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Written Question
Endoscopy and Radiography: Recruitment
Tuesday 16th July 2019

Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to his oral statement of 1 July 2019, Official Report, columns 929-930, what recent assessment he has made of whether recruitment of (a) 400 clinical endoscopists and (b) 300 reporting radiographers is sufficient deliver on the ambitions of the NHS Long-Term Plan.

Answered by Seema Kennedy

No overall assessment has been made.

Health Education England’s (HEE) statutory responsibility is to ensure that an effective education and training system is in place for the National Health Service, which includes funding the training of pre and post registered professions based on current and future needs of patients. Funding for training and recruitment of endoscopists and radiographers will come out of the HEE yearly core funding.


Written Question
Endoscopy and Radiography: Recruitment and Training
Tuesday 16th July 2019

Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, further to his oral statement of 1 July 2019 on the Implementation of the NHS Long-Term Plan, how the training and recruitment of (a) 400 more clinical endoscopists and (b) 300 more reporting radiographers will be funded.

Answered by Seema Kennedy

No overall assessment has been made.

Health Education England’s (HEE) statutory responsibility is to ensure that an effective education and training system is in place for the National Health Service, which includes funding the training of pre and post registered professions based on current and future needs of patients. Funding for training and recruitment of endoscopists and radiographers will come out of the HEE yearly core funding.


Written Question
Care Homes: Fees and Charges
Thursday 20th June 2019

Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government plans to increase the Minimum Income Guarantee.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

The financial allowances including the minimum income guarantee rates are reviewed annually.

Social care funding for future years will be settled in the spending review, where the overall approach to funding local government will be considered in the round.


Written Question
Epilepsy
Friday 24th May 2019

Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)

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 effect of decreased funding for Public Health England on its ability to decrease health inequalities for people with epilepsy.

Answered by Seema Kennedy

No assessment has been made of the effect of funding for Public Health England (PHE) on its ability to reduce health inequalities for people with epilepsy.

PHE continues to provide data, intelligence and evidence-based advice to local authorities and the National Health Service on health inequalities and impacts for specific population groups.

In February 2018, PHE published data analysis for local authorities and the NHS highlighting the number and rate of deaths associated with epilepsy and other neurological conditions. The report identified inequalities in deaths associated with epilepsy and encourages local action. The report can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/deaths-associated-with-neurological-conditions

PHE also provides access to intelligence resources on neurological conditions including epilepsy via the ‘Neurology data and analysis: a guide for health professionals’ page on Gov.uk, available to view at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/neurology-data-and-analysis-a-guide-for-health-professionals


Written Question
Epilepsy: Deaths
Wednesday 3rd April 2019

Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report entitled, Deaths associated with neurological conditions in England 2001 to 2014, published by Public Health England, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the conclusion that people with epilepsy are three times more likely to die from their condition if they live in a deprived area.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

Ministers routinely meet the system leaders to discuss a broad range of issues concerning population health, including long term health problems. The Department works closely with NHS England and Public Health England (PHE) to support delivery of the Mandate and system objectives.

The PHE report, Deaths associated with neurological conditions in England 2001 to 2014, was developed by PHE’s Neurology Intelligence Network (NIN), and published on 27 February 2018. The report found that a greater proportion of epilepsy related deaths occur in areas of higher levels of deprivation. The rate of deaths associated with epilepsy in areas ranked as the most deprived in England is almost three times larger than in the least deprived; 13 deaths per 100,000 population compared to 5 deaths per 100,000 population. A copy of the report can be found at the following link:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/deaths-associated-with-neurological-conditions

Wider research has shown that epilepsy prevalence varies with social deprivation, but this is not well understood, and it is not clear whether this inequality in mortality is the consequence of the increased prevalence seen in deprived areas, of poor care, or both. However, deprivation is a well-known determinant of poor general health, and although there is insufficient evidence to describe the relationship as causal, it underlines the health inequalities link in relation to epilepsy related deaths.

The Government is acting broadly to reduce health inequalities by addressing the social causes of ill health, promoting healthier lifestyles for all and tackling differences in outcomes of NHS services, all underpinned by legal duties. Through the Mandate the Government has asked NHS England to ensure service commissioning focuses on measurable reductions in inequalities in access to health services, in people’s experience of the health system, and across a specified range of health outcomes which contribute to reducing inequalities in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy. National and local outcomes frameworks feature indicators to measure improvements across a range of areas, including inequalities, and the Mandate asks NHS England to do more in increasing the transparency on services and outcomes that these frameworks provide.

At a national level, NHS England is the organisation responsible for securing and supporting high quality outcomes for people with epilepsy, and the vast majority of services for people with the condition are planned and commissioned by local clinical commissioning groups. Action is led locally to ensure the solutions put in place reflect the needs of individual communities.

NHS England’s RightCare programme provides practical support to local commissioners to tackle unwarranted variation, including in services for neurological conditions like epilepsy. NHS England is also working with the Neurological Alliance to support the Neurology Advisory Group, led by Professor Adrian Williams, to align work across the system to improve neurological care. In addition to developing the neurology mortality report, PHE’s NIN provides a broad range of data on disease, services and outcomes, including for epilepsy, to support local commissioners to benchmark services and drive improvement. The neurology mortality report will provide further focus for commissioners in considering whether there are any changes they need to make in terms of service planning and provision, including around the inequality issues identified.


Written Question
Epilepsy: Death
Wednesday 3rd April 2019

Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with (a) clinicians and (b) NHS leadership on the findings of Public Health England’s report into Deaths associated with neurological conditions in England 2001 to 2014; and what assessment he has made of the implications of those findings for his Department's work to prevent future deaths from epilepsy.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

Ministers routinely meet the system leaders to discuss a broad range of issues concerning population health, including long term health problems. The Department works closely with NHS England and Public Health England (PHE) to support delivery of the Mandate and system objectives.

