Gosport Investigation
Jackie Doyle-Price Excerpts(6 years, 2 months ago)
Written StatementsRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
The Gosport independent panel announced on 21 February that its disclosure to the Gosport families will be on 20 June 2018 in Portsmouth. The Gosport independent panel was formally established in July 2014. The panel is chaired by Bishop James Jones and its role is to review the documentary evidence held across a range of organisations concerning the initial care of families’ relatives and the subsequent investigations into their deaths in Gosport War Memorial Hospital.
[HCWS478]
Woodlands Hospice, Aintree
Jackie Doyle-Price Excerpts(6 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
I thank the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton (Dan Carden) for the way in which he has approached this debate. I commend him on making an excellent speech, as he could not have been better at articulating the positive contribution that hospices make. I do not think there was anything in his speech with which I disagreed, which is quite unusual.
I was struck by the hon. Gentleman’s description of hospices as places where people go to live. When I visit hospices, I am struck by the very real efforts that their staff go to to make them comforting places. It can be a more difficult time for the loved ones than it is for the person who is ending their life, but they really are comforting places, and the hon. Gentleman is right to pay tribute to all the staff who work in them.
The hon. Gentleman powerfully praised the efforts of his own hospice, Woodlands, which is clearly providing an excellent service. I am grateful that he has given me the opportunity to address some of the concerns and make it clear how much we value the contribution that hospices make to the NHS.
It is testament to the excellence of our hospice sector that last October’s “State of Care” report by the Care Quality Commission showed that 70% of hospices are rated as good and 25% as outstanding. Those figures are higher than for any other secondary care service, which illustrates the significance of hospices’ contribution. Woodlands Hospice received a good rating in the CQC report. Like the hon. Gentleman, I congratulate its hard-working staff and volunteers on ensuring that patients get the personalised care and support that they need.
NHS England has advised that Liverpool clinical commissioning group, which is the main commissioner for the hospice—I hear what the hon. Gentleman says about there being more than one CCG, which probably adds to the strain on the hospice with regard to long-term funding—provides £900,000 of funding a year. Sefton also provides £240,000 per year, which brings the total amount provided to the hospice to over £1 million a year. As the hon. Gentleman outlined, the CCGs of Liverpool, South Sefton and Knowsley are in the process of reviewing their end-of-life care provision. They are taking into account population need, service demand, and all providers of that care, including Woodlands Hospice.
I am sure that the hon. Gentleman welcomes, as I do, the attention that local healthcare planners are giving to this important area of care. I suggest that the commissioners should pay close attention to what the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues have said tonight, speaking on behalf of their communities, about the value they place on this service. I hope that the commissioners will also take note of my comments when I say that the hospice sector, and this particular hospice, are making a very real contribution to people at the end of their life.
I know that many Members have hospices in their constituencies that they support and champion, so I thought that it might be helpful if I set out the broader position on hospice funding. As the hon. Gentleman outlined, the sector is characterised by strong voluntary contributions and philanthropic activity, which is to be celebrated.
We have 223 registered independent hospices and small number of public hospices that are run internally by NHS trusts. Around three quarters of hospices provide adult services, with the remainder caring for children and young people. The hospice movement was established from charitable and philanthropic donations, so the vast majority of hospices rely heavily on charitable income for the lion’s share of their budgets, but they do receive some statutory funding from CCGs and the Government for providing local services. As the hon. Gentleman suggested, the statutory funding varies from place to place for a wide number of reasons—he highlighted deprivation as one of them—but adult hospices receive an average of 30% of their overall funding from the NHS.
Funding remains a local decision, which I think is right, and the hon. Gentleman will be aware that we take deprivation into account when making our allocations to CCGs. He referred to long-term funding stability and the importance of knowing how much the Government will provide, and I will reflect on that important point. It would be good practice to give as much certainty as possible, which is a principle of our health funding more generally, so that will bear examination.
Mr George Howarth (Knowsley) (Lab)
I am grateful that the Minister has committed to reflect on the thoughts of my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Walton (Dan Carden) about a national framework, but the difficulty in having locally determined support from CCGs is that that will inevitably vary from place to place. Some CCGs are under much more financial pressure than others, which is why it is important that we have some kind of national framework.
Jackie Doyle-Price
I would not want to depart from the principle that this is for local decision makers, but that is not to say we do not make clear our expectations about what CCGs should be delivering as we develop our national policies on end of life, and support for hospices forms part of that. Given the number of people who pass away in hospices and the care that they receive, we would encourage CCGs to carefully consider the extent to which they support hospices.
In addition to NHS funding for locally commissioned services, children’s hospices receive £11 million through the children’s hospice grant, which is awarded annually and administered by the NHS. Children’s hospices tend to receive smaller amounts of statutory funding because of how they have developed and the services that they provide. Unlike adult hospices, which tend to be more focused on end-of-life care services, children’s hospices can provide support for much of a child’s life, and that can involve not only more clinical care, but much more support for families.
It is worth highlighting the point made by the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton that philanthropic support does not just mean money. I pay tribute to all those involved in volunteering in hospices. That is a fantastic example of how communities come together to bring out the best in people, so I thank everyone involved in that work.
Members may be reassured to hear that, to improve commissioning arrangements, NHS England is making a new palliative care pricing system available in April. That should help local areas to plan services, and it will also encourage more consistency and, perhaps, transparency in how much CCGs are supporting the sector.
While hospices are, of course, an important feature of end-of-life care provision in this country, it is important to see them within the wider context of our ambitions for such care. As the hon. Gentleman mentioned, the Government have published the end-of-life care choice commitment, which is designed to transform end-of-life care, and the hospice sector is an important partner in that process. We are determined to significantly improve patient choice by enabling more people to die in the place of their choice, be that at home, in a hospice, in a care home or in hospital. Our commitment is to set out the further action that we will take to deliver high-quality, personalised end-of-life care for everyone, including by delivering advance care planning and ensuring that we have the necessary conversations earlier. I draw Members’ attention to the reference to hospice care at home, which is a significant aspect of the programme. We need to make sure that more people are aware of what their options are, and we need to encourage innovation in end-of-life care. In collaboration with partners from the voluntary sector, including key hospice and end-of-life charities, the Government and NHS England have been working to make sure that the quality and availability of end-of-life care services continue to improve and that our end-of-life care commitment is delivered.
As I have already mentioned, the Government believe it is right that CCGs have the autonomy to shape local services according to local need, but it is important that we do more to provide commissioners with the tools, evidence, support and guidance to demonstrate the benefits of delivering our vision for end-of-life care. A crucial part of that is strengthening the provision of end-of-life care services outside hospital and in the community so that people can make the choice of where they wish to end their life.
To deliver this, we are working with sustainability and transformation partnerships so that there is tailored information to assess where we need further investment, commissioning and intervention. NHS England is also a member of the national palliative and end-of-life care partnership, which is made up of charities and organisations from across the health and care system that have together developed a framework for improving end-of-life care at a local level. More guidance will be published through that body soon.
