Asked by: Amanda Hack (Labour - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that carers in the adult social care sector (a) are adequately trained for the range of tasks they undertake, (b) spend the requisite amount of time with each client and (c) adhere to guidance relating to time sensitive medicines.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to a well-supported adult social care workforce who are recognised as the professionals they are. We have expanded the Care Workforce Pathway and are continuing to fund the Learning Development Support Scheme to help care workers build their skills and careers in care. The scheme is backed by up to £12 million this financial year. Medication handling and administration are among the topics covered by the list of over 200 training courses and qualifications eligible for funding.
In addition, the sector is being supported to move from analogue to digital, through our digital skills offer. With the necessary skills, capability, and confidence, carers can adopt technologies such as Digital Social Care Records, which have been shown to release at least 20 minutes per care worker, per shift, to give staff more time interacting with people.
The Care Quality Commission monitors, inspects, and regulates adult social care services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety. As per Regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, providers must deploy “sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff to enable them to meet the needs of the people using the service at all times”.
Asked by: Amanda Hack (Labour - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce waiting times for ambulances in the East Midlands.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has committed to supporting the National Health Service to improve performance and achieve the standards set out in the NHS Constitution, including for ambulance response times.
As a first step, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, appointed Professor Lord Darzi to lead an independent investigation of the NHS’ performance. The investigation’s findings were published on 12 September and will feed into the Government’s work on a 10-Year Health Plan to radically reform the NHS and build a health service that is fit for the future.
Ahead of this winter, NHS England has set out the priorities for the NHS to maintain and improve patient safety and experience, including actions to support patient flow and ensure that ambulances are released in a timely way. NHS England’s winter letter, sent to all integrated care boards, including those in the East Midlands, is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/winter-and-h2-priorities
Asked by: Amanda Hack (Labour - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to introduce a licensing scheme under the Health and Care Act 2022 for people administering botox and lip fillers.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is currently considering what steps may need to be taken in relation to the safety of the non-surgical cosmetics sector. The Government will set out its position at the earliest opportunity.