Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent on external consultancy since 2010.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Spend on external consultancy is published annually in DH accounts and can be found in the following links.
For 2014-15, page 130:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-of-health-annual-report-and-accounts-2014-to-2015
For 2013-14, page 120:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-of-health-annual-report-and-accounts-2013-to-2014
For 2012-13, page 112:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-of-health-annual-report-and-accounts-2012-to-2013
For 2011-12, page 142, and 2010-11, page 143:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-of-health-annual-report-and-accounts-for-2011-to-2012-published
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many members of staff are employed in the Ministerial correspondence section of his Department.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department’s Ministerial Correspondence and Public Enquiries unit currently employs a total of 31 permanent staff who work on both public and ministerial correspondence. There are also eight non-permanent workers filling vacancies within the unit who also work on public and ministerial correspondence. In 2015 the unit responded to 42,277 letters from hon. Members, Peers and the public.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the overall quality of (a) primary health, (b) hospital and (c) community services for older people.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England and has a key responsibility in the overall assurance of safety and quality of health and adult social care services.
The CQC published its State of Care 2014-15 report in October 2015. It reported that 85% of the general practitioner (GP) practices CQC have rated are good or outstanding. The CQC inspects GP practices against six population areas, which includes older people.
The latest results of the GP Patient Survey, published on 7 January 2016, indicate that patients over 75 have consistently higher rates of satisfaction with their GP services than other age groups.
Overall care quality of providers is assessed regularly by Monitor and the CQC. And there are large scale national audits reporting on specific areas that are likely to be more relevant to older people for example the National Hip Fracture Data Base and the National Audit of Intermediate Care.
The CQC’s State of Care 2014-15 report (October 2015) reported that 35% of acute hospitals were rated as good or outstanding.
NHS England published in 2014 “Safe, compassionate care for frail older people using an integrated care pathway: Practical guidance for commissioners, providers and nursing, medical and allied health professional leaders”. This document summarises the evidence of the effects of an integrated pathway of care for older people and suggests how a pathway can be commissioned effectively using levers and incentives across providers.
The CQC registers and inspects community providers and community trusts to ensure that they follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall. 59% of adult social care providers were rated as good or outstanding in the CQC’s October report.
The trends in patient satisfaction for community services are tracked and reported monthly through the Friends and Family Test (FFT). FFT is an important feedback tool that gives patients the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience and helps the National Health Service to drive improvement in the services it provides.
The latest FFT results from September until November 2015 showed that 95% of respondents would recommend the services they have used in the community services settings.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress his Department has made on improving access to specialist psychology support for people with muscle-wasting conditions.
Answered by Jane Ellison
With regards to the National Health Service in Scotland, as healthcare is a devolved issue, the Department cannot comment.
NHS England commissions specialised neurological services at a national level, including those with muscle-wasting conditions. The neurosciences service specification sets out what designated specialised providers must have in place to offer evidence-based, safe and effective care. Patients should have access to a multidisciplinary team (MDT) to assess, diagnose and provide support. The MDT will include neuromuscular consultants, neuromuscular physiotherapists, psychologists, specialist nurses, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and other health professionals.
The specification further sets out that neuromuscular clinics need to identify those at risk of respiratory problems and refer for specialist respiratory assessment and monitoring.
The specification can be found at the following link:
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdf
A separate specification covers services for children.
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/e09-paedi-neurology.pdf
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which NHS Walk-in Centres have closed in the last 12 months.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Comprehensive data on walk-in centres is not collected centrally. Since 2007, the local National Health Service has been responsible for NHS walk-in-centres. It is for local commissioners to decide on the availability of these services.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps are being taken to improve access to food hygiene score information in England.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has responsibility for the Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme. The FSA is currently collecting evidence on the impact of the mandatory display of food hygiene ratings at food outlets in Wales. The Government will consider this evidence carefully once it is available. In the meantime, the FSA will continue working with its local authority partners to encourage businesses to voluntarily display their ratings and to promote the scheme to consumers.
Ratings are published on the FSA website (and via phone apps), and there is open access to the data.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
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 access to specialist care for people with muscular dystrophy.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Through the Mandate we have asked NHS England to make measurable progress towards making our health service among the best in Europe at supporting people with long-term conditions such as muscular dystrophy, to live healthily and independently, with much better control over the care they receive.
NHS England commissions specialised neurological services at a national level, including for patients with muscular dystrophy. The neurosciences service specifications set out that patients with neuromuscular conditions, such as muscular dystrophy should have access to, including a multidisciplinary team (MDT) to will assess, diagnose and provide support. The MDT team will include neuromuscular consultants, neuromuscular physiotherapists, specialist nurses, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and other care professionals. One of the key service outcomes of the specification is that all patients with long-term neurological conditions have an individualised care plan.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the level of complaints against Arriva Transport Solutions over its level of service while running Greater Manchester's non-emergency ambulance service; and what steps he is taking to ensure a better service in Greater Manchester in future.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The provision of local health services, including patient transport services, is a matter for the NHS locally. NHS Blackpool Clinical Commissioning Group is the lead commissioner for non-emergency patient transport services in the North West.