Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support is provided to GPs to inform them of the research related to and treatments for people with mental health conditions.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Health Education England (HEE) Mandate for 2015-16 reported that “HEE, working with the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Royal College of General Practitioners has developed an e-learning package to support continuing professional development for GPs in mental health ensuring that GPs have ready access to the most up to date knowledge available in this vitally important area of health care. This will enable recognition of mental illness and access to the right care pathway including improving access to psychological therapies and specialist mental health services.”
Further information can be found at:
http://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/mental-health-awareness-programme/more-information/
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost to the NHS of (a) furniture, (b) crutches and (c) other equipment given to people with short-term need was in each of the last three years.
Answered by Alistair Burt
This information is not collected centrally. It is for National Health Service trusts to ensure they make the best use of the resources available to them.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what regulations there are on the ratio of staff to patients in care homes.
Answered by Ben Gummer
There are no regulations setting out staff to residents ratio’s in care homes, however all providers of regulated activities have to register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall.
One of the fundamental standards relates to staffing and requires that a provider must have sufficient numbers of suitability qualified, competent, skilled and experienced persons in order to meet the requirements of residents.
The CQC has a wide range of enforcement powers that it can use if the provider is not does not meet the fundamental standards.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on what grounds the discharge of youths from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) is based on school years rather than date of birth; and if he will change the basis for discharge from CAMHS.
Answered by Alistair Burt
There is no central requirement for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to use a school year rather than age as a threshold for transition.
In December 2014 and January 2015, NHS England published new service specifications for commissioners, giving guidance and best practice on transition from CAMHS to adult services (or elsewhere). These specifications intentionally do not stipulate an age threshold for transition but states that transition should be built around the needs of the individual, not focussed on age.
The Future in mind report recognised that transition at aged 18 years of age is not always appropriate and that there should be flexibility around age boundaries, in which transition is based on individual circumstances, rather than absolute age, with joint working and shared practice between services to promote continuity of care.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support in (a) monetary terms and (b) skills his Department provides for research into motor neurone disease.
Answered by George Freeman
The usual practice of the Department's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including motor neurone disease (MND). These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
Current NIHR awards include a £0.3 million doctoral research fellowship looking at the use of telehealth in MND.
The NIHR Clinical Research Network is currently recruiting patients to 21 trials and studies in MND.
The NIHR Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure is a unique resource for the global life sciences industry, simplifying access to the United Kingdom’s world-leading clinical research infrastructure in all disease areas including MND.
The NIHR Research Design Service supports researchers to develop and design high-quality proposals for submission to NIHR itself and also to other national, peer-reviewed funding competitions for applied health or social care research in all disease and topic areas including MND. The service provides expert advice to researchers on all aspects of preparing funding applications in these fields, including advice on research methodology, clinical trials, patient involvement, and ethics and governance.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the implementation of seven-day-a-week NHS services on the payment-by-results contracts in clinical commissioning groups.
Answered by Ben Gummer
The Department and NHS England are working together to establish the costs of introducing seven day services over the spending review period.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to encourage more people to join healthcare professions in rural areas experiencing difficulties with staff recruitment.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Health Education England was established to deliver a better healthcare workforce for England and is accountable for ensuring a secure workforce supply for the future. It ensures that the workforce has the right skills, behaviours and training, and is available in the right numbers, to support the delivery of excellent healthcare and drive improvements.
National Health Service organisations are best placed to decide how many staff they employ. Services should be tailored to meet the needs of their patients and local communities, to deliver safe care.