Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to implement the recommendations of MBRRACE-UK's report entitled Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care: Lessons learned to inform maternity care from the UK and Ireland Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths and Morbidity 2019-21, published in October 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The recommendations made in the Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK’s (MBRRACE-UK) report have informed a series of work programmes to improve maternity safety. This includes ongoing work delivered through NHS England's Three-Year Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Services, which sets out how care will be made safer, more personalised, and more equitable for women, babies, and families. This is supported by an additional investment of £186 million a year to improve maternity and neonatal care, compared to 2021, on top of an additional £35 million over three years, from 2024/25 to 2026/27.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of developing a national strategy for paediatric (a) intensive therapy units and (b) rehabilitative services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has no current plans to undertake such an assessment. Guidance on the delivery of paediatric critical care services is a matter for NHS England and the relevant professional bodies. Integrated Care Boards are responsible for the commissioning of paediatric rehabilitative services.
An NHS England review of paediatric critical care services was published in 2019, with a further National Specialty Report on Paediatric Critical Care produced in 2022.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of people who (a) were under the age of 18 and (b) from Southport constituency who attended (i) Alder Hey Children's Hospital Trust and (ii) Ormskirk District General Hospital Children's Accident and Emergency Departments in each year from 2002-2023.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst the information is not available in the format requested, NHS England publishes information on accident and emergency attendance, which is available at the following link:
Accident and emergency attendance data is available for Adler Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust from 2008/09. The following tables respectively show the accident and emergency attendance for patients between zero and 17 years old in each of the last three years, and the accident and emergency attendance for patients between zero and 19 years old each year from 2008/09, at Adler Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust:
Year | Alder Hey Children's Hospital Trust | Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust |
2022/23 | 67,985 | 34,615 |
2021/22 | 69,220 | 31,850 |
2020/21 | 42,155 | 16,100 |
Year | Alder Hey Children's Hospital Trust | Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust |
2019/20 | 60,590 | 32,395 |
2018/19 | 61,190 | 32,095 |
2017/18 | 59,815 | 31,610 |
2016/17 | 58,157 | 44,104 |
2015/16 | 58,537 | 40,388 |
2014/15 | 55,817 | 36,339 |
2013/14 | 56,212 | 35,059 |
2012/13 | 57,388 | 34,218 |
2011/12 | 56,728 | 35,027 |
2010/11 | 58,842 | 28,428 |
2009/10 | 57,873 | 27,225 |
2008/09 | 59,290 | 27,088 |
Notes:
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will (a) issue guidance and (b) provide resources to local authorities to help tackle household air pollution.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government is taking significant and wide-ranging action to drive improvements to air quality, as set out in our Environmental Improvement Plan, including by providing over £883 million to help local authorities develop and implement local nitrogen dioxide reduction plans, and to support those impacted by these plans.
The Government has published guidance for private and social landlords on understanding and addressing the health risks of damp and mould, following the tragic death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak from a severe respiratory condition due to prolonged exposure to mould in his home, and is additionally investing £10 million into the Healthy Homes pilots, working with selected local authorities to test measures to improve enforcement on damp and mould in private rented sector housing, while boosting the capability and capacity of enforcement teams in the greatest areas of housing and health need. Further information on the guidance for private and social landlords is available at the following link:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 reduce A&E waiting times.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services sets out the range of measures being taken to improve accident and emergency waiting times. The plan is available at the following link:
Backed by £1 billion of dedicated funding, the National Health Service delivered 5,000 additional core hospital beds in 2023/24, and will maintain this capacity expansion in 2024/25, to support patient flow through hospitals. Accident and emergency waiting times improved year-on-year in 2023/24 for the first time since 2009/10, not including the first year of the pandemic. The NHS Planning Guidance, published in March 2024, commits to further improvements in emergency care performance in 2024/25, with more information available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/operational-planning-and-contracting/
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
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 potential merits of including material on (a) diagnosing and (b) detecting cardiovascular diseases in women's health hubs.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made. We are investing £25 million in women’s health hubs, so that women can get better access to care for menstrual problems, contraception, menopause, and more. Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services that meet the needs of their local population, and will determine the exact services that their women’s health hub will provide, so long as they deliver the core services set out in the Women’s Health Hubs: Core Specification, which is available at the following link:
Future expansion of women’s health hubs will reflect the need to meet women’s health needs holistically. This could also include developing care pathways into wider health and public services, including those for cardiovascular disease, however hubs should not create an additional step in the patient journey, or delay referral for specialist or urgent care where required.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to ensure that NHS England facilitates the dissemination of the findings of the maternal, newborn and infant clinical outcome review programme delivered by MBRRACE-UK.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The maternal, newborn, and infant clinical outcome review programme, delivered by Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK), forms part of the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme, which is commissioned and managed on behalf of NHS England by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership.
