Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
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 maintain the level of out of hours GP cover in The Wrekin constituency.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has advised that it is undertaking a number of steps to maintain the level of out of hours (OOH) general practitioner (GP) cover in the region. The CCG provide a GP out of hours service, which is part of an Integrated Urgent Care Service that is commissioned jointly across the 16 CCGs of the West Midlands. The OOH GP service is covered by a combination of full-time GPs, as well as local GPs that provide OOH cover on a sessional basis. Extended access appointments and enhanced access appointments are also available to ensure patients have the care they need, at the right place and the right time.
NHS England and NHS Improvement, working with stakeholders, are undertaking a national review of access to general practice services. The main objectives of the review are to consider how to improve access to general practice services both in hours and at evenings and weekends, to reduce the variations in patient experiences around the country, and to reduce the inequalities in access for specific groups in society.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will bring forward proposals to improve children's dental health to reduce the number of children admitted to hospital for dental extractions.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to improving oral health, particularly of deprived children. Children’s oral health is now better than it has ever been, with over 75% of five-year olds in England now decay free.
Latest data from the NHS Outcomes Framework shows that the number of tooth extractions due to decay for children admitted as inpatients to hospital, aged 10 years and under has dropped from to 424.6 in 2017/18 to 409.4 in 2018/19 (a decrease of 3.6%).
The Government’s Green Paper, ‘Advancing our health: prevention in the 2020s’, published in July, committed to consulting on options for rolling out a national school toothbrushing scheme in more pre-school settings and primary schools, and to consulting on the role water companies can play to support a water fluoridation initiative in England. Both of these proposals will aim to improve the oral health of the most deprived children in all areas of the country and help to reduce the number of children needing tooth extractions.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to work with manufacturers of contact lenses to educate people on how to minimise the risk of contracting Acanthamoeba Keratitis.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for monitoring the safety of all healthcare products in the UK.
Following reports of infections that have led to sight loss due to Acanthamoeba Keratitis (AK), the MHRA participated in the Love your Lenses Campaign organised by the General Optical Council with involvement and support from manufacturers and opticians. The main aim of this campaign is to increase the effectiveness of aftercare information given to contact lens wearers. Details of the campaign can be found at the following link:
https://www.loveyourlenses.com/
The MHRA’s website also highlights the risks of AK and offers guidance and advice for patients to prevent injury and infection. The website can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/medical-devices-information-for-users-and-patients
In the United Kingdom, the Opticians Act restricts the sale and supply of contact lenses, including ‘zero powered’ (plano) contact lenses, to registered optometrists, dispensing opticians, and medical practitioners. An optometrist examining a patient wishing to wear contact lenses has a duty to assess the patient's suitability for contact lenses and provide the patient with an appropriate lens care regimen, including information on the care, wearing, treatment, cleaning and maintenance of the lens or lenses.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will hold discussions with Telford and Wrekin Clinical Care Commissioning Group on its funding for the Severn Hospice for 2019-2020; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
In the previous financial year Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) was able to maintain a £1 million grant but this year has taken the very difficult decision to reduce it to £750,000. The CCG has been having discussions with their Chief Executive since June 2018 about possible schemes which the CCG could commission to offset the loss from 1 April 2019 onwards. The CCG remains committed to continuing to explore alternatives with the Hospice and they are engaging with them to find solutions together.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to reduce the number of patients with bulimia.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
This Government recognises that early intervention is vital when treating people with eating disorders and is committed to ensuring everyone has access to timely treatment based on clinical need.
Waiting time standards have been introduced to improve access to eating disorders services for children and young people. This early intervention can help prevent problems continuing into adulthood.
The NHS is making good progress towards these waiting times, with latest data for Quarter 3 2018/19 (October – December 2018) showing that 80.7% of young people started treatment for an urgent case within one week against a target of 95% by 2020/21. This report also showed that 86.8% of young people started treatment for a routine case within four weeks against a target of 95% by 2020/21.
The ‘Clinically-led Review of NHS Access Standards Interim Report’, published in March 2019, states that NHS England will test four-week waiting times for adult and older adult community mental health teams with selected local areas. As part of this work, the report states that NHS England will “consider the interfaces with specialist community mental health services, particularly where there is an existing evidence base for rapid direct access, such as adult eating disorder services, or early intervention in psychosis services, for which there is already a national access and waiting time standard in place.”
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to work with his Iranian government counterpart to share best practice in drug rehabilitation programmes.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The late Hamid Ghodse, Professor of Psychiatry and Addictive Behaviour at St George’s University of London, was an Iranian citizen, and helped promote links between British addiction experts and their counterparts in the Islamic Republic of Iran for the sharing of clinical expertise in the treatment of drug dependence. Such links between United Kingdom and Iranian experts continue and best practice is also shared in meetings organised by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost to acute hospital trusts in England and Wales of liability insurance in maternity units.
Answered by Ben Gummer
The total amount of contributions collected across England by the NHS Litigation Authority to date this financial year from acute hospital trusts under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST) in respect of maternity units, is £525,192,156. Wales has their own risk pooling system managed separately.
Cases that remain open at 31 March 2016 will be funded from future financial contributions from members of the CNST. In this sense the CNST is distinct from an ‘insurance product’ which would be likely to cover all claims notified in the specified period of cover, regardless of when they were settled and paid.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will discuss with the Home Secretary potential means to increase the number of visas from non-EU countries for essential workers within the NHS.
Answered by Ben Gummer
The Secretary of State for Health and the Home Secretary have discussed the Government’s policy on immigration when it has been raised at internal government meetings.
The Home Secretary asked the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the operation of the Tier 2 route of entry into the United Kingdom and they held a public consultation, which closed on 25 September 2015.
However, on 15 October 2015 the Home Secretary announced that the Tier 2 restrictions will be temporarily changed for nurses so that they can be recruited from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to ensure safe staffing levels across the National Health Service.
Nurses will be added to the Government’s Shortage Occupation List (SoL) on an interim basis. The temporary rule change, which will apply to applications considered from December, will mean that nurses from outside the EEA who apply to work in the UK will have their applications for nursing posts prioritised.
While nurses remain on the SoL they will be exempt from the requirement to earn £35,000. The exemption will continue to apply whilst the role is on the SoL.
The Home Secretary has also asked the MAC to carry out a review of the evidence about whether nurses should remain on the SoL and to report back to the Home Office by 15 February 2016.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost was of translation services in primary care provision in (a) England and (b) Wales in 2013-14.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Department does not hold information related to translation services centrally. National Health Service organisations have a duty to follow equalities legislation. This includes making sure their communities can understand information about the NHS services and that patients and clinicians can communicate with each other.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will consult on implementing no smoking zones outside government buildings for people employed in those buildings.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Government has no current plans to extend smokefree legislation to outside public areas.