Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham and Chislehurst)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have been referred for pulmonary rehabilitation in accordance with NICE guidelines in the most recent period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Guidelines state that “Pulmonary rehabilitation should be made available to all appropriate people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) including those who have had a recent hospitalisation for an acute exacerbation” 1.
NHS England supports the national Asthma and COPD Audit Programme – led by the Royal College of Physicians – which provides data on a range of indicators to show opportunities for improving COPD outcomes. The audit shows that 13% of people with COPD are referred to pulmonary rehabilitation services2. A continuous clinical audit of service provision and delivery of pulmonary rehabilitation is due to start in March 2019.
Notes:
1Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in over 16s: diagnosis and management Clinical guideline Published 23 June 2010 www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg101
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham and Chislehurst)
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 all patients diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have access to community rehabilitation in accordance with NICE guidelines; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is one of the most effective treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The Department supports the National Health Service to increase access to PR and improve the quality of care for people with long-term respiratory conditions.
Respiratory disease is clinical priority in the NHS Long Term Plan. A working group has been developing policy proposals with the aim of delivering specific improvements in respiratory disease. One of the areas under review is the current service provision for PR services in England.
The NHS RightCare COPD pathway, which is now being rolled out nationally through clinical commissioning groups, includes timely access to PR as part of the optimal treatment pathway.
NHS England is working with NHS Improvement, Public Health England and the third sector to ensure all components of the COPD pathway including identification, diagnosis, treatment and management of respiratory conditions are coordinated across the health system.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham and Chislehurst)
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 the boards of (a) NHS Trusts, (b) Care Commissioning Groups and (c) other NHS bodies include allied health professionals; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) can be on the boards of any National Health Service body.
NHS England published the ‘AHPs into Action’ framework in January 2017, which outlines the impact and potential of AHPs, including as members of boards.
NHS Improvement has commissioned research into AHP leadership in NHS provider organisations, and has published ‘Leadership of allied health professions in trusts: what exists and what matters’. There has been a measurable increase in the number of AHP strategic leadership positions over the last two years.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham and Chislehurst)
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 multi-disciplinary community rehabilitation services are available throughout England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Rehabilitation services should be built around the patient, addressing their needs in an integrated manner and close to home, where safe to do so. This patient centred, integrated approach based closer to home, underpins the system’s wider approach to transforming our health and care system through sustainability and transformation partnerships and new care models.
NHS England’s Commissioning Rehabilitation Guidance (2016) encourages and supports commissioning of integrated, person-centred rehabilitation services delivered close to home across England. It states that that effective partnerships across teams are central to providing the right support to patients. This includes providing rehabilitation services that meet both mental and physical health needs.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham and Chislehurst)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will include musculoskeletal disorders in the long-term plan for the NHS to reduce loss of working days; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
In 2017, there was a historic low of working days lost due to musculoskeletal disorders (MSK) related sickness absence. However, MSK disorders remain the second largest reason for working days lost due to sickness absence – second only to minor illnesses (like colds and flu)1.
This is why in ‘Improving Lives, the Future of Work, Health and Disability’2 this Government committed itself to ensuring that individuals suffering from MSK disorders get higher-quality, more joined up support - in the workplace and across the health and welfare systems.
The Government’s own strategy, includes research to build our understanding of existing MSK provision and piloting new models of service provision. The intention is to build our understanding of ‘what works’ to improve employment outcomes for individuals with MSK disorders, in order to inform future action.
The Government expects National Health Service leaders, clinicians and experts to develop the long-term plan to ensure that the NHS can cope with the serious demand and cost pressures it faces in the future. The plan should be published later this year.
Notes:
1Labour Force Survey person datasets, ONS. 2018.
2Improving lives: the future of work, health and disability November 2017
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-lives-the-future-of-work-health-and-disability
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham and Chislehurst)
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 reduce the number of working days lost as a result of musculoskeletal disorders; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
In 2017, there was a historic low of working days lost due to musculoskeletal disorders (MSK) related sickness absence. However, MSK disorders remain the second largest reason for working days lost due to sickness absence – second only to minor illnesses (like colds and flu)1.
This is why in ‘Improving Lives, the Future of Work, Health and Disability’2 this Government committed itself to ensuring that individuals suffering from MSK disorders get higher-quality, more joined up support - in the workplace and across the health and welfare systems.
The Government’s own strategy, includes research to build our understanding of existing MSK provision and piloting new models of service provision. The intention is to build our understanding of ‘what works’ to improve employment outcomes for individuals with MSK disorders, in order to inform future action.
The Government expects National Health Service leaders, clinicians and experts to develop the long-term plan to ensure that the NHS can cope with the serious demand and cost pressures it faces in the future. The plan should be published later this year.
Notes:
1Labour Force Survey person datasets, ONS. 2018.
2Improving lives: the future of work, health and disability November 2017
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-lives-the-future-of-work-health-and-disability
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham and Chislehurst)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of stroke survivors are given a rehabilitation assessment before they are discharged; what steps he is taking to ensure that all patients receive that assessment; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
Data from the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme for the year April 2017 to March 2018 (which covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland) shows that 83.8% of patients spend at least 90% of their hospital stay on a specialist stroke unit, all of which provide coordinated multidisciplinary care and rehabilitation and that almost everyone with a stroke disability received in-patient therapy assessment.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham and Chislehurst)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to his oral answer of 6 February 2018, Official Report, column 1351, in which document di the King's Fund state that accountable care organisations and integrated care systems make a massive difference in care to patients.
Answered by Steve Barclay
The need to bring providers together and dissolve the historical partitions between primary, community, mental health, social care and acute services is widely acknowledged. Accountable care organisations (ACOs) are means of achieving this as they involve a single provider taking contractual responsibility for providing a range of services, spanning primary, acute, community and mental health.
The move towards accountable care organisations has been supported by the King’s Fund.
The King’s Fund reports are available at:
https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/making-sense-accountable-care
These articles highlight the positive impact and potential more integrated and accountable care has for England.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham and Chislehurst)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his oral answer of 14 November 2017, Official Report column, 143, what estimate he has made of the rates of inflationary increase in NHS tariff costs for musculoskeletal services under the Circle contract to Lewisham and Greenwich Healthcare Trust; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department has made no such assessment as this is a matter for Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group which is responsible for commissioning health services and getting the best value for money for its local population.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham and Chislehurst)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many complaints he has received about ambulance and patient transfer services provided by G4S; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Philip Dunne
A search of the Department’s Ministerial correspondence database has identified four complaints received since November 2016 about ambulance and patient transfer services provided by G4S. This figure represents correspondence received by the Department’s Ministerial correspondence unit only.