Asked by: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will introduce a second, junior tier of qualified nursing staff in order to increase the general supply of nursing staff in public hospitals.
Answered by Philip Dunne
We have record numbers of nurses working in the National Health Service. Since May 2010 we have seen an increase of almost 6,500 nurses in the NHS (a 2.3% increase), and there are currently over 52,000 students training to become nurses.
We have increased the number of training places for both new and nurses returning to practice.
Developing new routes into nursing is a priority for the Department. We have developed the new Nursing Associate role and Nursing Degree Apprenticeship which will open up routes into the registered nursing profession for thousands of people from all backgrounds and allow employers to grow their own workforce. The Nursing Associate has been designed to bridge the gap between senior healthcare support workers and registered nurses delivering hands on care and freeing up registered nurses to focus on clinical duties and using their specialist training to lead patient care. Nursing Associates will complement, not replace, Registered Nurses.
Asked by: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the supply of nurses in public hospitals.
Answered by Philip Dunne
We have record numbers of nurses working in the National Health Service. Since May 2010 we have seen an increase of almost 6,500 nurses in the NHS (a 2.3% increase), and there are currently over 52,000 students training to become nurses.
We have increased the number of training places for both new and nurses returning to practice.
Developing new routes into nursing is a priority for the Department. We have developed the new Nursing Associate role and Nursing Degree Apprenticeship which will open up routes into the registered nursing profession for thousands of people from all backgrounds and allow employers to grow their own workforce. The Nursing Associate has been designed to bridge the gap between senior healthcare support workers and registered nurses delivering hands on care and freeing up registered nurses to focus on clinical duties and using their specialist training to lead patient care. Nursing Associates will complement, not replace, Registered Nurses.
Asked by: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reforming the General Medical Council's licensing rules to increase the general supply of doctors in public hospitals.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The General Medical Council (GMC) is consulting on proposals to introduce a United Kingdom Medical Licensing Assessment. This consultation closes in April. The Department will consider whether changes to the GMC’s rules are required in light of the outcome of the consultation.
Asked by: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress is being made on plans to employ up to 2,000 pharmacists in general practices across the country; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Mowat
To date, the pilot programme has successfully integrated 491 clinical pharmacists into 658 general practices across England.
Funding is now available for the deployment of the further 1,500 clinical pharmacists in general practices by 2020. The online application portal for funding has been open since 9 January 2017. Providers of general practice medical services will be able to apply for the programme funding over at least the next three years.
We expect the first cohort of successful applicants to be announced in March 2017. Upon announcement of a successful application, providers of general practice medical services are expected to commence recruitment and make all reasonable efforts to appoint clinical pharmacists into general practices as soon as possible.
Asked by: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to utilise the network of community pharmacies to reduce workload in (a) hospital accident and emergency departments and (b) general practice.
Answered by David Mowat
Community pharmacies are already the first port of call for many and the Government wants this to continue, and indeed, to increase. One of the aims of this year’s Stay Well This Winter campaign (as carried by national newspapers and television) is to reduce pressure on general practitioners (GP) and accident and emergency departments, by directing people with early symptoms to visit their community pharmacy.
On 20 October 2016, the Government announced a package of reforms to ensure that the contribution of pharmacists and community pharmacies becomes integral to its plans for an integrated healthcare system as part of a truly seven day National Health Service. This includes the NHS Urgent Medicine Supply Advanced Service, whereby those who need urgent repeat medicines will be referred by NHS 111 directly to community pharmacies, thereby relieving pressure on GP out-of-hours services. In addition NHS England will encourage all clinical commissioning groups to commission local minor ailments services by April 2018, as part of an evidence-based, clinical and cost-effective approach to how community pharmacists and their teams contribute to urgent care in the NHS.
Public Health England published a menu of preventative interventions for the Sustainability and Transformation Plans in November 2016, which outlined evidence-based public health and preventative interventions that can help to improve the health of the population and reduce health and care services demand in the short to medium term.
Asked by: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential capacity of community pharmacists to help reduce demand on hospital accident and emergency departments.
Answered by David Mowat
Community pharmacies are already the first port of call for many and the Government wants this to continue, and indeed, to increase. One of the aims of this year’s Stay Well This Winter campaign (as carried by national newspapers and television) is to reduce pressure on general practitioners (GP) and accident and emergency departments, by directing people with early symptoms to visit their community pharmacy.
On 20 October 2016, the Government announced a package of reforms to ensure that the contribution of pharmacists and community pharmacies becomes integral to its plans for an integrated healthcare system as part of a truly seven day National Health Service. This includes the NHS Urgent Medicine Supply Advanced Service, whereby those who need urgent repeat medicines will be referred by NHS 111 directly to community pharmacies, thereby relieving pressure on GP out-of-hours services. In addition NHS England will encourage all clinical commissioning groups to commission local minor ailments services by April 2018, as part of an evidence-based, clinical and cost-effective approach to how community pharmacists and their teams contribute to urgent care in the NHS.
Public Health England published a menu of preventative interventions for the Sustainability and Transformation Plans in November 2016, which outlined evidence-based public health and preventative interventions that can help to improve the health of the population and reduce health and care services demand in the short to medium term.
Asked by: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to investigate why no independent audit body observed the CLOTHES trial at Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit in any assessment of that trial.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) appointed an Independent Trial Steering Committee to oversee this independent trial. The study team also reported regularly to the NIHR, as a condition of their funding contract and in accordance with their membership of the NIHR portfolio.
Asked by: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of whether the proper protocols were followed in the CLOTHES trial at Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and an Independent Trial Steering Committee, appointed by the NIHR, assessed the study protocols during the course of the research. No concerns were raised. The study was also subject to scrutiny by the sponsor and ethical committees, as is the usual course of activity in such a trial.
Asked by: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the robustness of the peer review system for clinical trials especially in relation to reviewing the CLOTHES trial at Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Healthcare Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme follows a process of expert review through which research briefs, research applications and final reports are critically assessed by relevant individuals unconnected to both the decision making body and those who have prepared the material being assessed. The practice of peer review is very commonly used to inform decision making for scientific publications and grant funding. It involves colleagues in a relevant field of expertise, including patients, members of the public, subject experts, clinical staff, service managers and public health professionals. The NIHR selects all reviewers.
Expert review was undertaken for the CLOTHES trial, in accordance with NIHR HTA policy. This included one public and four expert representatives. Checks were carried out to ensure that all reviewers were suitably qualified and were not conflicted.
Asked by: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will investigate the potential conflict of interest at the Health Technology Assessment Programme for those people responsible for awarding funding for the CLOTHES clinical trials who were also heading the Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit to which funding was ultimately granted.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Healthcare Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme has a clear conflict of interests procedure to ensure that each application is judged on merit.
Any panel member on the NIHR HTA Commissioning Board with a conflict of interest is asked to leave the room during any discussion or decision on these projects or issues.
Any conflicts are recorded in the minutes and made public after the meeting.
The NIHR HTA Commissioning Board agreed to fund the CLOTHES trial at the Board’s July 2012 meeting and the public minutes can be found here:
http://www.nets.nihr.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/13525/minutes-jul-2012.pdf