Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress his Department has made on exploring potential funding options for the Causeway British-Irish Exchange Programme.
Answered by David Lidington
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office and other government departments continue to explore whether ongoing or transitional financial support is available to the Causeway Youth Exchange Programme following the British Council decision to withdraw financial support. We will look at all potential options and endeavour to keep the programme stakeholders updated on progress.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many of the NHS trusts involved in the Sign up to safety campaign have a policy of stocking medicines for the treatment of Parkinson's disease in their emergency medications cupboards.
Answered by George Freeman
Following publication of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance that people with Parkinson's disease should have their medication given at appropriate times and should be allowed to self-administer if necessary, the National Patient Safety Agency issued a rapid response report (RRR) on omitted and delayed medicines on 24 February 2010, (NSPA/2010/RRR009) Reducing harm from omitted and delayed medicines in hospital, which applies to the National Health Service in both England and Wales. A copy of this report has already been placed in the Library, and a copy is available at:
www.nrls.npsa.nhs.uk/resources/patient-safety-topics/medication-safety/?entryid45=66720&p=2
Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, all providers of regulated activities, including care homes have to register with the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England, and meet a set of requirements of safety and quality. One of these requirements relates to the management of medicines and requires that a provider protects service users against the risks associated with the unsafe use and management of medicines.
NHS England’s Safer Medication Practice Team in Patient Safety, is finalising an e-learning package to help reduce omission and delay in the administration of medicines, including for Parkinson’s disease. This package will be available for all health professionals who prescribe, dispense and administer medicines in hospitals. It aims to increase awareness of the frequency of incidents and harm that are associated with omitted and delayed medicine doses in hospital and describes safer practice
In addition, in March 2014, a joint NHS England and The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Patient Safety Alert, ‘Improving medication error incident reporting and learning’, was issued. A copy of this has been placed in the Library and is available at:
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/psa-med-error.pdf
This alert directs NHS and independent sector organisations to identify medication safety officers by 19 September 2014. They will be empowered to champion and facilitate local learning from patient safety incidents, including those that arise from omissions and delay of medicines for Parkinson’s disease. A National Medication Safety Network is to be established for discussing potential and recognised safety issues and identifying trends and actions to improve the safe use of medicines. The network will also work with new Patient Safety Improvement Collaborative, that will be set up later this year
NHS England does not hold information on the number of NHS trusts that are involved with the Sign up to Safety campaign or the number of trusts who have a policy of stocking medicines for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease in their emergency medicines cupboards.
The NPSA RRR referred to above, identified medicines used to treat Parkinson’s disease as critical medicines. Although emergency medicine cupboards are not mentioned directly in the RRR, NHS organisations have to review and where necessary make changes to systems for the supply of critical medicines within and outside of hours to minimise risks related to omitted or delayed doses of medicines.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to improve compliance in (a) hospitals and (b) care homes with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines that people with Parkinson's disease should have their medication given at appropriate times and should be allowed to self-administer if necessary.
Answered by George Freeman
Following publication of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance that people with Parkinson's disease should have their medication given at appropriate times and should be allowed to self-administer if necessary, the National Patient Safety Agency issued a rapid response report (RRR) on omitted and delayed medicines on 24 February 2010, (NSPA/2010/RRR009) Reducing harm from omitted and delayed medicines in hospital, which applies to the National Health Service in both England and Wales. A copy of this report has already been placed in the Library, and a copy is available at:
www.nrls.npsa.nhs.uk/resources/patient-safety-topics/medication-safety/?entryid45=66720&p=2
Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, all providers of regulated activities, including care homes have to register with the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England, and meet a set of requirements of safety and quality. One of these requirements relates to the management of medicines and requires that a provider protects service users against the risks associated with the unsafe use and management of medicines.
NHS England’s Safer Medication Practice Team in Patient Safety, is finalising an e-learning package to help reduce omission and delay in the administration of medicines, including for Parkinson’s disease. This package will be available for all health professionals who prescribe, dispense and administer medicines in hospitals. It aims to increase awareness of the frequency of incidents and harm that are associated with omitted and delayed medicine doses in hospital and describes safer practice
In addition, in March 2014, a joint NHS England and The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Patient Safety Alert, ‘Improving medication error incident reporting and learning’, was issued. A copy of this has been placed in the Library and is available at:
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/psa-med-error.pdf
This alert directs NHS and independent sector organisations to identify medication safety officers by 19 September 2014. They will be empowered to champion and facilitate local learning from patient safety incidents, including those that arise from omissions and delay of medicines for Parkinson’s disease. A National Medication Safety Network is to be established for discussing potential and recognised safety issues and identifying trends and actions to improve the safe use of medicines. The network will also work with new Patient Safety Improvement Collaborative, that will be set up later this year
NHS England does not hold information on the number of NHS trusts that are involved with the Sign up to Safety campaign or the number of trusts who have a policy of stocking medicines for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease in their emergency medicines cupboards.
The NPSA RRR referred to above, identified medicines used to treat Parkinson’s disease as critical medicines. Although emergency medicine cupboards are not mentioned directly in the RRR, NHS organisations have to review and where necessary make changes to systems for the supply of critical medicines within and outside of hours to minimise risks related to omitted or delayed doses of medicines.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the new NHS safety action team plans to take to reduce avoidable harm resulting from delays or omissions in medication for hospital patients with Parkinson's disease.
Answered by George Freeman
Following publication of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance that people with Parkinson's disease should have their medication given at appropriate times and should be allowed to self-administer if necessary, the National Patient Safety Agency issued a rapid response report (RRR) on omitted and delayed medicines on 24 February 2010, (NSPA/2010/RRR009) Reducing harm from omitted and delayed medicines in hospital, which applies to the National Health Service in both England and Wales. A copy of this report has already been placed in the Library, and a copy is available at:
www.nrls.npsa.nhs.uk/resources/patient-safety-topics/medication-safety/?entryid45=66720&p=2
Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, all providers of regulated activities, including care homes have to register with the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England, and meet a set of requirements of safety and quality. One of these requirements relates to the management of medicines and requires that a provider protects service users against the risks associated with the unsafe use and management of medicines.
NHS England’s Safer Medication Practice Team in Patient Safety, is finalising an e-learning package to help reduce omission and delay in the administration of medicines, including for Parkinson’s disease. This package will be available for all health professionals who prescribe, dispense and administer medicines in hospitals. It aims to increase awareness of the frequency of incidents and harm that are associated with omitted and delayed medicine doses in hospital and describes safer practice
In addition, in March 2014, a joint NHS England and The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Patient Safety Alert, ‘Improving medication error incident reporting and learning’, was issued. A copy of this has been placed in the Library and is available at:
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/psa-med-error.pdf
This alert directs NHS and independent sector organisations to identify medication safety officers by 19 September 2014. They will be empowered to champion and facilitate local learning from patient safety incidents, including those that arise from omissions and delay of medicines for Parkinson’s disease. A National Medication Safety Network is to be established for discussing potential and recognised safety issues and identifying trends and actions to improve the safe use of medicines. The network will also work with new Patient Safety Improvement Collaborative, that will be set up later this year
NHS England does not hold information on the number of NHS trusts that are involved with the Sign up to Safety campaign or the number of trusts who have a policy of stocking medicines for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease in their emergency medicines cupboards.
The NPSA RRR referred to above, identified medicines used to treat Parkinson’s disease as critical medicines. Although emergency medicine cupboards are not mentioned directly in the RRR, NHS organisations have to review and where necessary make changes to systems for the supply of critical medicines within and outside of hours to minimise risks related to omitted or delayed doses of medicines.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with Parkinson's disease (a) have applied for personal independence payments (PIPs), (b) are receiving PIPs and (c) have been refused PIPs.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
Available data does not provide the number of people with Parkinson's disease who have (a) applied for Personal Independence Payment (b) are receiving Personal Independence Payment (c) have been refused Personal Independence Payment. However, published statistics show that at February 2014 there were 2,831 people entitled to PIP for Neurological Conditions, which would include those who have Parkinson's disease.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have had with their Irish counterparts on the Common Travel Area since May 2010.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Home Office Ministers and officials have regular discussions with their Irish counterparts on a range of subjects, including the Common Travel Area.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on the detailed implementation of the proposed British-Irish visa scheme.
Answered by James Brokenshire
On 16 June 2014 the Home Secretary announced the introduction of the British-Irish Visa Scheme. From Autumn 2014, Chinese and Indian nationals with a visit visa issued in China and India respectively will be able to use an Irish visa to travel to the UK and a British visa to travel to Ireland without the need for a separate visa. This is underpinned by a range of detailed implementation activity.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) primary and (b) secondary legislative provision is required for the implementation of the proposed British-Irish visa scheme; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by James Brokenshire
No changes to primary legislation are required. Amendments will be made to the Immigration (Control of Entry through Republic of Ireland) Order 1972.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will include Kincora Boys Home in East Belfast in the scope of the Butler-Sloss child abuse inquiry.
Answered by Norman Baker
On 7 July the Home Secretary announced an independent inquiry into child sexual abuse. The inquiry will consider whether public bodies – and other non-state institutions – have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. The Inquiry will co-operate fully with Devolved Administrations. However all relevant issues in Scotland and Northern Ireland are now devolved and will be a matter for those administrations to consider. In Wales the inquiry will cover those institutions which concern non-devolved matters. The Home Secretary has made clear that the Home Office will talk to the Devolved Administrations and work with them on this Inquiry.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what measures his Department has put in place to ensure that people with ovarian cancer and their families are aware of the right to request BRCA1/2 testing at the point of diagnosis; and what steps his Department is taking to encourage greater uptake of BRCA1/2 gene testing.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Current National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines recommend offering genetic testing to people with a 10% likelihood of carrying a BRCA1/2 mutation.
NHS England is seeking the advice of its specialised gynaecology Clinical Reference Group in order to inform its policy on this matter.