Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of how many people are employed in the hospice care sector.
Answered by David Mowat
Data on the number of people employed in the hospice care sector is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the benefits of localised general practice federations.
Answered by David Mowat
The majority of general practitioner (GP) practices are now working in practice groups or federations. This provides opportunities to expand services, stabilise practice income and work at scale which has benefits for patients, practices and the wider system. These include: economies of scale; quality improvement; workforce development; enhanced care and new services; resilience; and system partnerships.
The GP Access Fund specifically has enabled groups of GP practices, often collaborating with others such as community pharmacies or ambulance services, to provide new and expanded services together. Operating under a single contract in a local area and sharing work and resources has enabled the 2,500 practices in the programme to significantly develop their networks.
Most of the GP Access Fund schemes have, through the programme, strengthened their arrangements for collaboration, developed a more prominent identity with patients, and grown their leadership and management capabilities. This has been facilitated by the support programme put in place by NHS England, helping the networks to make faster progress on issues such as IT, governance and care redesign. It has also built a legacy of more cohesive and capable teams for the future.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the extent to which sport and group activities are prescribed by clinicians as a form of treatment.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
This information is not held centrally by the Department.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
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 examples of best practice in care and support for people with mental health conditions is shared across the country.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Department works with its arm’s length bodies and a wide range of other Government departments and bodies, including non-statutory organisations and professional bodies to pilot, develop, implement and share best practice in the care and support for people with mental health conditions. Best practice is shared through the gov.uk website, through guidance and engagement with our stakeholders and collaboration with the organisations mentioned above to share best practice through their resources.
The Department funds a wide-range of healthcare research including through the National Institute for Healthcare Research programme. Findings and outcomes from this research are published.
Referral to treatment guidelines have been developed with the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, which include best practice examples. In addition, for Children and Young People, mental health investment has been made in clinical network capacity to bring local areas together to share current practice and there is regular interaction with the clinical networks, so good practice can be shared between regions. These guidelines are published on the National Collaborating Centre for Mental health’s website:
http://www.nccmh.org.uk/ab_cgs_at_a_glance.html
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to standardise nutritional information in food and drink labelling.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The legislation on food labelling sets out the content, format and expression of nutrition information on food labels. It is implemented in England by the Food Information Regulations 2014. Nutrition labelling for most pre-packed food and drink will be mandatory from 13 December 2016.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates.
Answered by Jane Ellison
As set out in the Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Strategy, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates could be improved with better and earlier cardiopulmonary resuscitation. NHS England's National Clinical Director for Heart Disease, Professor Huon Gray, has established an advisory group of all resuscitation stakeholders including the Resuscitation Council UK and Directors of Ambulance Services to look at ways to tackle this issue.
In addition the Department for Education, working with the Department of Health, has developed a programme which aims to contribute to improving survival rates of out of hospital cardiac arrests by helping schools purchase defibrillators at a competitive price.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much funding his Department has provided for NHS services in Swindon in each year since 2010.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the following table:
Total operating revenue, split by revenue from patient care activities and other operating revenue for the financial years 2010-11 to 2013-14
| 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 |
Revenue from Patient Care Activities | 575,985 | 660,155 | 674,492 | 689,709 |
Other Operating Revenue | 31,539 | 38,908 | 44,943 | 41,448 |
Total Operating Revenue | 607,524 | 699,063 | 719,435 | 731,157 |
Source: Audited summarisation schedules of NHS Trusts, 2010-11 to 2013-14; Individually published accounts of Foundation Trusts 2010-11 to 2013-14
Notes:
We have interpreted “how much funding his Department has provided for NHS services” to mean the total operating revenue for those NHS trusts and foundation trusts (FTs) that are located in Swindon. These are shown in the table above; however they may also serve a wider geographical area than Swindon alone. The table covers Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust and South West Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust.
In contrast to primary care trusts until 31 March 2013, and now NHS England and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), NHS trusts and FTs are not funded directly by the Secretary of State from sums voted by Parliament.
NHS trusts and FTs are semi-autonomous organisations whose income derives from the provision of services to commissioners through what might be described as trading activity.
The NHS trust and FT regimes have similarities to the regime for Government Trading Funds, where expenditure for Government activity is met from income from third parties, rather than direct funding from resources voted to the Department.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the teaching of emergency lifesaving and first aid skills in schools.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Department of Health officials have been working with officials from the Department for Education on the development of an initiative to allow schools to buy defibrillators at a reduced price. The British Heart Foundation, which supports the initiative, is also offering free cardiopulmonary resuscitation training kits to all secondary schools as part of its Nation of Lifesavers campaign.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support his Department provides to the Great Western Hospital NHS Trust for the building of a new radiotherapy centre.
Answered by Dan Poulter
We are advised that on 7 May 2014, the NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA) Capital Investment Group approved an outline business case by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust for the expansion of radiotherapy services at Swindon. The Trust is now developing a full business case, which will need to be aligned with the outcome of NHS England’s review of radiotherapy services nationally.
We are further advised by the NHS TDA that the expected total capital cost of the scheme is £14.7 million and the scheme will be funded through the NHS Trust’s own internally generated capital resources (£11 million), charitable funds (£2.5 million) and Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group contribution (£1.2 million).
We are informed that, to date, the Department’s Independent Trust Financing Facility has not received an application for a capital investment loan from Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust in relation to the new radiotherapy centre in Swindon.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to extend Pulse Oximetry screening for children.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The UK National Screening Committee has recommended that a pilot for pulse oximetry screening for children should be set up to explore the practicalities of implementation. Ministers have accepted this advice and a pilot will commence shortly.