Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much has been paid out in compensation by Capita for a failure to meet its obligations under the contract for primary care support services; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England recognises that there have been transition issues following the transfer of primary care support services to Capita. Over recent months, services have improved, as demonstrated through increased performance levels, reductions in outstanding issues and complaints, and improvements in customer satisfaction, as measured in the most recent user satisfaction survey.
The contract with Capita is underpinned by a number of robust contractual mechanisms designed to ensure that primary care support services are delivered in line with expectations. These include financial service credits where agreed performance targets across the service are not achieved.
NHS England advises that, following the closure of the Henley Cross GP practice, there were 3,800 paper medical records which were collected by Primary Care Support England (PCSE). 3,302 of these relate to patients who have re-registered with a new practice and these medical records have been sent to those practices. In line with delivery timescales, there are 435 records which PCSE is currently preparing for despatch following recent patient registrations at new general practitioner (GP) practices. The remaining 63 relate to patients who are yet to register with a GP practice and these are being held, in line with agreed processes, in PCSE’s storage facility.
Where a GP has an urgent clinical need to access information in a medical record, there is an established urgent request process in place, where PCSE will facilitate contact between current and previous GP practices to ensure the details get to the relevant clinician as a priority - within two working days.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the performance of the primary care support services contract since it was taken over by Capita; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England recognises that there have been transition issues following the transfer of primary care support services to Capita. Over recent months, services have improved, as demonstrated through increased performance levels, reductions in outstanding issues and complaints, and improvements in customer satisfaction, as measured in the most recent user satisfaction survey.
The contract with Capita is underpinned by a number of robust contractual mechanisms designed to ensure that primary care support services are delivered in line with expectations. These include financial service credits where agreed performance targets across the service are not achieved.
NHS England advises that, following the closure of the Henley Cross GP practice, there were 3,800 paper medical records which were collected by Primary Care Support England (PCSE). 3,302 of these relate to patients who have re-registered with a new practice and these medical records have been sent to those practices. In line with delivery timescales, there are 435 records which PCSE is currently preparing for despatch following recent patient registrations at new general practitioner (GP) practices. The remaining 63 relate to patients who are yet to register with a GP practice and these are being held, in line with agreed processes, in PCSE’s storage facility.
Where a GP has an urgent clinical need to access information in a medical record, there is an established urgent request process in place, where PCSE will facilitate contact between current and previous GP practices to ensure the details get to the relevant clinician as a priority - within two working days.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance NHS England provides to GPs on whether GPs can continue to prescribe medication to pensioners in the event that such medication is also available for purchase over the counter.
Answered by David Mowat
Prescribing is a clinical decision made by general practitioners, in line with regulations.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost to the NHS is of maintaining an empty ward at Eltham Community Hospital; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Mowat
The ward at Eltham Community Hospital has only recently become vacant and it is not yet possible to provide a figure for the annual cost to the National Health Service. The clinical commissioning group (CCG) will be undertaking a full bed review in April which will look at bed distribution across the sites where they commission services. The CCG is also continuing to work through models of care that would be suitable for the empty ward at Eltham Community Hospital.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost to Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group is of commissioning 17 beds for patients preparing to return home from St Mary's Hospital, Sidcup; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Mowat
The Department does not hold this information centrally.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many X-rays have been carried out at Eltham Community Hospital since that hospital opened; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Philip Dunne
NHS England publishes monthly information about diagnostic imaging tests carried out on National Health Service patients, including plain radiography. This information is at the level of NHS trust, not individual hospital sites within trusts.
However, NHS England advises that the diagnostic suite at Eltham Community Hospital has not been brought into commission and no procedures have been undertaken since it was opened in 2015. Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group is working with local partners to ensure that best use is made of the facilities at Eltham Community Hospital.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many beds Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group has commissioned for respite or rehabilitation of patients returning home from hospital stays; and what the costs are of that activity at (a) Eltham Community Hospital and (b) each other location within that Group's area; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Mowat
The Department does not hold this information centrally.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the capability of Circle Holdings plc to provide musculoskeletal services in Greenwich on 1 December 2016 in advance of the Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group's impact assessment on the effect of privatising that service on other services; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Philip Dunne
There has been no assessment or instruction by Ministers. The procurement of local health services by means of competitive tendering is a matter for the local National Health Service.
Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group is an independent statutory organisation and is responsible for commissioning services for local people in order to ensure the best possible clinical outcomes at the best value to the taxpayer. The recent procurement of musculoskeletal prime contractor services was designed to secure these outcomes.
We are informed by NHS England that Circle Holdings is Care Quality Commission registered, which is one of the required assessments for awarding of the contract. The bid that Circle made was assessed against an agreed set of criteria which had weightings, in accordance with standard NHS procurement process.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to instruct the Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group to set aside its plans to privatise musculoskeletal services in Greenwich and to begin negotiations with existing NHS providers to achieve the efficiency savings and changes to the service which it is seeking to achieve; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Philip Dunne
There has been no assessment or instruction by Ministers. The procurement of local health services by means of competitive tendering is a matter for the local National Health Service.
Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group is an independent statutory organisation and is responsible for commissioning services for local people in order to ensure the best possible clinical outcomes at the best value to the taxpayer. The recent procurement of musculoskeletal prime contractor services was designed to secure these outcomes.
We are informed by NHS England that Circle Holdings is Care Quality Commission registered, which is one of the required assessments for awarding of the contract. The bid that Circle made was assessed against an agreed set of criteria which had weightings, in accordance with standard NHS procurement process.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that Eltham Community Hospital beds are used for the rehabilitation of people leaving hospital.
Answered by David Mowat
This is a matter for the local National Health Service.
We are advised by NHS England that the Eltham Community Hospital is currently used to provide rehabilitation to patients from Greenwich.