Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether colorimetry spectacles can be purchased with NHS optical vouchers.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service optical vouchers are available to help with the cost of glasses considered necessary to help correct a defect of sight. Coloured lenses that do not contain a prescription power and are not prescribed to correct a defect in sight, would not be eligible for funding via an NHS optical voucher.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress her Department has made on the roll out of the IT update allowing GPs to place a marker on the medical notes of people with firearms certificates.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A digital version of the firearms marker has been rolled out to all general practices in England as of May 2023.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Air Accidents Investigations Branch's report on the accident to Sikorsky S-92A, G-MCGYat Derriford Hospital, published on 2 November 2023, what steps her Department plan to take to improve the safety of hospital helipad operations.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is working with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to update the existing guidance for Hospital Helicopter Landing Sites. The current guidance is available at the following link:
http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/modalapplication.aspx?appid=11&mode=detail&id=7240
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 17 July 2023 to Question 193665 on Health Professions: English Language, what the (a) pass and (b) fail rate was for the Occupational English Test in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department does not hold data on the pass and fail rate for the Occupational English Test (OET).
The OET is an international English language test that assesses the language communication skills of healthcare professionals who seek to register and practise in an English-speaking environment. The OET publishes test statistics on its website, which are available at the following link:
https://oet.com/discover/about-oet/test-statistics
Demographic data from 2021 shows the distribution of grades per sub-test for the 12 OET healthcare professions.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
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 NHS Trusts in Plymouth, Devon, Cornwall and Torbay choosing different electronic patient record IT systems on the transfer of patient records between those systems.
Answered by Will Quince
Trusts choose electronic patient records systems based on an evaluation of the system that best meets their local needs through a competitive evaluation process, in line with public procurement regulations. The evaluation considers wider contextual factors such as the systems in place elsewhere in the integrated care board or nearby geography. The recently concluded procurement in Cornwall included an evaluation of the impact on near neighbours, including Devon, Plymouth, and Torbay, as one factors among many involved in determining the best fit for circumstances locally. Plymouth and Torbay are about to procure a system and like Cornwall, will follow a regulations compliant procurement taking account of systems nearby in arriving at their choice.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
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 effectiveness of Deep End GP groupings; and how much from the public purse NHS England has spent on Deep End GP groupings in the last 12 months.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department has no plans to make such an assessment. Practices can choose to organise themselves in different ways to deliver primary care medical services, and commissioners can choose to commission these providers in different ways to meet the specific needs of their populations and address health inequalities. The information on NHS England expenditure on Deep End GP groupings is not held centrally.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the written correspondence of 10 July 2023 from the hon. Member for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport regarding social enterprises and the NHS pay offer.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has received the correspondence and will reply as soon as possible.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the current time limit to complete Occupational English Tests on medical professionals sitting the test in (a) the South West and (b) the rest of the UK; and whether he has plans to change the time limit.
Answered by Will Quince
No assessment has been made by the Department to address time limits in English language exams, or on the number of medical professionals this impacts in the United Kingdom. Neither the Department nor the healthcare regulators set the content or time limit of English language exams. The content and time limit of English language exams is set by the organisation carrying out the assessment.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Minister in his Department has responsibility for the Agenda for Change lump sum payment uplift to providers.
Answered by Will Quince
My rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has overall responsibility for all departmental business, including the implementation of National Health Service pay awards.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason social enterprises are not funded funded for the 5 percent lump sum payment for staff.
Answered by Will Quince
The pay deal that was accepted by the NHS Staff Council on 2 May 2023 covered staff directly employed by National Health Service organisations. These organisations are set out in Annex 1 of the handbook on Agenda for Change terms.
NHS social enterprises are independent providers and remain free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment. This includes the pay scales that they use and any non-consolidated pay awards they choose to make. It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate, and how to recoup any additional costs they face.