Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
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 minimum unit pricing of alcohol on social inequalities related to alcohol misuse.
Answered by Steve Brine
Public Health England published an evidence review on the public health impact of alcohol and the effectiveness of policies for reducing alcohol-related harm in December 2016. The review concluded that reducing the affordability of alcohol is the most effective way of reducing alcohol harm and targeted pricing measures are particularly effective at reducing harm in those groups most at risk. The review also found that targeting price increases at the cheapest alcohol is very effective and cost-effective and is able to substantially reduce harm in heavy drinkers without affecting moderate drinkers or the price of alcohol sold in pubs and bars. Modelling studies by the University of Sheffield on the impact of minimum unit price was shown to have a positive impact in closing the health inequalities gap between those in the highest and those in the lowest socioeconomic groups. These studies are available at:
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.661445!/file/Final_mup_iba_report.pdf
Minimum unit pricing and its effects will continue to remain under review pending the impact of its implementation in Scotland.
Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
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 minimum unit pricing of alcohol on heavy drinkers from low income groups.
Answered by Steve Brine
Public Health England published an evidence review on the public health impact of alcohol and the effectiveness of policies for reducing alcohol-related harm in December 2016. The review concluded that reducing the affordability of alcohol is the most effective way of reducing alcohol harm and targeted pricing measures are particularly effective at reducing harm in those groups most at risk. The review also found that targeting price increases at the cheapest alcohol is very effective and cost-effective and is able to substantially reduce harm in heavy drinkers without affecting moderate drinkers or the price of alcohol sold in pubs and bars. Modelling studies by the University of Sheffield on the impact of minimum unit price was shown to have a positive impact in closing the health inequalities gap between those in the highest and those in the lowest socioeconomic groups. These studies are available at:
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.661445!/file/Final_mup_iba_report.pdf
Minimum unit pricing and its effects will continue to remain under review pending the impact of its implementation in Scotland.
Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will increase the value of the children's hospice grant in England.
Answered by David Mowat
NHS England is continuing to prioritise the Children’s Hospice Grant at the current level. NHS England has been engaging with children’s hospices through Together for Short Lives prior to a consultation on the allocation method for the 2017/18 grant.
Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost was of emergency admissions for bladder and bowel problems amongst children and young people aged 19 and under in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Health is a devolved matter in Scotland, and the information is not available in the format requested for England.
Such information as is available is from reference costs, which are the average unit cost to National Health Service hospital trusts in England of providing defined services to patients in a given financial year. Reference costs for acute care are collected by healthcare resource group (HRG), a secondary classification system which groups similar treatments that use similar resources and which is organised into chapters and sub-chapters that cover different body areas or systems. Chapter FZ covers the digestive system and includes, but is not limited to, HRGs for bowel problems. Sub-chapter LB covers the urinary tract and male reproductive system and includes, but is not limited to, bladder disorders. Many, but not all, HRGs make use of patient age to differentiate between children and adults. In addition to being collected by HRG, reference costs for acute care are also collected by admission method, including non-elective admissions. Non-elective admissions predominantly comprise of emergency admissions but also other admission methods as defined by the NHS data dictionary at:
http://www.datadictionary.nhs.uk/data_dictionary/attributes/a/add/admission_method_de.asp?shownav=1
Reference costs are published annually, most recently for 2014-15. The national reference cost schedule summarises all the costs submitted by NHS hospital trusts as national average unit costs. The following links are to each schedule for the last five years:
NHS reference costs: financial year 2011 to 2012 - Publications - GOV.UK
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/215298/dh_131145.xls
Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of inappropriate referrals to hospital settings for bladder and bowel problems in children and young people aged 19 and under.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Whenever possible, children and young people with bladder and bowel problems should be able to access community based assessment and treatment services.
In November 2015, NHS England published the Commissioning Framework for Continence Services Excellence in Continence Care which covers children and adults and outlines a pathway including assessment, diagnosis and treatment to recovery where possible. The framework sets out a number of principles for a good design of service including integration across primary, secondary and tertiary services, health, education and social care.
The framework references the Paediatric Continence Commissioning Guide (Paediatric Continence Forum, September 2014) which provides a specification for paediatric continence services and in particular community based services.