Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to address regional variation in iron deficiency.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Public Health England (PHE) has assessed the prevalence of iron deficiency in the United Kingdom as a whole and in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as part of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey. The results indicate little difference between the UK countries. Numbers are too small to permit a more detailed regional analysis and no further assessment has been made.
PHE provides public–facing advice on how to achieve the dietary recommendations for iron as part of its general advice on a healthy balanced diet, as set out in the Eatwell Guide.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the causes of regional variation in rates of iron deficiency and anaemia.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Public Health England (PHE) has assessed the prevalence of iron deficiency in the United Kingdom as a whole and in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as part of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey. The results indicate little difference between the UK countries. Numbers are too small to permit a more detailed regional analysis and no further assessment has been made.
PHE provides public–facing advice on how to achieve the dietary recommendations for iron as part of its general advice on a healthy balanced diet, as set out in the Eatwell Guide.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the implications for his Department's policies are of the Crisp Commission Report on mental health; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
As a result of the recommendations from the Crisp Commission and the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, the Government set a national ambition in April 2016 to eliminate inappropriate out of area placements (OAPs) for adult acute inpatient care by 2020/21.
To ensure progress towards this ambition in 2016/17, the Department asked that areas put in place local action plans to achieve reductions in OAPs during 2016/17. NHS England will seek assurance that plans are in place, as well as demonstrable reductions, through the Clinical Commissioning Group Improvement and Assessment Framework. In addition, NHS Improvement will ensure best practice is shared more widely.
On the wider Crisp Commission recommendations, NHS England is working with the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health at the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) to develop an evidence-based treatment pathway for adult acute mental health care (including older adults), covering both inpatient and community settings from referral through to discharge, so that adult acute inpatient care can be used effectively for patients who need it. A national quality assessment and improvement scheme developed by the RCPsych will be launched during 2017/18, with the aim of improving acute care to meet the pathway standards during 2018/19.
NHS England has committed to publish a formal response to the Commission’s report shortly.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will bring forward legislative proposals to decriminalise dispensing errors by pharmacists.
Answered by David Mowat
We have consulted on our proposals to put in place a defence to the criminal sanction for inadvertent dispensing errors and received good support from patients, carers, healthcare professionals, pharmacy organisations and other bodies. We are working through the necessary processes to change the law. We are in the final stages of clearance and hope to lay the Order shortly.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many local authorities have published an autism strategy; and what steps the Government is taking to ensure that all local authorities are producing such strategies.
Answered by David Mowat
This information is not held centrally.
The autism strategy Think Autism published in 2014 and statutory guidance published in 2015 for local authorities and National Health Service organisations encourages the effective development of local autism strategies for meeting the needs of adults with autism in their local population, as identified in their local needs assessments. Local authorities and clinical commissioning groups should work together to commission services for children with special educational needs, including autism. This should include publishing a ‘Local Offer’ of services.