Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to address the reported shortfall of £107 million in the Department's 2015 budget and the consequent imbalance in funding for mental health services.
Answered by Alistair Burt
With the financial controls package and help from system leads, we are working towards delivering a balanced position against the overall spending controls in this financial year, despite an unprecedented level of deficit in the National Health Service provider sector.
The NHS must now put in place cost-control measures we have introduced, like clamping down on agency spend, limiting the use of management consultants and making sure trusts have to justify the pay package of any manager who is paid more than the Prime Minister, while we continue to work with hospitals on ways to improve productivity and reduce waste.
This year, we are investing £173 million of additional money in mental health, including £30 million for services for young people with eating disorders. We are taking a targeted and phased approach to the additional investment, to enable local areas to develop additional capacity and a collaborative approach across health, education and children’s services. This is what is needed to make a real difference.
We remain committed to providing the additional £1.25 billion investment in mental health services over the next five years, as announced in the Budget 2015.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what contingency plans he has prepared to ease pressures on A&E services during winter 2015-16.
Answered by Jane Ellison
This year winter planning has been integrated into the overall planning process for the National Health Service with winter monies put into clinical commissioning group baseline funding. As part of planning for the winter, each local system has been asked to implement eight high impact interventions to improve patient flow, the key driver of performance.
To support the systems under the most pressure, the Emergency Care Improvement Programme will provide intensive expert support over winter to drive improvements in performance.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the mortality rate from drug misuse in the North East.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The latest rise in drug misuse deaths – particularly in the North East – is a great concern and highlights the need for further local and national action. We need to ensure the most vulnerable users can access drug treatment and harm reduction services, where they have the best chance of recovery.
Public Health England will continue to support local authorities in delivering effective recovery services for everyone who needs them. They are providing local authorities and commissioners with expert advice, evidence, and management information including outcomes and value for money data. This can help to ensure that the local services are evidence-based, effective and integrated with local health, housing and employment support.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what data protection measures are in place when sending patient data to a country that does not appear on the European Commission's list of countries recognised as providing adequate protection.
Answered by George Freeman
All National Health Service organisations are expected to comply with their existing obligations for data protection. Organisations that consider sending data overseas must follow existing information governance guidance that includes a comprehensive assessment of the risks and mitigations possible. Such risk considerations should be undertaken on a case by case basis by the NHS organisation concerned and may vary according to the data and overseas locations involved. Use of the standard contract clauses provided by the Information Commissioner should also be made, with appropriate data assurance checks implemented.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many treatments on the Cancer Drugs Fund list scored points for addressing unmet need when appraised by the decision making panel.
Answered by George Freeman
Since April 2013, the following three drugs have been reviewed by NHS England’s Cancer Drugs Fund panel and added to the Cancer Drugs Fund list after scoring points for unmet need.
- lenalidomide (Revlimid) for transfusion-dependent anaemia due to low- or intermediate-1-risk myelodysplastic syndromes associated with an isolated deletion 5q or an isolated deletion 5q plus one other cytogenetic abnormality when other therapeutic options are insufficient or inadequate.
- ponatinib (Iclusig) for Chronic-phase, accelerated-phase, or blast-phase chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) with the T315I mutation or Philadelphia-chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (Ph+ ALL) with the T315I mutation.
- vismodegib (Erivedge) for patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma (aBCC) who are no longer appropriate for any other treatment options.
All decisions made by NHS England’s Cancer Drugs Fund panel including the detail of agreed scores for each drug reviewed by the panel since its formation in April 2013, are published on its website at:
www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/pe/cdf/
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that NHS England acknowledges unmet need when re-evaluating treatments for pancreatic cancer on the Cancer Drugs Fund list.
Answered by George Freeman
The decision-making process adopted by the Cancer Drugs Fund panel is set out in the Standard Operating Procedures of the Fund, which are available on NHS England’s website at:
www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/pe/cdf/
This document sets out the factors the panel will take into account, including unmet need.
NHS England has assured the Department that no patient whose treatment is currently being funded through the Fund will have funding withdrawn, as long as it is clinically appropriate that they continue to receive that treatment. In addition, no drug will be removed from the Fund where it is the only therapy for that condition.