Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the increase in the number of physiotherapists that will be working in primary care networks over the next three years; and what steps his Department is taking to achieve that increase.
Answered by Steve Brine
The NHS Long Term Plan made a clear commitment to the future of general practice, with primary and community care set to receive at least £4.5 billion more in real terms a year by 2023/24, meaning spending on these services will grow faster than the rising National Health Service budget. Since the launch of the Long Term Plan, NHS England and the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners (GP) Committee have agreed a five-year GP (General Medical Services) contract framework from 2019/20. The new contract framework will be essential to deliver the ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Plan through strong general practice services.
The contract included funding for the new Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, in Primary Care Networks (PCNs). PCNs will be guaranteed funding for an up to estimated 20,000 additional staff by 2023/24. This funds new roles for which there is both credible supply and demand. The scheme will meet a recurrent 70% of the costs of additional clinical pharmacists, physician associates, first contact physiotherapists, and first contact community paramedics; and 100% of the costs of additional social prescribing link workers.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that general practitioners, nurses and pharmacists are competent in the routine assessment and management of chronic pain.
Answered by Steve Brine
The routine assessment and management of pain is a required competency of all healthcare professionals. Many patients with chronic pain can be successfully supported and managed through routine primary and secondary care pain management services. Approaches to treatment are not all pharmacological; education in self-management techniques to aid symptom control may also be appropriate for some patients.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently developing guidance on the assessment and management of chronic pain aimed at all settings in which National Health Service and local authority commissioned care is provided. The guidance is expected to be published on 19 August 2020. Guidance scope for the NICE clinical guidance document in development can be found via the following link:
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/gid-ng10069/documents/final-scope
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of assessment and management of chronic pain by (a) general practitioners, (b) nurses and (c) pharmacists.
Answered by Steve Brine
The routine assessment and management of pain is a required competency of all healthcare professionals. Many patients with chronic pain can be successfully supported and managed through routine primary and secondary care pain management services. Approaches to treatment are not all pharmacological; education in self-management techniques to aid symptom control may also be appropriate for some patients.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently developing guidance on the assessment and management of chronic pain aimed at all settings in which National Health Service and local authority commissioned care is provided. The guidance is expected to be published on 19 August 2020. Guidance scope for the NICE clinical guidance document in development can be found via the following link:
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/gid-ng10069/documents/final-scope
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients with (a) psoriasis, (b) atopic dermatitis and (c) hidradenitis suppurativa were seen by a dermatologist in 2018 in (i) Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust and (ii) nationally.
Answered by Steve Brine
No assessment has been made. The commissioning and configuration of dermatology services in England is a local matter. The local National Health Service is best placed to make decisions that ensure services meet the needs of resident populations in the most appropriate way. Health is a devolved matter, and as such, dermatology services in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved administrations.
The majority of patients with dermatological disorders are managed in primary and community care. Whilst some patients may be referred for outpatient care, data collection here is not mandated, and is therefore partial and incomplete. Furthermore, the data that is available reports episodes of care, which are not a count of patients, as the same patient may have multiple episodes of care for the same reason.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect on patient care of reforms to dermatology services at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust; and what plans his Department has to improve the effectiveness and availability of dermatology services throughout the UK.
Answered by Steve Brine
No assessment has been made. The commissioning and configuration of dermatology services in England is a local matter. The local National Health Service is best placed to make decisions that ensure services meet the needs of resident populations in the most appropriate way. Health is a devolved matter, and as such, dermatology services in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved administrations.
The majority of patients with dermatological disorders are managed in primary and community care. Whilst some patients may be referred for outpatient care, data collection here is not mandated, and is therefore partial and incomplete. Furthermore, the data that is available reports episodes of care, which are not a count of patients, as the same patient may have multiple episodes of care for the same reason.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timeframe is for Getting It Right First Time units to visit (a) Northern Lincolnshire and (b) Goole NHS Trust in relation to (i) gastroenterology and (ii) dermatology.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
A timeframe for the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme to begin work with Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust regarding its gastroenterology and dermatology specialties has yet to be established. The GIRFT team has been in touch with the Trust about this work and it has agreed that the Trust will notify the team when it is ready to commence.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To asks the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timetable is for the implementation of all of the pilots for first contact physiotherapy practitioners; and when the outcomes of those pilots will be reported.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The First Contact Practitioners (FCP) pilot is part of NHS England’s plan to increase staff working in primary care to help ease pressure on general practice. FCPs are physiotherapists with advance practice, who are able to support patient management in primary care. To date, 41 of 42 physiotherapy practitioner pilot sites have commenced, with a further site scheduled to go live on 1 April 2019.
An evaluation report is due to be completed in spring 2019, which is based on pilot site mobilisation. Evaluation will continue during 2019/20.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Long Term Plan, what assessment he has made of the effect of developments in digital care on the provision of pain pathway services.
Answered by Steve Brine
The routine assessment and management of pain is a required competency of all healthcare professionals. Many patients with chronic pain can be successfully supported and managed through routine primary and secondary care pain management services. Approaches to treatment are not all pharmacological; education in self-management techniques to aid symptom control may also be appropriate for some patients.
As set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, published on 7 January 2019, low back and neck pain is the greatest cause of years lost to disability, with chronic joint pain or osteoarthritis affecting over 8.75 million people in the United Kingdom. In the Long Term Plan NHS England committed to build on work already undertaken to ensure patients will have direct access to musculoskeletal First Contact Practitioners (FCP). 98% of sustainability and transformation partnerships have confirmed pilot sites for FCP and 55% of pilots are already underway.
NHS England will expand the number of physiotherapists working in primary care networks, enabling people to see the right professional first time, without needing a general practitioner referral. NHS England will also expand access to support such as the online version of ESCAPE-pain, Enabling Self-management and Coping with Arthritic Pain through Exercise, a digital version of the well-established, face-to-face group programme.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to prevent worsening chronicity of pain in people suffering from chronic pain.
Answered by Steve Brine
The routine assessment and management of pain is a required competency of all healthcare professionals. Many patients with chronic pain can be successfully supported and managed through routine primary and secondary care pain management services. Approaches to treatment are not all pharmacological; education in self-management techniques to aid symptom control may also be appropriate for some patients.
As set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, published on 7 January 2019, low back and neck pain is the greatest cause of years lost to disability, with chronic joint pain or osteoarthritis affecting over 8.75 million people in the United Kingdom. In the Long Term Plan NHS England committed to build on work already undertaken to ensure patients will have direct access to musculoskeletal First Contact Practitioners (FCP). 98% of sustainability and transformation partnerships have confirmed pilot sites for FCP and 55% of pilots are already underway.
NHS England will expand the number of physiotherapists working in primary care networks, enabling people to see the right professional first time, without needing a general practitioner referral. NHS England will also expand access to support such as the online version of ESCAPE-pain, Enabling Self-management and Coping with Arthritic Pain through Exercise, a digital version of the well-established, face-to-face group programme.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of the UK population has access to occupational health services.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
In 2014, 51% of employees in Great Britain reported having access to occupational health services.
For information, an occupational health service provides advice and practical support about how to stay healthy in the workplace and how to manage health conditions. For example, access to health care professions, or support or advice for making workplace adjustments.
Employees are not strictly defined but are Great Britain employees aged 16 and over.