NHS England has also commissioned Hospice UK to undertake an evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of hospice-led interventions in the community. I fully anticipate that could be a good news in support of the hon. Gentleman’s arguments. Although many such care models exist across England, there is poor data on what are the most effective approaches, which makes it rather more difficult for CCGs to confidently commission such services. The project will examine hospice-led initiatives that appear to be having a positive impact on where people are cared for, as well as on where they die. The Department and NHS England will pay close attention to the findings when they are made available, which should be next month.
We fully acknowledge that more needs to be done if we are to meet our ambition to reduce variations in end-of-life care and to ensure that the system works effectively to support more people to die in the place of their choice. However, I am confident that through NHS England’s programme board for end-of-life care, with all key system partners and stakeholders, including the hospice sector, we have the best opportunity to continue delivering the progress in end-of-life care that we all want, however and wherever it is provided. I cannot emphasise enough that hospices are central to our commitment. Local commissioners will wish to reflect on all the comments that were made in this evening’s debate when they come to make their allocations, and I wish Woodlands Hospice every success in the future.
Question put and agreed to.
Oral Answers to Questions
Jackie Doyle-Price Excerpts(6 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Emma Dent Coad (Kensington) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
I am very grateful to have the opportunity to pay tribute to the NHS staff who continue to work tirelessly to support the victims of the fire and their families. So far, more than 4,000 contacts have been made. Over 400 adults are currently in treatment and 96 have completed their treatment.
Emma Dent Coad
We have heard the Minister’s words and a litany of numbers. I have two further questions. First, is she considering long-term funding for mental health services around Grenfell, which will be needed, and need to be planned for, for possibly up to five years? Secondly, is she addressing the severe shortage of acute beds for those suffering mental health crises, which was mentioned earlier, particularly as there is an entire ward under lock and key at the Gordon Hospital due to lack of staff funding and a huge need for acute beds there?
Jackie Doyle-Price
The hon. Lady is quite right to press me on these issues. Clearly, there is going to be ongoing trauma, and we need to pay attention to that and make sure that there are adequate resources. I can assure her that this is very high on the list of priorities for the ministerial group. We have committed £23.9 million of national Government funds to address survivors’ needs, with additional expenditure on wider support. The autumn Budget committed a further £28 million to help support victims. I can also assure her that I am in regular contact with Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust to make sure that we are doing our bit to address this need.
Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby) (Lab)
Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
This Government want to see all children and young people get the best start in life. We are implementing a wide range of policies to improve child health, including the most ambitious childhood obesity plan in the world, transformation of children’s mental health and maternity services, improving immunisation rates and tackling child sexual abuse.
Gavin Newlands
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health recently praised NHS Scotland’s innovations to improve children’s health. The Scottish initiative Childsmile, which is now 10 years old, has greatly improved children’s dental health, reducing fillings by 24% and cutting annual dental treatment by £5 million. It is good that the UK Government have finally set up trial sites, but with multiple dental extractions under general anaesthetic up by 11%, why is this initiative not being rolled out to all children in England?
Jackie Doyle-Price
The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight that, and we are always keen to respond to any representations made on this very important issue. We are also very keen to learn from the other nations about this area, because it is clear that the more we can do with early intervention in childhood, the better we protect people’s long-term health. I will look more specifically into that.
Dr Caroline Johnson (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)
As a children’s doctor, children’s health is very important to me, and the case of children’s doctor, Dr Bawa-Garba, worries me and doctors up and down the country. In NHS practice, I have seen the adverse effect on reflective practice and the impact that it has on staff morale. Ultimately, that will impact on patient safety. I know that the Secretary of State shares my concerns, and I ask him to tell the House what he is going to do about it.
Jackie Doyle-Price
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will be addressing that in a little while. The whole issue of reflective learning is important. We should not, through this case, prevent people from being honest about the experiences that they have had.
Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)
Jackie Doyle-Price
We are becoming increasingly conscious of drinks with additional unnatural stimulants and their impact on people’s health generally, but obviously that becomes more acute with children’s health, so we will look more closely at it. I am glad that the hon. Gentleman has highlighted the initiatives that have been taken by individual retailers, because it is up to them to implement good practice.
Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Con)
Does my hon. Friend agree that the best way to achieve strong health and good mental health for children is at the very earliest stages and through forming a strong attachment between that child and their parent in the first 1,001 days from conception? If so, why is there not more in the mental health Green Paper about perinatal mental health?
Jackie Doyle-Price
The Green Paper very much focuses on what we are doing in schools, but my hon. Friend is absolutely right. He highlights the earliest of early intervention, and one reason why we are investing so much more in perinatal mental health is to ensure that the bonds between mother and baby are as strong as they can possibly be.
Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West) (Lab)
Following the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Blaenau Gwent (Nick Smith) and the Minister’s answer, may I revisit the issue of energy drinks? She might know that a 500 ml can of energy drink contains 12 teaspoons of sugar and the same amount of caffeine as a double espresso, yet energy drinks are being sold for as little as 25p to children as young as 10, and around one in three young people say they regularly consume them. Given the health risks associated with energy drinks, will she tell me more about what steps she and her Department are taking to reduce energy drink sales to and consumption by children?
Jackie Doyle-Price
The hon. Lady will know that action against sugar is very much part of the childhood obesity plan that the Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Winchester (Steve Brine), is taking forward, but there is a lot more we can do to address the concerns about caffeine, which I know is high on his “to do” list. We will no doubt have more exchanges on this subject in due course.
Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)
Laura Pidcock (North West Durham) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
The hon. Lady will know that we are currently implementing the findings of the expert working group, and we are continuing our discussions with the all-party group to see how much further we can go in answering people’s questions and in responding to these moving cases, one of which she has just explained to the House. Obviously I would be happy to have further discussions with any hon. Member who wants to discuss it with me further.
Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con)
In Shropshire, we have had four years of confusion on the future of our two hospitals. Will the Secretary of State tell the people of Shropshire whether there is Government funding for the proposed reconfiguration of the county’s hospitals?
Draft Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Amendment) Regulations 2018
Draft Human Tissue (Quality and Safety for Human Application) (Amendment) Regulations 2018
Jackie Doyle-Price Excerpts(6 years, 3 months ago)
General CommitteesRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Amendment) Regulations 2018.
The Chair
With this it will be convenient to consider the draft Human Tissue (Quality and Safety for Human Application) (Amendment) Regulations 2018.
Jackie Doyle-Price
It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Henry.
The draft regulations are part of a wider set of measures to implement European Union directives that set quality and safety standards for donated human tissues and cells used in treatments for patients. They will amend UK legislation to strengthen requirements relating to tracing tissues and cells from donor to patient, and imports from countries outside the European economic area. They establish a standardised EU-wide coding system to ensure the traceability of all human tissues and cells and set out what licensed establishments need to do to demonstrate that tissues and cells imported from countries outside the EU meet high safety standards.
