Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 help ensure cohesion in policy making between Integrated Care Boards, including on access to (a) drugs and (b) treatment.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England determines overall policy and strategy for integrated care boards (ICBs), including access to medication and treatments. ICBs are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities are met. Providers are required to ensure statutory responsibilities are met for the delivery of safe, effective, efficient, high quality services.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on the treatment of diabetes in children, published in March 2022, whether his Department has taken recent steps to ensure that all type 1 diabetic children have access to (a) rtCGM and (b) isCGM; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the implementation of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) recommendations. ICBs develop commissioning policies for clinicians to determine eligibility and clinicians must have regard to NICE’s guidance.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 current levels of absence from work of NHS staff; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
NHS England and NHS Improvement’s data shows that to 3 November 2021 the average number of staff in National Health Service trusts absent due to sickness or self-isolation in the preceding week was 72,355 per day, of which 14,316 staff were absent for COVID-19 related reasons. This compares to a peak of over 155,000 absences per day in April 2020 and almost 100,000 absences per day in January 2021.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 ensure that the proposed reforms to Public Health England will enhance the role of nature-based interventions to support health and wellbeing.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Prevention of ill-health remains a top priority. In July 2020, Environment Secretary George Eustice announced a £4.27 million investment for a cross-government project aimed at preventing and tackling mental ill health through green social prescribing.
The Government will continue its focus on health improvement and preventing ill-health, with support from the expert teams who currently sit in PHE, who will continue with their excellent work. We will be consulting with staff and engaging with an external stakeholder advisory group on where PHE’s health improvement functions would be best placed in order to support the public health system in our aim to increase healthy life expectancy.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of access to national parks on (a) mental and (b) physical recovery from illness.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government wants people to remain fit and active at all times. The Chief Medical Officer is clear that being physically active is important to long-term health and crucial for keeping people healthy during the ongoing pandemic. Evidence suggests that regular physical activity can promote good physical health and help manage stress and anxiety.
Throughout the pandemic, parks and outdoor green spaces have remained open. People are able to go outdoors for a walk, run, cycle or any other independent way they normally get active. The Government has published detailed guidance for members of the public on how they can exercise outdoors and for outdoor facilities on re-opening.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 the operation of hospices of the increase in employer pension contributions.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department has made no assessment of the impact the increase in the NHS Pension Scheme employer contribution rate will have on hospice operations. It is for hospices as individual employers to oversee how they operate within the available budget.
In addition to the long-term funding settlement for the National Health Service, HM Treasury committed to providing extra funding to meet the costs of to the NHS arising from the ongoing actuarial valuation of the NHS Pension Scheme. Work is ongoing to ensure the additional cost to participating employers is appropriately funded. Discussions are underway with NHS England and NHS Improvement to determine the optimum method for distributing this funding to NHS commissioners and service providers. Arrangements will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has commissioned or undertaken external workforce modelling for nursing.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Department works closely with Health Education England (HEE), the organisation that has responsibility for workforce planning, to understand the nursing workforce supply and demand by using analytical modelling techniques. In developing their workforce plans, HEE engages with a range of stakeholders including professional bodies and sustainability and transformation partnership.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of a junior doctor's training.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Personal Social Services Research Unit at the University of Kent estimates within their report ‘Unit Costs of Health and Social Care 2016’, published December 2016, that the average cost in 2015/16 of training a junior doctor up to specialty registrar is £383,563. This figure is the total cost of training including costs to the public purse and the individual.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 12 October 2015 to Question 10658, whether the national improvement framework for hepatitis C services will contain guidance on (a) commissioning responsibilities and (b) patient pathways.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Commissioning responsibilities for hepatitis C are divided between NHS England, clinical commissioning groups and local authorities. In the light of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published guidance for the anti-viral drugs, the successful establishment of Operational Delivery Networks across England, and the rapidly widening access to curative treatment to thousands of patients, the draft Improvement Framework does not provide detailed commissioning guidance or patient pathways. NHS England is exploring how such guidance might be developed through its collaborative commissioning arrangements.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to NHS England's document, Commissioning Intentions 2016/2017 for Prescribed Specialist Services, published in September 2015, what plans are being put in place by NHS regions which will focus on development of hepatitis C Operational Delivery Networks; and how such plans will relate to the national improvement framework for hepatitis C services.
Answered by Jane Ellison
NHS England’s commissioning intentions recognise that following their establishment in August 2015, Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) will need to continue to be developed as a mechanism for ensuring equitable access to expert multidisciplinary team care and treatment for hepatitis C. ODNs are working to develop their plans, based on the published service specification and with the support of local specialised commissioning teams and regional Clinical Directors of specialised commissioning. Work is also underway to establish by February 2016 a national network of ODN clinical leads to share good practice. The formation of ODNs provides an opportunity for local collaborative commissioning conversations about hepatitis C pathways beyond the remit of specialised or health and justice services. In addition, the draft hepatitis C improvement framework includes a numbers of areas pertinent to ODN operation and will therefore support further development of their role.