Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the provision of mental health services available to prisoners.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Improving the physical and mental health of people in prison is a top priority for this Government. It is recognised that there are large numbers of people in prison with mental ill health, and it is essential that they are treated in the most appropriate environment for their needs.
When people do go to prison, they should receive the same standard and access to National Health Service healthcare treatments and care as people in the community.
Since April 2013, NHS England has commissioned health services for prisoners in England. Public Health England guidance supports NHS England commissioners and health care providers to undertake Health Needs Assessments which are a method for reviewing the health issues facing the prison population. The guidance advises that Health Needs Assessments are undertaken every three years, with an annual ‘refresh’.
NHS England is working with partners in Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service and Public Health England to improve and redesign services for people in prison with mental health needs. This includes revising approaches to secure hospital transfers under sections 48 and 49 of the Mental Health Act 1983 when a person needs to be in a hospital setting for their mental health. NHS England is reviewing the mental health service specification for prisons, in line with the commitment set out in the Next Steps for the Five Year Forward View.
It is important to ensure that care started in prison can be continued on release into the community. Enabling offenders to access necessary treatment and support is vital to reduce reoffending. Progress has been made in this area and general practitioner (GP) practices are now required to pre-register prisoners prior to their release.
This is further aided by work on the Health and Justice Information System. From 2019, NHS England will introduce the system to enable patient data to be shared with community services for the first time. This means that on release from prison, the patients up-to-date clinical record can be transferred to the GP with whom the person registers. This information sharing is key to ensuring continuity of care.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost of missed GP appointments to the NHS in (a) Medway and (b) England in the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Steve Brine
Information on the number and cost of missed general practitioner (GP) appointments is not collected or held centrally. Costs associated with GP appointments are determined by a range of locally determined factors including appointment duration, the workforce requirement and the clinical complexity of each appointment.
NHS England advises that Medway Clinical Commissioning Group is taking forward a number of initiatives to reduce missed GP appointments, including encouraging patients to sign-up to a text message service, and to make greater use of its Patient Online app and website; as well as working with practices to agree guidance on managing Do Not Attends.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to improve bereavement care following baby loss.
Answered by Matt Hancock
All bereaved parents, following baby loss, should be offered the same high standard of care and support in an appropriate environment. That is why the Government recently announced over £100,000 of funding for Sands, the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death charity, to continue the roll-out of the National Bereavement Care Pathway for 2018/19. This builds upon £50,000 of start-up funding and is in response to the great strides the project is making.
Since 2010, Government has invested nearly £40 million in the National Health Service to improve birthing environments and this included better bereavement rooms and quiet area spaces at nearly 40 hospitals to support bereaved families.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
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 raise public awareness of neuroblastoma.
Answered by Steve Brine
Public Health England’s Be Clear on Cancer campaigns aim to help improve earlier diagnosis of cancer by raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of specific cancers and encouraging those with symptoms to see their doctor promptly. The decision on which cancers should be the focus of Be Clear on Cancer campaigns is informed by a steering group, whose members include primary and secondary care clinicians and key voluntary sector organisations.
A number of factors are taken into account when deciding which campaigns to develop and run, with the main criteria being the scope to save lives through earlier diagnosis and whether the cancer has a clear and specific early sign or symptom that the general public can act upon should it arise.
Be Clear on Cancer campaigns do not currently include neuroblastoma. There are currently no plans to include neuroblastoma, however decisions on which cancers to campaign on is under constant review by the steering group, informed by the available data and medical information resources.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of funding for neuroblastoma research.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Research is crucial in the fight against cancer. That is why the Department invests £1 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
NIHR cancer research expenditure has risen from £101 million in 2010/11 to £137 million in 2016/17. This constitutes the largest investment in a disease area.
The NIHR has spent approximately £5 million on neuroblastoma research covering the period 2011 - present. The following table provides an annual breakdown:
2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 |
£342,769 | £424,732 | £643,040 | £890,394 | £942,990 | £1,264,231 | £523,260 |
In May the Government announced £40 million over the next five years for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission. Funding will be invested through the NIHR to support a wide range of research to support the translation of laboratory discoveries into treatments and better care for patients. We are relying on researchers to submit high-quality research proposals in this very difficult area. To encourage such applications we have released a NIHR Highlight Notice on brain tumour research asking research teams to submit collaborative applications building on recent initiatives and investments.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to improve access to NHS dental services in (a) Medway and (b) Kent.
