Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many inpatient beds there were at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in (a) 2015-16 and (b) 2009-10.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the following table.
NHS England advises that, during the past 24 months, Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has reduced the number of acute hospital beds on its King’s Mill Hospital site. This is as a result of improved patient flow and integrated working with community services, reducing unnecessary waits for rehabilitation and discharge.
There has been a long-term trend in the reduction of beds open overnight. A shift towards day case procedures, along with decreasing average length of stay, has reduced the demand for overnight beds in hospital.
Average daily number of available consultant-led beds open overnight by sector at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, in 2009/10 and 2015/16
| Total | General and Acute | Learning Disabilities | Maternity | Mental Illness |
2009/10 | 697 | 648 | - | 49 | - |
2015/16 | 674 | 626 | - | 48 | - |
Source: Bed availability and occupancy, NHS England
Notes:
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the reasons for life expectancy of residents of Ashfield being lower than the national average.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
There has been a significant increase in life expectancy in Ashfield since 2000/02 in line with the national trend. The current life expectancy at birth for both males (78.0 years) and females (82.0 years) in Ashfield is significantly lower than the national average (79.5 years and 83.2 years respectively).
The rate of mortality from causes considered preventable was 210.7 per 100,000; this is significantly higher than the national average of 182.7 per 100,000.
Our health as individuals, and as communities, is influenced by many factors including the social and economic environment in which we are raised, live and work.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average response time was to emergency red calls for ambulance services in (a) the East Midlands and (b) England in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The information is not available in the format requested. NHS England publishes the number of Category A Red One and Red Two calls responded to within eight minutes and the number of ambulances arriving at the scene within 19 minutes for a Category A call.
This data is published on a monthly basis at both an England national level and at individual ambulance trust level. Data up to August 2016, Ambulance System Indicators Time Series to August 2016, is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans routinely to offer screening tests for Group B Strep to pregnant women as part of their antenatal care.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is in the process of updating its evidence review into antenatal screening for Group B Streptococcus (GBS) in accordance with its published three year review cycle.
When the update is completed, a public consultation on the evidence review document will begin, and will remain open for a three month period.
The UK NSC will then review the recommendation for GBS, taking into consideration the outcomes of the public consultation and the evidence review, at the successive meeting.
More information and how to contribute to the public consultation will be available at the following link:
http://legacy.screening.nhs.uk/screening-recommendations.php
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to reply to the letter of 18 July 2016 from the hon. Member for Ashfield on the proposed closure of the children's heart surgery unit at Glenfield Hospital.
Answered by Philip Dunne
I responded to the hon. Member’s letter on 11 October.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on hearing and sight tests being carried out by school nurses in primary schools.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
At the age of school entry, most children will have a hearing test and an eye test. The tests may be conducted at school but can be carried out elsewhere depending upon the arrangements in the local area.
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises Ministers and the National Health Service about all aspects of screening policy and supports implementation. Using research evidence, pilot programmes and economic evaluation, it assesses the evidence for programmes against a set of internationally recognised criteria.
In November 2013 the UK NSC re-affirmed its recommendation that child vision screening between four and five years of age should be offered by an orthoptic-led service. Public Health England is working to improve the quality and consistency of current vision screening services across the UK.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce health inequalities in areas of high deprivation.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Reducing health inequalities is a priority for this Government.
The Department takes a comprehensive and strategic approach to tackling health inequalities that addresses the wider social causes of ill health, promotes healthier lifestyles for all, tackles differences in both access to, and outcomes from, health and public health services. Action is led locally to ensure that the solutions put in place reflect the needs of individual communities.
Achieving measureable and sustained reductions in health inequalities is integral to the Department’s Shared Delivery Plan 2015-20, and reflected in the Government’s mandate to NHS England, Public Health England’s (PHE’s) Evidence into Action and supporting strategic and business plans at national and local level. NHS England’s Business Plan for 2016/17 prioritises closing the gap for groups experiencing poorer health outcomes, a poorer experience of, and access to, healthcare. PHE is supporting local and national efforts to address health inequalities by providing knowledge and intelligence, and evidence-informed tools and advice.
To support this, the Department has published Improving outcomes and supporting transparency: A public health outcomes framework for England 2013-16. The framework’s vision is to improve and protect the nation’s health and wellbeing, and improve the health of the poorest fastest. It is focused on the two high-level outcomes we want to achieve across the public health system and beyond. The first is increased healthy life expectancy; the second is reduced differences in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy between communities through greater improvements in more disadvantaged communities.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had in recent months with (a) Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and (b) Nottingham University Hospitals Trust on potential financial support from his Department to cover the costs of Sherwood Forest's PFI arrangements.
Answered by George Freeman
The Department has not received an application for Private Finance Iinitiative financial support associated with the proposed Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust long term partnership.
The Department has taken part in a brief initial discussion with Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust’s advisors and NHS Improvement in relation to the process, timescales and other relevant issues associated with the long term partnership. However financial plans for the long term partnership have not yet been put forward to the Department to enable formal financial discussions.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients waited more than (a) one, (b) two, (c) three and (d) four hours for an ambulance in the East Midlands in (i) 2013-14, (ii) 2014-15 and (iii) 2015-16.
Answered by Ben Gummer
The information requested is not held centrally. It may be available directly from East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust.