Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there is any requirement that health visitors see a baby during their mandated contact or if a phone call with only one parent can count as valid service delivery in current data collection.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Clinical advice is that effective mandated reviews should include face to face assessment. This advice is set out in the health visiting and school nurse service delivery model, which is available at the following link:
Guidance on collection of service delivery metrics for 2022/23 is being reviewed and will be updated shortly.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department will take in response to low levels of delivery of health visiting mandated contacts in some local authority areas.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Local authorities are responsible for commissioning public health services for children aged 0 to five years of age. Expectations for health visiting mandated reviews are supported by commissioning and professional guidance. Commissioners and providers may wish to consider development of recovery plans in partnership with other agencies, including monitoring and evaluation. Recovery planning should also consider household vulnerability in prioritising the support provided to families.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Government plans to revert back to the criteria that only face-to-face contacts are counted for health visitor mandated contacts.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The collection of health visitor service metrics is currently under review and associated guidance for 2022/23 will be updated shortly. This follows the changes made during initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic and advice on use of virtual contacts. The review on data collection will reflect the national service model, which confirms that mandated reviews should be conducted face to face.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many stillbirths have taken place in hospitals in England in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This information is not held in the format requested as the there is no available data on whether stillbirths occur in or out of hospitals.
However, the following table shows data from the Office of National Statistics’ child mortality dataset on the number of stillbirths in England in each year from 2011 to 2019. Data for 2020 is not yet available.
Year | Number of stillbirths in England |
2019 | 2,346 |
2018 | 2,520 |
2017 | 2,679 |
2016 | 2,895 |
2015 | 2,952 |
2014 | 3,047 |
2013 | 3,103 |
2012 | 3,357 |
2011 | 3,619 |
Note:
Data shows babies born at 24 weeks gestational age or greater which did not breathe or show signs of life.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on fulfilling section 3 of the Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc) Act 2019 regarding a report on changing the law on registration of stillbirths before 24 weeks; when the reviewing panel last met; who sits on the panel; and what the status is of that report.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Pregnancy Loss Review Advisory Panel last met on 24 October 2018. Work on the Review was paused in 2020 owing to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has now resumed and we aim to publish the report in due course. We are unable to provide the information requested on the membership of the panel as disclosure of this information would contravene data protection principles.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the findings of the consultation on amending the Coroners Act 2009 to permit coroners to investigate stillbirths as specified in the Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc) Act 2019.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government’s response to the consultation on coronial investigations of stillbirths has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are working to publish the response as soon as possible.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) full time equivalent and (b) actual health visitors have been employed in England in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The following table shows the number of full time equivalent (FTE) and actual headcount of health visitors employed by the National Health Service in England.
Date | FTE | Headcount |
September 2012 | 7,687 | 9,337 |
September 2013 | 8,304 | 9,983 |
September 2014 | 9,162 | 10,877 |
September 2015 | 10,236 | 12,105 |
September 2016 | 9,521 | 11,310 |
September 2017 | 8,497 | 10,171 |
September 2018 | 7,884 | 9,509 |
September 2019 | 6,981 | 8,445 |
September 2020 | 6,677 | 8,098 |
September 2021 | 6,279 | 7,593 |
Source: NHS Digital https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics/september-2021
Notes:
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the innovative workforce pilots announced in the Spending Review 2021 will test the value of continuity of care in health visiting services.
Answered by Maggie Throup
‘Best Start for Life: A Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days’ recognised the importance of continuity of care to improve outcomes. The Government has announced £10 million to trial innovative workforce pilots in a small number of local authorities. Funding will be available to selected authorities to establish teams with a range of skills, under the clinical leadership of health visitors. As part of the design and evaluation of the trials, continuity of care will be considered to ensure there is a key point of contact for each family within the multidisciplinary team.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the innovative health visiting workforce pilots announced in the Spending Review 2021 will test the value of specialist perinatal or infant mental health health visitors within health visiting services.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We are investing in developing a diverse and highly skilled workforce by trialing and evaluating innovative workforce models. Funding will be available to five local authorities to establish teams with a range of skills under the clinical leadership of health visitors. These new roles within teams will be provided with specialist training where specific needs have been identified, such as perinatal mental health needs. The investment in trialing, evaluating and testing the value of different approaches will identify best practice models and ensure families receive the support they need.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the innovative health visiting workforce pilots announced in the Spending Review 2021 will run for long enough to allow approaches to be applied across families’ five health visitor contacts and to evaluate the impact of workforce models on children’s wellbeing and outcomes.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The workforce trials will run for two years. We will design a robust approach to evaluate the impact of this approach against key metrics, including the impact on the experience and wellbeing of families and babies. A range of areas will be selected to improve our understanding of what approaches work in different settings.