I am sure the Committee agrees that UK patients should have every opportunity to access the life-changing therapies and treatments covered by the draft regulations, such as stem cells to treat blood cancers, corneas to restore sight, heart valves to treat heart conditions, and skin grafts to treat burns, to name but a few. Such tissues and cells may be donated in the UK, in European countries or anywhere in the world, so we need to know that they are safe to use. The group of directives is underpinned by a simple aim: to ensure that tissues and cells used in treatment meet high standards, wherever they come from.
Being able to trace tissues and cells from their original donor to their final use in patients’ treatment, and back again, is important for identification purposes, so that if a patient suffers a serious adverse reaction, donors and other recipients can be traced quickly to minimise the risk of further harm. It is also important for patient safety that tissues and cells imported from countries around the world meet the same quality and safety standards as those from within the EU. The draft regulations will achieve that.
As the world leader in tissue banking, the UK has welcomed the proposal to introduce a European tissues and cells directive since it was first made in 2002. We were already taking action to ensure high standards of quality and safety for human tissues and cells, but we supported the directive because it meant that the voluntary tissue bank scheme already in operation would be made statutory, improving confidence that all tissue banks would meet the highest standards across the EU.
Although I am pleased to say that the UK has not experienced any major incidents involving problems with identification or traceability, the draft regulations will guarantee that no such problems will arise in future. It should also be noted that tissues and cells regularly move between licensed establishments and across international borders, which makes an internationally recognised identification code necessary.
Although UK legislation largely achieves the aims of the coding and import directives, it does not yet meet all their specific requirements. The regulations will transpose the directives’ provisions into UK law and make us consistent with the EU. Our priority is to maintain the same high standards of safety and quality after our exit from the EU. Regardless of our future relationship, the draft regulations are important for the safety of all patients.
Requirements for reproductive cells are set out in the draft Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Amendment) Regulations, which amend the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. Requirements for all other human tissues and cells—other than organs and blood, which have their own legislation—are set out in the draft Human Tissue (Quality and Safety for Human Application) (Amendment) Regulations, which amend the Human Tissue (Quality and Safety for Human Application) Regulations 2007. We intend both draft regulations to come into effect on 1 April.
A range of consultation activities have taken place to consider how the provisions of the draft regulations will work and to assess their impact on licensed establishments. I am aware that the competent authorities have done a lot to prepare licensed establishments for the regulations’ implementation, and I am grateful to them for that work.
Although there are gains for the UK in transposing these directives, there will of course be a cost to those establishments, including those in the NHS, in implementing the regulations. For some it will involve investment in new IT software, but the regulations will be drafted to ensure that there are no unnecessary administrative burdens or costs placed on these licensing establishments. They transpose the directives while avoiding any element of gold-plating, which we have done to minimise the cost to the NHS.
In conclusion, the regulations fulfil a UK obligation as a current member of the European Union. More importantly, they bring into UK law provisions to enhance our already robust controls that ensure that donated human tissues and cells used in the treatment of others meet the highest quality and safety standards. We recognise that these tissues and cells are increasingly travelling between countries, so we all want a safety system that protects patients and also supports wide access to treatment. I commend the regulations to the Committee.
Jackie Doyle-Price
I thank both Front-Bench speakers for the constructive way they have engaged with the regulations. It is testament to the fact that we are all interested in one goal, which is improving safety and standards for patients. It is absolutely right that we probe the important issues that have been raised here.
With regard to the one-off exemptions, what we are trying to do with the coding is for tissues and materials that are stored. The one-offs that we have referred to tend to be when we find a match. They are not stored and are unlikely to be between different countries. However, things can change and we need to future-proof all these regulations to ensure that patient safety is guaranteed.
The hon. Member for Central Ayrshire rightly reminded us of CJD and contaminated blood. Those issues illustrate powerfully what can happen when things go wrong or we do not maintain those standards. I assure her that within the Department we will be keeping an eye on changing standards internationally. These regulations have come from the European Union, but we are always keen to learn from international experience about how we can improve safety standards. We should never stop being vigilant in pursuit of that.
The hon. Member for Washington and Sunderland West also mentioned the issue of costs, which is a fair concern. I appreciate that with the implementation of any regulation there will be a cost to establishments, and that includes the NHS. We have done everything we can to keep those costs to a minimum. We have avoided any gold-plating, which Governments of all colours have often been criticised for in the past. We have been keen not to create additional significant costs for establishments.
We think that the biggest cost will be within the fertility sector. There will be 92 establishments that will have to implement the regulations. We believe that the costs will apply only to special kinds of printers, staff training and the upgrading of IT systems. We do not expect that that will be very onerous, but we will keep an eye on it. With that, I thank the Front Benchers and commend the regulations to the Committee.
Question put and agreed to.
DRAFT HUMAN TISSUE (QUALITY AND SAFETY FOR HUMAN APPLICATION) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS 2018
Resolved,
That the Committee has considered the draft Human Tissue (Quality and Safety for Human Application) (Amendment) Regulations 2018.—(Jackie Doyle-Price.)
Health Technology Update
Jackie Doyle-Price Excerpts(6 years, 3 months ago)
Written StatementsRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
On Monday 15 January 2018 EMIS Group plc (EMIS) notified NHS Digital regarding under-reporting of issues with their general practice clinical systems provided under the General Practice Systems of Choice (GPSoC) contract.
The Department of Health and Social Care was informed by NHS Digital, which manages the contract, on Tuesday 16 January. EMIS has today informed the London Stock Exchange of this matter.
EMIS’s chief medical officer has confirmed that an internal clinical safety review found no issues of concern. A review by NHS Digital’s clinical safety team has found no evidence that patient safety has been put at risk.
NHS Digital is conducting a detailed investigation to establish both the cause and accountability for the under-reporting with the full co-operation of EMIS. Any settlement or other actions will be dependent on the outcome of this process. NHS Digital will also consider what lessons can be learned more widely.
I will provide a further update to Parliament once this important work is complete.
[HCWS406]
Cancer Treatment: Patient Travel Times
Jackie Doyle-Price Excerpts(6 years, 4 months ago)
Westminster HallRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Christopher. It is also a pleasure to respond to the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron). I wish to associate myself with his opening comments in praise of the NHS. Demand for NHS services is constantly increasing. We always want the best we can possible get, but by making that case, we often sound as if we are talking the NHS down. Nothing could be further from the truth—we have the best national health service in the world. I am glad to see that the hon. Gentleman is nodding his head, and I am grateful for the persuasive way in which he made his case. He can consider that a very good representation in response to the consultation to which he referred. The points he has made will be reflected on keenly.
Improving cancer outcomes remains a priority for the Government. The work under way is making a difference: cancer survival rates in England have never been higher and have increased year-on-year since 2010. The decrease in cancer deaths means that around 7,000 people are alive today who would not have been had things stayed the same.
We are committed to implementing every one of the 96 recommendations in the cancer strategy for England and to making a difference to the millions of people living with the disease and the thousands more diagnosed each year. We are providing the funding to match our commitment. NHS England has confirmed £607 million in funding to support the delivery of the strategy between 2017-18 and 2020-21.
