Department of Health and Social Care

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

We have met with a number of Parliamentarians and a range of stakeholders to discuss the consultation and implementation of the temporary measure. The consultation has now closed and we are carefully considering all of the responses received and plan to publish our response later this year.

Following the Winterbourne View review, our objective has been to put a stop to abusive or poor quality care in inpatient settings and reduce reliance on specialist mental health inpatient services for people with a learning disability and autistic people. The NHS Long Term Plan commits to implementing ‘Building the right support’, to achieve at least a net 50% reduction in the number of people with a learning disability or autism who are inpatients by 2023/24. The Long Term Plan will increase investment in intensive, crisis and forensic community support to enable more people to receive personalised care in the community, closer to home, and prevent admissions. As of April 2021, there has been a 30% reduction since 2015 in the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people in specialist inpatient settings.

In May 2018 the Government announced £40 million over five years for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

Since the announcement of £40 million in May 2018, the NIHR have received 69 brain tumour applications for research funding; 10 of the brain tumour applications have been funded and seven of the brain tumour applications are still under consideration. All applications that are fundable have been funded.

We are relying on researchers to submit high-quality funding proposals and we are working with the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission towards funding workshops for previously unsuccessful researchers to support them in submitting higher quality research applications.

The Government has no plans to review or extend the prescription charge medical exemptions list. Around 89% of prescriptions are dispensed free of charge and extensive arrangements are already in place to help people, including those with asthma. To support those with the greatest need who do not qualify for an exemption, the cost of prescriptions can be spread by purchasing prescription pre-payment certificates. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just over £2 per week.

No decision has been made on changes to dental patient charges for the 2021/22 financial year. There are already a range of exemptions to patient charges and approximately 17.7 million patients were treated free of charge in the 2019/20 financial year.

Dental patient charges remain an important contribution to the overall National Health Service budget and providing dental care for free to all patients would carry significant resource implications for the NHS.

The standard of training for medical and health care professionals is the responsibility of the medical and health care independent statutory regulatory bodies who set the outcome standards expected at undergraduate level and approve courses. Higher education institutions write and teach the curricula content that enables their students to meet the regulators’ outcome standards. For postgraduate medical training, the curricula for foundation training is set by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and by individual Royal Colleges and faculties for specialty training. The General Medical Council approves curricula and assessment systems for each medical training programme.

The Government is committed to supporting research into dementia and to delivering a moonshot. Later in 2021, we will bring forward a new dementia strategy to set out our plans for dementia research, care, support and awareness in England for future years.

The Government is committed to supporting research into dementia and to delivering a moonshot. Later in 2021, we will bring forward a new dementia strategy to set out our plans for dementia research, care, support and awareness in England for future years.

NHS England and NHS Improvement’s RightCare team are working on a scenario for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) which will set out high-quality joined-up care at every point of the patient journey, and how the IBD service should be organised to deliver this, including the use of personalised care plans.

According to the latest NHS Digital Assuring Transformation data, at the end of April 2021, there were 2,040 people with a learning disability and autistic people in specialist-in patient settings in England. Of those, 875 people had a learning disability and were not autistic; 635 were autistic without a learning disability; 515 had a learning disability and were autistic; and 20 people were recorded as ‘none of the above’. Numbers by diagnosis are rounded to the nearest five and therefore may differ from the overall total.

Overall, this is a net reduction of 30% on the inpatient number in March 2015. The NHS Long Term Plan commits to investing in community alternatives to hospital to achieve at least a 50% reduction in the number of people with a learning disability or autism who are inpatients in mental health hospitals by 2023/24. The Building the right support Delivery Board has been established to drive further progress and can commission any work considered necessary to ensure the target is met.

NHS Digital proactively promoted the new collection approach with all media outlets, using social media channels to promote information. Patient facing materials have been developed by NHS Digital for general practitioners to use. Following the announcement that the data collection will be delayed until 1 September 2021, NHS Digital intends to use the next two months to continue to enhance communications and further raise awareness with the public about the new collection and its benefits.

NHS Digital proactively promoted the new collection approach with all media outlets, using social media channels to promote information including an animation which describes what is a complex area in easy to understand terms. Patient facing materials have been developed by NHS Digital for general practitioners to use.

Following the announcement that the data collection will be delayed until 1 September 2021, NHS Digital intends to use the next two months to continue to enhance communications and further raise awareness with the public about the new collection and its benefits.

We have updated our guidance on care home visiting, which came into effect on 17 May. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/arrangements-for-visiting-out-of-the-care-home/visits-out-of-care-homes

We will continue to keep the guidance under review, in line with clinical advice, including on the effect of vaccination.

Under the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps) (England) Regulations 2021 the Secretary of State may by direction disapply any relevant restriction or requirement in relation to specified premises, a specified event or a specified gathering, for the purposes of a research programme to evidence the potential transmission of coronavirus in controlled environments. The Government is running the Events Research Programme, as announced in February, and will use this research to trial a number of potential mitigations, including certification.

We have no plans to make a specific assessment. Public bodies must comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty. This already requires them to consider how their policies affect people who are protected under the Equality Act 2010, including those with a disability.

Only the information that is required to meet a legally permitted use will be accessed. The data will only be used for health and care planning and research purposes by organisations that have a legal basis and legitimate need to use the data. NHS Digital publishes the details of the data shared on their data release register. All requests to access general practitioner (GP) data are scrutinised by NHS Digital against stringent criteria, then two independent panels which include GP representatives.

Any National Health Service organisation, such as a clinical commissioning group, or a national arm’s length body or research organisation can request access to the data. The data collected from GPs does not include the names and addresses of individuals or their contact numbers and is pseudonymised at source to further protect the identity of patients. The implementation date of this data collection will now be 1 September 2021.

Only the information that is required to meet a legally permitted use will be accessed. The data will only be used for health and care planning and research purposes by organisations that have a legal basis and legitimate need to use the data. NHS Digital publishes the details of the data shared on their data release register. All requests to access general practitioner (GP) data are scrutinised by NHS Digital against stringent criteria, then two independent panels which include GP representatives.

Any National Health Service organisation, such as a clinical commissioning group, or a national arm’s length body or research organisation can request access to the data. The data collected from GPs does not include the names and addresses of individuals or their contact numbers and is pseudonymised at source to further protect the identity of patients. The implementation date of this data collection will now be 1 September 2021.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are working closely with front-line clinical experts, patient representative groups and leading charities, including Crohn’s and Colitis UK, to develop evidence-based improvement tools to improve inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) care and reduce the need for emergency hospital admissions. This includes a new IBD RightCare scenario, which will set out high-quality joined-up care at every point of the patient journey, as well as data packs for local commissioners.

From 17 May we have updated guidance to advise care homes and their residents that visits out of the home should be allowed, subject to appropriate mitigation of the risk of bringing COVID-19 into the care home. We have also published guidance on supported living which reflects the differences between supported living and care homes.

Care homes are one household with numerous residents while individuals in supported living environments have their own accommodation. The size of the household involved and the vulnerability of residents in care homes mean that we cannot regard the two groups as equivalent. Spending time with others outside the care home will increase the risk of exposure to COVID-19 for the resident and other vulnerable residents on their return. It is therefore important that our guidance provides advice on how to mitigate this risk.

In supported living settings, managers and carers should suggest safe ways to enable visiting, risk assessing individual settings and vulnerabilities, and considering the risks to others in shared accommodation. Families wishing to visit their loved ones in supported living or residential care settings should also follow the national guidance on meeting others safely, including guidance on support bubbles.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.