Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of firms providing agency labour to the NHS on (a) the amount of profit generated by those agencies, (b) trends in the level of health staff leaving NHS employment and joining those agencies and (c) dependence of the NHS on agency labour.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department does not collect data on the amount of profit generated by agencies supplying staff to the National Health Service nor the number of health staff leaving NHS employment to work for agencies. Data on agency staff is held by the employing agency and is not shared with NHS England. NHS England holds data for agency shifts in the NHS, including hours worked and cost.
The deployment of a temporary workforce is an important element of efficiently running the NHS, allowing the NHS to meet demand fluctuations without the need to increase capacity above that which would be required on a sustained basis. Staff can be drawn from internal staff banks or external agencies.
Our policy is to reduce the use of agency staff and to prioritise the use of in-house staff banks over agency use. The introduction of the Agency Rules in 2016 helped to reduce agency spend by around £1.2 billion, from a peak of £3.6 billion in 2015/16 to £2.4 billion at the end of 2020/21. Total agency spend as a percentage of total wage bill decreased from 7.9% in 2015/16 to 3.7% in 2020/21. Reducing the use of agency staff must be balanced with providing safe care to patients. Trusts are able to use temporary staffing to respond to situations where they do not have sufficient staff numbers. NHS England has re-established measures in September 2022 to control agency expenditure, including a system agency expenditure limit.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, where flu vaccines in use by the NHS during winter 2022-23 were manufactured.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The information requested is not collected centrally. Adult flu vaccines are purchased locally by individual general practitioner practices and community pharmacies.
Children’s flu vaccines are manufactured by AstraZeneca. The manufacture of the AstraZeneca UK Ltd Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine (LAIV) Fluenz Tetra, takes place across the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many prescriptions for cannabis-based medicines have been issued since those prescriptions became legal.
Answered by Will Quince
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) is unable to provide the number of National Health Service prescription items for unlicensed cannabis-based medicines dispensed in the community in England. This information is being withheld in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), due to the number of items attributed to fewer than five patients and the elevated risk of potential patient identifiable information.
However, the following table shows NHS and private prescribing data for the number of items prescribed for licensed and unlicensed cannabis based medicines dispensed in the community in England.
Type of prescribing | Time period | Number of items |
NHS prescribing licensed medicines | November 2018 to October 2022 | 11,976 |
Private prescribing licensed medicines | November 2018 to October 2022 | 140 |
Private prescribing unlicensed medicines | November 2018 to July 2022 | 89,239 |
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help reduce the cost of the charge to the NHS for antibiotics.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government relies on competition to drive down prices of generic medicines such as antibiotics. This has led to some of the lowest prices in Europe. Freedom of pricing enables supplies to put prices up quickly to ensure we maintain continuity of supply despite increasing prices within the global market. In secondary care, tendering for antibiotics on a frequent basis ensures best value and supply resilience is optimised.
No supplier should use the current situation as an opportunity to exploit the National Health Service. Where companies are found to be abusing their dominant position by charging excessive and unfair prices, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) can take action against businesses and individuals engaged in anti-competitive conduct. The CMA is working to establish the facts of what is currently happening in the antibiotic market. They stand ready to take action if there is evidence of anti-competitive behaviour that breaks the law.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many medical students are studying in the UK.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GPs who had been previously working in Black Country Integrated Care System area have left the profession over the last three years.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
This information is not collected in the format requested.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to his answer of 22 September 2022 to Question 45706 on Fungi: Infectious Diseases, and with reference to the World Health Organisation's fungal priority pathogens list to guide research, development and public health action of 25 October, if he will make his policy to increase funding for research in this area.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is supporting the ‘UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2019 to 2024’, which commits to undertake research on antifungal resistance. In the last five years, the NIHR has invested more than £6 million in research into fungal infection and anti-microbial resistance is a priority for future research. However, it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. The Department works with other Government departments and funding agencies as well as the World Health Organization on the approach to antifungal resistance.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
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 improve GP retention in the Black Country ICS area.
Answered by Will Quince
We are working with NHS England, Health Education England and the profession to increase the general practice workforce in England, including in the Black Country Integrated Care System area. This includes measures to improve recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession and encourage them to return to practice.
The updated GP Contract Framework announced a number of new schemes, alongside continued support for existing recruitment and retention schemes for the general practice workforce. This includes the GP Retention Scheme, the GP Retention Fund, the National GP Induction and Refresher, the Locum Support Scheme, the New to Partnership Payment and the Supporting Mentors Scheme.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding was allocated to Black Country integrated care system to support GP retention in 2022-23; and how much was spent in 2021-22.
Answered by Will Quince
The Black Country Integrated Care System received £711,000 in 2021/22 for local general practitioner retention initiatives and new to practice fellowships. Its indicative allocation for 2022/23 is £1.176 million, which includes funding for retention initiatives and fellowships.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the provision of local retention initiatives in the Black Country Integrated Care System area.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
No specific assessment has been made. However, the NHS People Plan sets out a range of actions to improve staff retention through strengthening measures to address health and wellbeing, equality and diversity, culture and leadership and flexible working. NHS England also support systems to develop tailored health and wellbeing offers to meet the needs of the local workforce. This includes the mental health hubs in each integrated care system (ICS) and occupational health services which are being supported through the Growing Occupational Health and Wellbeing programme.
The Black Country ICS is implementing national retention initiatives in addition to a dedicated pensions portal and collaboration with organisations such as Timewise to support flexible working within clinical areas. Targeted assessments of the general practitioner workforce are made and reported via a monthly partnership board.