We want our cancer services to be the best in the world, and we want patients to have access to the treatment and services that will give them the best chance of a successful clinical outcome. That includes the time they spend travelling for treatment. We know that cancer treatments can be arduous. Patients often undergo treatment daily and treatments can last several weeks at a time. Ideally, we want patients to have treatments at their local hospital.
However, specialised cancer treatments are not always best delivered locally. We want patients to have the best possible care available, but for certain cancers that sometimes means seeing a specialist multidisciplinary team with a full range of clinical expertise and capability. Although local is good, we clearly cannot always have specialist care provided as locally as we would like.
A perfect example of that is proton beam therapy treatment. Patients with high-priority cancer types requiring that treatment are sent to Florida and Switzerland at great cost to the NHS, because we have been unable to provide it here. In April 2012, the Government announced a £250 million investment to build proton beam therapy treatment facilities at the Christie in Manchester and University College London Hospitals. The Christie’s facilities will become operational later this year and will offer patients access to world-class treatment on the NHS.
Over the last few years, we have seen astounding technological advances. The UK is leading from the front in using cutting-edge technology in the form of whole genome sequencing to transform healthcare and health research. Wherever possible, it is right that patients have easy access to those life-saving treatments.
The same principle applies to radiotherapy. Around four in 10 of all NHS cancer patients are treated using radiotherapy. Recent advances have helped to target radiation doses at cancer cells more precisely, which means far fewer doses, better outcomes and improved quality of life for patients. That is a crucial part of why survival rates have continuously risen in England.
One of the cancer strategy’s key objectives is to deliver a modern, high-quality cancer service. In October 2016, NHS England announced a £130 million fund to modernise radiotherapy across England that will upgrade or replace older treatment devices over two years.
Tim Farron
The hon. Lady mentioned proton beam therapy, which is a wonderful treatment. We are grateful for the investment of more than one Government, which has ensured that it is coming to Manchester and London. She also talked about upgrading existing equipment, which is a reminder that 80% of commonly occurring cancers will still be treated by linear accelerators, albeit regularly upgraded. Therefore the delivery of proton beam therapy and other specialist and precise treatments, and the investment in more locally delivered treatment from linear accelerators in places such as Westmorland, are not mutually exclusive. We need to do both.
Jackie Doyle-Price
I absolutely agree—the two are complementary and need to be key ingredients in a successful strategy to combat cancer.
NHS England is not only modernising existing radiotherapy services; it is currently consulting on a new model for them, as the hon. Gentleman said. The aim is to encourage radiotherapy providers to work together in networks to concentrate expertise and improve pathways for patients requiring radical radiotherapy for less common cancers. That will help to improve access to more innovative radiotherapy treatments, increase clinical trial recruitment and ensure that radiotherapy equipment is fully utilised. There is no intention to reduce the number of radiotherapy providers, nor is that considered to be a likely outcome of the proposals being consulted on.
We will continue to ensure that travel times are taken into consideration when looking at cancer treatment in this country. The National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service is evaluating the impact on cancer outcomes of patients living different distances from a cancer centre. Public Health England is also testing travel times from several available datasets, so a programme of work can be established that incorporates data on travel times.
One of the first outputs of that work will be a report on whether there is any demonstrable difference in radiotherapy treatments associated with the time taken to travel to a specialist cancer centre. We expect the first results of that work to be published in the spring. I am sure the hon. Gentleman will have a considerable interest in the outcome.
In the current NHS England consultation, there are proposals that would allow local commissioners and providers to plan, review and redesign services through a joint radiotherapy board. Any case for change would determine the optimum location to achieve the best impact for patients, so it would be possible for patients requiring radiotherapy for common cancers to be treated at a satellite centre. Specialised commissioners will always want to balance patient travel with issues such as the sustainability of the service, whether the service is accessible enough to patients to be financially viable, and ensuring that patients who have to travel are supported in other ways, including through transport and accommodation.
I hope that meets with a positive reaction from the hon. Gentleman. We are consulting on making services more accessible and looking at travel times. I dare say that we will continue to have this debate over the coming months, not least because of his private Member’s Bill.
I understand that the hon. Gentleman recently met his local clinical commissioning group at Morecambe Bay to discuss the accessibility of services. I am encouraged that that dialogue is taking place at a local level.
I hope that what I have set out gives the hon. Gentleman some reassurance. I emphasise that cancer remains a priority for the Government. We remain committed to ensuring the best possible treatment and to achieving easy access in terms of travelling time for all cancer patients, regardless of where they live. I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for securing this debate.
Question put and agreed to.
Oral Answers to Questions
Jackie Doyle-Price Excerpts(6 years, 4 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
An impact assessment has been published as part of the Government’s public consultation, and it suggests that moving towards an opt-out system for organ donation, as part of a wider communication and logistical package, can be associated with higher donation rates. The Government have invited submissions of further evidence, which we will consider carefully before responding. We have already received in excess of 2,000 responses since the consultation started last week.
Glyn Davies
As someone with a long-standing passion to increase the number of organs available for donation, I am encouraged by the Minister’s response. Does she think that the shift from the current voluntary system to one where the state makes decisions based on presumed consent had an impact on the reduction in the number of live donors over the past three years?
Jackie Doyle-Price
I part with my hon. Friend on his point about the state taking control through presumed consent. We are talking about a register from which people could physically opt out, rather than opt in. The issues about end-of-life consent will continue to be the same, and the next of kin will be a full consultee. As for live donation, the issues are complex, but one reason why we are seeing a decline is that the waiting lists for receiving an organ are coming down, which is reducing the need for live donors. We should keep a watching brief on that.
Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central) (Lab)
Part of the evidence base relates to the fact that hundreds of people die each year because we do not have enough organ donors, so I thank the Minister for her work in bringing forward this consultation. What more can be done to widen public participation?
Jackie Doyle-Price
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his support and for his hard work in this space. Through him, I can perhaps thank the Daily Mirror for its public displays of education through the Max’s law campaign, but we all need to make an effort. There is no doubt that the public are hugely in favour of donation and want to be able to support it as best they can, but the matter has rather fallen from public consciousness. Everyone in the House has an opportunity to raise public awareness, get involved in the consultation and have a real debate, because we need to ensure that people are willing to donate their organs so that we can save more lives.
James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con)
There are already 24 million people on the voluntary organ donation register, which is a significant proportion of Great Britain’s population. None the less, three people a day die because appropriate organs are not available for transplant, and it is vital to do something about that. Is my hon. Friend aware of a particular difficulty with members of black and minority ethnic populations being more reluctant to join the register than others? Is there a way to encourage them to take part in the voluntary scheme?
Jackie Doyle-Price
My hon. Friend highlights one of the biggest challenges we face. There is no doubt that the rate of organ donation is much lower among black and minority ethnic populations, and yet they are more likely to suffer from diseases that require a donated organ, so we are keen to work on that. Only this week, I met organisations connected with the black and Asian community to discuss how we can communicate, getting the right messages through the right messengers, to encourage people to join the register.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I fully support the organ donation opt-out, because it will increase the pool of organ donors. Will the Minister comment on whether the recent statistics from the Welsh Health Department show an increase in the provision of organs due to presumed consent? In other words, has it been a success so far?
