Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding has been allocated to North East London ICS to support with GP retention in 2022-23; and how much was spent in that ICS for that purpose in 2021-22.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
North East London Integrated Care System (NEL ICS) reports that in 2021/22, it was allocated £460,000 and spent £460,000 on projects across all 7 boroughs. Programmes last year included the introduction of mid-career fellowships, the development of peer support groups for GPs at different career stages and widening participation through Primary Care mentorship and work experience.
NEL ICS was allocated £460,000 for 2022/23, which will be invested in existing and new projects.
NHS England advises that a total of £1.9 million for GP retention schemes was allocated and spent by the ICS/CCGs in 2021/22 and £2.3 million allocated to the Integrated Care Board in 2022/23.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to improve GP retention in the North East London ICS area.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
We are working with NHS England and Health Education England to increase the general practice workforce in England, including North East London. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice.
The updated GP Contract Framework announced a number of new schemes, alongside continued support for existing recruitment and retention schemes for the general practice workforce. This includes the GP Retention Scheme, the GP Retention Fund, the National GP Induction and Refresher, the Locum Support Scheme, the New to Partnership Payment and the Supporting Mentors Scheme.
To boost recruitment, we have increased the number of GP training places. In 2021/22, we saw the highest ever number of doctors accepting a place on GP training - a record 4,000 trainees, up from 2,671 in 2014.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data her Department collects on the provision of local retention initiatives in the North East London ICS area.
Answered by Will Quince
We are working collectively across providers to support well-being for all our health and care staff, and have developed an overarching programme where staff can access support. More information here: keepingwellnel.nhs.uk
NHS England are developing a network of retention leads to share local practice in Trusts, co-ordinated by their retention team. The NHS England retention programme includes Barts Health where initiatives are being developed that will be shared and rolled out across North East London ICS area.
We are working together to establish a collective response to the cost of living crisis, including exploring flexible workforce spaces for staff. We are also working to develop a single offer of support for all staff which would include financial planning and advice services.
All our Trusts have individually tailored retention programmes, including focusing on career development and training pathways to retain staff.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GPs who had been previously working in North East London ICS area have left the profession over the last three years.
Answered by Will Quince
This information is not collected in the format requested.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on covid-19 risk for immunocompromised people after the planned easing of covid-19 restrictions on July 19 2021.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
While no specific assessment has been made, a recent study from Public Health England looked at more than one million people in at-risk groups, which found that people who are immunosuppressed are significantly better protected from symptomatic infection following the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Studies are also underway looking at which groups are less protected through vaccination, which may include groups with weakened immune systems and those with cancers of the blood. The findings will improve our knowledge of the levels of risk. We also recognise that there is a very small group of people who cannot receive the Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to help reduce the risk of contracting covid-19 for immunocompromised people after the planned easing of covod-19 restrictions on 19 July 2021.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Guidance for clinically extremely vulnerable individuals was published on 12 July including those who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed, is available at the following link:
Following the recommendation of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the Government offered the household contacts aged over 16 years old of severely immunosuppressed individuals priority access to vaccination from COVID-19, to help reduce the risk of the immunosuppressed individual catching COVID-19 from a member of their household. This recommendation has now been extended to household contacts aged 12 to 15 years old.
The JCVI has provided interim advice is that booster vaccines should first be offered in a two staged approach, with individuals in stage one offered a booster and flu vaccine as soon as possible from September, which includes adults aged 16 years old and over who are immunosuppressed. Those in stage two should be offered a booster vaccine as soon as practicable after stage one, with equal emphasis on deployment of the flu vaccine where eligible. This includes adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals. General practitioner practices or specialists can also provide personalised support and advice on any additional precautions.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the Government will ring-fence funding for the Palliative Care Unit at the Whipps Cross Hospital.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The proposed redevelopment of Whipps Cross does not involve the reconfiguration of services and envisages the new hospital providing the same core services as today, including the continued provision of high-quality specialist palliative and end of life care. A clinically led review of the model of care for the provision of specialist palliative care and end-of-life care in the new hospital is being undertaken by Barts Health NHS Trust, working closely with local partners and informed by engagement with patients and local interest groups.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
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 impact of the reduction in bed capacity at the proposed new hospital at Whipps Cross on bed capacity at (a) Homerton hospital and (b) other local hospitals.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Whipps Cross redevelopment plans have continued to be tested with North East London Health and Care Partnership Integrated Care System as part of the development of the redevelopment’s outline business case, to ensure the demand and capacity assumptions are aligned with both the local and wider system assumptions.
The new development does not impact bed capacity at Homerton Hospital or other local hospitals. The number of beds in any hospital is not fixed and the way in which the hospital is designed will give greater flexibility to respond to changes in operational pressures, with an appropriate number of beds. The new hospital will have more clinical space than the current hospital, with new clinical departments, increased diagnostic and day case capacity and more single rooms, improving patient experience, privacy and dignity.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
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 changes to the funding of nursing education will (a) increase the number and (b) improve the quality of clinical placements for students.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The changes to healthcare education funding from August 2017 means that we can move away from centrally imposed controls on numbers of nurses being trained and financial limitations, enabling universities to increase nurse training places by the end of the parliament, 2020.
As now, ensuring that all students have access to high quality placements and receive an outstanding placement experience is a key priority.
Having a stable placement commissioning system is important for workforce supply and for Higher Education Institutes; therefore Health Education England (HEE) will retain responsibility for commissioning the minimum number of placements for 2017/18. Universities will be free to create additional places on top of these in partnership with their local trusts and will have their HEE-funded placements maintained at existing levels.
The Government is committed to monitoring data regarding, for example, application rates, diversity statistics and workforce supply.
The first part of the government response to the consultation included a revised Economic Impact Assessment, page 16 sets out the Monitoring and Evaluation plan, the link is:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changing-how-healthcare-education-is-funded
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department will take to monitor the number of UCAS applications for nursing courses in the next two years; and what contingency planning his Department has undertaken to address any reduction in the number of such applications in that period.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The changes to healthcare education funding from August 2017 means that we can move away from centrally imposed controls on numbers of nurses being trained and financial limitations, enabling universities to increase nurse training places by the end of the parliament, 2020.
As now, ensuring that all students have access to high quality placements and receive an outstanding placement experience is a key priority.
Having a stable placement commissioning system is important for workforce supply and for Higher Education Institutes; therefore Health Education England (HEE) will retain responsibility for commissioning the minimum number of placements for 2017/18. Universities will be free to create additional places on top of these in partnership with their local trusts and will have their HEE-funded placements maintained at existing levels.
The Government is committed to monitoring data regarding, for example, application rates, diversity statistics and workforce supply.
The first part of the government response to the consultation included a revised Economic Impact Assessment, page 16 sets out the Monitoring and Evaluation plan, the link is:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changing-how-healthcare-education-is-funded