Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to maintain equivalence with the EU Regulation on Medical Devices 2017/745 during the planned transition period from March 2019 to March 2021.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government is committed to the safe and effective regulation of medical devices in the United Kingdom; we continue to strengthen safety while ensuring patients and the public have fast access to new, innovative devices.
The new EU Devices Regulations entered into force in May 2017. The EU Regulation on Medical Devices 2017/745 will be fully applied from May 2020, during the implementation period agreed with the European Union, and would therefore apply under the terms of the time-limited implementation period.
Under our responsibilities as a Member State, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency continues to work to implement the new Regulations and has met all relevant milestones set out in the legislation.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of warehousing requirements for NHS suppliers if frictionless trade with the EU is not maintained following Brexit.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Patient safety is paramount in our exit negotiations and maintaining continuity of supply of medical products is a key part of ensuring patients continue to receive the safe high-quality care they need on day one of the exit from the European Union exit and thereafter.
The Department is working closely with cross Government agencies to ensure that there is no disruption to the supply of medical products following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU, regardless of the terms of the withdrawal.
This includes enhancing existing supply chain resilience, scoping out alternative sources of supply and providing means to access critical medical devices at short notice. Warehousing requirements for centrally held stock of medical devices for the National Health Service is continuously reviewed against demand patterns and forecasts which incorporate consideration of external factors, such as exiting the EU, and is integral to contingency planning. Medicines suppliers will be taking a similar approach to their stocks.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of NHS warehousing requirements if frictionless trade with the EU is not maintained following Brexit.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Patient safety is paramount in our exit negotiations and maintaining continuity of supply of medical products is a key part of ensuring patients continue to receive the safe high-quality care they need on day one of the exit from the European Union exit and thereafter.
The Department is working closely with cross Government agencies to ensure that there is no disruption to the supply of medical products following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU, regardless of the terms of the withdrawal.
This includes enhancing existing supply chain resilience, scoping out alternative sources of supply and providing means to access critical medical devices at short notice. Warehousing requirements for centrally held stock of medical devices for the National Health Service is continuously reviewed against demand patterns and forecasts which incorporate consideration of external factors, such as exiting the EU, and is integral to contingency planning. Medicines suppliers will be taking a similar approach to their stocks.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the availability to UK patients of fenestrated endografts, developed in the UK, manufactured in Scotland and used around the world, if the current draft NICE guidelines on Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm are implemented.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
We have made no such assessments. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and has not yet published final guidance on the diagnosis and management of abdominal aortic aneurysm. NICE has recently consulted on its draft guideline and will take the comments it has received in response to the consultation fully into account in finalising its recommendations.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have conducted an impact assessment of the draft NICE Guidelines on Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, including the impact (1) on patients over 65 years old who may be medically unsuitable for open surgical repair, and (2) of removing certain treatment options when clinical professionals have indicated that patients require such treatment.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
We have made no such assessments. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and has not yet published final guidance on the diagnosis and management of abdominal aortic aneurysm. NICE has recently consulted on its draft guideline and will take the comments it has received in response to the consultation fully into account in finalising its recommendations.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of minimum waiting times on patients awaiting surgical procedures in (1) the South West Lincolnshire CCG area, and (2) England.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
No such assessment has been made.
How trusts schedule surgical procedures is for local determination but national guidance and support is available from NHS England and NHS Improvement to support trusts to meet maximum waiting times standards. Clinical priority is the main determinant of when patients should be treated followed by the chronological order of when they were added to the waiting list.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to hold a consultation exercise on social care provision for adults of working age, with a particular focus on those with learning disabilities; and if so, what are the details of the work streams and timetable.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government recognises the challenges faced by people of working age with care needs. We are committed to ensuring that people with disabilities and complex conditions can live healthy, independent lives, and participate fully in society.
The Government has committed to publishing a Green Paper, by summer 2018, setting out proposals for reform of adult social care. This Green Paper will focus on care for older people, but many of the issues and questions about the sustainability of the care system will be relevant to adults of all ages. Once the Green Paper is published, it will be subject to a full public consultation.
To ensure that issues specific to working-age adults with care needs are considered in their own right, the Government will take forward a parallel programme of work which is being led jointly by the Department of Health and the Department for Communities and Local Government, which will focus on this group. This work will also be overseen by the Inter-Ministerial Group to ensure alignment with the Green Paper.
As part of our initial engagement, a round table meeting with key stakeholders on issues facing working age adults with care needs is expected to take place in the new year. It would be jointly chaired by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Care and Mental Health (Jackie Doyle-Price) and the Minister for Local Government (Marcus Jones).
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many young children placed into care out of area subsequently go missing or become victims of abuse.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department does not hold information on looked after children placed out of area who subsequently go missing or become victims of abuse. However, local authorities, police and other partners share current local data to safeguard on all looked after children if they go missing. This includes understanding patterns of missing episodes to put preventative steps in place.
The government considers this an important issue. The Missing Children and Adults strategy, (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/missing-children-and-adults-strategy) which focuses primarily on vulnerable people who go missing within England and Wales, provides a core framework in which we can all work to deliver collectively the best protection possible for missing children, adults and their families.
The government is clear that the needs of the child are paramount when making decisions about the right care placement. Local authorities have a statutory duty to consider the right placement for the child and take into account a number of factors, one of which is placement area. For some children in care a placement outside of a home local authority area is in their best interests, provided there is effective planning and oversight. In recent years we have strengthened the safeguards around children being placed out of area, for example since 2013, Directors of Children’s Services must approve all placements at ‘distance’ (i.e. more than 20 miles away).
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to reduce the waiting time for treatment by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
We have introduced a new waiting time standard for treatment of children and young people with eating disorders, setting an expectation that by 2020, 95% of those referred will start treatment within one week if the case is urgent and four weeks if the case is non-urgent.
National data on the number of young people receiving treatment within this timeframe in England shows that over 73% of patients started urgent treatment within one week in Quarter 1 2017-18 (206 out of 281 patients started treatment within one week) and nearly 78.9% of patients started routine treatment within four weeks in Quarter 1 2017-18 (1,067 out of 1,355 patients started treatment within four weeks).
This is positive initial progress some three years before the 95% level of the standard comes into force.
We are also currently exceeding the waiting time standard for Early Intervention in Psychosis, with nearly 75% of patients starting treatment within two weeks in July 2017.
The upcoming children and young people’s mental health Green Paper, which will be published by the end of the year, will include plans to improve timely access to specialist mental health services for those children and young people who need it most.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many schools have received mental health first aid training.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
To date, 280 schools have received training during June, July and September (262 secondaries and 18 primaries) with a total of 401 people trained. We anticipate that over 1,000 schools will receive training by the end of 2017.