Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether a costed plan for a growing, appropriately-skilled and sustainable cancer workforce will be included within the final NHS People Plan.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The interim People Plan published on 3 June 2019 puts the workforce at the heart of the National Health Service and will ensure we have the staff needed to deliver high quality care. A final People Plan will be published when there is further clarity on NHS education and training budgets.
The Cancer Workforce Plan for England, published in December 2017 by Health Education England (HEE), set out plans to expand capacity and skills in the cancer workforce, including targeting additional training support for seven priority professions such as clinical radiology, histopathology, oncology and diagnostic and therapeutic radiography. Since 2017 there has been a net increase of 833 full time equivalent staff across the seven priority professions.
HEE will now work with NHS England and NHS Improvement to understand the longer-term workforce implications of further development of cancer services. This work will inform the final People Plan.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
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 7 January 2019 to Question 203453 on Mental Health Services: Ethnic Groups, if he will publish a time-frame for the Department’s plan to appoint a mental health equalities champion.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department has appointed Jacqui Dyer MBE as the Mental Health Equalities Champion. She took up her appointment on 22 February 2019.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
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 Royal College of Psychiatrists' statement on racism and mental health, published in March 2018 recommending the appointment of a new equalities champion to drive cross-Government action on race equality in the NHS.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Government is committed to addressing inequalities across mental health. Plans to appoint a mental health equalities champion will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
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 adequacy of the provision of community mental health services for people with severe mental illness.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Government recognises that we need to go further in improving mental health services.
NHS England is developing a new framework for community mental health services focussing on care for adults with severe mental illnesses.
This work draws on a wide range of sources of data and intelligence, including the Care Quality Commission’s annual community mental health surveys and inspections of services.
The Government has asked the National Health Service to develop a long-term plan which will set out a vision for the health service and we have been clear that better access to mental health services, to help achieve the Government’s commitment to parity of esteem between mental and physical health, is one of the principles which must underpin the plan. It will be published shortly.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
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 implications for his policies of the recent Rethink Mental Illness survey which found that patients with severe mental illness wait on average 14 weeks for an assessment; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Government recognises that we need to go further in improving mental health services. The recent survey and publication of ‘Right Treatment, Right Time’ by Rethink Mental Illness provides a valuable additional contribution to discussions about priorities for mental health going forward.
The Government has asked the National Health Service to develop a long-term plan which will set out a vision for the health service and we have been clear that better access to mental health services, to help achieve the Government’s commitment to parity of esteem between mental and physical health, is one of the principles which must underpin the plan.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 36 of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, whether each access to treatment pathway will (a) be published according to the timetable set out in that document and (b) include waiting time targets.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Of the clinical pathways referred to on page 36 of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, the following have already been published.
- Early Intervention in Psychosis;
- Urgent and Emergency Liaison Mental Health Services;
- Services for Children and Young People with Eating Disorders;
- Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) pathway for Long Term Conditions; and
- The Perinatal Pathway.
Additionally, guidance in relation to IAPT for people with long-term conditions has also been published (in March) along with guidance on commissioning physical healthcare for people with severe mental illness and for developing accident and emergency liaison psychiatry services.
The acute pathway for adults and older adults are still in development alongside an updated Pathway for children and young people with eating disorders, so that more young people can be treated closer to home.
Other pathways will now need to be considered within the context of the long-term plan. The Government has been clear that better access to mental health services, to help achieve the Government’s commitment to parity of esteem between mental and physical health, is one of the principles which must underpin the plan.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
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, Understanding the performance and potential of specialist hospitals, published by the Innovation Agency and UCLPartners Academic Health Science Partnership in October 2018 , whether he has plans to encourage a closer working relationship between academic health science networks and specialist hospitals to improve performance in the NHS.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
As part of their licence, Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) are required to flexibly address specific local needs and challenges. In practice, this means that AHSNs will continue to build and develop their local and regional networks, strengthening relationships with all National Health Service organisations including specialist hospitals.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people accessed eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing therapy on the NHS in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) is a National Health Service programme that offers a range of interventions for treating people with depression or anxiety.
Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing is one of the therapies that can be given to a patient referred to IAPT services.
The following table shows the number of referrals to IAPT services in from 2014-15 to 2016-17, for which at least one appointment included Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing as a treatment.
Number of referrals with one or more appointments where Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing was given as a treatment, England, 2014-15 to 2016-17
Year | Referrals |
2016-17 | 6,637 |
2015-16 | 5,295 |
2014-15 | 2,922 |
Source: NHS Digital
Notes:
www.digital.nhs.uk/iaptreports
Medical training is the responsibility of the General Medical Council (GMC), which is an independent statutory body. The GMC has the general function of promoting high standards of education and co-ordinating all stages of education to ensure that medical students and newly qualified doctors are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for professional practice.
The training curricula for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the relevant medical Royal College, and must meet standards set by the GMC. Whilst curricula do not necessarily highlight specific conditions, they instead emphasise the skills and approaches that a doctor must develop and maintain in order to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients.
The GMC also sets the standards expected at undergraduate level and approves medical school curricula. In so doing, they set out the knowledge, skills and behaviours that new United Kingdom medical graduates must be able to demonstrate. This is further detailed at the following link:
http://www.gmc-uk.org/education/undergraduate/undergrad_outcomes.asp
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what training his Department provides to NHS doctors on (a) eye movement desensitisation and (b) reprocessing treatment for cases of post traumatic stress disorder.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) is a National Health Service programme that offers a range of interventions for treating people with depression or anxiety.
Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing is one of the therapies that can be given to a patient referred to IAPT services.
The following table shows the number of referrals to IAPT services in from 2014-15 to 2016-17, for which at least one appointment included Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing as a treatment.
Number of referrals with one or more appointments where Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing was given as a treatment, England, 2014-15 to 2016-17
Year | Referrals |
2016-17 | 6,637 |
2015-16 | 5,295 |
2014-15 | 2,922 |
Source: NHS Digital
Notes:
www.digital.nhs.uk/iaptreports
Medical training is the responsibility of the General Medical Council (GMC), which is an independent statutory body. The GMC has the general function of promoting high standards of education and co-ordinating all stages of education to ensure that medical students and newly qualified doctors are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for professional practice.
The training curricula for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the relevant medical Royal College, and must meet standards set by the GMC. Whilst curricula do not necessarily highlight specific conditions, they instead emphasise the skills and approaches that a doctor must develop and maintain in order to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients.
The GMC also sets the standards expected at undergraduate level and approves medical school curricula. In so doing, they set out the knowledge, skills and behaviours that new United Kingdom medical graduates must be able to demonstrate. This is further detailed at the following link:
http://www.gmc-uk.org/education/undergraduate/undergrad_outcomes.asp
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many asthma inhalers have been issued (a) in England and (b) in each region to (i) adults and (ii) children in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Steve Brine
The number of prescriptions prescribed in England and dispensed in the community for drugs that are indicated for the treatment of asthma are shown in the attached table. Information is not available by age. These drugs may also be prescribed for conditions other than asthma.
The sum of the data for all National Health Service England Regions does not equal the total England figure, because the total England figure includes unidentified doctors and it is not possible for NHS Business Services Authority Prescription Services to allocate to an NHS England region.