Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to review the effectiveness of the Comprehensive Health Assessment Tool in identifying speech, language and communication needs.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government has no current plans to review the effectiveness of the Comprehensive Health Assessment Tool to identify speech, language and communication needs in the children and young people’s secure estate.
NHS England has commissioned Manchester University to review use of the Tool across 14 Secure Children’s Homes, three Secure Training Centres and four Young Offender Institutions. This includes consideration of the quality of the assessments being completed and the processes and procedures set up to support the Comprehensive Health Assessment Tool. The review will report on overarching themes and individual site reports, each containing an action plan and recommendations. It is intended that this process will enable identification of key themes for NHS England to consider as well as individual site reports, each containing an action plan and recommendations.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the independent review of mental health legislation will review those sections of the Mental Health Act 1983 that apply to (1) prisoners, and (2) those charged with offences.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The terms of reference of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act ask the review to identify issues across the breadth of the Act and associated practice, including those elements relating to prisoners and those charged with offences. In particular, the terms of reference highlight stakeholder concerns about ‘the time required to take decisions and arrange transfers for patients subject to criminal proceedings’.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the current provision of medium and low secure beds in England; and what percentage of those beds are occupied.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Since April 2013 NHS England has been responsible for commissioning all secure inpatient mental health care services nationally. The current number of beds in medium secure services in England is 3,188 and 3,348 in low secure. The data is provided by NHS England and is taken from the Mental Health Service Review Programme based on 2015/16 contracts.
The percentage of beds occupied will vary, depending on when the information is collected. However, where beds are contracted with an occupancy threshold, this is usually between 93% and 96% across the various contracts held by NHS England for these services.
The information provided refers to adult medium and low secure beds.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made with plans to collect and report the length of stays in secure inpatient care.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
NHS England is currently carrying out a review of the information collected in relation to all mental health services. This review will include the collection and reporting of data on the length of stays in secure inpatient care.
It is expected that information on the length of stays will be reported by NHS England going forward.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether draft regulations for making Naloxone more widely available will be published in draft ahead of the October 2015 implementation, to enable organisations including police, hostels and drugs misuse services to make advance plans.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Naloxone has a vital role in saving lives and we are committed to widening its use in England. We have accepted the recommendation from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to make this life-saving medicine available more widely and Departmental officials are drafting new regulations to give effect to this decision. This legislative change is due to commence in October 2015.
Public Health England has recently published advice for commissioners and providers on the provision of take-home naloxone for reversing overdose in people who use heroin and other opiates, so that commissioners and providers can take action, both now and following the October 2015 legislative change, to widen the supply of naloxone.
In addition, the issue of naloxone supply is also being considered by the independent expert group updating the 2007 drug misuse clinical guidelines, Drug Misuse and Dependence: UK Guidelines on Clinical Management.
As it is formulated as an injectable medicine, naloxone does not meet the criteria set out in legislation for classification as an over-the-counter medicine.
Amended regulations will be publicly available when they are laid before Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have given consideration to making Naloxone an over-the-counter drug in England.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Naloxone has a vital role in saving lives and we are committed to widening its use in England. We have accepted the recommendation from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to make this life-saving medicine available more widely and Departmental officials are drafting new regulations to give effect to this decision. This legislative change is due to commence in October 2015.
Public Health England has recently published advice for commissioners and providers on the provision of take-home naloxone for reversing overdose in people who use heroin and other opiates, so that commissioners and providers can take action, both now and following the October 2015 legislative change, to widen the supply of naloxone.
In addition, the issue of naloxone supply is also being considered by the independent expert group updating the 2007 drug misuse clinical guidelines, Drug Misuse and Dependence: UK Guidelines on Clinical Management.
As it is formulated as an injectable medicine, naloxone does not meet the criteria set out in legislation for classification as an over-the-counter medicine.
Amended regulations will be publicly available when they are laid before Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to improve access to Naloxone in England.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Naloxone has a vital role in saving lives and we are committed to widening its use in England. We have accepted the recommendation from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to make this life-saving medicine available more widely and Departmental officials are drafting new regulations to give effect to this decision. This legislative change is due to commence in October 2015.
Public Health England has recently published advice for commissioners and providers on the provision of take-home naloxone for reversing overdose in people who use heroin and other opiates, so that commissioners and providers can take action, both now and following the October 2015 legislative change, to widen the supply of naloxone.
In addition, the issue of naloxone supply is also being considered by the independent expert group updating the 2007 drug misuse clinical guidelines, Drug Misuse and Dependence: UK Guidelines on Clinical Management.
As it is formulated as an injectable medicine, naloxone does not meet the criteria set out in legislation for classification as an over-the-counter medicine.
Amended regulations will be publicly available when they are laid before Parliament.