Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what (a) consultations and (b) inspections took place at Royal Brampton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust prior to that Trust being notified on 30 June 2016 that it did not meet the new standards for congenital heart disease services.
Answered by Philip Dunne
NHS England’s proposals for change, to ensure that all providers of congenital heart disease services for adults and children comply with new commissioning standards, are based on written evidence provided by the units themselves. The Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust conducted a self-assessment against the nationally agreed standards which NHS England then considered. No inspection was undertaken as part of this process.
NHS England has met with the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust to discuss the impact of their proposals for change. On reviewing the material provided by the Trust, NHS England has asked for further information.
The standards for paediatric co-location are not currently met by the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. NHS England has informed these trusts of its assessment and whether this may involve further consideration of proposals to cease providing those services.
NHS England has not yet made any commissioning decisions. It will run a service change process, including a public consultation, on its proposals for change.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which hospitals providing congenital heart disease services (a) do not meet the standard for the co-location of paediatric services and (b) have been informed that they may be required to cease to provide those services as a result of not meeting that standard.
Answered by Philip Dunne
NHS England’s proposals for change, to ensure that all providers of congenital heart disease services for adults and children comply with new commissioning standards, are based on written evidence provided by the units themselves. The Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust conducted a self-assessment against the nationally agreed standards which NHS England then considered. No inspection was undertaken as part of this process.
NHS England has met with the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust to discuss the impact of their proposals for change. On reviewing the material provided by the Trust, NHS England has asked for further information.
The standards for paediatric co-location are not currently met by the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. NHS England has informed these trusts of its assessment and whether this may involve further consideration of proposals to cease providing those services.
NHS England has not yet made any commissioning decisions. It will run a service change process, including a public consultation, on its proposals for change.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
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 the Royal Brompton Hospital as a national specialist referral centre for children with lung disorders of the proposed closure of its paediatric congenital heart disease services.
Answered by Philip Dunne
NHS England’s proposals for change, to ensure that all providers of congenital heart disease services for adults and children comply with new commissioning standards, are based on written evidence provided by the units themselves. The Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust conducted a self-assessment against the nationally agreed standards which NHS England then considered. No inspection was undertaken as part of this process.
NHS England has met with the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust to discuss the impact of their proposals for change. On reviewing the material provided by the Trust, NHS England has asked for further information.
The standards for paediatric co-location are not currently met by the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. NHS England has informed these trusts of its assessment and whether this may involve further consideration of proposals to cease providing those services.
NHS England has not yet made any commissioning decisions. It will run a service change process, including a public consultation, on its proposals for change.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to advice published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the effect of varicella vaccination on shingles, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policy on mandatory varicella vaccination of the findings of that report.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
In 2010, the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations (JCVI) considered the addition of varicella (chickenpox) vaccine in the childhood vaccination programme. After carefully considering all the available evidence, JCVI concluded that offering a universal varicella (chickenpox) vaccination programme would not be cost effective as it could lead to an increase in shingles (herpes zoster) in adults.
JCVI keeps all its recommendations under review and is currently in the process of reviewing the latest scientific evidence to establish whether a routine childhood varicella vaccination programme would be effective and of benefit in England; this includes evidence from other countries that have introduced a vaccination programme. JCVI will make its recommendations, once it has considered all the necessary evidence.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will undertake a consultation with patients, staff and the public on the proposed closure of congenital heart services at Royal Brompton Hospital.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The national review of congenital heart disease services is an NHS England led review.
NHS England will run a service change process in relation to the proposed changes to congenital heart disease services at Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust and other trusts affected by the review’s proposals before finally deciding on and implementing any change. This process will include full public consultation.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what training and support the NHS provides to doctors who have returned from long-term career breaks.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Induction and Refresher Scheme for general practitioners (GPs), launched in 2015, is designed for doctors who have been out of practice in the United Kingdom for more than two years and have therefore dropped off the national performers list.
NHS England also funds the Retained Doctor Scheme. This scheme provides doctors, who are on the performers list but who want to remain in or return to practice (for example after a career break) and work a maximum of four clinical sessions, with protected time for continuing professional development (CPD) and educational support. The scheme is designed to allow doctors to remain in practice when standard part time working is unavailable or does not suit the doctor’s working patterns.
The GP easy return to practice forms part of the GP Forward View, published in April 2016 by NHS England.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings in the British Red Cross research paper, Don't stop at 999, published in September 2016, on preventable deaths; and what steps he is taking to ensure that basic first aid education is included in the Government's public health strategy.
Answered by Philip Dunne
No specific assessment of the implications of the recent Red Cross research – Don’t Stop at 999 has been made. However, it is recognised the timely application of first aid can help minimise the impact of injuries, as well as health conditions such as heart attacks and strokes, and contribute to avoiding preventable deaths.
The NHS Choices website contains information for the public on first aid responses to various injuries and health incidents. In addition, the Government is making available another £1 million to make public access defibrillators and coronary pulmonary resuscitation training more widely available in communities across England. This builds on last year’s funding of £1 million, which provided almost 700 more publicly accessible defibrillators in communities across England and increased the numbers of people trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
The national Act Fast campaign also aims to raise awareness of the symptoms of stroke, teach people what to look out for in themselves and others, and encourage those who notice the symptoms to call 999. Since Act Fast launched in 2009, it is estimated that an additional 47,000 people reached hospital within the vital three-hour window and over 5,000 fewer people became disabled as a result of a stroke.
Local authorities in England have the lead responsibility for identifying and meeting needs for local interventions to improve the health of their populations.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS spent from the public purse on printing and postage of employees' payslips in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will take steps to ensure that NHS employees receive their payslips electronically.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Department contracts for the NHS Electronic Staff Record system. This contract includes printing and despatch of employee payslips to a single distribution point at each National Health Service organisation in England at a total price of £1.9 million (data relates to the period September 2015 – August 2016). This price reduces by around 20% each year within the contract.
The Electronic Staff Record solution already provides electronic payslip access via a facility called Employee Self Service.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department or the NHS issues to GP practices on charging patients for a medical certificate demonstrating their fitness to take part in sporting events abroad.
Answered by David Mowat
General practitioners (GPs) are independent contractors who hold contracts with NHS England to provide primary medical services for the National Health Service. Under the terms of their contract, GPs are required to provide certain medical reports or complete certain forms, such as those required to support a claim for incapacity benefit, free of charge to their registered patients.
Outside of contractual requirements, GPs also provide a variety of other services which successive governments have regarded as private matters between the patient and the GP providing these services. Whether or not to provide these services is a matter for individual GPs. They may decline to provide them or charge a fee for doing so. Where GPs intend to charge for services to patients, the British Medical Association advises them to forewarn patients, at the earliest opportunity, of the likely level of fees.