Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the provision of healthcare for UK citizens in the EU of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
Under current European Union-based entitlements, the United Kingdom pays for the healthcare costs of 180,000 UK nationals, mostly pensioners, in health systems across the EU. There are around 50 million UK tourist visits to the EU annually; the European Healthcare Insurance Card (EHIC) is used in around 0.5% of these visits. Moreover, approximately 50,000 posted workers are protected through the current arrangements.
The UK Government has proposed to EU Member States that, in a no-deal scenario, we should maintain the existing healthcare arrangements until 31 December 2020, with the aim of minimising disruption to UK nationals’ and EU citizens’ healthcare provision. The UK Government is working to put in place bilateral agreements with Member States to protect existing healthcare arrangements for UK nationals beyond exit day. For UK nationals that live in EU Member States, the UK cannot unilaterally guarantee the continuation of current arrangements, as this depends on decisions by Member States.
EU Member States such as Spain have made public commitments that they will enable resident UK nationals and visitors to access healthcare in the same way they do now, and we hope to reach such agreements with all Member States.
Although we are hopeful that we can agree reciprocal healthcare arrangements, as a responsible Government we have developed a multi-layered approach to minimise disruption to healthcare provision to UK nationals currently in or travelling to the EU Member States.
The UK Government has committed to fund healthcare for UK nationals (and others for whom the UK is responsible) who have applied for, or are undergoing, treatments in the EU prior to and on exit day, for up to one year, to protect the most vulnerable.
Individuals are always responsible for ensuring they have sufficient healthcare insurance. Anyone who is living, working or studying in EU Member States should check the country specific guidance on GOV.UK and NHS.UK for updates.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 taking to prevent tooth decay in (a) children and (b) adults.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
In England, local authorities have the lead responsibility for improving the oral health of children and adults in their local area. Further information is available at the following link:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/3094/pdfs/uksi_20123094_en.pdf
Improving the oral health of children is a priority for Public Health England (PHE). PHE has established a Child Oral Health Improvement Programme Board, which brings together key stakeholder organisations. The board has a shared ambition that every child grows up free of tooth decay as part of getting the best start in life.
PHE established an Adult Oral Health Oversight Group, which brings together a wide range of stakeholders that have policies or areas of interest to improve the oral health of adults.
The Department is testing a new prevention focussed National Health Service dental contract which includes preventive advice and treatment based on ‘Delivering better oral health’, an evidence-based toolkit for prevention. More information about the dental contract reform programme can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dental-contract-reform-prototypes
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 taking to encourage men to get tested for prostate cancer.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
There are risks and benefits of testing for prostate cancer. There are side effects to many of the treatments for prostate cancer, such as impotence and incontinence, but, there is no doubt that, in some cases, if found early, it could save lives. However, many of the men having tests and receiving treatment would not have any symptoms or problems relating to their cancers in their life.
The Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme (PCRMP) supports men in making an informed choice on whether to be tested for prostate cancer. The PCRMP provides general practitioners and primary care professionals with information to counsel asymptomatic men aged 50 and over who ask about prostate specific antigen testing for prostate cancer.
Further information on the PCRMP is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/prostate-cancer-risk-management-programme-overview
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much Government funding was allocated to NHS orthodontist services in each of the last three years.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Information on funding allocations for National Health Service orthodontist services is not available. NHS England is responsible for determining funding allocations for NHS dentistry. These allocations are included in the primary care allocations made to NHS regional teams. However, NHS England does not allocate funding specifically for NHS orthodontics. Data on NHS orthodontics expenditure is not held centrally.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 taking to ensure that contaminated blood is not donated to patients.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The National Health Service blood supply chain has rigorous safety standards making the United Kingdom blood supply one of the safest in the world. Every donor completes an extensive donor health check questionnaire before each donation. This is designed to identify donors who have a recognisable risk of infection who can then be excluded or subject to further testing. Those considered at risk are asked to defer donation until it is safe for them to do so.
All blood donations are routinely tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis E, HIV, syphilis and for first time donors, human T-lymphotropic virus, before they are sent to hospitals and released into the supply chain. If any blood donation tests positive for infection it is not released into the blood supply chain.
