Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of overall pregnancy terminations have been carried out in accordance with paragraph (d) of section 1(1) of the Abortion Act 1967 in each of the past five years.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are unable to provide the data requested for 2022 and 2023 as these statistics have not yet been published. Abortion statistics for 2022 are provisionally scheduled to be published in May 2024. The date of publication of abortion statistics for 2023 will be announced in due course.
The following table shows information on the proportion of overall pregnancy terminations carried out in accordance with paragraph (d) of section 1(1) of the Abortion Act 1967 between 2019 and 2021:
Year | Proportion (%) |
2019 | 2.0 |
2020 | 1.5 |
2021 | 1.6 |
Source: NHS England
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many pregnancy terminations have been carried out on grounds of a diagnosis of (1) Downs Syndrome, or (2) Brittle Bones, in each of the past five years.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are unable to provide the data requested for 2022 and 2023 as these statistics have not yet been published. Abortion statistics for 2022 are provisionally scheduled to be published in May 2024. The date of publication of abortion statistics for 2023 will be announced in due course.
The following table shows information on the number of pregnancy terminations carried out on grounds of a diagnosis of Downs Syndrome or congenital malformations of the musculoskeletal system between 2019 and 2021:
Year | ICD-10 code | Condition | Number of mentions |
2019 | Q90 | Down's syndrome | 656 |
2020 | Q90 | Down's syndrome | 693 |
2021 | Q90 | Down's syndrome | 859 |
2019 | Q65 to Q79 | Congenital malformations of the musculoskeletal system | 357 |
2020 | Q65 to Q79 | Congenital malformations of the musculoskeletal system | 443 |
2021 | Q65 to Q79 | Congenital malformations of the musculoskeletal system | 486 |
Source: NHS England
Notes:
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman correspondence to the Chief Executive of Sciensus on 16 October 2023 asking him to review the Sciensus complaints process.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) reports to Parliament directly and is held to account through the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee.
As the PHSO's jurisdiction includes independent healthcare providers that deliver services on behalf of the National Health Service in England, it is right that the Ombudsman wrote to the Chief Executive of Sciensus, a company providing home care medicines service to NHS patients, about its complaints process. We understand that Sciensus has agreed to continue to improve their complaints handling process in line with the principles set out in the NHS Complaint Standards.
The NHS Complaint Standards were co-created by the PHSO and organisations across the NHS and Government. The Standards, along with the model complaint handling procedure and guidance, set out how organisations providing NHS services should approach complaint handling. They apply to NHS organisations in England and independent healthcare providers who deliver NHS-funded care.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have assessed the difference between a missed delivery and a missed dose of medicine in terms of their policy implications as part of the National Homecare Medicines Committee’s review of national homecare medicines services.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is committed to improving patient safety and understanding the important role data can play in driving quality improvement.
There are currently national key performance metric definitions available as part of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Homecare Services Professionals Standards which include definitions criteria on the number of failed deliveries, missed doses and patient safety incidents. Patients routinely hold approximately two weeks’ worth of supply of medicines to minimise the risk of a missed or delayed delivery becoming a missed dose.
NHS England has been carrying out an internal review on homecare medicines services. Extensive stakeholder engagement has been undertaken on revising the national key performance indicators (KPIs) and a transition to new KPIs will begin in spring 2024, with full reporting expected by autumn 2024.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish (1) national-level, and (2) NHS trust-level, key performance indicators on missed doses and delayed treatment initiation to monitor the performance and safety of homecare medicines services.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is committed to improving patient safety and understanding the important role data can play in driving quality improvement.
There are currently national key performance metric definitions available as part of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Homecare Services Professionals Standards which include definitions criteria on the number of failed deliveries, missed doses and patient safety incidents. Patients routinely hold approximately two weeks’ worth of supply of medicines to minimise the risk of a missed or delayed delivery becoming a missed dose.
NHS England has been carrying out an internal review on homecare medicines services. Extensive stakeholder engagement has been undertaken on revising the national key performance indicators (KPIs) and a transition to new KPIs will begin in spring 2024, with full reporting expected by autumn 2024.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that rheumatology teams involved in homecare medicines services are consulted about possible changes to the delivery, monitoring and standards that define homecare medicines services made as part of NHS England’s desktop review.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Homecare medicines are used by a wide range of clinical services and patients. NHS England has been carrying out an internal review of homecare medicines services to understand the issues affecting these groups in more detail. Representatives from the rheumatology sector have been involved in this work.
The next steps are to bring together data from this review with the House of Lords inquiry report recommendations to shape a programme of work on homecare medicines. Engagement with relevant key stakeholders will continue throughout this process.
The Department is carefully considering all the conclusions and recommendations made in the report and will respond to the House of Lords Public Services Committee in January 2024.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (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 impact of delays, workforce shortages, and lack of e-prescribing systems, on the health and well-being of patients receiving homecare medicines services.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has been carrying out a desktop exercise to review homecare medicines services. The next steps are to bring together data from the internal review with the House of Lords inquiry report recommendations to shape a programme of work on homecare medicines. The Department is carefully considering all the conclusions and recommendations made in the report and will respond in due course.
The House of Lords Public Services Committee will be updated in January 2024.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with NHS England about its desktop review of homecare medicines services, and whether they will publish its terms of reference and timetable.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s desktop exercise to review homecare medicines services is not guided by terms of reference. The next steps are to bring together data from the desktop exercise with the House of Lords inquiry report recommendations to shape a programme of work on homecare medicines. The Public Services Committee will be updated on progress in January and March 2024.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether NHS continuing healthcare managers within a Clinical Commissioning Group have a duty of care to those whom they support; and if so, whether (1) the duty of care includes ensuring rigorous monitoring and supervision of the services commissioned, and (2) this includes services provided by care agencies.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Clinical Commissioning Groups have been replaced by integrated care boards (ICBs), effective as of 1 July 2022. As set out in legislation and statutory guidance, ICBs deliver NHS Continuing Healthcare (NHS CHC) for their local area.
ICBs have a duty of care for individuals eligible for NHS CHC as part of their care planning, commissioning of services, and case management responsibilities. One element of ICB case management is monitoring and supervising services commissioned as part of NHS CHC packages, including services provided by care agencies. In this way, ICBs ensure that the agreed care and support package meets the individual’s needs and can identify and act on any issues arising in the provision of NHS CHC. ICBs therefore ensure that quality standards are met and sustained, as set out in the NHS Standard Contract.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which NHS shortages of (1) nurses, (2) medical practitioners, and (3) other staff, could be filled by those coming to the UK from Hong Kong under (a) the British National (Overseas) visa, and (b) any other schemes; and what plans they have (i) to identify, and (ii) to recruit, suitably qualified people from Hong Kong for such roles.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Hong Kong is not on the World Health Organization’s Workforce Support and Safeguard List, 2020. Therefore, the Department considers Hong Kong a suitable country for supplying the National Health Service with qualified health workers. Agencies are working in Hong Kong and some nurses have already joined the NHS.