The PHE report, Deaths associated with neurological conditions in England 2001 to 2014, was developed by PHE’s Neurology Intelligence Network (NIN), and published on 27 February 2018. The report found that a greater proportion of epilepsy related deaths occur in areas of higher levels of deprivation. The rate of deaths associated with epilepsy in areas ranked as the most deprived in England is almost three times larger than in the least deprived; 13 deaths per 100,000 population compared to 5 deaths per 100,000 population. A copy of the report can be found at the following link:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/deaths-associated-with-neurological-conditions

Wider research has shown that epilepsy prevalence varies with social deprivation, but this is not well understood, and it is not clear whether this inequality in mortality is the consequence of the increased prevalence seen in deprived areas, of poor care, or both. However, deprivation is a well-known determinant of poor general health, and although there is insufficient evidence to describe the relationship as causal, it underlines the health inequalities link in relation to epilepsy related deaths.

The Government is acting broadly to reduce health inequalities by addressing the social causes of ill health, promoting healthier lifestyles for all and tackling differences in outcomes of NHS services, all underpinned by legal duties. Through the Mandate the Government has asked NHS England to ensure service commissioning focuses on measurable reductions in inequalities in access to health services, in people’s experience of the health system, and across a specified range of health outcomes which contribute to reducing inequalities in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy. National and local outcomes frameworks feature indicators to measure improvements across a range of areas, including inequalities, and the Mandate asks NHS England to do more in increasing the transparency on services and outcomes that these frameworks provide.

At a national level, NHS England is the organisation responsible for securing and supporting high quality outcomes for people with epilepsy, and the vast majority of services for people with the condition are planned and commissioned by local clinical commissioning groups. Action is led locally to ensure the solutions put in place reflect the needs of individual communities.

NHS England’s RightCare programme provides practical support to local commissioners to tackle unwarranted variation, including in services for neurological conditions like epilepsy. NHS England is also working with the Neurological Alliance to support the Neurology Advisory Group, led by Professor Adrian Williams, to align work across the system to improve neurological care. In addition to developing the neurology mortality report, PHE’s NIN provides a broad range of data on disease, services and outcomes, including for epilepsy, to support local commissioners to benchmark services and drive improvement. The neurology mortality report will provide further focus for commissioners in considering whether there are any changes they need to make in terms of service planning and provision, including around the inequality issues identified.


Written Question
Cancer: Staff
Wednesday 20th February 2019

Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the forthcoming workforce implementation plan will include a plan to grow the workforce in key specialties for diagnosing and treating cancer.

Answered by Steve Brine

My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has commissioned Baroness Dido Harding, working closely with Sir David Behan, to lead a number of programmes to engage with key National Health Service interests to develop a detailed workforce implementation plan. These programmes will consider detailed proposals to grow the workforce rapidly, including staff working on cancer, consider additional staff and skills required, build a supportive working culture in the NHS and ensure first rate leadership for NHS staff.


Written Question
General Practitioners: Recruitment
Thursday 14th February 2019

Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the forthcoming workforce implementation plan will include a plan to increase the number of general practitioners.

Answered by Steve Brine

The NHS Long Term Plan, published 7 January 2019, sets out a vital strategic framework to ensure that over the next 10 years the National Health Service will have the staff it needs. This included the commitment to deliver a net increase of 5,000 general practitioners (GPs) as soon as possible.

The publication of ‘Investment and evolution: A five-year framework for GP contract reform to implement the NHS Long Term Plan’ in January 2019 confirmed that NHS England will now extend a number of general practice programmes for a five year period until 2023/24 to help deliver against this commitment.

Further plans to support delivery will be set out in the NHS workforce implementation plan due to be published later this year. This plan will build on the General Practice Forward View to increase the number of doctors working in general practice and will also continue recent provision for a range of other roles.


Written Question
Epilepsy: Drugs
Friday 30th November 2018

Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)

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 availability of essential epilepsy medicines from the EU during the transition period for the UK leaving the EU; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Steve Brine

The Government has now agreed the Withdrawal Agreement with the European Commission. As a consequence, the Department does not expect market access to medicines for the United Kingdom to change under the terms of that agreement during the implementation period, which will run from March 2019 until December 2020.

The Department does not expect to see significant changes to the continuity of medicine supply in the intervening period, although we will be monitoring this closely.


Written Question
NHS: Early Retirement and Sick Leave
Thursday 29th November 2018

Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS staff (a) took early retirement and (b) were on long-term sick leave in the last three years for which figures are available; what the average length of long-term sick leave taken by NHS staff was in that period; and whether staff on long-term sick leave receive full or part pay.

Answered by Stephen Hammond

NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics for England. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups, but not staff working in primary care or in general practitioner surgeries, local authorities or other providers.

The following table shows the number people who have stated that they have taken voluntary early retirement for the last three years and latest available data for 2018/19, headcount:

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

12018/19

Voluntary early retirement

3,229

3,131

3,000

705

Source: NHS Digital, National Health Service HCHS workforce statistics

Note:

1This only covers the first quarter of 2018/19 (1 April 2018 to 30 of June 2018).

NHS Digital publishes data on the number of days lost to sickness absence. It does not publish data on number of staff on sick leave.

NHS Digital publishes monthly data on sickness absence rates which cover sickness absence rate by region, staff group, organisation and organisation type. Information is not published on the length of sick-leave taken.

NHS staff get up to six months full pay and then six months half pay when on sick leave subject to length of service as set out in terms and conditions of service.