NHS Blood and Transplant and the other UK blood services are subject to regular inspections by independent regulators and NHS Blood and Transplant safety policy is formulated by two independent advisory committees: the Joint United Kingdom Blood Transfusion Services Professional Advisory Committee and the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs. NHS Blood and Transplant, along with the other UK Blood Services, established a UK blood supply surveillance scheme where all hospitals in the UK report, as a condition of their registration, any recognised or unexpected reactions to blood products. This allows constant vigilance to any possible threat to the safety of the blood supply.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 taking to help people with severe insomnia.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The majority of patients experiencing a sleep disorder such as insomnia are diagnosed and managed by general practitioners (GPs) in primary care. Where the disorder cannot be resolved in primary care, or does not resolve itself, a referral to a specialist clinic may be appropriate. The NHS website provides advice and guidance for dealing with insomnia.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department provided for transport for patients to attend appointments in each year for which information is available.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Neither the Department nor NHS England hold the information requested.
NHS England allocates funding to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). Individual CCGs are responsible for commissioning local services, such as patient transport services, based on population need.
It is for local leaders working together with NHS England and NHS Improvement, to make the best use of the funding that has been allocated to them.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has a policy to reduce the time older patients have to wait for a care plan in their homes so that they do not have to be in hospital beds.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government recognises the need to maintain independence and support rehabilitation of people at risk of hospital admission or those who have been in hospital. It is important that patients receive properly joined up care at the right time in the optimal care setting.
As such, getting discharge right and ensuring patients are being supported to recover their independence and, where appropriate, treated in their homes is a priority for this Government. This is why we have identified intermediate care as an essential component of ‘Discharge to assess’ within the High Impact Change Model (HICM) to support discharge from hospital. We have further underpinned this by making the High Impact Changes a condition of the Better Care Fund.
Other system changes detailed in the HICM support faster discharge for people into their own homes, such as Early Discharge Planning. This sets expectations on acute hospitals to begin planning for a person’s discharge as soon as possible.
This is supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Guidance for Intermediate Care which sets out across the how support for older people whether transitioning from a hospital admission or those in crisis in their usual place of residence can receive care and support.
Additionally, the NHS Long Term Plan made clear the importance of moving care into the community, and the Government’s commitment to achieving this. It confirmed that over the next 10 years the National Health Service will deliver more care closer to home, and to support this at least an extra £4.5 billion pounds a year by 2023/24 will be invested in primary care and community health services.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 taking to help people who suffer from Cerebral palsy to equipment to aid walking.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
It is for clinical commissioning groups and local authorities to commission services that best meet the needs of their populations, including those with cerebral palsy. There are numerous mobility aids to assist walking and help with mobility limitations associated with cerebral palsy such as orthotic devices worn externally to improve and strengthen mobility, walkers, crutches, walking sticks and canes. Some do not require a prescription or the approval of a doctor to be purchased. An orthopaedic surgeon, orthotist or physical/occupational therapist should evaluate the patient’s condition to determine what support they need.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his department taking so that Locum Doctors are not being used to fill permanent posts.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Department is committed to ensuring that trusts can fill permanent medical posts in the most cost-effective way and this means training, recruiting and retaining doctors in these posts on substantive National Health Service contracts rather than relying on locums.
We are addressing the challenge in a variety of ways.
We are increasing the supply of doctors into the NHS. By 2020 there will be an extra 1,500 students entering medical training each year; 630 of these additional trainees took up places on medical courses in September 2018, bringing the total intake for 2018/19 to 6,701. A further 690 places are available this year (2019/20) and the remaining 180 will be available next year (2020/21).
NHS Improvement is working in partnership with NHS Employers to improve staff retention in trusts across England. In July 2017 they launched a major programme which, through targeted support to all NHS trusts in England, aims to stabilise and then bring down leaver rates by 2020. The trust sector has also introduced a number of initiatives including promoting the benefits of NHS employment over agency work, making improvements to NHS staff banks, and increasing the flexibility of substantive contracts.
Even with these measures, it will still be necessary to occasionally use locum doctors to fill vacancies whilst recruitment is taking place so our efforts are also focused on reducing the cost of agency staff.
We are doing this through the use of agency expenditure ceilings, price caps on agency rates and procurement frameworks. As a result, trusts have reduced their total annual expenditure on agency staff by £1.2 billion - from £3.6 billion in 2015/16 to £2.4 billion in 2017/18. This reduction includes a £400 million fall in medical locum expenditure. To further reduce agency spending, and support flexible working, we are also working with NHS Improvement to facilitate the development of tech-enabled staff banks, covering all staff groups, in all trusts.