Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
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 help reduce waiting times for autism spectrum disorder assessments for children.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services. These documents will help the National Health Service to improve their autism assessment services and improve the experience for children who are referred to an autism assessment service.
In addition, each integrated care board is expected to have an Executive Lead, supporting the board in planning to meet the needs of its local population of people with a learning disability and autistic people, including by ensuring appropriate assessment and diagnosis pathways.
This year (2023/24), £4.2 million is available to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services and pre- and post-diagnostic support, and the continuation of the ‘Autism in Schools’ programme.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to ensure that levels of funding for hospices adequately take into account variations in (a) service provision and (b) regional need.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While the National Health Service has been required to commission appropriate palliative and end of life care services to meet the reasonable needs of the population, as part of the Health and Care Act 2022, the Government added palliative care services to the list of services an integrated care board must commission, to clarify this responsibility.
NHS England has actively increased its support to local commissioners to improve the accessibility, quality and sustainability of palliative and end of life care for all. This has included the publication of statutory guidance and service specifications.
NHS England is investing £25 million in the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant this year, to provide care closer to home for those seriously ill as and when they need it. NHS England has now confirmed that it will be renewing the grant for 2024/25, once again allocating £25 million grant funding for children’s hospices. NHS England will confirm the funding mechanism and individual hospice allocations in due course.
The Government, alongside key partners, NHS England, will continue to proactively engage with our stakeholders, including the voluntary sector on an ongoing basis, to understand the issues they face.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
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 help support the hospice movement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While the National Health Service has been required to commission appropriate palliative and end of life care services to meet the reasonable needs of the population, as part of the Health and Care Act 2022, the Government added palliative care services to the list of services an integrated care board must commission, to clarify this responsibility.
NHS England has actively increased its support to local commissioners to improve the accessibility, quality and sustainability of palliative and end of life care for all. This has included the publication of statutory guidance and service specifications.
NHS England is investing £25 million in the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant this year, to provide care closer to home for those seriously ill as and when they need it. NHS England has now confirmed that it will be renewing the grant for 2024/25, once again allocating £25 million grant funding for children’s hospices. NHS England will confirm the funding mechanism and individual hospice allocations in due course.
The Government, alongside key partners, NHS England, will continue to proactively engage with our stakeholders, including the voluntary sector on an ongoing basis, to understand the issues they face.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department provides guidance to trainee doctors in the NHS on how to discuss child organ donation with bereaved parents.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Organs can only be transplanted shortly following death therefore donations are usually received from intensive care patients. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance suggests that a discussion around organ donation will involve the medical and nursing staff involved in the care of the patient following death. This process is led by a consultant and a specialist nurse for organ donation.
NHS Blood and Transplant provides training for doctors in intensive care on discussing organ donation with bereaved family members. The National Deceased Donation Course for Intensive Care Medicine Trainees uses actors as family members and high-fidelity simulation, including a paediatric specific pathway. Specialist nurses for organ donation receive training for conversations and end of life care practices for paediatric donation.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the forthcoming NHS England long-term workforce plan will include a specific plan for (a) midwifery and (b) other occupations within the maternity care team.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term workforce plan. The plan will consider the number of staff and the roles required and will set out the actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention. The plan will review all National Health Service professions, including midwifery and other occupations within the maternity care team.
In 2022, an additional £127 million has been invested in the National Health Service maternity workforce and improving neonatal care, including in York Central. This is in addition to the £95 million invested in 2021 to fund a further 1,200 midwives and 100 consultant obstetricians. We have provided approximately £450,000 to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to develop a new workforce planning tool to improve how maternity units calculate medical staffing requirements.
NHS England is working with the Department and the Nursing and Midwifery Council to support midwifery international recruitment and Health Education England is working with stakeholders to implement an increase of 3,650 midwifery student places by the end of 2022/23.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many midwives have received support under the NHS Learning Support Fund, and how much financial support they have received, (a) in total and (b) broken down by (i) learning support grant, (ii) parental support, (iii) travel and dual accommodation expenses, and (iv) the exceptional support fund.
