Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with Wolverhampton City Council on the provision of health and social care.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department has had no recent discussions specifically with Wolverhampton City Council on the provision of health and social care.
The West Midlands Combined Authority, which includes Wolverhampton, has had discussions with the Government on a range of issues including health and social care.
Wolverhampton City Council should be involved in discussion around the provision of health and social care as part of the wider Black Country Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP). NHS England holds regular discussions with all STP leaders.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how (a) many delayed transfers of care occurred in Wolverhampton and (b) much Wolverhampton City Council has been fined for those delayed transfers in the last 12 months.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The total number of delayed transfers of care in Wolverhampton between October 2016 and September 2017 was 10,176 days (not individual cases).
Data regarding any fines imposed by NHS England that may have been incurred by Wolverhampton City Council are not held centrally. The Department does not have the power to fine councils for delayed transfer of care performance.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of any funding gap for social care in Wolverhampton in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19, (c) 2019-20 and (d) 2020-21 on the basis of the current local sustainability and transformation plan.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department does not collect this information.
We have taken several steps to help secure a strong and sustainable social care system, including the Budget announcement of an extra £2 billion in funding. Taken together, Government funding decisions since 2015 will give councils access to £9.25 billion more dedicated funding for social care over the next three years.
Adult social care is a locally delivered system and it is up to local authorities to plan how best to use their available funding to provide services for their residents based on knowledge of local need.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what data his Department holds on breastfeeding.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Data on breastfeeding in the United Kingdom is recorded in the Maternity Services Data Set which collects and reports data from providers of maternity services, including breastfeeding initiation. Data on breastfeeding status at six to eight weeks is reported through the Children and Young People’s Health Services Data Set. In addition, Public Health England presents data on factors related to conception, pregnancy and delivery, including breastfeeding profiles in their Fingertips site; these indicators show performance against a range of indicators describing demographic, breastfeeding behaviours and health outcome data for mothers and their children.
These datasets can be accessed via the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/breastfeeding-statistics
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when his Department plans to commission the next Infant Feeding Survey.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
There are at present no plans to commission any further Infant Feeding Surveys.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what financial support the NHS (a) provides to peer support breast-feeding and (b) has provided to such groups in each of the last seven years.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
NHS England holds no record of any financial support which will have been offered to fund peer-supported breast feeding. If the National Health Service does provide such schemes they would be within a local clinical commissioning group, rather than held centrally.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which maternity units in England have attained Baby Friendly Initiative accreditation.
Answered by Philip Dunne
This information is publicly available at the following link:
https://unicefbfi.secure.force.com/Events/Awards
A list of all United Kingdom maternity hospitals, health visiting services and universities at various stages of Baby Friendly accreditation are displayed.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of regulations on sprinklers in hospitals.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 05-02: Firecode Guidance in support of functional provisions (fire safety in the design of healthcare premises) provides guidance on the minimum standards of fire safety expected in healthcare premises to comply with Part B of Schedule 1 of the Building Regulations 2010, including the use of automatic fire suppression where necessary.
The guidance will be reviewed following the publication of the results of the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, which is being led by Dame Judith Hackitt in response to the Grenfell Tower incident.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on (a) hospitals, (b) GP surgeries and (c) walk in centres which are (i) clad in flammable substances and (ii) fitted with sprinklers.
Answered by Philip Dunne
As part of the Government’s Building Safety Programme to identify buildings of concern following the Grenfell Tower incident, actions have been implemented across National Health Service trusts to assess the risks of similar issues and to ensure that the NHS estate is safe. All NHS trusts have now reviewed their estate, and where cladding similar to that used at Grenfell Tower has been identified, it has been tested by the Building Research Establishment (BRE). Where the cladding has failed the BRE testing, mitigation action has been implemented by relevant trusts. NHS Improvement is monitoring these trusts on behalf of the Department.
Fire safety checks of NHS facilities, including hospitals, are regularly undertaken in line with legislation and guidance. Each hospital also has a tailored fire safety plan, which includes assessment of the provision of fire safety precautions. Such precautions may include the use of sprinklers.
NHS England has advised that it does not hold data on general practitioner (GP) practices in relation to physical infrastructure. However, the GP contract specifies a number of requirements that contractors must meet in respect of the premises used for the provision of services, such as meeting Statutory Standards on Fire Precautions and having adequate procedures in place to ensure the continuing safety of practice premises and the suitability of those premises for delivering primary medical services.
As walk in centres could be located in either NHS trusts or GP-operated premises, separate data about them is not available.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing mandatory echocardiogram screening to identify young people aged between 18 and 35 years old at risk of cardiac arrest; and what steps his Department has taken to improve diagnosis of cardiac abnormalities in young people.
Answered by David Mowat
In 2015 the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) reviewed the evidence for screening for major causes of sudden cardiac death in young people between the ages of 12 to 39 and recommended that screening should not be offered.
The UK NSC will review the evidence again in 2018/19 or earlier if any new peer reviewed evidence emerges in the meantime.