Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the current availability of qualified speech therapists at the point of assessment throughout the NHS and community healthcare provision.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Health and Social Care Information Centre annual census data shows that as at 30 September 2014, there were 6,207 full time equivalent speech and language therapists working in the National Health Service in England, this is a rise of 2% since May 2010.
Health Education England (HEE) and the Department of Health commissioned the Centre for Workforce Intelligence (CfWI) to undertake a stock take of the speech and language therapists workforce in England. The CfWI published Securing the future workforce supply - Speech and language therapy stocktake, in December 2014. A copy of this is attached. The stocktake investigated the current balance of demand and supply for speech and language therapists and explored how this is expected to change by 2025, including those working in the public and private sector.
HEE has increased the number of speech and language therapist training places in 2015-16 to 668, an increase of 3.7% over 2014-15. HEE will take the content of the CfWI speech and language therapy stocktake into account in their workforce planning and future commissioning decisions.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the lessons that can be learnt from the case of Connor Sparrowhawk in order to improve services for those with autism and learning difficulties.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
This is a deeply distressing case, and I hope its lessons will be noted by all provider and commissioning authorities. This Government is fully committed to ensuring the best quality care for everyone, and all providers are expected to prioritise the safety and dignity of all patients.
Where a care provider delivers unacceptable standards of care, it must be held to account. The Government has introduced new fundamental standards as requirements for registration of care homes with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The CQC has a range of enforcement powers it can use where a provider does not meet these fundamental standards. Where a failure to meet these standards causes harm or a serious risk of harm to service users, the CQC will be able to prosecute both the provider organisation as well as its Directors.
Where a provider is convicted, it will face a maximum penalty of an unlimited fine. A Director of a care home can also be prosecuted if he or she has consented or connived in the provision of seriously poor care that has caused harm. In addition, the CQC has the power to remove board-level Directors who are not fit and proper to carry out the roles to which they are appointed.
This is a major step forward to ensure that those who are responsible for organisations in which abuse and poor standards of care are allowed to occur are held to account.
More generally, the Care Act 2014 heralds a changed approach to adult safeguarding, as embodied by the work that the Department has done with Local Authorities and stakeholders on the programme Making Safeguarding Personal.
NHS England, the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services will shortly publish their National Transformation Plan aimed at reducing reliance on inpatient care, strengthening community provision and driving transformative change for people with learning disability and/or autism who display behaviour that challenges, including those with a mental health condition. In its role as system steward, the Department will be holding system partners to account for delivery and ensuring that the plan is robust, fit for purpose and is equally clear about when families and individuals can expect to see results.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures are in place to support families waiting for a diagnosis of autism for a child.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines on autism make it clear that families should wait no more than three months to start diagnosis. Every part of the National Health Service should be adhering to these guidelines.
There are new arrangements for children and young people with special educational needs, introduced by the Children and Families Act 2014. These require clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and local authorities to make joint arrangements for ensuring a coordinated assessment of the range of eligible children’s needs, and the development of an Education, Health and Care plan to provide necessary support.
NHS England’s Children with Complex Needs Implementation Board is leading working on ensuring robust and accountability mechanisms are in place to ensure delivery and to allow NHS England to hold CCGs to account for performance.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans are in place to reduce the current average wait for children before a diagnosis of autism.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines on autism make it clear that families should wait no more than three months to start diagnosis. Every part of the National Health Service should be adhering to these guidelines.
There are new arrangements for children and young people with special educational needs, introduced by the Children and Families Act 2014. These require clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and local authorities to make joint arrangements for ensuring a coordinated assessment of the range of eligible children’s needs, and the development of an Education, Health and Care plan to provide necessary support.
NHS England’s Children with Complex Needs Implementation Board is leading working on ensuring robust and accountability mechanisms are in place to ensure delivery and to allow NHS England to hold CCGs to account for performance.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to introduce a national register of children with cerebral palsy, including data on the number of children identified with the condition, and the education, health and care provision available to support those children.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government has taken a number of steps to support people with cerebral palsy.
Health Education England is mandated to develop training for general practitioners to develop a special interest in the care of young people with long-term conditions. We have also funded the development of Paediatric Care online, a resource for supporting the clinical workforce across the full range of children’s health issues.
