Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
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 the availability of the drug Anakinra.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Anakinra is available for the treatment of patients in the United Kingdom, subject to decisions by the relevant commissioner. In the absence of guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for this drug, it is for commissioners to make decisions based on an assessment of the available evidence and on an individual patient’s clinical circumstances.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will create a single database for incident reporting in care homes; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Mowat
In spring 2017 the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will publish a consultation looking at how they regulate adult social care and primary medical services.
As part of their role in regulating care services CQC inspect providers. On 1 October 2014 CQC began using a new approach to inspect and regulate adult social care services, placing people who use services at the centre of this work. CQC uses a range of information to decide when, where and what to inspect, the methods for listening better to people's experiences of care and using the best information across the system.
During an inspection inspectors will use their professional judgement, supported by objective measures and evidence, to assess services against five key questions: are they safe? Are they effective? Are they caring? Are they responsive to people's needs? Are they well-led? An inspection will include the systems care homes have in place to report, monitor and manage incidents. Inspectors will talk to people who use the services to identify any safeguarding concerns.
CQC rate the services and publish the final inspection report on their website, this includes any safeguarding concerns. The ratings help people to compare services and to highlight where care is outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that adequate levels of a wide range of adult social care is available in each local authority area.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Local councils are responsible for ensuring adequate provision of social care services for eligible users and carers in their area.
However, social care is a key priority for this Government, and we are giving councils access to further funding to manage social care pressures in their local area across the next few years:
- Next year councils will be able to raise the precept by up to 3%, and 3% the year after (2018/19). This could raise £200 million in additional funding for adult social care in 2017/18 and over £400 million in 2018/19.
- The Government is also providing an additional £240 million to fund adult social care through the Adult Social Care Support Grant, funded by reforms to the New Homes Bonus.
These new changes provide access to an additional £450 million for social care next year, following calls from the sector that funding was most needed in 2017/18.
Taken together with the funding announced in the autumn 2015 Spending Review, this means that local government will have access to the funding it needs to increase social care spending every year in this Parliament. The spending review gave councils the flexibility to introduce a 2% social care precept for adult social care, and access to additional funding for adult social care worth £1.5 billion by 2019/20 through the Better Care Fund, starting in April 2017.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidelines he provides to local authorities on the commissioning of 24-hour care places for adults with severe disabilities.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to meet a person’s eligible needs. Where a person requires 24 hour care local authorities should arrange services to meet those needs having regard to best practice guidance for example developed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.