Asked by: Caroline Spelman (Conservative - Meriden)
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 ensure that cataract removal surgery is available to everyone who would benefit from it.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), with their clinical expertise, are responsible for commissioning high-quality care to meet the needs of their populations. CCGs are required to carefully consider the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines in making commissioning decisions. These are available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng77
Asked by: Caroline Spelman (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what records his Department holds on the number of women who have been deterred from seeking NHS maternity care as a result of charging under the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, as amended.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Department does not hold data on the number of women who have been deterred from seeking National Health Service maternity care.
National guidance is clear that NHS maternity treatment should always be considered as immediately necessary and provided to all patients regardless of whether or not they are entitled to receive it free of charge or there are doubts about whether they could pay if subsequently found to be chargeable under the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, as amended.
Asked by: Caroline Spelman (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with NHS England on the availability of bisphosphonates for the prevention of secondary breast cancer.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
We have had no such discussions with NHS England. Clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning these drugs for the prevention of secondary breast cancer based upon clinical judgement.
Asked by: Caroline Spelman (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions the Chemotherapy Clinical Reference Group has had on the use of bisphosphonates for the indication of preventing secondary breast cancer since July 2015.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
NHS England has advised that the Chemotherapy Clinical Reference Group (CRG) discussed the use of bisphosphonates for the indication of preventing secondary breast cancer during a meeting held in September 2015. It was raised in the context of guidance being developed by the Breast Cancer Clinical Reference Group and whether, through the Chemotherapy CRG, NHS England could implement any policy to support the use of these drugs. It was confirmed that these drugs would need to be commissioned by clinical commissioning groups.
Asked by: Caroline Spelman (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of hospitals in England that have at least one embedded specialist nurse dealing specifically with organ donation.
Answered by Jane Ellison
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has a network of specialist nurses for organ donation throughout the United Kingdom who are an integral part of the donation process and provide support to potential donor families.
All hospitals in England with donation potential have input and support from specialist nurses for organ donation. There are currently 98 hospitals in England that have specialist nurses for organ donation embedded within them. In addition NHSBT is recruiting specialist nurses to a further seven hospitals, making a total of 105. The level of support and resource allocated varies according to the donation potential for the individual hospital and the number of hospitals in each acute trust. The larger trusts will have a larger team allocated to them. The specialist nurses work to provide support to all hospitals within the trust, adopting a hub and spoke approach.
These specialist nurses provide an on call service 24 hours, seven days a week, to ensure each donor referral is responded to in a timely manner and facilitated.
Asked by: Caroline Spelman (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure the routine commissioning of cough assist machines in the West Midlands; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
I refer my Rt. hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my Rt. hon Friend, the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Andrew Mitchell) on 27 October 2014 to Question 211129.