The Government funded the development of Disability Matters (launched in February 2015). This is an e-learning tool to improve the skills of anyone working to support the needs of people with a disability or complex need (of all ages), and can be used by teachers and health professionals.
The Government has introduced a new statutory framework for children and young people with special educational needs and disability, which requires clinical commissioning groups and local authorities to make joint arrangements to ensure a co-ordinated assessment of needs. The new approach will greatly improve integrated working across specialist health, education (either in mainstream or special schools), and social care, to deliver improved outcomes for the child.
There are no current plans to introduce a national register of children with cerebral palsy.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve access to specialist health and educational interventions for children with cerebral palsy.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government has taken a number of steps to support people with cerebral palsy.
Health Education England is mandated to develop training for general practitioners to develop a special interest in the care of young people with long-term conditions. We have also funded the development of Paediatric Care online, a resource for supporting the clinical workforce across the full range of children’s health issues.
The Government funded the development of Disability Matters (launched in February 2015). This is an e-learning tool to improve the skills of anyone working to support the needs of people with a disability or complex need (of all ages), and can be used by teachers and health professionals.
The Government has introduced a new statutory framework for children and young people with special educational needs and disability, which requires clinical commissioning groups and local authorities to make joint arrangements to ensure a co-ordinated assessment of needs. The new approach will greatly improve integrated working across specialist health, education (either in mainstream or special schools), and social care, to deliver improved outcomes for the child.
There are no current plans to introduce a national register of children with cerebral palsy.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve awareness of cerebral palsy amongst (1) medical generalists, and (2) those working in schools.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government has taken a number of steps to support people with cerebral palsy.
Health Education England is mandated to develop training for general practitioners to develop a special interest in the care of young people with long-term conditions. We have also funded the development of Paediatric Care online, a resource for supporting the clinical workforce across the full range of children’s health issues.
The Government funded the development of Disability Matters (launched in February 2015). This is an e-learning tool to improve the skills of anyone working to support the needs of people with a disability or complex need (of all ages), and can be used by teachers and health professionals.
The Government has introduced a new statutory framework for children and young people with special educational needs and disability, which requires clinical commissioning groups and local authorities to make joint arrangements to ensure a co-ordinated assessment of needs. The new approach will greatly improve integrated working across specialist health, education (either in mainstream or special schools), and social care, to deliver improved outcomes for the child.
There are no current plans to introduce a national register of children with cerebral palsy.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people were sectioned under the Mental Health Acts in each year of the last decade, disaggregated by racial profile; how many of those people had a co-occurring learning disability or autism spectrum disorder; and how many were children.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
We do not centrally hold the number of people with a learning disability or autism spectrum disorder who were formally detained under Mental Health Act 1983 in each year of the last decade, disaggregated by racial profile, including the numbers of which were children.
The information we do hold has been placed in the Library.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many and what proportion of people in assessment and treatment units are known to have autism spectrum disorder; and of those, how many are children.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Learning Disabilities Census conducted by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) indicates that 3,250 learning disabilities services users were in hospital in England at midnight on 30 September 2013. This includes 1,087 (33.4%) with autistic spectrum disorder (including Asperger’s Syndrome). Autistic spectrum disorder (including Asperger’s Syndrome) was the main reason for the hospital admission of 321 (9.9%) learning disabilities service users.
The HSCIC has also reported that the Learning Disabilities Census 2013 indicated that 185 of those in hospital (representing 5.7% of all learning disabilities service users) were under 18 years of age. Of these, 88 have autistic spectrum disorder (including Asperger’s Syndrome). Autistic spectrum disorder (including Asperger’s Syndrome) was the main reason for the hospital admission of 28 people under the age of 18 years.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to expand community-based support to accommodate people with learning disabilities placed in hospital in a way that supports skills and work readiness, and is overseen by trained professionals.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
We expect everyone in an inpatient setting to have a care plan, including, where appropriate, a discharge plan for them to move to community-based support. The assessment of people’s needs should include their health and care needs as well as other issues including their ability to benefit from education, training and employment.
The Department of Health and the Department for Work and Pensions are working closely to ensure that everyone with a learning disability, including those in a hospital setting, get appropriate support to fulfil their potential. We have already held several seminars aimed at those with a lived experience of learning disability to understand both the barriers to work and what might help. A further seminar is being hosted by British Institute for Learning Disability in September. Outcomes from these seminars will contribute to the development of a plan to improve support towards employment.