Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funding the Government provides to care for people affected by the troubles in Northern Ireland living in England.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Details of specific funding for people affected by the troubles in Northern Ireland living in England are not available. In England we make no special provision, but all British citizens living in England are fully entitled to National Health Service services.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to establish the Mental Trauma Service in Northern Ireland proposed in the Stormont House Agreement.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
This is a matter for the Department of Health in the Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average referral time for doctors seeing patients was in each NHS trust area in the last 12 months.
Answered by Philip Dunne
NHS England publishes data on the median waiting time in weeks for patients admitted to hospital and non-admitted outpatient pathways each month. The table attached shows the data for each National Health Service trust that submitted data in the last 12 months.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive about shortages of GPs.
Answered by David Mowat
My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has not had any discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive about shortages of general practitioners (GPs).
Health is a devolved subject; therefore GP recruitment in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time in accident and emergency departments was in each of the last three years.
Answered by Ben Gummer
The NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) measure accident and emergency (A&E) waiting times in England from arrival to assessment, treatment and departure. A table showing the mean and median waiting times for 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 is below. Data for 2015-16 is provisional and may be subject to in-year changes.
Mean and median1 time to assessment2, treatment3 and departure4 in all A&E departments in England, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16
| Duration to Assessment2 | Duration to Treatment3 | Duration to Departure4 | |||
Year | Mean1 | Median1 | Mean1 | Median1 | Mean1 | Median1 |
2013-14 | 38.2 | 9 | 70.2 | 51 | 144.6 | 129 |
2014-15 | 43.2 | 10 | 76.1 | 54 | 153.8 | 134 |
2015-165 (provisional) | 35.6 | 11 | 77.3 | 56 | 160.2 | 139 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre.
Notes:
Activity in English National Health Service Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector.
1 Mean and Median: The mean (average) and median (middle in ranking when all values are sorted in order) duration in minutes to assessment, treatment or duration.
2 Duration to assessment: This is the total amount of time in minutes between the patients’ arrival and their initial assessment in the A&E department. This is calculated as the difference in time from arrival at A&E to the time when the patient is initially assessed.
3 Duration to treatment: This is the total amount of time in minutes between the patients’ arrival and the start of their treatment. This is calculated as the difference in time from arrival at A&E to the time when the patient began treatment.
4 Duration to departure: This is total amount of time spent in minutes in an A&E department. This is calculated as the difference in time from arrival at A&E to the time when the patient is discharged from A&E care. This includes being admitted to hospital, dying in the department, discharged with no follow up or discharged and referred to another specialist department.
5 2015-16 is provisional data and may be incomplete or contain errors for which no adjustments have yet been made.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made in reducing GP waiting times.
Answered by Alistair Burt
There is no national standard for waiting to see a general practitioner (GP) and data on waiting times is not collected centrally. To implement the Government’s commitment to transform GP access however, £175 million has been invested in the Prime Minister’s GP Access Fund to test improved and innovative access to GP services. Across the two waves of the Access Fund, there are 57 schemes covering over 2,500 practices and 18 million patients – a third of the population – have benefited from improved access and transformational change at local level. This includes more appointments being made available, especially at times more convenient for patients, such as weekday evenings and weekends. It also includes different approaches like telephone consultations and better use of the wider primary care workforce (such as Advanced Nurse Practitioners, pharmacists, the voluntary sector, physiotherapists and paramedics) to deliver improved access to patients. These approaches have helped release local GP capacity and more appropriately matched the needs of patients with the most appropriate professional to care for them. In addition to Access Fund sites, other clinical commissioning groups may offer local initiatives for improving access to GPs.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to support the development of clinician-led neuromuscular networks across England.
Answered by Jane Ellison
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 specification can be found at the following link:
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdf
National Health Service providers, working with local area teams, may establish neuromuscular networks if they consider it would benefit service provision; such decisions are a local matter.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has held with NHS ambulance trusts on undertaking collaborative work with Muscular Dystrophy UK to increase health professionals' knowledge of care for people with muscular dystrophy and neuromuscular conditions.
Answered by Jane Ellison
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 specification can be found at the following link:
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdf
National Health Service providers, working with local area teams, may establish neuromuscular networks if they consider it would benefit service provision; such decisions are a local matter.