Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of adopting the (a) Infection & Orthopaedic Management (INFORM), (b) British Orthopaedic Association and (c) other guidelines for the treatment and management of prosthetic joint infections.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency manages a national surveillance programme, the Surgical Site Infection (SSI) Surveillance Service, which enhances the quality of patient care by providing hospitals with a framework for collection and comparison of their rates of SSI against national benchmarks. This information is used to review and guide clinical practice, to reduce the risk of infection following surgery. Hip and knee replacements are two of the 17 categories of surgery under surveillance by hospitals. Surveillance in at least one orthopaedic surgical category per quarter, per financial year is mandatory for all National Health Service hospitals undertaking orthopaedic surgery, with hip and knee replacements being the most numerous.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of his Department's report entitled Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper, published on 20 July 2021 on the finances of people with complex disabilities.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper, we explored how the benefits system can better meet the needs of claimants now and in the future, by improving claimant experience of our services, enabling independent living, and improving employment outcomes.
We received over 4,500 written responses to the Green Paper, and held consultation events with disabled people and people with health conditions and their representatives. These included both virtual and face-to-face events, with events in Scotland, Wales and every region of England.
We carefully considered the feedback we received to our consultation in developing the next steps set out in the Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper, published in March 2023. As stated in the White Paper, we are continuing to develop and refine our policy proposals.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an estimate of the number and proportion of disabled people facing one-off extra costs related to their disability.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on the 14th of May to PQ24769.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle post-operative infections in the context of (a) an ageing population and (b) trends in the number of joint replacement operations.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency manages a national surveillance programme, the Surgical Site Infection (SSI) Surveillance Service, which enhances the quality of patient care by providing hospitals with a framework for collection and comparison of their rates of SSI against national benchmarks. This information is used to review and guide clinical practice to reduce the risk of infection following surgery. Hip and knee replacements are two of the 17 categories of surgery under surveillance by hospitals. Surveillance in at least one orthopaedic surgical category per quarter, per financial year is mandatory for all National Health Service hospitals undertaking orthopaedic surgery, with hip and knee replacements being the most numerous.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the holistic care approach for cancer (a) care and (b) delivery to (i) prosthetic infection and (ii) other clinical conditions.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made a formal assessment of the merits of expanding the holistic approach, used for cancer, to prosthetic infection and other clinical conditions, however the National Health Service is working towards a holistic approach in infection prevention and control, and in long-term conditions. This includes improving perioperative care for surgical clinical care pathways, including for prosthetic infections, whereby patients receive proactive, personalised support to optimise their health before surgery.
The NHS works hard to deliver care to meet people’s needs as far as possible, given this can have a significant impact on their experience and quality of life. Cancer Alliances across England are working to ensure that every person receives personalised care and support from cancer diagnosis onwards. This involves holistic need assessments to ensure people's physical, practical, emotional, and social needs are identified and addressed at the earliest opportunity. It also involves accessible information about emotional support, coping with side effects, financial advice, getting back to work, and making healthy lifestyle choices, before, during, and after treatment.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of psychological support for post-surgical orthopaedic infections.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We have made no such assessment. Anyone experiencing mental ill health as a result of a post-surgical orthopaedic infection should speak to their general practitioner, or refer themselves to their local NHS Talking Therapies service.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure that best practice guidelines for prosthetic infection are implemented across elective surgery clinical care pathways.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is working with NHS England to improve perioperative care. This should ensure best practice guidelines are implemented across surgery clinical care pathways, including for prosthetic infections. In May 2023, NHS England published guidance setting out five core perioperative care requirements relating to the care of adult patients awaiting planned inpatient surgery. These measures address the key objective of identifying health needs as early as possible in perioperative pathways, and then using time on the waiting list to optimise health. The NHS England National Elective Recovery and Outpatients programme is working with NHS England regional teams to help oversee and support compliance, and will continue to do so throughout 2024/25.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to increase statutory sick pay for people unable to work while living with cancer.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has already increased the rate of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) this year, in April the rate of SSP was increased by the September 2023 CPI of 6.7% to £116.75. This represents a £20 per week increase in the rate of SSP since 2021.
SSP is just one part of our welfare safety net and our wider Government offer to support people in times of need. Anybody who is on a low level of income during the period that they are sick and who requires further financial support may be able to claim Universal Credit, depending on their personal circumstances.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to remove the earnings threshold for statutory sick pay.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since 2019 over 500,000 more people now earn above the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) and can therefore benefit from Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). However, now is not the right time for structural reform of SSP, which includes removing the LEL.
SSP is just one part of our welfare safety net and our wider Government offer to support people in times of need, many of those with earnings below the LEL are already in receipt of benefits, such as Universal Credit.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential impact of the level of statutory sick pay on health outcomes.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Member to a previous response provided by the Minister of State for Care to Question UIN 902448.