Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department (a) collects and (b) holds on the number of people waiting for places in hospices run by charitable organisations.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want a society where every person, as well as their families and carers, receives high-quality, compassionate care, from diagnosis through to end of life.
I recently met NHS England and discussions have begun on how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to, and the quality of, palliative and end of life care in England. We will consider next steps on palliative and end of life care, including hospice funding, in the coming months.
We have committed to develop a 10-Year Health Plan to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our stakeholders, including those in the hospice sector, as we develop the plan.
The engagement process has been launched, and I would encourage the palliative and end of life care sector, including hospice providers, service users and their families, to engage with that process to allow us to fully understand what is not working as well as it should and what the potential solutions are. More information is available at the following link:
The Department does not collect or hold data on the number of people waiting for places in hospices run by charitable organisations.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether hospice funding will be included in his Department's 10-year plan for health and care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want a society where every person, as well as their families and carers, receives high-quality, compassionate care, from diagnosis through to end of life.
I recently met NHS England and discussions have begun on how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to, and the quality of, palliative and end of life care in England. We will consider next steps on palliative and end of life care, including hospice funding, in the coming months.
We have committed to develop a 10-Year Health Plan to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our stakeholders, including those in the hospice sector, as we develop the plan.
The engagement process has been launched, and I would encourage the palliative and end of life care sector, including hospice providers, service users and their families, to engage with that process to allow us to fully understand what is not working as well as it should and what the potential solutions are. More information is available at the following link:
The Department does not collect or hold data on the number of people waiting for places in hospices run by charitable organisations.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 4 October 2024 to Question 6540 on Kidney Diseases: Transplant Surgery, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of providing psychological and social care support to all kidney transplant recipients in each of the next five years.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A financial assessment for all aspects of renal replacement therapy provision, including transplantation, will be completed as part of the work NHS England is currently undertaking to update the specialised renal service specifications, again including transplantation. This will include reviewing and updating, where appropriate, the requirements for psychological support services, in line with the recommendations of the Renal Services Transformation Programme toolkit. No specific assessment has been made of the cost of providing social care support to all kidney transplant recipients.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the number of health visitors available to support babies with special educational needs and disabilities.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children. The child health workforce, including health visitors, is central to how we support all families to give their child the best start in life. Their contact with parents, carers, and children of all ages provides vital advice and support and helps ensure that health and development needs are identified early, including those children with special educational needs and disabilities.
We are committed to training the staff we need to ensure people, their carers, and their families are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it. We will want to assure ourselves, and the National Health Service, that the current workforce plan will deliver the reform needed. We will need to do this in light of the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has received recent representations from the charitable hospice sector on the impact of statutory funding levels on the adequacy of (a) service levels, (b) staffing levels and (c) patient care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people at end of life, and their loved ones. Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by integrated care board (ICB) area, and will, in part, be dependent on the breadth of palliative and end of life care provision within each ICB catchment area.
I am aware from meetings with, and published reports and correspondence from, the charitable hospice sector linking the level of statutory funding for hospices to reductions in the adequacy of service levels, staffing levels, and patient care. I have also recently met NHS England and discussions have begun on how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to, and the quality of, palliative and end of life care.
We, alongside key partners NHS England, will continue to proactively engage with our stakeholders, including the voluntary sector and independent hospices, on an ongoing basis, in order to understand the issues they face. We will consider next steps on palliative and end of life care, including funding, in the coming months.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to visit Watford General Hospital before his Department's review of the New Hospital Programme is complete.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers regularly consider visits across the country. Any plans to visit specific locations will be notified to the Hon. Members in advance.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 permitting GPs to prescribe a third epi pen to school children with severe allergies when school policies require them to leave one of the two provided by the NHS on the school premises during term time.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Clinicians are responsible for making prescribing decisions for their patients and, where appropriate, can prescribe the number of EpiPens needed, taking into account best practice, the patient's needs, and any local or national guidance. There are already some children in England with severe allergies who have four EpiPens prescribed to them, two for use at home, and two for use at school.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the conclusions of the report entitled Transplant care in the UK: a patient perspective, published by Kidney Care UK in July 2024, if he will take steps to ensure that eligible kidney disease patients facing kidney failure are pre-emptively placed on transplant waiting lists before undergoing dialysis.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s Service Specification for Renal Transplantation identifies transplant as the optimal treatment option for patients with stage five chronic kidney disease (CKD 5) and mandates that all commissioned providers should assess the benefits and risks of transplantation with patients, six months ahead of commencing dialysis treatment.
In 2022, NHS England’s Renal Services Transformation Programme produced a toolkit to support renal providers across England to transform care for patients with kidney disease. This includes principles around improving transplantation services and increasing pre-emptive transplantation rates for patients. The toolkit also includes a self-assessment questionnaire, with four key principles, to support renal providers to improve transplantation services for patients with CKD 5. Providers in England are supported by the NHS England commissioned Renal Clinical Networks to improve patient care, with all networks having identified transplantation improvement workstreams and clinical leads.
The Department, NHS Blood and Transplant, and NHS England are working together to improve utilisation of all solid organs following recommendations from the Organ Utilisation Group 2023 report. This includes equity of access to transplant for all patients across the country.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to help reduce waiting lists for a kidney transplant.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) manage the NHS Organ Donor Register and National Transplant Register in the United Kingdom. They are working to reduce the number of patients on the waiting list by revising the National Organ Retrieval Service to improve its efficiency, supporting clinical teams to increase the use of extended criteria donors, implementing new technology to improve non-use rates, and growing the UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme to enable more centres to share kidneys across the country.
The Department, NHSBT, and NHS England are working together to improve utilisation of all solid organs following recommendations from the Organ Utilisation Group 2023 report. This includes considering how Assessment and Recovery Centres could be established and where deceased donor kidneys are perfused and assessed, with the potential to increase kidneys for transplantation by up to 400 per year.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the value for money of ophthalmic care in independent treatment centres.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the responsibility of individual commissioners to commission services and agree contracts most suitable for their local context. Contracts between commissioners and providers must comply with the NHS Payment Scheme, a set of prices and rules used to deliver the most efficient, cost-effective care to patients. These unit prices are consistent across independent providers and National Health Service providers.