Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the UK’s public health standards as a result of the measures proposed in the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 2022.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Through the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, the Government is currently reviewing which retained European Union law should be repealed, reformed or preserved. the Government continues to work with a range of stakeholders to ensure that any such reforms maintain and improve current standards in patient safety and public health.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the levels of (1) training, and (2) accreditation, for staff administering simple breathing tests, such as (a) spirometry, and (b) FeNO.
Answered by Lord Kamall
There are no plans to introduce an annual respiratory services delivery report.
The Association of Respiratory Technology and Physiology (ARTP) sets and assesses competence against the standards for quality assured spirometry. The ARTP oversee a national register of those who achieved certification in the performance and/or interpretation of spirometry. Additional funding has been made available to systems in 2021/22 and 2022/23 for the training and accreditation of staff in the provision and interpretation of quality assured spirometry. This process is being supported by respiratory clinical networks.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide devices to diagnose asthma. These devices were selected by the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) for tailored support in 2021/22 as part of the Rapid Uptake Product (RUP) programme to increase adoption in the National Health Service.
During 2021/22, the RUP programme produced resources with AAC partners to support successful implementation and improve patient access to these products. This included educational packages for health professional responsible for care to improve knowledge and skills.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce an annual respiratory services delivery report.
Answered by Lord Kamall
There are no plans to introduce an annual respiratory services delivery report.
The Association of Respiratory Technology and Physiology (ARTP) sets and assesses competence against the standards for quality assured spirometry. The ARTP oversee a national register of those who achieved certification in the performance and/or interpretation of spirometry. Additional funding has been made available to systems in 2021/22 and 2022/23 for the training and accreditation of staff in the provision and interpretation of quality assured spirometry. This process is being supported by respiratory clinical networks.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide devices to diagnose asthma. These devices were selected by the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) for tailored support in 2021/22 as part of the Rapid Uptake Product (RUP) programme to increase adoption in the National Health Service.
During 2021/22, the RUP programme produced resources with AAC partners to support successful implementation and improve patient access to these products. This included educational packages for health professional responsible for care to improve knowledge and skills.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure the universal restart of spirometry testing in primary care prior to the establishment of community diagnostic centres.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Systems have been asked to work towards restoring asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) registers and spirometry checks for adults and children to pre-pandemic levels in 2022/23. The Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) for 2022/23 includes respiratory indicators in relation to the diagnosis of asthma and COPD which was fully re-instated in April 2022.
For people with a diagnosis of asthma, the QOF sets thresholds for maintaining a record of patients with either a record of spirometry and one other objective test between three and six months after diagnosis, and within six months of registration for those newly registered with a diagnosis of asthma but no record of objective tests performed at the date of registration.
For those with COPD, the QOF asks practices to maintain a record of people with a diagnosis on or after 1 April 2021 whose diagnosis has been confirmed by quality assured post bronchodilator spirometry between three months before or six months after diagnosis or within six months of registration, in addition to patients with a clinical diagnosis on or after 1 April 2021 who are unable to undertake spirometry.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they are proposing to address the finding by Asthma + Lung UK that the UK has the highest rate of lung disease deaths in western Europe.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The NHS Long Term Plan proposed interventions which included early and accurate diagnosis, increasing service provision for pulmonary rehabilitation, medicines optimisation, a care bundle for community acquired pneumonia and self-management of respiratory conditions. We are expanding pulmonary rehabilitation into less served communities and improving self-management support for patients with lung disease.
The Quality Outcomes Framework ensures all general practitioner practices in England establish and maintain a register of patients with a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma diagnosis in accordance with the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence’s guidelines. This ensures regular reviews and monitoring of those with asthma and COPD.
We are encouraging the use of preventer inhalers, inhaled corticosteroid inhalers and reducing overuse of reliever inhalers and short-acting bronchodilator inhalers, which are associated with poorer clinical outcomes. A Commissioning for Quality and Innovation incentive for a care bundle for community acquired pneumonia commenced in April 2022. The Lung Health @home project is working with the national respiratory programme to enable more patients to manage their lung health at home and ensuring they can access the most appropriate support. The project aims to deliver supported self-management and exercise and activity tools for those diagnosed with a chronic lung condition. NHS England and NHS Improvement have also established 13 Respiratory Clinical Networks to provide clinical leadership of respiratory services.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include metric-driven targets on improvements in respiratory mortality and provision of care within the NHS Long Term Plan.
Answered by Lord Kamall
There are no specific plans to do so. However, NHS England and NHS Improvement are updating the NHS Long Term Plan to review progress and state the actions required to recover services such as elective care. Implementation plans will be developed to support National Health Service delivery and new Operating Models from 2023 to 2025, within the existing NHS budget. NHS England and NHS Improvement will work with partners, patient and staff groups, NHS networks and the public to review the delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the first urgent dental care centre in England was established.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it was within the Chief Dental Officer for England's remit to instruct all dental practices to cease face to face consultations when the restrictions for the COVID-19 pandemic were introduced.
Answered by Lord Bethell
NHS England and NHS Improvement published guidance on 25 March 2020 instructing all general dental services and community dental services to suspend routine care and all face to face urgent care, unless delivered through an urgent dental centre. As the commissioner of National Health Service dental services, it is NHS England and NHS Improvement’s responsibility to make decisions on provision of the NHS services it commissions. Decisions are made by NHS England and NHS Improvement as a whole taking into account both clinical and commissioner advice.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment the Chief Dental Officer for England made of the adequacy of personal protective equipment supplies for dental practitioners before dental practices were closed due to COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet PPE - note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why dental practices in England were only given six working day's notice to resume face to face care on 8 June.
Answered by Lord Bethell
NHS England and NHS Improvement announced on 28 May that National Health Service dental services can gradually resume from 8 June. The guidance was clear that the pace of the restart should be only as fast as possible compatible with maximizing safety for patients and dental staff.
Over 600 urgent dental centres remain open across England to assist with the resumption of routine dentistry.