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 funding his Department makes available for minor ailments services provided by community pharmacies by service.
Answered by David Mowat
Minor ailments services are commissioned locally, based on the needs of local areas.
Minor ailments services are already commissioned by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) across many parts of the country and ultimately NHS England will encourage all CCGs to adopt this joined-up approach by April 2018, building on the experience of the urgent and emergency care vanguard projects to achieve this at scale.
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, if he will make new funding available for NHS England for commissioning new advanced services under the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework in 2017-18.
Answered by David Mowat
The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework for 2016/17 and 2017/18 was announced in October 2016. This includes a new advanced service, the NHS Urgent Medicine Supply Advanced Service pilot scheme.
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 assessment he has made of the implication for his policies of the Community Pharmacy Forward View published by the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee in August 2016; and if he will take steps to implement that Committee's recommendations.
Answered by David Mowat
The Government welcomed the publication of the Community Pharmacy Forward View, and its ambitions for a service that is more service and clinically-focussed and contributes more to public health improvements.
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, if he will make it his policy to protect NHS funding for enzyme replacement therapy during the course of the 2015 Parliament.
Answered by David Mowat
NHS England funds enzyme replacement therapies for eight lysosomal storage disorders. All of these drugs are high cost in nature and, for some, there is still an emerging clinical evidence base.
It is good practice to ensure that National Health Service funds are spent in the most cost-effective way and for NHS England to review the continuing use of these therapies, and to develop clinical commissioning policies as appropriate.
The development of any clinical commissioning policies would be undertaken through NHS England’s usual processes and would be subject to public consultation.
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, if he will make it his policy to protect NHS funding for enzyme replacement therapy.
Answered by David Mowat
NHS England funds enzyme replacement therapies for eight lysosomal storage disorders. All of these drugs are high cost in nature and, for some, there is still an emerging clinical evidence base.
It is good practice to ensure that National Health Service funds are spent in the most cost-effective way and for NHS England to review the continuing use of these therapies, and to develop clinical commissioning policies as appropriate.
The development of any clinical commissioning policies would be undertaken through NHS England’s usual processes and would be subject to public consultation.
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 assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the report by Bliss, entitled Neonatal care and admissions variation in the provisions for the parents of babies receiving neonatal care; and if he will take steps to reduce those variations.
Answered by Philip Dunne
This Government is committed to improving maternity and neonatal care. In November 2015 my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced a national ambition to halve the number of neonatal deaths, stillbirths, maternal deaths and brain injuries occurring during or soon after birth by 2030. The Department is working closely with NHS England to make progress on the ambition and implement the NHS England led Maternity Transformation Programme, a programme set up to deliver the National Maternity Review’s recommendations, outlined in the report Better Births.
The Better Births publication set out the vision for maternity services across England. It also outlined that a dedicated review of neonatal services should be taken forward in light of the overall maternity review findings. Within that context, and linked to NHS England’s Maternity Transformation Programme, the Neonatal Critical Care Clinical Reference Group, chaired by Professor Neil Marlow, is carrying out a review of neonatal services. That review is ongoing and will report in September 2017 but it has acknowledged that adequate support and facilities for parents are integral to the provision of centred care.
The review has completed its data gathering stage and will be working with Bliss and other stakeholders to develop recommendations for service improvement, including the support and facilities for parents.
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 assessment he has made of the effect on the mental, physical and general health of users of social media platforms of online abusive content.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
We have made significant assessments of existing research and evidence on the effects of people, especially children and young people, of using social media platforms of online abusive content.
Research has shown that the increasing time children and young people spend online may impact their social and emotional well-being. Tackling the full impact of social media platforms on the lives and mental health of its users requires a cross-Government approach working collaboratively across sectors and with the online media organisations. We are therefore working with other Government Departments including the Department of Education and the Department of Culture Media and Sport, the latter of which governs the UK Council for Child and Internet Safety, which has set up a Digital Resilience Working Group.
However, we believe not enough research is available in this area which is why, following the Chief Medical Officer's recommendation, we have commissioned a new prevalence study of mental ill health in 2-19 year olds. This is the first since 2004 and the first to include cyber bullying and social media. It is due to report in 2018.