Answered by Steve Brine
Nationally, access to National Health Service primary care dental services remains high. In the 24 month period ending 30 June 2018, 22.1 million adults were seen by an NHS dentist and 6.9 million children were seen by an NHS dentist in the 12 month period ending 30 June 2018.
NHS England has a legal duty to commission NHS dental services to meet the needs of the local population and to help patients who cannot find a local dentist.
NHS England South East region has carried out a health needs analysis to identify the areas of greatest need for additional NHS dental services.
The Department and NHS England are continuing to test a new way of providing NHS dental services which aims to further improve oral health and increase access. NHS England’s Starting Well programme is also aiming to improve access for young children, most at risk of tooth decay, who are not currently under the care of a dentist.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding was allocated from the public purse to neuroblastoma research in 2016-17.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Research is crucial in the fight against cancer. That is why the Department invests £1 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
NIHR cancer research expenditure has risen from £101 million in 2010/11 to £137 million in 2016/17. This constitutes the largest investment in a disease area.
The NIHR spent approximately £1.26 million on neuroblastoma research in financial year 2016/17.
NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase the number of defibrillators available in public places.
Answered by Steve Barclay
Since the Department’s Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Strategy was published in 2013, which highlighted the lives that could be saved by better cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training and availability of Public Access Defibrillators (PAD), the Community Resuscitation Steering Group chaired by NHS England has highlighted various issues and taken steps to try to improve them. These include:
- in order to further support the National Health Service and local communities, the Government provided £2 million to make PADs more widely available and to increase the number of people trained in CPR. The Government provided £1 million in the 2015 Budget to increase the availability and accessibility of PADs and numbers trained in CPR; this led to 700 more PADs in communities across England; and
- in the March 2016 Budget, a further £1 million was made available to make PADs and CPR more widely available in communities across England.
Beyond the recent central funding initiatives, since the end of the Department’s National Defibrillator Programme in 2007 PADs are also funded privately or by charities. Local ambulance trusts are thought to be best placed to know what is needed in their local area, and often offer advice to charities and the public on the operation and placement of PADs.
The Government recognises that better provision of defibrillators and increasing the number of people trained in CPR could help save more lives of those who have a cardiac arrest outside a hospital setting. We therefore encourage organisations to consider purchasing a defibrillator as part of their first-aid equipment, particularly for places where there are high concentrations of people.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of publically accessible defibrillators in Medway.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department does not centrally hold the requested information. NHS Medway Clinical Commissioning Group has been advised by the local council that there are defibrillators located across Medway, including at the Council’s Gun Wharf Office and sports centres in Medway Park, Strood, Hoo, Splashes and The Strand. This list is not definitive.
Steps are being taken to improve access to information on public access defibrillators (PADs). The British Heart Foundation (BHF) funded a project to determine if it was feasible and affordable to establish a national database of PADs and to make this available to ambulance services; the project concluded it was feasible and the BHF has now committed the funds to make it happen, and two ambulance services are currently involved in determining the structure and function of the database.
This database will later be offered to all services once shown to be safe and effective. The principal intention is to make the data available to and controlled by ambulance services, so that PAD location information is readily available when someone makes a 999 call. The BHF is conducting the development of the database with full professional guidance and with the support of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding was allocated to increase the effectiveness of GPs in identifying perinatal mental health problems in mothers in each year since 2010.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
General practitioners and primary care teams have a crucial role in supporting the identification of perinatal mental illness and treatment, and are part of an integrated pathway of services. This includes monitoring early onset conditions, providing pre-conception counselling and referring women to specialist mental health services, including Improving Access to Psychological Therapies and specialist perinatal community teams, if necessary.
NHS England is investing £63 million between 2016/17 and 2018/19 to support development of specialist perinatal mental health community services across England as part of a £365 million transformation programme of perinatal mental health services to 2020/21. Local teams work in close partnership with wider system partners, including primary care, to provide care and treatment to women with perinatal mental illness.
NHS England has also invested in multidisciplinary perinatal mental health clinical networks which include general practitioners. The networks drive forward change, focusing on collaborative working. The networks develop local, integrated pathways and support early identification of those at risk of mental illness in the perinatal period, enabling better outcomes for women in all communities.
Targeted funding of £1.2 million was provided in 2017 to enable the training of primary care, maternity and mental health staff to increase awareness and skills related to perinatal mental health.