Answered by Will Quince
The information is not collected in the format requested. However, the following table shows the number of awards to midwifery students in receipt of the NHS Learning Support Fund and expenditure by grant type in each year since 2020/21.
| 2020/21 | 2021/22 | ||
Number of awards | Expenditure £ | Number of awards | Expenditure £ | |
Total | 7,964 | 28,510,830 | 16,371 | 48,770,255 |
Training Grant | 7,964 | 24,952,186 | 16,371 | 41,773,188 |
Specialist Subject | 2 | 1,320 | 0 | 0 |
Parental Support | 2,640 | 3,289,185 | 5,574 | 5,741,169 |
Travel | 768 | 218,204 | 2,601 | 964,387 |
Accommodation | 82 | 31,657 | 260 | 213,905 |
Exceptional Support | 7 | 18,277 | 30 | 77,606 |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority.
Note:
The volume of awards reflects student numbers. A student could be awarded more than one component as every student receives a training grant.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
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 potential merits of a tiered system of redress for the Vaccine Damages Payment Scheme to support those with less than 60% disability from an adverse vaccination reaction.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government is prioritising the improvement of the current Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme to ensure claimants receive outcomes as quickly as possible. Consideration of future reforms will be made as further evidence emerges, particularly on COVID-19 vaccine claims. Other Government support remains available for those with a disability or long-term health condition, including Statutory Sick Pay, Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, Attendance Allowance and Personal Independence Payments.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the age profile of the NHS midwifery workforce in (a) England and (b) each NHS region of England (i) for the most recent month for which figures are available and (ii) in the same month in (A) 2010 and (B) 2015.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The following table shows the headcount number of midwives working in National Health Service hospital trusts and commissioning bodies in England by age band in June 2010, June 2015 and June 2022.
| June 2010 | June 2015 | June 2022 |
All age bands | 24,108 | 25,711 | 26,181 |
Under 25 years old | 791 | 1,282 | 1,764 |
25 to 34 years old | 4,488 | 5,905 | 7,532 |
35 to 44 years old | 7,003 | 6,162 | 6,758 |
45 to 54 years old | 8,897 | 8,764 | 5,656 |
55 to 64 years old | 2,797 | 3,416 | 4,174 |
65 years old and over | 132 | 182 | 297 |
Source: NHS Digital Hospital and Community Health Service Workforce Statistics
A table showing the age profile of NHS midwives by region is attached.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
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 tackle the reduced rate of potential cancer sufferers seeing a consultant within two weeks of an urgent GP referral.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department committed a further £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund in 2021/22 to increase capacity in elective services, including for cancer diagnosis and treatment.
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’, published in February 2022, contains two targets for cancer care to improve performance for the two-week waiting time. The plan aims to return the number of people waiting more than 62 days to start treatment following an urgent referral due to suspected cancer to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023. In addition, 75% of patients who have been urgently referred by their general practitioner for suspected cancer will be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days by March 2024.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the NHS is taking to process the backlog of retirement applications of NHS workers, so that former NHS staff can access their retirement benefits as soon as possible.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The NHS Business Services Authority, which administers the NHS Pension Scheme, received an increase in retirement applications for April 2022 compared to the previous year. While the majority of applications were processed within the timeframes expected, some delays were experienced due to the need for complex manual calculations. The volume of applications has returned to the levels usually received, although as the majority of staff currently retiring have benefits in both the 1995/2008 and the 2015 schemes, more manual calculations are still required.
The NHS Business Services Authority has increased the number of staff available to undertake these calculations and issued guidance to scheme employers to ensure that members are informed of the progress of their application prior to the employer submitting their application. Where manual calculations are required, as the member has the option of receiving the smaller 2015 Scheme pension as a lump sum, the NHS Business Services Authority is limiting any financial impact by ensuring 1995/2008 Scheme benefits are paid immediately, while options for payment of 2015 Scheme benefits are discussed with the member. This ensures the payment of the majority of a member’s benefits is not delayed.