Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
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 clinical effectiveness of low carbohydrate diets in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Answered by Steve Brine
A joint working group between the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, NHS England and Diabetes UK is currently reviewing the evidence on lower carbohydrate diets (alongside higher fat and/or higher protein) compared to current Government advice for adults with type 2 diabetes. The draft report will be published for consultation in 2019.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
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 the Home Secretary on the potential effect of the £30,000 salary threshold on NHS and care services; and what plans he has to enable effective recruitment from abroad to meet demand for NHS staff after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has regular discussions with the Home Secretary on a range of subjects including the future immigration system and its impact on the health and social care sectors.
The NHS Long Term Plan sets out a vital strategic framework to ensure that over the next ten years the NHS will have the staff it needs so that nurses and doctors have the time they need to care, working in a supportive culture that allows them to provide the expert compassionate care they are committed to providing.
Alongside this, the upcoming Social Care Green Paper will set out the Department’s proposals for reform of the sector to put it on a more sustainable future footing. This will include a vision for its workforce and proposals to boost recruitment and retention in the longer term.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
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 provide community pharmacies with a multi-year funding settlement.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department expects to begin negotiations on the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee shortly. The length of any settlement will form part of those negotiations.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
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 ensure that (a) clinical commissioning groups and (b) local authorities take account of demand for children's palliative care in planning and funding services.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Work undertaken by NHS England and system partners at a national level includes supporting sustainability and transformation partnership (STP) planning to address end of life care in all settings, providing key data on services and populations to support appropriate planning and funding of end of life care. STPs bring together National Health Service, local authorities and other partners to agree system-wide priorities, and to plan collectively.
NHS England is actively working to improve support to commissioners in funding and delivering children’s end of life care, and hospice care. In April 2017 NHS England made available a new specialist palliative care currency, one for adults and one for children, to support local areas in planning and delivering services, including hospice services. The currency can help local services better understand the complexity of palliative care and the investment needed to deliver it.
NHS England also commissioned Together for Short Lives to promote the adoption of important new guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which sets out best practice on the care and treatment of children at the end of life.
NHS England has established an Expert Group to bring together knowledge and expertise in children’s end of life care to consider the development of commissioning models suitable for this vulnerable group of patients. NHS England has identified clinical commissioning groups to pilot the new models and work is expected for completion in spring 2019.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether steps are being taken to improve the uptake of structured diabetes education in the (a) NHS Kernow CCG area and (b) throughout England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England has invested £10.5 million transformation funding in 2018/19, and a similar amount in 2017/18 to provide approximately 96,000 additional structured education places in 137 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). It has also invested in dedicated diabetes roles in NHS England regional teams and clinical networks to support CCGs, including Kernow CCG, in expanding the availability and take-up of structured education.
Helping people to recognise the risks of developing diabetes and encouraging them to take action to reduce those risks is one of the key priorities for Shaping Our Future, our sustainability and transformation plan.
In recognition of this, Kernow CCG is commissioning structured education for people newly-diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, through the Diabetes Education and Self-Management for Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed (DESMOND) programme. The programme is a six-hour course designed to help people gain an understanding of the condition and provide practical skills to manage it effectively. The course is due to start in September 2018 and people will be asked by their general practitioner if they would like to be referred.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what models for the reimbursement of providers of digital health solutions he is assessing in order to increase the availability of such solutions.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department welcomes the variety of digital health solutions being developed for patients and the public along with the innovation in their commercial models. We are keen to increase their use to improve health and care more quickly.
Health and social care organisations are able to choose digital health solutions that meet their needs, subject to national standards/frameworks.
NHS England has advised that it is working with partners, such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Academic Health Science Networks to consider options on who should pay for digital health solutions at national, regional or local levels, including options for reimbursement, taking into account the product’s clinical safety, economic effectiveness and cost to the National Health Service.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether plans are in place to (a) enhance and (b) expand the NHS Apps Library; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
NHS Digital has advised that the NHS Apps Library has now grown to 72 health apps and digital tools with new apps and tools being added each month. NHS Digital is currently consulting with patient groups as well as health and social care professionals to further enhance the Library and will be launching an updated version in the autumn with more enhancements to follow.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether guidance is available to GPs to enable them effectively to direct patients to the NHS Apps Library; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
NHS England has advised that, as part of the NHS Apps Library programme’s next piece of work, the programme team will be providing advice for healthcare professionals generally, including general practitioners, on how to navigate and engage with the NHS Apps Library.
As part of the wider approach to uptake and use of digital health services, the programme team will also be focusing on general practitioner engagement, testing different methods to support general practice through NHS England’s implementation teams which are already established and working in the primary care system.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to increase the use of digital coaching and support for people to manage long term conditions such as diabetes; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England is promoting new digital resources, which are aimed at people living with type 1 diabetes. These will focus on empowering people to self-manage their condition. Individuals visiting the site will be able to access remote personalised digital education content from Diabetes UK and an on-line education programme developed by Bournemouth Diabetes Centre.
As part of re-procuring the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme Provider Framework, NHS England are planning to incorporate scope to deliver digital prevention services, which will expand the range of options for supporting people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
There are currently 10 diabetes apps that have been through the NHS App Assessment process and are publicly available on the NHS Apps Library. The diabetes section of the NHS Apps Library is due to continue to grow.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
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 utilise the role of NHS minor injury units in (a) St. Austell and (b) Newquay to reduce pressures on A&E departments in Cornwall.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Community-based services, which include minor injuries units, urgent treatment centres and minor injury services provided by general practitioners and pharmacists, play an important role in making sure people can access the appropriate services when and where they need them.
Minor injury units (MIUs) across Cornwall have treated over 86,000 people during the past financial year and during the last three months, MIUs in the Cornwall area have treated nearly 25,000 patients. Of those, just over 3,000 were treated at St Austell and just over 1,500 at Newquay.
Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has a protocol in place which enables resources to be shared between St Austell and Newquay MIUs. In addition, partnership arrangements are in place between the National Health Service and the local council to use the Better Care Fund to provide a range of services including: generic support workers; improved community bed capacity, and more flexible and responsive domiciliary care to ensure that patient assessments and re-ablement are carried out in the most appropriate, out-of-hospital setting.
Locally, the NHS has extensively promoted the use of all community based services, including support from pharmacists, self-care and the importance of having the flu jab.