.
The publication was backed by -
- £80 million of funding in 2015-16 to deliver:
Treatment within six weeks for 75% of people referred to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme, with 95% of people being treated within 18 weeks (introduced in April 2015); and
Treatment within two weeks for more than 50% of people experiencing a first episode of psychosis (introduced in April 2016).
The National Health Service is currently exceeding its mental health access standards.
For IAPT, as at November 2017, of those people completing treatment, 89.1% of people waited less than six weeks (exceeding the 75% target) and of those people completing treatment, 98.8% of people waited less than 18 weeks (exceeding the 95% target).
For Early Intervention in Psychosis, as at January 2017, the NHS is exceeding the target with 69.3% of patients starting treatment within two weeks.
For Eating Disorders – The Department is investing £30 million a year to 2020 to support clinical commissioning groups in developing and enhancing eating disorder services for children and young people so that by 2020/21, 95% of young people in need of an eating disorders service will be seen within four weeks, and one week in urgent cases. The NHS is on track to meet this standard. As at Q3 (October-December 2017) 76.9% of patients started urgent treatment within one week and 83.1% of patients started routine treatment within four weeks.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to increase the level of real term funding for mental health services in England.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
We are taking steps to increase the level of real term funding for mental health services in England. We have increased spending on mental health to a record £11.6 billion in 2016/17 and this is planned to rise to £11.86 billion for in 2017/18.
The Mental Health Investment Standard requires all clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to increase funding for mental health by at least as much as the overall increase to their funding allocations. 85% of CCGs achieved the Investment Standard in 2016/17 and from 2018/19 all CCGs will be required to meet it.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
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 people who have received mental health treatment from South Tees NHS Trust since 2010.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
This information is not collected in the format requested.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to reduce patient waiting lists for mental health services in England.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Government published Achieving Better Access to Mental Health Services by 2020 in autumn 2014.
The publication was backed by -
- £80 million of funding in 2015-16 to deliver:
Treatment within six weeks for 75% of people referred to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme, with 95% of people being treated within 18 weeks (introduced in April 2015); and
Treatment within two weeks for more than 50% of people experiencing a first episode of psychosis (introduced in April 2016).
The National Health Service is currently exceeding its mental health access standards.
For IAPT, as at November 2017, of those people completing treatment, 89.1% of people waited less than six weeks (exceeding the 75% target) and of those people completing treatment, 98.8% of people waited less than 18 weeks (exceeding the 95% target).
For Early Intervention in Psychosis, as at January 2017, the NHS is exceeding the target with 69.3% of patients starting treatment within two weeks.
For Eating Disorders – The Department is investing £30 million a year to 2020 to support clinical commissioning groups in developing and enhancing eating disorder services for children and young people so that by 2020/21, 95% of young people in need of an eating disorders service will be seen within four weeks, and one week in urgent cases. The NHS is on track to meet this standard. As at Q3 (October-December 2017) 76.9% of patients started urgent treatment within one week and 83.1% of patients started routine treatment within four weeks.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of full-time practising GPs in (a) South Tees NHS Trust, (b) the North East and (c) England for each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Steve Brine
The requested information is shown in the table below. The table shows data for general practitioner (GP) full-time equivalent figures for NHS South Tees Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), NHS England North (Cumbria and North East) and England, for each of the years in question. Prior to 2015, the locum headcounts were not recorded.
Year | All GPs Full-Time Equivalent | All GPs (Excluding Registrars, Retainers and Locums) Full-Time Equivalent | ||||
England | NHS England North (Cumbria and North East) | NHS South Tees CCG | England | NHS England North (Cumbria and North East) | NHS South Tees CCG | |
March 2017 | 33,921 | 1,679 | 156 | 28,092 | 1,544 | 145 |
September 2016 | 34,495 | 1,837 | 154 | 28,458 | 1,724 | 142 |
September 2015 | 34,592 | 1,910 | 165 | 29,229 | 1,774 | 150 |
September 2014 |
|
|
| 32,628 | 2,160 | 180 |
September 2013 |
|
|
| 32,075 | 2,143 | 189 |