Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the age profile is of midwives at the (a) most recent date for which figures are available and (b) the equivalent date in each year since 2010.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
NHS Digital publishes workforce statistics and the following table shows the age profile of midwives in the National Health Service in England from October 2010 to 2017.
Registered midwives by five year age band in NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups in England as at 31 October of each specified year, headcount.
| October 2010 | October 2011 | October 2012 | October 2013 | October 2014 | October 2015 | October 2016 | October 2017 |
Under 25 | 883 | 1,026 | 1,155 | 1,320 | 1,339 | 1,352 | 1,442 | 1,493 |
25 to 29 | 2,043 | 2,191 | 2,343 | 2,511 | 2,788 | 3,142 | 3,367 | 3,638 |
30 to 34 | 2,553 | 2,744 | 2,800 | 2,901 | 2,965 | 3,024 | 3,117 | 3,279 |
35 to 39 | 2,759 | 2,839 | 2,762 | 2,788 | 2,941 | 3,090 | 3,212 | 3,339 |
40 to 44 | 4,139 | 3,789 | 3,540 | 3,315 | 3,187 | 3,069 | 3,039 | 2,999 |
45 to 49 | 5,119 | 5,119 | 5,051 | 4,801 | 4,404 | 3,975 | 3,609 | 3,335 |
50 to 54 | 3,818 | 4,094 | 4,267 | 4,452 | 4,629 | 4,661 | 4,562 | 4,453 |
55 to 59 | 2,022 | 2,087 | 2,281 | 2,377 | 2,518 | 2,567 | 2,665 | 2,745 |
60 to 64 | 803 | 823 | 822 | 816 | 841 | 914 | 911 | 998 |
65 and over | 144 | 127 | 139 | 156 | 180 | 189 | 175 | 164 |
Total Headcount | 24,283 | 24,839 | 25,160 | 25,437 | 25,792 | 25,983 | 26,099 | 26,443 |
Source: NHS Digital, Provisional NHS Hospital and Community Health Service monthly workforce statistics
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) support workers and (b) people on Agenda for Change pay bands 1 to 4 were working in maternity services in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
NHS Digital publishes workforce statistics and the following table shows the number of full time equivalent (FTE) support workers in bands 1 to 4 working within maternity services in England between September 2015 and October 2017.
NHS Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS): Support Workers working within Maternity Services by Agenda for Change band in National Health Service trusts and clinical commission groups in England as at 30 September each specified year and latest data as at 31 October 2017, FTE.
Support workers (FTE) | September-2015 | September-2016 | September-2017 | October-2017 |
Band 1 | 86 | 95 | 85 | 78 |
Band 2 | 4,076 | 4,163 | 4,130 | 4,144 |
Band 3 | 1,973 | 2,107 | 2,076 | 2,078 |
Band 4 | 472 | 449 | 468 | 457 |
Unknown | 46 | 44 | 43 | 42 |
Source: NHS Digital, HCHS monthly workforce statistics.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on access to specialised gynae-oncological surgery for women in Birmingham of the closure of the service at Birmingham City Hospital.
Answered by Philip Dunne
NHS England has advised that services from Birmingham City Hospital will continue in the near future. Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospital and NHS England are committed to ensuring that patients continue to receive appropriate care and treatment and are advised of, and engaged in, proposed service changes as soon as possible.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of (a) Departmental employees and (b) NHS staff are paid through trusts rather than through PAYE.
Answered by Philip Dunne
All, that is 100%, of permanently employed Departmental staff are paid via the Department or an arm’s length body’s payroll and are subject to PAYE.
In respect of temporarily employed staff, all temporary staff are subject to a robust Departmental assurance process which ensures the appropriate tax is paid whether that be through the employing organisation in the case of secondments, the employing agency or the employing Professional services company in respect of contractors.
The Department does not collect information about the number of National Health Service staff paid through trusts rather than through PAYE. The mechanism for paying NHS staff is a matter for individual employers.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether any assessment has been made of the effect on access to healthcare by UK citizens who do not have a passport of requiring patients to show ID before they can access healthcare.
Answered by Philip Dunne
There is no requirement for patients to show ID before they can access healthcare and therefore no assessment has been made of the effect on access to healthcare by United Kingdom citizens who do not have a passport. However, providing two forms of identification to help in determining patients’ chargeable status has recently been piloted in some National Health Service trusts and a full independent evaluation of these pilots is currently underway.
The UK has a residence based health care system and entitlement to free NHS care is largely based on being ordinarily resident in the UK , or being otherwise exempt from charge under the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations.
A passport cannot alone demonstrate if someone is ordinarily resident in the UK and therefore eligible for free NHS care and holding a passport does not guarantee the same rights as someone who is ordinarily resident in England.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will publish the results of the 20 pilot studies into refusing treatment to patients who cannot produce a utility bill and a passport.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Between May and October 2017, 19 trusts participated in pilots to trial the effectiveness of asking for two forms of identification from patients in improving the identification of chargeable patients. No treatment was denied to patients who did not provide two forms of identification. The Department commissioned Ipsos Mori to undertake a full independent evaluation of the pilots, the results of which will be delivered to the Department shortly and published in due course. The total cost of funding allocated to trusts to support the implementation of the pilots was £412,723.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will fully evaluate and consult on the results of the 20 pilot studies into refusing treatment to patients who cannot produce a utility bill and a passport before it proceeds with any changes to NHS charging regulations.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Between May and October 2017, 19 trusts participated in pilots to trial the effectiveness of asking for two forms of identification from patients in improving the identification of chargeable patients. No treatment was denied to patients who did not provide two forms of identification. The Department commissioned Ipsos Mori to undertake a full independent evaluation of the pilots, the results of which will be delivered to the Department shortly and published in due course. The total cost of funding allocated to trusts to support the implementation of the pilots was £412,723.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost has been to the public purse of the extra staff sent to those 20 hospital trusts which are trialling the refusal of treatment to patients who cannot produce a utility bill and a passport.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Between May and October 2017, 19 trusts participated in pilots to trial the effectiveness of asking for two forms of identification from patients in improving the identification of chargeable patients. No treatment was denied to patients who did not provide two forms of identification. The Department commissioned Ipsos Mori to undertake a full independent evaluation of the pilots, the results of which will be delivered to the Department shortly and published in due course. The total cost of funding allocated to trusts to support the implementation of the pilots was £412,723.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress the Government has made on implementation of the recommendations of the working group on autism on the time taken to diagnose autism.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
There is no formal working group currently looking specifically at the time taken for an autism diagnosis to be made. Information on current waiting times for an autism assessment is drawn from the Public Health England report of the 2016 Self-Assessment Framework exercise.
The Department continues to work with its partners to address long waiting times for an autism diagnosis. This includes work to ensure the inclusion of autism diagnosis and outcomes indicators in the Mental Health Services Dataset, with new robust data collected from 1 April 2018. This will bring more transparency and help to drive up performance on waiting times.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress the working group on the time taken for autism to be diagnosed has made to date.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
There is no formal working group currently looking specifically at the time taken for an autism diagnosis to be made. Information on current waiting times for an autism assessment is drawn from the Public Health England report of the 2016 Self-Assessment Framework exercise.
The Department continues to work with its partners to address long waiting times for an autism diagnosis. This includes work to ensure the inclusion of autism diagnosis and outcomes indicators in the Mental Health Services Dataset, with new robust data collected from 1 April 2018. This will bring more transparency and help to drive up performance on waiting times.