Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps are in place to train more new doctors and nurses in the UK.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
On 4 October 2016, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health announced that from September 2018, the Government will fund up to 1,500 additional undergraduate medical places through university medical schools each year.
In November 2015, the reforms to nursing, midwifery and allied health pre-registration training were announced. The reforms aim to increase the number of training places by up to 10,000 by the end of the Parliament.
As outlined in its Workforce Plan for England: Proposed Education and Training Commissions for 2016/17, Health Education England has increased the overall volume of education and training with, in excess of, 38,000 new training places in 2016-2017 for nurses, scientists and therapists, and there are now more than 50,000 doctors and dentists currently in training. A copy of the Plan is attached.
The latest workforce statistics published by NHS Digital for July 2016 show that since May 2010 there are now almost 23,400 additional professionally qualified staff working in National Health Service trusts and clinical commissioning groups, including more than 10,000 more doctors and 3,500 more nurses and midwives.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to improve support for children and young people with mental health problems.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Children and young people’s mental health is a priority area for this Government and it is committed to delivering the vision set out in Future in Mind, the report published jointly by the Department and NHS England in March 2015. This is supported by an additional investment of £1.4 billion over the course of this Parliament. A copy of Future in Mind is attached.
Progress has been made on many of the key ambitions set out in Future in Mind. One significant development being that Local Transformation Plans (LTPs) for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing have been produced covering the full spectrum of mental health issues, from prevention to intervention for emerging or existing mental health problems. LTPs also address the full spectrum of need, for every clinical commissioning group (CCG) in the country. The Local Government Association have produced a spreadsheet giving details of LTPs. A copy of this spreadsheet is attached.
Work is in progress to strengthen the capacity and capability of the workforce and to improve data and information in order to deliver the vision set out in Future in Mind by 2020. In addition, the Children and Young People's Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme is continuing to be rolled out across the country.
Progress has also been made on making help and support to children and young people available online through the launch of an online hub for children and young people on the NHS Choices website and further investment made into a campaign to reduce stigma and discrimination as proposed in Future in Mind.
All CCGs, working closely with their partners, have developed and submitted LTPs to transform their local offer for children and young people’s mental health. Plans cover the whole spectrum of services from prevention to intervention for emerging or existing mental health problems and address the full spectrum of need.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what schemes and measures are currently in place to enable other agencies to work alongside police in combating prescription drug abuse.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Local authorities and the National Health Service work together and with other agencies to assess local needs, prevent problems with prescription and over-the-counter medicines, and commission responses for people dependent on those medicines.
Designated healthcare organisations are required to appoint a Controlled Drugs Accountable Officer (CDAO) to investigate concerns about prescribing and supply of medicines, and to share findings with the Local Intelligence Network (a partnership of key organisations to review and respond to controlled drug concerns).
Services prescribing and/or dispensing controlled prescription drugs are required to liaise with their local CDAO and contribute to their Local Intelligence Network.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which organisations are primarily responsible for raising diabetes awareness; and who is responsible for raising awareness of diabetes at (1) a national level, and (2) a regional level.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Public Health England (PHE), NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence play a key role in raising awareness of diabetes at national level, while locally this is shared between public health, clinical commissioning groups and individual practitioners. Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs) also have an important role to play in ensuring appropriate clinical advice to local commissioners and disseminating evidence about effectiveness.
Organisations such as Diabetes UK, Silver Star Diabetes, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists, also play a valuable and important part in raising the awareness of diabetes.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Northern Ireland Executive on United Kingdom-wide strategies for tackling diabetes, obesity, and heart and rare diseases.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Research and evidence of best practice in health is shared widely across the United Kingdom. However, as health is a devolved matter Ministers do not routinely discuss health issues with their counterparts.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many general practitioner practices in England have closed since June 2010; and how many have opened since January 2013.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The data requested is shown in the following table. It is not possible to show this by calendar month.
It is important to note that these figures also include practice mergers and takeovers and do not provide an accurate representation of activity or service provision. For example, the merger of three practices would show as three practices closing and one opening.
| Closed: England | Opened: England |
2010 | 79
| x |
2011 | 111
| x |
2012 | 124
| x |
2013 | 126
| 13 |
2014 (to 31 August) | 78 | 9 |
Source: HSCIC
Notes:
Details for opened practices in 2010 to 2012 have not been provided, but are available.