Asked by: Caroline Ansell (Conservative - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the number of GPs per head of population in each NHS trust with a GP walk-in centre; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The data requested is not collected or held centrally.
Asked by: Caroline Ansell (Conservative - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS GP walk-in centres there are in the UK; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Department does not hold a recent definitive figure for the number of walk-in-centres (WiCs) nationally. WiCs were developed locally and over time the nomenclature for them and the services they offer have overlapped with other services such as Minor Injury Units and Urgent Care Centres.
Due to this difficulty in specifically identifying WiCs, it is not possible to identify the number of closures. Because WICs are managed locally, information on them, as well on demand for and access to services across local health services, is not held centrally.
As WiCs were developed locally, their effectiveness and cost effectiveness is a local issue. However, a limited study was undertaken by Monitor, the organisation formerly responsible for ensuring healthcare provision in NHS England, and now part of NHS Improvement. This covered the period 2010-13 and consulted patients, walk-in centre providers, general practitioners, commissioners and other stakeholders in the sector.
Asked by: Caroline Ansell (Conservative - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS GP walk-in centres have closed in the last two years; what the reason was for each of those closures; how many walk-in centres are being considered for closure within the next two years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Department does not hold a recent definitive figure for the number of walk-in-centres (WiCs) nationally. WiCs were developed locally and over time the nomenclature for them and the services they offer have overlapped with other services such as Minor Injury Units and Urgent Care Centres.
Due to this difficulty in specifically identifying WiCs, it is not possible to identify the number of closures. Because WICs are managed locally, information on them, as well on demand for and access to services across local health services, is not held centrally.
As WiCs were developed locally, their effectiveness and cost effectiveness is a local issue. However, a limited study was undertaken by Monitor, the organisation formerly responsible for ensuring healthcare provision in NHS England, and now part of NHS Improvement. This covered the period 2010-13 and consulted patients, walk-in centre providers, general practitioners, commissioners and other stakeholders in the sector.
Asked by: Caroline Ansell (Conservative - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of NHS GP walk-in centre closures on (a) demand on (i) hospital accident and emergency departments, (ii) ambulance services and (iii) nearby GP practices and (b) access to healthcare for tourists, temporary students, office workers, rough sleepers and other patients with enhanced needs for walk-in treatment in town centres; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Department does not hold a recent definitive figure for the number of walk-in-centres (WiCs) nationally. WiCs were developed locally and over time the nomenclature for them and the services they offer have overlapped with other services such as Minor Injury Units and Urgent Care Centres.
Due to this difficulty in specifically identifying WiCs, it is not possible to identify the number of closures. Because WICs are managed locally, information on them, as well on demand for and access to services across local health services, is not held centrally.
As WiCs were developed locally, their effectiveness and cost effectiveness is a local issue. However, a limited study was undertaken by Monitor, the organisation formerly responsible for ensuring healthcare provision in NHS England, and now part of NHS Improvement. This covered the period 2010-13 and consulted patients, walk-in centre providers, general practitioners, commissioners and other stakeholders in the sector.
Asked by: Caroline Ansell (Conservative - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) value for money of NHS GP walk-in centres; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Department does not hold a recent definitive figure for the number of walk-in-centres (WiCs) nationally. WiCs were developed locally and over time the nomenclature for them and the services they offer have overlapped with other services such as Minor Injury Units and Urgent Care Centres.
Due to this difficulty in specifically identifying WiCs, it is not possible to identify the number of closures. Because WICs are managed locally, information on them, as well on demand for and access to services across local health services, is not held centrally.
As WiCs were developed locally, their effectiveness and cost effectiveness is a local issue. However, a limited study was undertaken by Monitor, the organisation formerly responsible for ensuring healthcare provision in NHS England, and now part of NHS Improvement. This covered the period 2010-13 and consulted patients, walk-in centre providers, general practitioners, commissioners and other stakeholders in the sector.
Asked by: Caroline Ansell (Conservative - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2017 to Question 60683, on neuromuscular disorders: South East, how many neuromuscular care advisors will cover Kent, Surrey and Sussex; which clinical commissioning groups in Kent, Surrey and Sussex will contribute to funding neuromuscular care advisor roles; what the remit will be of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust in this process; and when it is planned for relevant clinical commissioning groups to finalise job descriptions and begin recruitment.
Answered by David Mowat
NHS England is responsible for commissioning specialised neurological services, including some services for patients with neuromuscular disorders. NHS England has published a service specification for neurological care that includes an exemplar service specification for neuromuscular conditions that sets out what providers must have in place to offer evidence-based, safe and effective services. The service specification for neurological care can be found at the following link:
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdf
The responsibility for delivering the service rests with National Health Service provider organisations, and each trust will develop an appropriate role to ensure that the care pathway is delivered. The role may vary depending on the provider organisation, but an NHS England service specialist will be working with trusts to ensure that they meet the requirements of the overall service specification.
Asked by: Caroline Ansell (Conservative - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with muscle-wasting conditions living in Kent, Surrey and Sussex have access to a neuromuscular care advisor close to their home.
Answered by David Mowat
NHS England has published a service specification for neurological care, which sets out what providers must have in place to offer evidence-based, safe and effective services. NHS England advises that, until summer 2016, a neuromuscular care advisor was in post at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the main neurosciences centre for the south east, and provided a co-ordinator service to London and the south east of England.
Following a review by the Trust, funding for the post has now been agreed and the remit and job description are currently being finalised. A post to cover Surrey and Sussex, linked to Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, is being discussed by the relevant clinical commissioning groups.
Asked by: Caroline Ansell (Conservative - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure greater cohesion and integration between clinical commissioning groups to better enable the transfer of patients to their local hospital to receive treatment or an MRI test and so prevent unnecessary travel costs for the NHS; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Mowat
Determining the location of services is a matter for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), based on their clinical expertise and the providers in their local health economy.
National Health Service organisations, including providers and CCGs, are in the process of coming together to develop Sustainability and Transformation Plans across 44 footprints. They are considering how best to provide healthcare to people in the right setting. In doing this, they will wish to consider patient travel times.
Asked by: Caroline Ansell (Conservative - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) access to overnight accommodation and (b) facilities in maternity and neonatal care units for parents of premature or sick babies; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Concerns about the availability of overnight accommodation were highlighted in a report by Bliss ‘Families kept apart: barriers to parents’ involvement in their baby’s hospital care’ (published September 2016). Along with NHS England, we are considering the recommendations of the report and continue to work closely with Bliss and others to improve neonatal services so that all premature and sick babies receive the best possible care.
This Government is committed to improving maternity and neonatal care. In November 2015 the Secretary of State announced a a national ambition to halve the number of neonatal deaths, stillbirths, maternal deaths and brain injuries occurring during or soon after birth by 2030. Investment has been made in training for staff, new safety equipment and facilities in hospitals for new families, including a £2.24 million capital fund to enable trusts to buy monitoring or training equipment to improve safety in their maternity services.
On 17 October my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State launched the Safer Maternity Care action plan which sets out the next steps to achieve the ambition. The action plan sets out a number of new initiatives including an increase in funding for maternity safety training to support maternity services to drive improvements in safety and a new £250,000 Maternity Safety Innovation Fund to support development and implementation of improvements in maternity safety.