Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the East of England Ambulance Service's average response time was for (a) category 1 calls, (b) category 2 calls, (c) category 3 calls and (d) category 4 calls in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The following table shows East of England Ambulance Service’s mean average response time in hours, minutes and seconds for each category of call in the last 12 months.
| Category 1 | Category 2 | Category 3 | Category 4 |
November 2020 | 0:06:41 | 0:19:54 | 0:49:28 | 1:08:29 |
December 2020 | 0:07:18 | 0:26:36 | 1:24:36 | 1:37:25 |
January 2021 | 0:07:31 | 0:29:36 | 1:36:54 | 2:01:47 |
February 2021 | 0:06:44 | 0:18:19 | 0:43:23 | 1:06:05 |
March 2021 | 0:06:38 | 0:18:18 | 0:45:29 | 1:13:06 |
April 2021 | 0:06:49 | 0:20:01 | 0:54:44 | 1:31:27 |
May 2021 | 0:07:31 | 0:25:31 | 1:23:51 | 1:47:07 |
June 2021 | 0:08:07 | 0:32:03 | 1:45:46 | 2:27:22 |
July 2021 | 0:08:44 | 0:38:08 | 2:01:19 | 3:03:24 |
August 2021 | 0:09:11 | 0:41:03 | 2:03:37 | 2:52:13 |
September 2021 | 0:09:55 | 0:48:34 | 2:30:37 | 3:17:37 |
October 2021 | 0:10:37 | 0:56:01 | 3:04:29 | 3:38:36 |
Source: NHS England
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will instruct NHS England to ensure that Continuing Healthcare assessments for spinal cord injured individuals are transferable between Clinical Commissioning Groups when a patient moves to a different area.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
Existing legislation already sets out the responsibilities of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in relation to arranging NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) services for an individual. This includes which CCG is responsible for a patient and ensuring appropriate care arrangements are considered for those who may have moved to a different area. The National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care sets out that where an individual has been found eligible for CHC, regular reviews should be undertaken to ensure the care plan or arrangements remain appropriate to meet the individual’s needs. Eligibility for CHC is not determined by clinical condition, but rather whether an individual has been assessed as having a ‘primary health need’.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many consultants are employed by UK Health Security Agency; and what the maximum day rate pay is for those consultants.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The exact number of management consultants within the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is currently not available while NHS Test and Trace and the former Public Health England transition into UKHSA. We are unable to provide the maximum day rates for consultants as this information would be commercially sensitive.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many lateral flow device testing kits the UK Health Security Agency (a) has purchased, (b) has distributed and (c) holds in storage; and how much has been spent to date on those testing kits.
Answered by Maggie Throup
As of 7 September, 1.8 billion lateral flow tests have been purchased, 1,168 million have been dispatched and 325 million are held in storage. We are unable to provide the cost of lateral flow devices purchased to date as this information is commercially sensitive.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish for each hospital trust the amount of ring-fenced funding provided for 2021-22 for urgent Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete remediation.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department’s capital settlement at Spending Review 2020 included £4.2 billion in 2021-22 to allow hospitals to maintain and refurbish their infrastructure, including a £110 million ringfenced allocation to address the most serious and immediate risks posed by Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.
NHS England and NHS Improvement continue to work with the affected trusts to deliver the programme of investment and will ensure that trusts make the full and best use of all available funding over this financial year. Official figures by trust will be published through our audited final set of accounts.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people with (a) learning disabilities and (b) autism who are in inpatient units; and what steps he is taking to reduce this number.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
According to the latest NHS Digital Assuring Transformation data, at the end of April 2021, there were 2,040 people with a learning disability and autistic people in specialist-in patient settings in England. Of those, 875 people had a learning disability and were not autistic; 635 were autistic without a learning disability; 515 had a learning disability and were autistic; and 20 people were recorded as ‘none of the above’. Numbers by diagnosis are rounded to the nearest five and therefore may differ from the overall total.
Overall, this is a net reduction of 30% on the inpatient number in March 2015. The NHS Long Term Plan commits to investing in community alternatives to hospital to achieve at least a 50% reduction in the number of people with a learning disability or autism who are inpatients in mental health hospitals by 2023/24. The Building the right support Delivery Board has been established to drive further progress and can commission any work considered necessary to ensure the target is met.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made in reforming services following the Winterbourne View review.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following the Winterbourne View review, our objective has been to put a stop to abusive or poor quality care in inpatient settings and reduce reliance on specialist mental health inpatient services for people with a learning disability and autistic people. The NHS Long Term Plan commits to implementing ‘Building the right support’, to achieve at least a net 50% reduction in the number of people with a learning disability or autism who are inpatients by 2023/24. The Long Term Plan will increase investment in intensive, crisis and forensic community support to enable more people to receive personalised care in the community, closer to home, and prevent admissions. As of April 2021, there has been a 30% reduction since 2015 in the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people in specialist inpatient settings.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of (a) James Paget and (b) West Suffolk hospitals were constructed using Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
NHS Digital’s National Health Service estates return shows that the proportion of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in James Paget Hospital is currently 96% and 58% at West Suffolk Hospital.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS Trusts have buildings which use Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In January 2020 National Health Service trusts conducted extensive building survey works to identify the presence of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in their fabric, using technology to record potential issues and visually identify and log potential risks.
This identified that there are 13 NHS trusts and a total of 32 buildings containing RAAC planks.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Valvena vaccine will be made available on the NHS in the event that it passes relevant clinical trials.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
A COVID-19 vaccine will only be authorised once it has met robust standards on safety, effectiveness and quality through clinical trials and been authorised for use by the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Once they have thoroughly reviewed the data, the MHRA seeks advice from the Government’s independent advisory body, the Commission on Human Medicines. They critically assess the data before advising on the safety, quality and effectiveness of any potential vaccine. While a vaccine is authorised by the MHRA, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation will advise the Government about the use of the vaccine.
As such, if the Valneva vaccine is authorised by the MHRA and is advised for use, then it will be made available on the National Health Service.