Asked by: Eleanor Smith (Labour - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to engage frontline staff in shaping the implementation and delivery of the Workforce Strategy; and what further work is planned to examine (a) dermatology and (b) other specific specialities as part of that strategy.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The National Health Service published its interim People Plan on 3 June. It sets out a plan of action to meet the long-term challenges of supply, reform, culture and leadership, and puts NHS people at the heart of NHS policy and delivery.
In developing this plan, the NHS has engaged widely with staff, patients, employers, professional organisations, regulatory bodies, voluntary sector, academia and other experts.
In advance of publishing the final People Plan, the NHS will establish a national programme board to address geographical and specialty shortages in medicine. We expect the final People Plan to be published soon after the Spending Review.
Asked by: Eleanor Smith (Labour - Wolverhampton South West)
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 the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of adequate levels of NHS staff in cancer pathology units.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Health Education England (HEE) published the Cancer Workforce Plan for England in December 2017, which committed to the expansion of capacity and skills of the cancer workforce, including an ambition to attract and retain more cancer specialists, including histopathologists, by 2021. In 2019, 100% of specialist pathology training places, including histopathology, were filled.
Following the publication of the NHS Long Term Plan in January 2019, HEE is now working with NHS England and NHS Improvement to understand the longer-term workforce implications for the further development of cancer services.
Locally, responsibility for assessing and managing staffing levels, including specialty staff, rests with individual NHS trusts who are best placed to decide how many staff they need to provide a given service.
Asked by: Eleanor Smith (Labour - Wolverhampton South West)
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 effect on patients of the decommissioning of tier three and tier four weight management services by Clinical Commissioning Groups; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
The requested information is not held centrally. No assessment has been made of the effect on patients of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) decommissioning tier 3 and tier 4 weight management services. CCGs have a statutory responsibility to commission services which meet the healthcare needs of their local population.
Asked by: Eleanor Smith (Labour - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Clinical Commissioning Groups include weight management services on their list of procedures of limited clinical value.
Answered by Steve Brine
The requested information is not held centrally. No assessment has been made of the effect on patients of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) decommissioning tier 3 and tier 4 weight management services. CCGs have a statutory responsibility to commission services which meet the healthcare needs of their local population.
Asked by: Eleanor Smith (Labour - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the number of people with obesity in (a) England and (b) each Clinical Commissioning Group area by (i) age and (ii) gender for each of the last five calendar years.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS Digital has advised that obesity data for children and adults in England by age and gender for each of the last five years is available in the Health Survey for England. This information is attached. Data is not available by clinical commissioning group.
Asked by: Eleanor Smith (Labour - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was for bariatric surgery in each NHS trust in each of the last five calendar years; and how much has each trust paid in penalties incurred as a result of those waiting lists in each of those years.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The requested data is not centrally collected.