Jackie Doyle-Price
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his support. The figures from Wales come at an early stage, but the system that we are looking to introduce has much in common with that in Spain. The issue is not so much about the register moving towards an opt-out system, but the wraparound care that goes with it, such as the specialist nurses who speak with relatives when they are going through the trauma of losing a loved one, and the public debate that raises awareness. Taken together, they are what will lead to more organs becoming available.
Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby) (Lab)
Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
Councils in England will receive an additional £2 billion for social care over the next three years, as announced in March 2017. The Government have given councils access to up to £9.25 billion more dedicated funding for social care over the next three years as a result of measures introduced since 2015. This means that, overall, councils are able to increase spending on adult social care in real terms in each of the next three years.
Dan Carden
Last week’s Health Survey for England revealed that older people in more deprived areas, such as my own constituency of Liverpool, Walton, are twice as likely to have unmet social care needs and our NHS is left picking up the pieces. When will this Government stop passing the buck and bring forward concrete plans on proper investment and reform to end the national scandal that is our care system?
Jackie Doyle-Price
The entitlement to care is completely enshrined in the Care Act 2014, so if needs are not being met, there is a statutory obligation that can be enforced. On the long-term solutions, obviously, we have put in additional money to sort out the short-term funding pressures, but we need to have a long-term and more sustainable deal with which to meet our obligations for social care, which is why we are bringing forward a Green Paper next year. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will participate in that debate.
Nick Smith
Following Four Seasons’ temporary reprieve from administration, what plans are in place to help councils to deliver their statutory care duties in the event of the failure of this major provider?
Jackie Doyle-Price
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising this with me today, because I hope to reassure the House, and anxious people with loved ones in care with Four Seasons, that there is no immediate threat to continuity of care. I and my officials are keeping a very close eye on the situation, so that, with the Care Quality Commission, we ensure that there is a stable transition and that the commercial issues are dealt with in an appropriate way. That is leading to some very challenging conversations, but I can assure him that I and my officials are on it.
Maggie Throup (Erewash) (Con)
Given that health and social care are intrinsically linked, even more so now as sustainability and transformation plans are rolled out, does the Minister agree that now is the time to put health and social care under one roof in a combined department?
Jackie Doyle-Price
I have always thought that a silo culture was the enemy of good public policy, which means that integrating policy making across Government will tend to lead to better outcomes. I can assure my hon. Friend that I have regular conversations with the Department for Communities and Local Government and, as we approach the long-term funding pressures, we will be very much working in tandem.
Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)
The recent Health Survey showed not only that unmet needs were most concentrated among people who are the most deprived, as we have just heard, but that 2.3 million older people, aged 65 and over, now have unmet care needs—2.3 million. Neither the care Minister in her recent statement nor the Chancellor in his Budget said anything about closing the funding gap for social care. Given that the Green Paper is only scheduled for next summer, what is the Health Secretary doing about the crisis in funding social care and meeting staggering levels of unmet needs?
Jackie Doyle-Price
The hon. Lady will be aware that, immediately following these questions, we will be having a statement on funding from the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. I remind her again that we have made an additional £9.25 billion available for social care over three years, but she is right that the long-term sustainability will be addressed by reform, which is why we are bringing forward the Green Paper. As to the figures on unmet needs, I simply do not recognise them. The entitlement to care is enshrined in the Care Act, and those rights are protected.
David Morris (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Con)
Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
Although we cannot meaningfully compare between 2010 and today, I can advise that the number of NHS staff working in mental health and learning disability trusts was 162,611 in July 2013 and 166,905 in July 2017—an increase of 4,334.
Jeff Smith
That did not actually answer my question. Earlier, my hon. Friend the Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Justin Madders) read out a long list of concerned professionals, so let me add one more—Professor Wendy Burn, the president of the Royal College of Psychiatry, who said after the Budget:
“There is a real and imminent danger that the promises made to improve mental health services for the millions of people who need them are about to be betrayed.”
Is she wrong? Is it not true that without proper funding for more staff, the Prime Minister’s pledge to transform mental health services will not be met?
Jackie Doyle-Price
As the hon. Gentleman knows, we have published a workforce strategy to deliver exactly on the commitments that the Prime Minister has made. I can report that we have had a significant increase in the workforce. For example, in IAPT—improving access to psychological therapies—the number is up by 2,728 since 2012, a 47% increase. The number of psychiatry consultants is up from 4,026 in 2010 to 4,292. The number of community psychiatry nurses is up from 15,500 in 2010 to 16,658 in August 2017. We are delivering the workforce to implement the Prime Minister’s commitments. The most important thing is that rather than trade numbers, we should look at outcomes for patients and improving patient care.
Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)
Only a quarter of GPs have training in mental health, and it is usually in psychiatric conditions that they are unlikely to encounter routinely. How can we make better use of GPs in mental health?
Jackie Doyle-Price
As my right hon. Friend identifies, training is key, and another central point is GPs’ ability to signpost people to appropriate treatments and therapies, which is exactly why we are investing in specialist care.
Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)
Jackie Doyle-Price
The hon. Lady raises exactly the point that we are trying to address through the Green Paper. We are committed to delivering on the four-week waiting time by 2020, which will make sure that we treat over 70,000 more children with mental health issues that need to be addressed. I will be quite honest: this is not where I want us to be, but that is exactly why the Government have made it a priority and we will deliver by 2020.
Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)
Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
We remain committed to reducing the national suicide rate by 10% by 2020, and our record investment in mental health will ensure that we can achieve that ambition. Local suicide prevention plans now cover 98% of the country, and we updated the cross-government suicide prevention strategy in January to strengthen key areas for action, including by focusing on self-harm as an area in its own right.
Maria Caulfield
My constituent Justin Bartholomew, a young man of just 25, recently committed suicide by hanging himself. His family are convinced that the high-energy drinks that he was taking—more than 15 cans a day—increased his anxiety and contributed to his suicide. As there is growing concern about the safety of such energy drinks, may I ask the Minister what assessment of that the Department is undertaking?
Jackie Doyle-Price
I thank my hon. Friend for sharing that very moving case. We have no evidence at this stage that those drinks cause such outcomes, but we know that all stimulants, whether alcohol or caffeine, have consequences that can affect people’s mental health. That is something that bears examination.
Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)
What discussions is the Minister having across the United Kingdom to ensure that best practice in dealing with suicide rates, and in particular the escalating rates in the regions of the UK, can be replicated across the United Kingdom as a whole?
Jackie Doyle-Price
I am always keen to learn from areas of the United Kingdom where things are going well. As the hon. Gentleman will be aware, our suicide prevention strategy is very much rooted in local prevention plans. Although 98% of the country is covered by those plans, we really want to do a proper audit of how good they are. That will enable us to share best practice across the nations.
Several hon. Members rose—
Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
We have assessed children and young people’s mental health as part of our ongoing work to improve services, and the results of our assessments have led to £1.4 billion of extra funding to support locally led transformation plans. The recent Green Paper aims to improve the provision of services in schools, bolster links between schools and the NHS, and pilot a four-week waiting time target.
