Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help community pharmacies to recruit from overseas.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP), backed by over £2.4 billion to fund additional education and training places over the next five years, sets out the steps the National Health Service and education providers need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. The ambition is to increase training places for pharmacists by nearly 50% to around 5,000 by 2031/32, and to grow the number of pharmacy technicians.
The LTWP also commits to extend the success of the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, which has delivered an additional 29,000 multi-professional roles in primary care. This expansion will consider the additional capacity required to staff roles across primary
TARGET DATE 18/07/2023
care, including community pharmacy. NHS England have committed to undertake and publish a review of the scheme by the end of 2023.
Overseas pharmacy professionals must meet the same standards as United Kingdom pharmacy professionals. The General Pharmaceutical Council has recently written to accredited educational providers to highlight the demand for places from overseas professionals and students, and a limited number of additional places have been created.
The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) 2019-24 five-year deal ends at the end of March 2024. We are currently consulting Community Pharmacy England on the implementation of the pharmacy proposals in the delivery plan for recovering access to primary care. The funding for those proposals covers 2023/24 and 2024/25. There are regular discussions with NHS England about NHS funding. No discussions have been had with Community Pharmacy England about CPCF funding from March 2024.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of social care pay was funded through local authority fees in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is not able to make an assessment of the percentage of social care pay bill costs funded through local authority fees. This is because most of the adult social care workforce are employed by private sector providers who set their pay and terms and conditions, independent of central Government. Local authorities work with care providers to determine state-funded fee rates, which should take account of wage costs, based on local market conditions.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with (a) NHS England and (b) the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee on the level of funding for community pharmacies through the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework for (i) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No discussions regarding the levels of future funding for community pharmacies through the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) for 2024-25 and 2025-26 have been held with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC). However, the PSNC have, during formal consultation on years four and five of the current five-year deal, made a case for more funding. The Department and NHS England are jointly considering what should follow the end of the current CPCF 2019-24 five-year deal.
In September 2022, as part of the agreement for years four and five of the current CPCF 2019-24 five-year deal, NHS England committed to working with the sector to undertake an independent economic analysis of NHS pharmaceutical services. This review will help inform the negotiation of the future contractual framework for community pharmacy.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure organ donors are aware that they must inform NHS Blood and Transplant of which organs they wish to donate.
Answered by Will Quince
In May 2020, the law around organ donation in England changed to an ‘opt out’ system. NHS Blood and Transplant undertakes regular campaigns to encourage the public to make their organ donation decision known to their family and inform the NHS Organ Donor Register. The Register allows individuals to record which organs they would wish to donate.
Since September 2021, organ donation and transplantation has been taught through the secondary school curriculum in England, aimed at promoting awareness in young people. In addition, the Department recently supported Organ Donation Week.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve access to menopause services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The government recognises that menopause services need to improve which is why the menopause will be a priority area in our Women’s Health Strategy, to be published later this year.
The NHS Menopause Improvement Programme will also improve access to menopause care in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, helping to educate healthcare professionals and raise awareness for women, and the UK Menopause Taskforce is working to share best practice in improving menopause care across the UK.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much NHS England spent on machine perfusion used in organ transplantation in each of the last five years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS Blood and Transplant is the organisation responsible for matching, allocating and retrieving organs for transplant in the United Kingdom. Machine perfusion is a technique used to preserve organs, enabling more organs to be successfully transplanted.
In 2019, NHS England and NHS Improvement and NHS Blood and Transplant invested in a three-year innovation fund of £5 million to support the use of machine perfusion for heart donation after circulatory death (DCD). The following table shows funding for machine perfusion for DCD in each year since from 2017/2018 to 2020/2021. Data for 2021/22 is not yet available.
Financial year | Total | Funding from NHS England and NHS Improvement | Funding from NHS Blood and Transplant |
2017/2018 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
2018/2019 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
2019/2020 | £782,066 | £391,033 | £391,033 |
2020/2021 | £1,303,176 | £651,588 | £651,588 |
Source: NHS Blood and Transplant
Note:
Funding for DCD covers payments for staffing and consumables. Transportation costs associated with these retrievals have not been included but are estimated to be £450,000 per annum.
The following table shows NHS Blood and Transplant expenditure on machine perfusion for liver DCD in each year from 2017/18. Information for 2021/22 is not yet available.
Financial year | Total |
2017/2018 | £0 |
2018/2019 | £162,437 |
2019/2020 | £225,286 |
2020/2021 | £239,136 |
Source: NHS Blood and Transplant.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
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 direct international comparisons to other western European countries on the potential merits of investment to improve public awareness of organ donation.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS Blood and Transplant is the organisation responsible for raising public awareness of organ donation in England. In 2020, NHS Blood and Transplant reviewed international evidence on organ donation and donors sharing their decision with their families. While evidence was limited, similar themes emerged, particularly concerning ethnic minority communities. Where there is awareness of organ donation, in general the public understand the need to have conversations and share their decision with their families. Conversely, where awareness is low, there is a lack of understanding for the need to share their decision.
These themes have been addressed in NHS Blood and Transplant’s ‘Leave Them Certain' campaign, launched in February 2021 and supported by an investment f £3,300,000.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
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 help ensure that people register their organ donation decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS Blood and Transplant promotes organ donation through its campaign activities and partnerships. It encourages the public to make their organ donation decision known to their family through the ‘Leave them Certain’ campaign and register on the NHS Organ Donor Register.
In 2022/23, NHS Blood and Transplant is expanding its commercial, public sector and community partnerships and will provide public engagement activity, such as Organ Donation Week. NHS Blood and Transplant also works with the Community Investment Scheme supporting 35 grassroots, community and faith-based organisations to raise awareness of organ donation.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
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 ensure that young people with asthma and other respiratory problems, who received their first and second covid-19 vaccination early are prioritised for the booster dose having now waited over six months between doses.
Answered by Maggie Throup
On 22 December 2021, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised that at-risk children aged 12 to 15 years old, including those with poorly controlled asthma, should be offered a booster dose a minimum of three months after completion of the primary vaccination schedule. From 17 January 2022, the National Health Service began administering booster doses to those who had completed their primary vaccination at least three months ago prior to that date. Eligible children, including those with poorly controlled asthma, have been contacted by local NHS services to arrange their appointments.
The booster programme which began in September 2021 prioritised young people aged 16 years old and above with health conditions at greater risk from COVID-19. This included those with chronic respiratory diseases including severe asthma.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
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 help improve public awareness of organ donation.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) promotes organ donation in a number of ways including Organ Donation Week in September and the ‘Leave them Certain’ campaign.
NHSBT launched a multi-channel campaign to inform the public of the change to an opt-out system for organ donation in May 2020. Figures indicated 75% of the population were aware of the law change in December 2020.
NHSBT’s Community Investment Scheme has a specific focus on engaging with Black and South Asian communities. The programme supports 35 grassroot, community and faith-based organisations to raise awareness of organ donation, seven organisations have received a share of £100,000 funding for living donation.
Since September 2021, organ donation and transplantation has been taught as part of the secondary school curriculum in England, aimed at promoting awareness in young people.