Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS Inpatient Detox units there are by location.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are eight NHS inpatient detoxification units in England. They are listed below:
Guys and St Thomas NHS Trust (London),
Bridge House, Kent and Medway NHS Trust (Maidstone, Kent),
Dame Carol Black Unit, Midlands Foundation NHS Trust (Fareham, Hampshire),
Acer Unit, Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (Bristol),
Edward Myers Unit, Staffordshire Combined NHS Trust (Stoke),
New Beginnings, Rotherham, Doncaster, South Humber Foundation NHS Trust (Doncaster), Chapman Barker Unit, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust (Manchester),
Topaz Ward, Essex Partnership NHS Trust (Chelmsford, Essex).
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that NHS integrated care boards commission (a) end-of-life and (b) other palliative care for people in all age groups.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While the National Health Service has always been required to commission appropriate palliative and end of life care services to meet the reasonable needs of their population, in 2022, palliative care services were added to the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission, promoting a more consistent national approach and supporting commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care in all settings. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications for both adults and children.
From April 2024, NHS England will include palliative and end of life care in the list of topics for its regular performance discussions between national and regional leads. Additionally, NHS England has commissioned the development of a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together relevant, all age local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of both adults and children in their local population, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities.
NHS England has also funded seven Palliative and End of Life Care Strategic Clinical Networks, each with a dedicated Children and Young People Lead. These networks support commissioners in the delivery of outstanding clinical and personalised care for people in the last year of life and reduce local variation.
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, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of capacity in district nursing on the timeliness of patient discharge from hospital in 2023.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Between the end of March 2023 and the end of March 2024, the number of supported discharges for patients assessed as no longer meeting the criteria to reside has increased by 17% for patients on pathway 1. Pathway one is for patients returning to their usual place of residence with new or additional health or social care needs. Packages of post-discharge support for these patients may include support from district nurses.
We recognise the importance of increasing district nursing capacity. Through the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan we aim to increase training places for district nurses by 150% by 2031/32. As of January 2024, there were 4,295 full-time equivalent district nurses working in community services in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England, this is 0.5% fewer than in 2019.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 there are sufficient numbers of Parkinson’s specialist nurses.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, backed by more than £2.4 billion over the next five years, the National Health Service will focus on expanding the number of clinicians, including nurses, who train to take up enhanced and advanced roles, and work as part of multidisciplinary teams with the right skills to meet the changing needs of patients. The ambition is to train at least 3,000 advanced practitioners in 2024 and 2025 across all specialties, and to increase the number in training to 5,000 a year by 2029. The Long Term Workforce Plan also sets out actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 Parkinson’s specialist nurses are retained in the profession.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, backed by more than £2.4 billion over the next five years, the National Health Service will focus on expanding the number of clinicians, including nurses, who train to take up enhanced and advanced roles, and work as part of multidisciplinary teams with the right skills to meet the changing needs of patients. The ambition is to train at least 3,000 advanced practitioners in 2024 and 2025 across all specialties, and to increase the number in training to 5,000 a year by 2029. The Long Term Workforce Plan also sets out actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 (a) transparency and (b) parental consent in clinical trials involving children.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are legal measures in place to ensure informed consent in clinical trials, through the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004. Parental consent for clinical trials investigating medicines which involve children is also legislated for via the same Regulations.
Promoting and ensuring transparency is central to the role of the Health Research Authority to facilitate safe and ethical research as defined in the Care Act 2014. This includes clinical trials involving children.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what measures are in place to ensure informed consent in clinical trials.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are legal measures in place to ensure informed consent in clinical trials, through the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004. Parental consent for clinical trials investigating medicines which involve children is also legislated for via the same Regulations.
Promoting and ensuring transparency is central to the role of the Health Research Authority to facilitate safe and ethical research as defined in the Care Act 2014. This includes clinical trials involving children.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support exists for those with (a) Huntington’s disease and (b) other complex neurological conditions.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning most services for people with neurological conditions, including those with Huntington’s disease. At a national level, NHS England commissions the specialised elements of neurological care that patients may receive from 27 specialised neurological treatment centres across England. NHS England’s RightCare toolkit and Getting It Right First Time programme aim to improve care for people with neurological conditions, by reducing variation and delivering care more equitably across England.
New optimal clinical pathways for a range of neurological conditions were developed by the National Neurosciences Advisory Group, which ceased operation in 2022. These pathways set out what good treatment, care, and support should look like across a range of neurological conditions. They also help to guide and facilitate the commissioning of high-quality, effective neurology services by ICBs. The optimal clinical pathway for movement disorders outlines the care pathway that patients with Huntington’s disease should receive. Further information on the optimal clinical pathways are available at the following link:
https://www.nnag.org.uk/optimum-clinical-pathways
The Department funds research on neurological conditions through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and between 2018/19 and 2022/23, the Department spent £272.1 million on research into neurological conditions. This covers research into conditions such as Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis. In 2022/23, the most recent year for which we have data, the Department, via the NIHR, spent £65.3 million on research into neurological conditions.
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, how many nurses have worked in NHS community health services on average in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. These include staff working for hospital trusts and integrated care boards, but excludes staff working for other providers such as in primary care, general practice or social care. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources system for the National Health Service.
The latest statistics on NHS nursing workforce by area of nursing and care setting can be found in the link below within the ‘Nurses by Setting’ worksheet:
Within this data there are nurses working in community settings within several staff groups including community health nurses, community learning disability nurses, community mental health nurses, and as health visitors.
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, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the BALM programme.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is currently undertaking a review of how health and wellbeing support could be delivered more effectively. As part of this review, the team will: assess NHS England’s current contracts; work with integrated care boards, National Health Service trusts, and primary care organisations to understand the scale and impact of locally provided provision; and work with system partners and stakeholders including royal colleges, the voluntary sector, and the independent sector to understand how demand for these services has changed over recent years.