Mr Reed
Many young people with mental ill health report that crisis care is not good enough. Of course, the pressures on them can get even worse over Christmas, so will the Government back the call by the charity YoungMinds to set up a crisis hotline for children and young people that would be available through the existing 111 service?
Jackie Doyle-Price
We are approaching Christmas, and the hon. Gentleman is quite right to highlight the fact that it can often be the moment of greatest crisis for people with mental health issues. I was with the Samaritans yesterday to commend it for all its work—it is obviously a good pathway to help—but, absolutely, we will speak with YoungMinds.
Trudy Harrison
“Jesse Evans—Autism Adventures” highlights the daily challenges faced by families living with autism, who are supported by self-sustaining groups such as Autism around the Combe. Will the Minister explain how the recent announcement of a multimillion pound development at West Cumberland Hospital will help those families?
Jackie Doyle-Price
My hon. Friend highlights the great synergy between those health services that the Government can provide, on which people obviously rely, and self-help, which is very important, as well as the help that people can give each other when they share their experiences. I commend the work of Jesse Evans and his “Autism Adventures” blog, which is extremely positive and educational.
Christopher Pincher
My clinical commissioning group delivers better-than-average waiting times for mental health talking therapies and follows up 99% of all vulnerable people within a week of their first appointment. It does all that and more on significantly less than the average budget nationally, so will my hon. Friend look at south-east Staffordshire as a case study for delivering a good service with value for money?
Jackie Doyle-Price
How can I say no to such a proposition? My hon. Friend illustrates the importance of good leadership in all local communities. Where good leaders make something a priority, they will deliver good outcomes at reasonable value for money.
Mr John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)
Louise Haigh (Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab)
You may recall, Mr Speaker, that I raised earlier in the year the issue of a private mental health hospital in my constituency where a young woman had MRSA and was infecting staff and patients. Since then, there have been numerous inspections in relation to children having access to ligatures and medicines in order to overdose. Will the Secretary of State commit to a policy to ensure that no child or young person is placed in a mental health facility that is deemed unsafe?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
I commend the hon. Lady for raising this issue, which she and I have met to discuss before. She is right to highlight the ongoing inspections and issues, and I have written to her to offer to discuss the matter with her again. It is absolutely unacceptable that anybody is placed in a facility that is deemed unsafe.
Paul Masterton (East Renfrewshire) (Con)
May I thank the ministerial team on behalf of my constituent Susan Bradley for finally laying the remedial order for single-parent surrogates, and can they assure me that they will do everything they can to get it through Parliament as quickly as possible?
Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)
There is an increasing trend for women to share breast milk over the internet with no recourse to the milk banking guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Will the Minister meet me, and other members of the all-party parliamentary group on infant feeding and inequalities, to discuss the matter further and to ensure that breast milk can be used safely?
Jackie Doyle-Price
As the hon. Lady says, it is important for us to ensure that anything that happens in this space is safe, and I should be very pleased to meet her and other members of the all-party group.
Male Suicide
Jackie Doyle-Price Excerpts(6 years, 4 months ago)
Westminster HallRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Ryan. I thank the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Ged Killen) for the powerful and moving way in which he addressed this important subject. He said that this is his first Westminster Hall debate; I am sure that it will be the first of many. I encourage him to continue to look at this subject, because it is clear from the passion with which he articulated his argument that he cares deeply about it. I will always welcome hearing any representations from him.
The hon. Gentleman rightly pointed out that suicide is the biggest killer of men between the ages of 25 and 49. Any death by suicide is an avoidable death. We should always be vigilant and do what we can to tackle suicide and self-harm. There is a gender difference because suicide affects men more and women tend to self-harm more, but the motivation is the same. We should look at the same tools in order to curb them.
Every death by suicide is a tragedy. As the Minister responsible for mental health, I hear from families bereaved by suicide about the devastating impact that it has on them and on the wider community. All of us in this House will have been touched by suicide in one way or another, whether directly and personally or through the experience of constituents. It feels like society has failed those people. That is why I am determined to drive forward the action we are taking at a national level and in local communities to reduce suicides. Generally, paying greater attention to mental health will make a great deal of difference, particularly on the issues that the hon. Gentleman raised: encouraging people to be willing to talk and encouraging everyone around them to know when somebody might need help.
Danielle Rowley (Midlothian) (Lab)
As my hon. Friend the Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Ged Killen) said, the majority of people who have committed suicide never reached professional help or went to a health professional. Does the Minister agree that preventive training needs to be rolled out to people such as landlords, firemen and taxi drivers with whom people with suicidal feelings might have contact, even if they do not reach out?
Jackie Doyle-Price
In a nutshell, we all need to become much more aware about when people might show signs of mental ill health. I hope that through the programmes that we are running, the priority that we are putting on mental health will do much to raise awareness.
Obviously, we are trying to do much more in schools, following the publication of “Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision: a Green Paper”, but the category of people that the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West referred to miss all that attention. Working-class men who work on building sites are not “meant” to have mental health problems, so when they have them, nobody pays any attention, because the environment is very masculine. The hon. Gentleman identified that. They are certainly not going to seek help, so it is not surprising that that particular group of people has a very high incidence of suicide. There is a general role for public awareness.
The point that the hon. Member for Midlothian (Danielle Rowley) made about bars is a very interesting one. We are keen to use mainstream media to highlight the message. One of the reasons that we support Time to Change, which the hon. Gentleman referred to, is exactly that—to get out those populist messages to raise awareness among the whole general public, so that we can all identify when someone is in trouble.
Jackie Doyle-Price
I was not aware of Mates in Mind, but it sounds like an excellent initiative that I would be keen to support. Ultimately, we would not worry about showing up to a hospital with a broken leg, so why should we worry about seeking help when we do not feel so well mentally? There is nothing unmasculine about reaching out for help—nothing at all. We just need to make that much easier for people.
The profile of suicide has never been higher, and that is testimony to the progress we are all making—this debate is a great help—in tackling the taboo of talking about it. We need to be a lot more open about it. We must strive to reduce suicide among the whole population, but as the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West said, men are at the highest risk. Despite suicides among men having reduced in England in the past few years, the number of men who die by suicide remains too high.
The hon. Gentleman and others referred to the Samaritans, which I cannot praise enough. We are pleased to continue to support its prevention work. Frankly, given its outcomes and the lives it supports, it is a fantastic organisation and fantastic value for money. That just goes to show that personal interventions—often anonymous ones—are of most use in this area. People in this position often self-medicate using alcohol, so, as the hon. Member for Midlothian said, a stranger in a bar saying, “Are you all right, my friend?”, could make all the difference and save a life. We should encourage people to support exactly that kind of organisation.
As I said, the ONS found that construction is among the occupations with the highest incidence of suicide, so I am keen to hear more about the initiative that the hon. Member for Blaydon (Liz Twist) mentioned. It is worth noting that that kind of work is often transient: people move around to do it and it is often seasonal. We need to be sensitive to the fact that people who move in and out of work often experience additional mental pressure.
