Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to reform the social care charging system.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
As announced in the Autumn Statement 2022, we listened to the concerns of local government and took the difficult decision to delay the planned adult social care charging reforms. To ensure that these highly ambitious reforms are successful and to avoid destabilising the system, it is vital that we work with the sector to ensure that local authorities have the capacity and readiness to deliver reform successfully.
We are committed to working with local authorities to build preparedness, and the Government has made available up to £8.1 billion to put the adult social care system on a stronger financial footing.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was for a referral to child and adolescent mental health services in (a) Lewisham Deptford constituency, (b) London and (c) England in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
We are investing at least £2.3 billion of additional funding a year by March 2024 compared to 2018/19 to expand and transform mental health services in England so that two million more people, including 345,000 children and young people, can get the mental health support they need.
Our record investment in mental health has seen spending on children and young people’s mental health services increase from £841 million in 2019/20 to just over £1 billion in 2022/23.
Information on the average waiting time1 for a referral to child and adolescent mental health services for the reporting period July to September 2023 is in the following table:
Information is not available at constituency level.
Area | Median waiting time between referral start date and first contact in days for referrals for under 18s supported through NHS funded mental health with a first contact in the reporting period | Median waiting time between referral start date and first contact in days for referrals for under 18s supported through NHS funded mental health still waiting for a first contact and still waiting at the end of the reporting period |
England | 19 | 170 |
London2 | 23 | 131 |
Lewisham local authority | 60 | 185 |
Source: Mental Health Services Data Set, NHS England
1 The wait time in days is calculated as the difference between the date the referral was made to the date the patient attended their first contact in relation to the referral. The information includes people with an open referral for suspected autism and anyone with a referral that was either discharged during the reporting period or has no discharge date submitted regardless of whether they had a first care contact during the year or not.
2 The following local authorities have been included in the London grouping: Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, City of London, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth and Westminster.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
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 that all people with a learning disability are included on a GP learning disability register.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Inclusion on the learning disability register is crucial to ensuring that people receive the right support at the right time. Anyone can ask to go on their general practitioner’s (GP’s) learning disability register if they think they have a learning disability. However, we know that not everyone with a learning disability is on a GP register. There is work underway in NHS England to address this issue, including work nationally and regionally to encourage children and young people to join the register at age 14 years old and access annual health checks.
NHS England has issued guidance to support GPs to better identify people who should be on the register, including information on specific diagnostic codes, which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of funding allocated for social care.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for York Central on 22 November 2023 to Question 2356.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of supplies of ADHD medication for (a) children and (b) adults.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
We are aware of disruptions to the supply of medicines used for the management of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). While some issues have now been resolved, we know that there are currently disruptions to the supply of some other medicines, primarily driven by issues which have resulted in capacity constraints at key manufacturing sites. These issues are expected to resolve in early 2024.
We understand how frustrating and distressing medicine shortages can be and we want to assure patients that we are working intensively with the respective manufacturers to resolve the issues as soon as possible and to ensure patients have continuous access to ADHD medicines in the United Kingdom, in the short and long term.
We have issued communications to the National Health Service to advise healthcare professionals on management of patients whilst there continue to be disruptions to supplies. Patients are advised to speak to their clinician regarding any concerns they have and to discuss the suitability of treatment with alternative medicines.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how patient safety incidents were reported before the introduction of the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS); and what data he holds on the number of such incidents recorded in (a) each of the five years (i) before and (ii) after the introduction of the NRLS and (b) in each of the last five years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) has been in operation since 2003 and supports NHS England to fulfil statutory duties relating to the collation of and learning from patient safety incident reports.
NRLS is principally a secondary use service and collects patient safety incident records that are recorded on healthcare providers’ Local Risk Management Systems (LRMS). The primary use of patient safety incident records is by the provider organisation that collects the data on its own LRMS and uses the information to support local safety improvement efforts. NRLS was created to support the national collation of patient safety incident records from LRMS and some of the existing LRMS predate the introduction of the NRLS.
