Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant for 2024-25 will be ring-fenced.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In June 2023, NHS England confirmed that it would be renewing the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant for 2024/25, once again allocating £25 million grant funding for children’s hospices in England. NHS England will communicate further details regarding the process for the grant allocations later this year.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to expand the eligibility criteria for covid-19 vaccinations as part of the seasonal booster programme.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The primary aim of the COVID-19 vaccination programme continues to be the prevention of severe disease, involving hospitalisation and mortality, arising from COVID-19. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has recommended a targeted approach focussed on those vulnerable to serious outcomes from COVID-19 including older individuals and individuals with specified existing clinical conditions.
On 8 August 2023, the Government accepted advice from the JCVI on who should be offered a COVID-19 vaccine in the autumn 2023 booster programme. This includes residents in a care home for older adults, all adults aged 65 years and over, persons aged 6 months to 64 years in a clinical risk group, frontline health and social care workers, persons aged 12 to 64 years who are household contacts, and persons aged 16 to 64 years who are carers.
Currently, there are no plans to expand the eligibility criteria for the autumn campaign. The JCVI will continue to review evidence and will provide further advice regarding future vaccination programmes in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
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 making the covid-19 vaccination available privately as part of the seasonal booster programme.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government is guided by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on eligible cohorts for vaccination who have advised that the objective for the autumn/winter campaign is to continue to focus the offer of vaccination on those at greatest risk of serious disease and who are therefore most likely to benefit from vaccination.
Vaccines that have been licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for use in the United Kingdom can be prescribed by a physician, either in the National Health Service or privately.
To date, the pharmaceutical companies producing COVID-19 vaccines have not made these treatments commercially available to the private health care sector in the United Kingdom either through pharmacies or other healthcare providers, but this is a matter for pharmaceutical companies rather than the Government or Parliament.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals requiring that brain tumour tissue used for (a) biopsy and (b) analysis is frozen rather than stored in paraffin blocks.
Answered by Will Quince
No assessment has been made.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of extending independent prescribing responsibilities to dieticians on (a) patient care and (b) efficiency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No assessment has been made as there are no current plans to extend medicines responsibilities further to include independent prescribing for dietitians. Dietitians can already supply and administer medicines under Patient Group Directions and train to use supplementary prescribing.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the NHS England Children's Hospice grant beyond the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is investing £25 million in the 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.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of including NHS workers employed in (a) charities and (b) social enterprises in the Agenda for Change pay awards.
Answered by Will Quince
Independent providers, including not-for-profit organisations and social enterprises, are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment. This includes the pay scales that they use and any non-consolidated pay awards they choose to make. It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate, and how to recoup any additional costs they face.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
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 adequacy of the Accessible Information Standard across healthcare services.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
NHS England are currently reviewing the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), to help ensure that everyone’s communication needs are met in health and care provision. The review will consider the effectiveness of the current AIS, how the standard is implemented and enforced in practice, and identify recommendations for improvement.
Phase One of the review which involved engagement and consultation with stakeholders including patients and the voluntary sector is now complete. Phase Two to revise the standard itself is ongoing. Publication of the revised AIS is expected in summer 2023.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
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 improve dementia diagnosis rates across the country.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In December 2022, the recovery of the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7% was included in the National Health Service priorities and operational planning guidance as part of the refined mental health objectives for 2023/24. This reinforces the importance of dementia as a key priority for NHS England and provides a clear direction for integrated care boards to support delivery of timely diagnoses within systems.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of support available for people who use British Sign Language as their first language in the NHS.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In 2021, NHS England commissioned the North of England Commissioning Support Unit to review commissioning arrangements for British Sign Language (BSL) interpreting services in the National Health Service. The Review concluded that whilst improvements were required in some local areas, there were examples of other areas where successful engagement with the local population delivered higher quality BSL services.
NHS England is working with relevant stakeholders to implement the recommendations of the report and will be publishing a ‘Best Practice Guide’ to support local integrated care boards, commissioners and providers to improve provision of BSL interpreting services. NHS England has also established a network of Regional Leads to share the outcomes of the Review, and to support implementation of its recommendations.