MBRRACE-UK publishes annual data and surveillance reports on their website, and holds a national learning event to disseminate information and audit findings. NHS England supports this approach and reviews all audit recommendations after publication with a range of stakeholders. NHS England’s Three-Year Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal services also highlights how NHS England will use MBRRACE-UK’s reports to monitor trends and themes at both a national and local level.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data her Department holds on the provision of vision rehabilitation support services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department does not collect or hold this information. However, the Department is working with local authorities and other organisations to identify the data needed to support the delivery of adult social care, and provide insight into adult social care outcomes.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the annual spend by the health service on legal representation at inquests in the previous five years for which information is available.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Resolution manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England. The following table shows the amounts paid in accordance with the rules of the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST), to support trusts at inquests and for associated costs to investigate entitlement to compensation, in the last five years:
Payment Raised Year | Amount |
2018/19 | £2,968,153 |
2019/20 | £2,223,095 |
2020/21 | £1,614,820 |
2021/22 | £1,545,135 |
2022/23 | £1,623,211 |
Total | £9,974,414 |
Source: NHS Resolution
The CNST handles all clinical negligence claims against member NHS bodies where the incident in question took place on or after 1 April 1995, or when the body joined the scheme if that is later. NHS Resolution is not involved in any arrangements that an individual trust might make outside of the scheme.
Information on the total spend by NHS trusts regarding coroner’s inquests is not collated or held centrally.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) training and (b) support on specialised services is provided for staff working in integrated care boards in the (i) East of England, (ii) Midlands and (iii) North West following full delegation of commissioning in 2024-25.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The total spend on commissioning specialised services was £22.7 billion in 2022/23 and £25 billion in 2023/24. As formal delegation of specialised services to integrated care boards (ICBs) begins from 1 April 2024, all spend on commissioning these services in previous years has been the responsibility of NHS England, and not the ICBs. For 2024/25, NHS England is delegating £5.3 billion of commissioning resource to ICBs in the three regions, where delegation will begin from April 2024. This figure excludes high-cost drugs and devices spend.
The nine joint committee arrangements arose from a robust process, which included a readiness assessment, the Pre-Delegation Assessment Framework, made between the ICBs and NHS England regional teams, followed by a National Moderation Panel, and final decision taken by the NHS England Board. The NHS England Board papers for February 2023, December 2023, and March 2024 are available, respectively, at the following links:
The process concluded that a transitional year of joint commissioning would offer the most secure and stable transition towards delegation. There is a comprehensive programme structure in place to support the ICBs in the four regions that are working towards delegation in April 2025, to support them in being ready to take on the responsibilities. NHS England is continuing to work alongside ICBs to ensure that delegation agreements are in place, including ensuring appropriate collaborative arrangements are developed to support ICB commissioning of specialised services. These arrangements will be monitored by NHS England through its assurance processes for specialised services.
A webinar series for commissioning staff, including colleagues in ICBs, was delivered in 2023 across different aspects of specialised services, and there are additional webinars planned in 2024. There has been, and will continue to be, local engagement between regional commissioning teams and ICB teams, as the future operating model is co-developed. A suite of support materials has been shared with teams and continues to be updated. As examples, these include: Commissioning Change Management Business Rules; Finance and Accounting Standard Operating Procedure; and the Contracting Standard Operating Procedure.
NHS England develops services specification and clinical policies through its Clinical Reference Groups. There are 250 published service specifications which include clinical pathway, quality, and other relevant standards, which are specific to the clinical service. Regional commissioning teams, overseen by the statutory joint committees, are responsible for implementing the specifications in their commissioning of services, along with assessing compliance against national standards. NHS England has developed Specialised Services Quality Dashboards alongside service specifications, which provide additional data to monitor the quality of services.