Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has identified service gaps in the provision of primary care, mental health, dentistry and substance misuse services at HMP/YOI Downview.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Primary care, mental health, dentistry, and substance misuse services at HMP/YOI Downview are delivered under the national specification for integrated healthcare.
As part of the commissioning monitoring processes outlined in the NHS Strategic Commissioning Framework, which covers all National Health Service commissioned services, including health and justice, providers are measured against the mandatory performance indicators within the national specification and any potential inconsistencies in service delivery are identified.
Independent processes are also embedded within service delivery monitoring. These include annual healthcare needs assessments, equality impact assessments, Independent Monitoring Board reports, Care Quality Commission reports and inspections, and user experience consultations. An annual user experience has also been carried out across all prisons in the South East.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that UK public bodies in Scotland implement the For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers Supreme Court judgment.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has shared its updated draft statutory code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations with my Right Honourable Friend, the Minister for Women and Equalities. She will consider it fully and make a decision in due course. It is important we take the time to get this right.
The Code of Practice will apply to service providers, public bodies and associations across Great Britain. It is for the Scottish Government, of course, to ensure that its own public bodies comply with their legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to provide additional support for women who face additional prescription costs due to (a) menorrhagia and (b) other menstrual issues caused by (i) miscarriage and (ii) other significant traumas.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to review the support available to women facing these issues.
A maternity exemption certificate can be applied for as soon as a healthcare professional has confirmed that the patient is pregnant or has given birth, including still-birth, in the previous twelve months, and this provides exemption from prescription costs until 12 months after the due date. The certificate remains valid if the patient has a miscarriage. The certificate is automatically backdated one month from the date the application is received by the NHS Business Services Authority.
If a patient is not entitled to the maternity exemption, they can purchase a prescription prepayment certificate (PPC), which allows them to claim as many prescriptions as they need for a set cost. A three-monthly PPC, costing £32.05, or an annual PPC, costing £114.50, will save people money if they need four or more items in three months or 12 or more items in 12 months. To help spread the cost, people can pay for an annual PPC by ten monthly direct debits. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just over £2 per week.
Approximately 40% of the population are currently liable to pay the prescription charge though approximately 89% of the items dispensed in the community are dispensed free of charge.