We are approaching Christmas. If there is a time of year when people feel particularly lonely, it is Christmas. Every Member here is showing an interest in this issue, so I do not need to tell them this, but we all need to be aware that people will feel lonely and will often be at their lowest ebb at Christmas, so that is when acts of kindness can mean the most.
Hugh Gaffney (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab)
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Ged Killen) for bringing this debate forward. As a trade union rep in the Royal Mail, which is male-dominated, I spoke to many men over the decades who had got to the final point, and said, “Think about it.” That did not stop one of my members taking his own life just last year. He was the life and soul of the party, as these people usually are. They really hide it. Christmas is going to be a long old time for a lot of those young men, as more and more partners are splitting up due to the pressures of life and everything else. It would be good if the Government, and all of us, sent out a Christmas message this year: “Take care and stay strong.”
Jackie Doyle-Price
I could not have put it better. That is a fantastic message to send out. I hear what the hon. Gentleman says, and I am pleased that the Royal Mail has done a lot more in this space, no doubt in partnership with the trade union. Again, I pay tribute to all that work.
As part of my support for World Suicide Prevention Day this year, I visited the Samaritans and met some of its volunteers. They have to do a good number of hours a week to maintain their status, which shows fantastic commitment on their part. I think we would all thank them for the work that they do. I am pleased that we have agreed to fund the Samaritans helpline until 2022 to support that work.
We have heard that men are much less likely to seek professional help and are more likely to engage with services outside traditional clinical settings. We need to send a positive message that there is no shame in seeking professional help, which is exactly why we are investing in those services. As the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West said, we could have the best and most accessible services in the world, but they would be pointless unless people were willing to use them. We really need to tackle that sense of shame.
Many excellent initiatives in local communities seek to do exactly that. The Men’s Sheds Association provides opportunities for men to meet others and to engage in activities together in familiar settings. Andys Man Club engages men through sport while making it easy for them to seek advice about things such as relationships and debt, which we have heard often contribute to the mental health crises that can lead to suicide. The Government also support the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s mental health charter, which aims to do the same. As I mentioned, we have given Time to Change, which is designed to tackle stigma, £30 million since 2012, and we will continue to support it until 2020. I hope that that indicates clearly our direction of travel in raising awareness.
As the hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Hugh Gaffney) outlined, there are good messages that we can send. My message to the public is: “Reach out. If you think someone is in difficulty, send them a text or give them a phone call. Keep your eye on people who might be feeling down, because feeling down one day can suddenly become feeling rock bottom another. Listen and don’t judge when people are feeling unhappy about circumstances.” People with mental health difficulties lose perspective, and the smallest things can become absolutely huge. It is often said—this is one of the wisest proverbs—that a problem shared is a problem halved, and it can be more than halved when someone is having a mental health crisis.
Liz Twist
The Minister rightly emphasises the need for personal support and the need to talk. Will she address socioeconomic issues? In its “Dying from Inequality” report, the Samaritans shows that socioeconomic factors are really important in whether people consider ending their life by suicide. Will the Minister talk about that?
Jackie Doyle-Price
Socioeconomic issues determine when and how people seek help—that is the key. It is clear that that means suicide levels are higher among lower-income groups. We need to tackle that by developing tools that are accessible to that audience. Time to Change has a great track record in that respect, having improved the attitudes of 3.5 million people in recent years. I encourage anyone who has not seen its campaign to have a look at it and at how it engages people.
As I am running out of time, I will quickly go through some of the other points I wanted to make. Local suicide prevention plans are critical to tackling suicide in the long term. We need services that people can access directly. I am keen that we do more work with the Association of Directors of Public Health and the Local Government Association to ensure that local suicide prevention plans are rigorous and deliver the right outcomes. We do not want them to be just a box-ticking exercise: they need to deliver and reduce the impact of suicide.
The cross-Government suicide prevention strategy for England has been updated to focus on high-risk groups, such as middle-aged men, and widened to include self-harm, as I mentioned. That means that suicide plans will be more targeted than ever at those who need the most support.
The hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West raised the issue of deaths being registered within eight days and pointed out that it can take longer in England. The ONS continues to try to improve the timeliness of published data about suicide, and we will definitely look at that.
Although our efforts should be about reducing the risk of suicide for everyone in our communities, it is fair to say that men remain at the highest risk and are therefore a priority. We are looking to local areas to develop strong local partnerships and implement innovative ways of reaching out to men who may be at risk of suicide. There is clearly a political consensus that we must address suicide prevention. Now is the time for us all to take action to make change a reality for people and communities, and the Government will be tireless in our pursuit of that. I am grateful to hon. Members for attending the debate. Their number illustrates that the House cares deeply about this issue and really wants to tackle it. Let’s make a real difference.
Question put and agreed to.
Mental Health Provision: Children and Young People
Jackie Doyle-Price Excerpts(6 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
I thank the hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Luciana Berger) for bringing this debate to the House. As usual, she speaks with clear passion on this subject, and she has very clearly outlined the challenges that we face. We have brought forward this Green Paper exactly because of the sort of examples she has articulated, and we need to do a lot more for our young people.
The Green Paper is centred on the support we are going to give through schools, through which we will achieve earlier intervention. We intend to be treating 70,000 more children and young people by 2021. I appreciate the hon. Lady’s impatience, but we are none the less trying to achieve a step change in the amount of support and care we give to children and young people. We have set out proposals for consultation, and I encourage all Members of the House to get involved in responding to them. I am very heartened that, notwithstanding the late hour and the difficult set of votes we have had, so many Members are in the Chamber, which is an indication of just how important this subject is.
The hon. Lady raised a number of issues that are, indeed, all challenging, and I will pick up on a few of them before I come on to the substance of my remarks. The issue of the workforce is extremely important. She and I have had many exchanges on this, and the reality is that our ambition can be delivered only to the extent that we can achieve an increase in the workforce. We are giving a very clear indication that mental health is our priority—we want to send the very clear message that there is a future career in mental health and to attract people into it; none the less, we have had problems with recruitment and retention for many years, and this will take some time to embed. Through the pilots, which she has described, we want to learn what works, and I hope we can deliver on our ambition to deliver a real change.
The hon. Lady also asked whether we are putting too much of a burden on teachers. I would dispute that: we have found that 61% of teachers want to know how best to support children when they see evidence of mental ill health, and nobody can doubt the real commitment of teachers to the children in their care. Part of what we are proposing in the Green Paper is to give them the tools to do the job, and to give them access to more treatment. This is the first time that schools, the Department of Health and the Department for Education have come together to deliver such a policy, and this is a very important way of achieving earlier intervention to support better outcomes.
The Green Paper seeks to build on the progress that we have already made—from setting up the first ever waiting times for mental health to supporting the recommendations of “Future in Mind” through investing £1.4 billion to bring together all services working with children and young people to improve mental health services. While we have heard about some of the very considerable concerns raised about services as they stand, the hon. Lady will have heard me say previously that we are in the midst of a huge programme to achieve change for the better.
