Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of GPs in England are over 50 years old.
Answered by Ben Gummer
The annual National Health Service General and Personal Medical Services workforce census, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, shows the numbers of general practitioners (GPs) working in the NHS in England at 30 September each year. The latest available statistics are as at 30 September 2014 and were published on 25 March 2015. The percentage of GPs (excluding Registrars and Retainers) aged 50 years and over as at 30 September 2014 is 39%.
Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the relationship between diabetes complications and unplanned hospital emergency admissions; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The following table, taken from the National Diabetes Audit 2012-13, Report 2: Complications and Mortality, shows the total number of emergency hospital finished consultant episodes (FCE) and National Diabetes Audit (NDA) related emergency hospital FCEs in England and Wales from 2012-13.
Complication | Number of Hospital Episode Statistics (HES)/Patient Episode Database for Wales (PEDW) emergency episodes1 | Number of NDA related emergency episodes2 | NDA related emergency episodes as a proportion of HES /PEDW emergency episodes |
Angina | 486,941 | 114,599 | 23.5% |
Myocardial Infarction (heart attack) | 178,284 | 34,790 | 19.5% |
Heart Failure | 578,883 | 136,911 | 23.7% |
Stroke | 235,333 | 38,911 | 16.5% |
Major Amputation | 3,727 | 1,385 | 37.2% |
Minor Amputation | 4,327 | 2,672 | 61.8% |
Renal Replacement Therapy (ESKD) | 72,318 | 22,831 | 31.6% |
Notes:
A Finished Consultant Episode (FCE) is the time a patient spends in the continuous care of one consultant. If a patient transfers from one consultant to another within a single hospital provider spell, for example moves to a ward with a specific speciality and is treated by a new consultant, one Consultant Episode will end and another one begin. So patients may have more than one finished consultant episode during a single hospital stay.
1. HES/PEDW FCE are all episodes for the relevant complication between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013. This may include multiple episodes for one patient.
2. NDA episodes are from all patients registered with general practitioner (GP) practices that participated in the audit in the audit period 2011-12, please bear in mind that participation for the 2011-12 audit was 87.9 per cent of all eligible GP practices and there was a large variation across clinical commissioning groups and local health boards.
It shows that, with the exception of stroke, people with diabetes account for at least one fifth (and up to three fifths) of all emergency episodes for each of the complications.
There is sound evidence that achieving National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommended diabetes treatment targets reduces complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness, amputation and premature death. Improving the delivery of these continues to be important in ensuring that people with diabetes receive the best possible care and so reduce their risk of developing complications.
Furthermore, NHS England have prioritised prevention of diabetes and are working together with Public Health England and Diabetes UK to establish a national diabetes prevention programme, making us the first country to implement such a programme at scale, modelled on national and international proven experience. This should help reduce people’s risk of developing diabetes and therefore subsequently requiring hospital treatment for complications from the disease.
Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that the NHS is maximising its entitlement to reimbursement from insurance companies.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The Department interprets the two questions as relating to the NHS Injury Cost Recovery scheme. The Department implements the recovery of National Health Service treatment costs though this scheme for patients injured as a result of third party negligence.
Reimbursement of NHS treatment costs are sought for every notification received as a result of a personal injury compensation claim. Therefore, there is no financial loss attributable to the failure to claim.
To ensure the NHS maximises on its entitlement to claim reimbursement, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Compensation Recovery Unit, who administer the scheme on behalf of the NHS, undertake a substantial amount of compliance work with key stakeholders within the insurance industry. DWP inspectors also have the right to examine the records of compensators to verify that they are complying fully with provisions of the legislation.
Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of potential financial loss to the NHS arising from failure to claim reimbursement from insurance companies.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The Department interprets the two questions as relating to the NHS Injury Cost Recovery scheme. The Department implements the recovery of National Health Service treatment costs though this scheme for patients injured as a result of third party negligence.
Reimbursement of NHS treatment costs are sought for every notification received as a result of a personal injury compensation claim. Therefore, there is no financial loss attributable to the failure to claim.
To ensure the NHS maximises on its entitlement to claim reimbursement, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Compensation Recovery Unit, who administer the scheme on behalf of the NHS, undertake a substantial amount of compliance work with key stakeholders within the insurance industry. DWP inspectors also have the right to examine the records of compensators to verify that they are complying fully with provisions of the legislation.
Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department's policy is on screening for testicular cancer.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) last reviewed the policy on testicular cancer in 2006 and recommended against a screening programme as this condition was more commonly detected through self-examination and that a systematic population screening programme would not be beneficial.
The UK NSC advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy and supports implementation. Using research evidence, pilot programmes and economic evaluation, it assesses the evidence for programmes against a set of internationally recognised criteria.
Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the health entitlements within the NHS are of British national missionaries and aid workers who are not ordinarily resident in, but retain housing and other links to, the UK.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Missionaries and aid workers temporarily based outside the United Kingdom, who retain housing and other links to the UK may, depending on all their circumstances, still be considered ordinarily resident in the UK. They would therefore retain full entitlement to free National Health Service hospital treatment.
For those who are not ordinarily resident in the UK at the time NHS hospital treatment is provided to them, they will be charged for that treatment under the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2011, as amended, unless an exemption from charge category applies. There are currently exemptions for people acting as missionaries overseas for an organisation principally based in the UK; those working in posts overseas that are funded in part by the UK Government in accordance with arrangements with the Government of some other country and former UK residents of 10 years or more who are now employed overseas provided the period of employment has lasted no more than five years.
Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects the Health and Social Care Information Centre to lease further procedure data on waiting times for hip and knees treatments; and what the reason for the time taken to release that data is.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) are expecting to publish final 2013-14 hospital episode statistics for admitted patient care in January 2015. This will include data to allow analysis of procedures on hips and knees. The processing of annual hospital episode statistics has been transferred in-house to the HSCIC from the previous third-party supplier, and additional time is needed this year to test and assure the new arrangements.