Given its age, NRLS is being replaced with the new Learn From Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service. More information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/learn-from-patient-safety-events-service/
NRLS, and its replacement LFPSE, support the collation of patient safety incident records from members of the public as well as from LRMS. NRLS does this through the Patient and Public eForm, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/report-patient-safety-incident/#public
As part of the development of the LFPSE service, work is underway to determine how best to support the future collection of patient safety incidents information from patients and the public. A report on the first stage of this work, published in October 2023, is available at the following link:
Information on how patient safety incident records are collated and used by NHS England is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/using-patient-safety-events-data-to-keep-patients-safe/
No data is held on patient safety incident recording prior to the introduction of the NRLS in 2003. Data on the number of patient safety incidents collected by NRLS is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/national-patient-safety-incident-reports/
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the National Reporting and Learning System works alongside independent reports to individual (a) clinics, (b) hospitals, (c) Patient Advice and Liaison Services and (d) Clinical Commissioning Groups which are dealt with in-house.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) has been in operation since 2003 and supports NHS England to fulfil statutory duties relating to the collation of and learning from patient safety incident reports.
NRLS is principally a secondary use service and collects patient safety incident records that are recorded on healthcare providers’ Local Risk Management Systems (LRMS). The primary use of patient safety incident records is by the provider organisation that collects the data on its own LRMS and uses the information to support local safety improvement efforts. NRLS was created to support the national collation of patient safety incident records from LRMS and some of the existing LRMS predate the introduction of the NRLS.
Given its age, NRLS is being replaced with the new Learn From Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service. More information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/learn-from-patient-safety-events-service/
NRLS, and its replacement LFPSE, support the collation of patient safety incident records from members of the public as well as from LRMS. NRLS does this through the Patient and Public eForm, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/report-patient-safety-incident/#public
As part of the development of the LFPSE service, work is underway to determine how best to support the future collection of patient safety incidents information from patients and the public. A report on the first stage of this work, published in October 2023, is available at the following link:
Information on how patient safety incident records are collated and used by NHS England is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/using-patient-safety-events-data-to-keep-patients-safe/
No data is held on patient safety incident recording prior to the introduction of the NRLS in 2003. Data on the number of patient safety incidents collected by NRLS is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/national-patient-safety-incident-reports/
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the level of public awareness of the National Reporting and Learning System; and whether he is taking steps to raise awareness of the system.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) has been in operation since 2003 and supports NHS England to fulfil statutory duties relating to the collation of and learning from patient safety incident reports.
NRLS is principally a secondary use service and collects patient safety incident records that are recorded on healthcare providers’ Local Risk Management Systems (LRMS). The primary use of patient safety incident records is by the provider organisation that collects the data on its own LRMS and uses the information to support local safety improvement efforts. NRLS was created to support the national collation of patient safety incident records from LRMS and some of the existing LRMS predate the introduction of the NRLS.
Given its age, NRLS is being replaced with the new Learn From Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service. More information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/learn-from-patient-safety-events-service/
NRLS, and its replacement LFPSE, support the collation of patient safety incident records from members of the public as well as from LRMS. NRLS does this through the Patient and Public eForm, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/report-patient-safety-incident/#public
As part of the development of the LFPSE service, work is underway to determine how best to support the future collection of patient safety incidents information from patients and the public. A report on the first stage of this work, published in October 2023, is available at the following link:
Information on how patient safety incident records are collated and used by NHS England is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/using-patient-safety-events-data-to-keep-patients-safe/
No data is held on patient safety incident recording prior to the introduction of the NRLS in 2003. Data on the number of patient safety incidents collected by NRLS is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/national-patient-safety-incident-reports/
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to (a) increase pay and (b) improve conditions for social care workers; and if he will increase pay for social care workers in line with NHS staff.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Department has no current plans to set specific pay levels and conditions in the adult social care sector.
Most care workers 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 fee rates, which should take account of wage costs, based on local market conditions.
We recently announced the £570 million Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF) – Workforce Fund. This Fund will support increased adult social care capacity, improve market sustainability, and enable local authorities to make tangible improvements to adult social care service, with a particular focus on workforce pay.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
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 increase the number of social care workers.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
We are investing at least £250 million over the next two years on workforce reforms, a key objective of which is to improve adult social care workforce retention and turnover rates.
In July 2023, we announced the £570 million Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF) - Workforce Fund to support increased adult social care workforce capacity, improve market sustainability, and enable local authorities to make tangible improvements to adult social care services, with a particular focus on workforce pay. Local authorities can choose to use this funding to increase adult social care workforce and improve retention.
We are also supporting recruitment and retention by delivering our ongoing National Recruitment Campaign; working with the Department of Work and Pensions to promote adult social care careers to jobseekers; and funding sector partners to provide support to employers and commissioners through training and guidance and supporting international recruitment.