Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 help ensure that families with children who suffer from severe allergies to certain medicines can access affordable alternatives; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Prescriptions dispensed to children under 16 years old are free of charge. The prescription of any medicine is a clinical decision, informed by the medicine’s summary of product characteristics, made with individual patients. Prescribing clinicians should always satisfy themselves that the medicines they consider appropriate for patients can be safely prescribed. This prescribing decision should be discussed and agreed with the patient, their families and/or carers.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to increase the number of care home staff in (a) England and (b) Gloucestershire; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Local authorities are responsible for ensuring there is sufficient workforce capacity to meet the care needs of the local population. The Government continues to support local authorities and providers to address workforce pressures. On 22 September, we announced an additional £500 million for social care this winter to facilitate the safe discharge of patients and recruit and retain care workers.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to reduce the incidence of delayed discharge of patients from acute hospitals in (a) England and (b) Gloucestershire; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government has announced a £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund to accelerate the safe discharge of patients from hospital. Further details of the fund will be available in due course, including local allocations. In addition, NHS England is implementing the ‘100-day discharge challenge’ to reassert best practice through 10 priority activities in all hospitals.
The One Gloucestershire Integrated Care System has placed additional staff in the hospital to home teams and provided additional beds and services in acute and community hospitals. It has been supported by the local authority, which has based social workers in the emergency department and on wards to prevent unnecessary admissions and ensure effective and informed discharge planning. A dedicated team working with people who have a length of stay over 21 days has also been established.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to increase the number of care home staff specialising in caring for patients with dementia in (a) England and (b) Gloucestershire; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In addition to existing investment in learning and development to support progression for care workers, we are developing a national knowledge and skills framework for the care workforce in England, including Gloucestershire. This will set out the knowledge and skills required for roles within the sector, including those specialising in caring for people with dementia and will supplement existing resources, such as the Dementia Training Standards Framework.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the Chief Executives of NHS Trusts on the availability of (a) grommet and (b) adenoid operations for children; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There have been no specific discussions. Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning such services locally. The decision whether to offer these treatments in each case is a clinical decision agreed between the patient and clinician.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 improve access to NHS Dental Care Services (a) in general and (b) for families with children; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Dental patients are not registered to a particular practice outside a course of treatment. A practice can accept a patient for a course of treatment and there are no geographical restrictions on which dental practice a patient may attend. An additional £50 million for National Health Service dentistry was provided for the final quarter of 2021/22 to provide urgent care to patients. The appointments were targeted to patients in most need of urgent dental treatment, including vulnerable groups and families with children.
NHS England and NHS Improvement have asked practices to deliver 100% of contracted units of dental activity and 100% of units of orthodontic activity to safely improve access for patients, including children and vulnerable patients. As well as general dental services, specialist community dental services which treat particularly vulnerable people, including children, have also benefited from additional funding. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with stakeholders, including the British Dental Association, on improvements to the NHS dental system. This aims to increase patient access, reduce health inequalities and make the NHS a more attractive place to work for dentists.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential health impact of the PSTN switch-off on people suffering from Electro-Hypersensitivity; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maggie Throup
No specific assessment has been made. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) advises that international guidelines on limiting exposure to electromagnetic fields should be complied with to ensure there are no consequences for public health. Research has been conducted to investigate whether certain people are particularly sensitive to exposures to electromagnetic fields from mobile phones, leading to symptoms which affect their health.
The UKHSA advises that electromagnetic fields below recommended guideline levels do not cause symptoms and cannot be detected by individuals, even those who consider themselves more susceptible to electromagnetic fields. This advice is based on reviews of scientific evidence, including a review undertaken by the independent expert Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation published in 2012. The UKHSA will continue to monitor the evidence as it emerges.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 speed up the process of applying for GHIC cards; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department monitors the process for applying for the UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHICs) and works with the NHS Business Services Authority to plan and manage high levels of demand. Under its service level agreement, once approved, the NHS Business Services Authority aims to issue GHIC applications within 10 working days. From 1 to 26 May 2022, 99.9% of cards were fully processed within 10 working days of the decision and 95.8% of cards were processed on the same day.
As of 14 June 2022, the NHS Business Services Authority received 3,572 GHIC and European Health Insurance Cards (EHIC) applications where the automatic residency check had not been met and a manual process was required. Once satisfactory evidence is provided to the NHS Business Services Authority, all cards are issued within five days. For those on a temporary visit to the European Union or Switzerland who require necessary healthcare treatment and do not have a GHIC, these travellers can apply to the NHS Business Services Authority for a Provisional Replacement Certificate. This Certificate provides the same coverage as a GHIC.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his policy is on the safety of locking exit doors in Acute Mental Health Hospitals in order to ensure the safety of people who are resident there; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
Where a patient is detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 or deprived of their liberty under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 for care and treatment, there is a legal basis where providers of acute mental health care can restrict the person from leaving the ward to protect them from harm or from causing harm to others. This may include a locked door policy. However, Section 132 of the Mental Health Act sets out the duty to provide clear information to the patient about their detention status on a regular basis and this should include discussions with them about the locked door policy.
Providers of acute mental health care have a duty of care towards everyone in receipt of their service. If an informal patient wishes to leave and the nursing staff feel this is unsafe based on their current presentation, Section 5(2) of the Mental Health Act can be employed to temporarily prevent the person leaving whilst an urgent assessment is arranged.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 reduce the number of patients who remain in hospital and who are medically fit for discharge; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department has provided £3.3 billion to the National Health Service to facilitate timely hospital discharges during the pandemic, including £478 million for winter 2021/22. We have established a national cross-Government discharge taskforce with the National Health Service and local government to identify long-term, sustainable changes to reduce delayed discharges.