Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of social care staff required to deliver on the priorities set out in People at the Heart of Care: adult social care reform white paper.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has not estimated the number of care staff required to deliver our reforms, as growing the workforce is itself one of our top priorities. The People at the Heart of Care white paper set out a vision for adult social care that included improved workforce recruitment and retention, and we are committed to supporting local authorities deliver their workforce planning responsibilities. In spring 2023, we will publish a plan for adult social care system reform. This will set out how we will build on the progress so far to implement our vision for adult social care.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of NHS workforce vacancies on the social care workforce.
Answered by Will Quince
No assessment has been made.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much NHS England has spent on inpatient care for people with (a) learning disabilities and (b) autism (i) in total, (ii) by direct commissioning and (iii) by Integrated Care Boards in the last 12 months.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This information is not held in the format requested. However, NHS England does hold the following information regarding spending on inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people. On mental health inpatient care in 2021/22, specialised commissioning spent £125 million for people with a learning disability, and £22 million for autistic people.
NHS England did not collect what Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), the predecessor organisations to integrated care boards (ICBs), spent specifically on inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people for 2021/22. It was the responsibility of CCGs to commission appropriate services for their population and to make their own decisions about spend on inpatient and community care, with the responsibly being with ICBs following their formation on 1 July 2022. However, in total, in 2021/22 CCGs spent £2.1 billion on care for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the quality of training on restrictive interventions delivered to providers of inpatient care for people with learning disabilities and autistic people.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There are currently no plans to make this specific assessment.
However, we are committed to reducing the use of restrictive practices for inpatients who are autistic and/or have a learning disability, including taking a range of actions to improve staff training on restrictive practices.
For example, under section five of the Use of Force Act, the responsible person for each mental health unit must provide training for staff on use of force. Training needs to comply with the Restraint Reduction Network Training Standards 2019, which provide a national benchmark for training, and have been endorsed by a wide range of professional bodies, charities and Government arm’s length bodies.
NHS England have commissioned the “HOPE(S)” training model, which is being delivered to embed good practice across inpatient services to reduce the use of long-term segregation and restrictive practices for people with a learning disability and autistic people. The model follows a human-rights based framework and provides person-centred and trauma-informed approaches to working with people in long term segregation and their families, as well as specialist training for staff. The programme's outcomes will be evaluated by an independent research body and the work is subject to a National Oversight Group which meets quarterly to provide governance.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2023 to Question 123900 on Community Care: Autism and Learning Disability, who from his Department attended the four meetings of the funding flows task and finish group that took place since September 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Building the Right Support Funding Flows Task and Finish Group meetings are attended by officials from the Neurodiversity, Disability and Learning Disability team in the Department.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, under what circumstances it would be permissible for an autistic person or a person with learning disabilities to be placed in an inpatient unit rated as inadequate by the Care Quality Commission.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The National Health Service are taking action to avoid people with a learning disability and autistic people being admitted to hospital settings rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission.
There may, however, be exceptional occasions when a person is admitted to a unit rated inadequate. We expect the decision to admit a person to a unit rated inadequate to be specific to the person, based upon an explicit agreement with the person and their carer and/or family and a balance of risks and benefits to determine whether admission is the most favourable option for that person. The decision to admit will need to take account of a number of factors, including distance from a person’s home, family and loved ones and the impact on timing of discharge or transition planning.
We are continuing to monitor this approach by reviewing the number of any exceptional new admissions to these settings.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
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 improve the quality of independent reviews of seclusion and long-term segregation under the Mental Health Act Code of Practice.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The current Code of Practice requires that a series of reviews are undertaken when a patient is placed in seclusion or segregation, of which some must be independent. We are currently in the process of reforming the Mental Health Act and will revise its Code of Practice accordingly. As part of this, we will review this chapter of the code to ensure that it reflects best practice, including for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
The draft Mental Health Bill was published in June 2022 and is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee. The Committee published its recommendations on 19 January 2023 and we will introduce the Bill when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the RedQuadrant report entitled Building the Right Support: An analysis of funding flows published on 14 June 2022, what progress his Department has made in response to the primary recommendation of that report on the need for comprehensive financial monitoring on the specific group of people who are within the scope of BTRS covering NHS and local government expenditure.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We recognise the need to improve how data is collected and better understand the specific costs related to Building the Right Support. That is why the Building the Right Support Delivery Board set up a Funding Flows task and finish group to look at how to improve national oversight of the National Health Service and local authority spend.
The Funding Flows task and finish group has met on four occasions since it was established in September 2022 and is attended by representatives from the Department, NHS England, Local Government Association, Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, the Building the Right Support Advisory Group and the voluntary sector. The Funding Flows task and finish group will report progress to the Building the Right Support Delivery Board meeting in March 2023.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring providers of all mental health, learning disability and autism services to publish the review of safeguarding policies in their organisations which was required by NHS England in autumn 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made. However, a majority of trusts have already shared findings of reviews of safeguarding policies, through board minutes and other publications.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how regularly his Department is meeting with colleagues at NHS England to reduce the use of restrictive interventions in inpatient settings for autistic people and people with learning disabilities.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Department officials meet regularly with NHS England colleagues to discuss a range of topics in relation to the care and treatment of autistic people and people with learning disabilities, including reducing the use of restrictive interventions in inpatient settings. This includes meetings each month in relation to action to reduce use of long-term segregation.
We work closely with NHS England to deliver a range of programmes aiming to reduce restrictive interventions. These include Independent Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews (IC(E)TRs) and a Senior Intervenor pilot to help individuals in the most restrictive setting move towards discharge. NHS England have commissioned the HOPE(S) model, which is being delivered to embed good practice across inpatient services to reduce the use of long-term segregation and restrictive practices for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
NHS England has also commissioned the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health and Academic Health Science Networks across England to improve the safety and outcomes of people using inpatient Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism (MHLDA) services by reducing the incidence of restrictive practices. A pilot saw most participating hospital wards seeing a significant reduction in one or more measure of restrictive practice and is therefore being scaled up across all MHLDA Trusts in England.