I want to take a moment to pay tribute to the incredible staff who are rising to this very significant challenge. We are naturally focused on the shortcomings of services, but we need to recognise that many staff work incredibly hard, and their work must not go unacknowledged.
We are in the midst of an improvement. Last year we saw a 20% increase in the amount of money that clinical commissioning groups spent on children and young people’s mental health, rising from £516 million in 2015-16 to £619 million in 2016-17. I recognise the issues that the hon. Lady raised in her area. As she will be aware, they are under review by NHS England through Claire Murdoch’s programme board.
We have heard concerns about money not getting through to the frontline, but we know that the additional £1.4 billion is already making a difference. Amid the huge concerns raised, we have to keep in mind the huge achievements of the NHS, with many more lives changed for the better thanks to its work.
It is also worth acknowledging where we have achieved success with early intervention. We are exceeding the early intervention in psychosis waiting time standard, with 76.7% of patients receiving treatment within two weeks of referral, and we are on track to meet the waiting time element of the eating disorder standard, with 71% of urgent eating disorder patients receiving treatment within one week and 82% of routine eating disorder patient receiving treatment within four weeks.
The hon. Lady mentioned the pilots and the extent of our ambition with regard to the four-week waiting time. The target is to achieve four weeks for access to assessment for specialist services. While she might feel frustrated by that ambition, it is worth recognising that at the moment some children can be waiting for as long as two years, which is clearly unacceptable. We need to assess what works and ensure that any services that are accessed are based on clinical need.
“Future in Mind” brought together experts from across the sector to ensure that services dealing with young people had credible plans to improve services. We also made sure that these included the voices of young people themselves, and we intend to continue our dialogue with young people. Since “Future in Mind”, we have committed to rolling out mental health first aid to every secondary school by 2019, and to all primary schools by the end of this Parliament. We are also investing £15 million, with the help of Public Health England and others, in a public mental health campaign to train 1 million people in mental health awareness. I think we all agree that the earlier the intervention, the better the outcome.
The hon. Lady quite rightly raised the issue of young people having to travel too far for care, which clearly is appalling. NHS England has committed to eliminating inappropriate out-of-area placements by 2020-21, so we are seeing investment in services and beds where there is lack of provision. In particular, we have had a significant increase in provision in the south-west.
Jamie Stone
I appreciate the sincerity of the Minister’s remarks. All that I can say, given my earlier intervention about my vast and remote constituency the other side of the border, is that I would be grateful if she could share her Department’s expertise with the Scottish Government, because the same issues could be tackled in the same way north of the border.
Jackie Doyle-Price
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I am pleased to acknowledge that I have a very good dialogue with the Scottish Health Minister. It is fair to say that all four nations can learn from each other when it comes to delivering better health outcomes and sharing best practice.
We know that young people are sometimes still taken to police cells when they are in a mental health crisis. The hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree outlined the very distressing case of the young woman who had been restrained many times. The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins), and I yesterday announced new police provisions that will finally put an end to this practice. We will ensure that children will always be taken to places of safety. The issue of prone restraint for children really needs to be examined.
The Green Paper will build on these foundations to build a new approach to supporting the mental health of our children and young people. With over £300 million of funding available, we will train a senior designated mental health lead in every school and college to improve prevention work—many schools have already made that commitment—and create brand new mental health support teams working directly with schools and colleges, and we anticipate that they might be working within multi-academy trusts or through local education authorities, and some might be provided through the NHS. Through the pilots we will discover what works, and it will not necessarily be a one-size-fits-all approach.
Luciana Berger
I am conscious of the time and that the Minister will soon conclude her remarks, but I have two points that I would like her to respond to. Does she accept that what she is laying out is essentially replacing much of what has been lost in schools: the number of educational psychologists, peer mentors and counsellors lost from our schools because they do not have the funds to pay for them? I hope in her final remarks she can address prevention, which is a very serious point. What are she and the Government going to do to prevent mental ill health in our young people?
Jackie Doyle-Price
I do not accept the premise of the hon. Lady’s first point. We are trying to build a critical mass that schools will have access to. On prevention, the investment we are making in mental health first aid and training in schools will enable staff in schools to see when people are going through mental ill health issues. The earlier we can put that support in place the better. We are working with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on what we can do through social media. We know that online bullying is causing a lot of mental health issues. As I say, this is a Green Paper. We are making money available. We want to see what works and we want to take this forward in a consultative manner. We will respond fully to any points made as a result of that consultation.
Rachael Maskell
What is the Minister going to do to prevent the causes of poor mental health in young people?
Jackie Doyle-Price
The point of the Green Paper is that we are looking to put support mechanisms in place so that children facing mental health issues have access to care. That is very much the focus of today’s debate and the Green Paper.
To conclude, as we are running very short of time, I am grateful to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree for bringing this subject forward for debate. I am sure it will not be the last time we debate it—in fact, I know for certain that it will not. We are trying to achieve a step change in the support we are giving to children and young people. We know that the situation is far from perfect at the moment, but we fully anticipate that we will meet our ambition in the five year forward view to be treating 70,000 more children by 2021.
Question put and agreed to.
Organ Donation: England
Jackie Doyle-Price Excerpts(6 years, 5 months ago)
Written StatementsRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)
In October 2017, the Prime Minister announced the Government’s intention to change the law on organ donation in England by introducing the principle of “opt-out consent”, in a bid to save the lives of the 6,500 people currently waiting for an organ transplant.
Today the Government have launched a consultation to begin an open conversation about this change to opt-out organ donation, including how to encourage more conversations about personal decisions and what role families should have when their relative has consented to donate.
Currently, 80% of people say they would be willing to donate their organs but only 36% register to become an organ donor. Three people die every day in need of a suitable organ. Figures from NHS Blood and Transplant show that around 1,100 families in the UK decided not to allow organ donation because they were unsure, or did not know whether their relatives would have wanted to donate an organ or not. The Government’s intention is that changing the system to an opt-out model of consent will mean more viable organs become available for use in the NHS, potentially saving thousands of lives.
The consultation is open for the next three months, providing an opportunity for as many people as possible in England to give their views, including people from religious groups, patient groups, the clinical transplant community, and black, Asian and other minority communities.
It is important to ensure that moving to an opt-out system of consent will honour a person’s decision on what happens to their body after death, and the consultation seeks views on how we can make sure this is the case.
The consultation also seeks views on a number of related issues, including ways in which it can be made easier for people to register their decision on organ and tissue donation. The consultation invites views on the potential impact proposals could have on certain groups who have protected characteristics in law such as disability, race, religion or belief. Questions are asked to help determine how family members should be involved in confirming decisions in future. The Government also propose a number of exclusions and safeguards to the general rule of consent under the proposed new system. This includes the position of children, people with limited mental capacity, the armed forces and temporary residents.
The consultation is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/introducing-opt-out-consent -for-organ-and-tissue-donation-in-england. An impact assessment has been published alongside the consultation and can be accessed in the same place as the link above on www.gov.uk.
The outcome of the consultation will inform the Government’s next steps and its proposals for legislation to bring the new system of consent into effect.
[HCWS338]