Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 4 November 2024 (HL1879), whether they will issue guidance to NHS England and NHS Trusts on reducing equality, diversity and inclusion spending to help deliver the 2-percent administration savings announced at Budget 2024.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance was published on 14 May 2024, and required all departments and arm's length bodies to set controls on all equality, diversity, and inclusion related expenditure. No further guidance was issued by the Department to National Health Service trusts.
The Government is committed to creating a fair health system that tackles health inequalities effectively, whilst deriving maximum value from taxpayers’ money.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 9 October 2024 (HL1031), how equality, diversity and inclusion principles are embedded in the duties of NHS staff; and whether they are included in staff contracts, and reflected in the assessment of bonuses, promotion, or performance.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We expect National Health Service organisations to implement policies and procedures that are in line with employment law and good human resources practice, including the Equality Act 2010 and other relevant legislation.
NHS leaders are responsible for setting the tone and culture of their organisation, and that is why NHS England’s equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) improvement plan does require chairs, chief executives, and board members to have distinct objectives on improving inclusion in their organisation. There is no national directive to embed EDI duties in staff contracts or systems for pay and performance.
It is right that the NHS addresses prejudice and discrimination where it exists across the NHS workforce, and that staff feel more empowered to tackle health inequalities and deliver great care and patient experience.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the quality and veracity of data gathered by (1) NHS services, and (2) homecare medicines companies, relating to the provision, quality and performance of homecare services.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
As part of the quality assurance and governance processes, homecare providers are assessed monthly against their contractual Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which include the monitoring of delayed deliveries, missed doses and patients’ adverse events, complaints and incidents. The National Homecare Medicines Committee (NHMC) holds regular face-to-face meetings with providers at which they share national aggregated KPI data. But the capturing and monitoring of this data is to provide support for the individual trusts managing their contracts and there is no routine data collection which is then published.
NHS England is undertaking a piece of work to understand the issues in homecare to inform future improvement actions. A project by the National Homecare Medicines Committee NHMC to review the national KPIs, which includes publication of performance against them, is already underway and final documents are expected for approval in December 2023 and for publication in April 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government why performance data for homecare medicines services providers is not published.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
As part of the quality assurance and governance processes, homecare providers are assessed monthly against their contractual Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which include the monitoring of delayed deliveries, missed doses and patients’ adverse events, complaints and incidents. The National Homecare Medicines Committee (NHMC) holds regular face-to-face meetings with providers at which they share national aggregated KPI data. But the capturing and monitoring of this data is to provide support for the individual trusts managing their contracts and there is no routine data collection which is then published.
NHS England is undertaking a piece of work to understand the issues in homecare to inform future improvement actions. A project by the National Homecare Medicines Committee NHMC to review the national KPIs, which includes publication of performance against them, is already underway and final documents are expected for approval in December 2023 and for publication in April 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of patient satisfaction in homecare medicines services considering (1) all services, and (2) satisfaction with specific providers.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
As part of the quality assurance and governance processes, homecare providers are assessed monthly against their contractual Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which include the monitoring of delayed deliveries, missed doses and patients’ adverse events, complaints and incidents. The National Homecare Medicines Committee (NHMC) holds regular face-to-face meetings with providers at which they share national aggregated KPI data. But the capturing and monitoring of this data is to provide support for the individual trusts managing their contracts and there is no routine data collection which is then published.
NHS England is undertaking a piece of work to understand the issues in homecare to inform future improvement actions. A project by the National Homecare Medicines Committee NHMC to review the national KPIs, which includes publication of performance against them, is already underway and final documents are expected for approval in December 2023 and for publication in April 2024.