Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the investigation into maternity incidents at Gloucestershire Hospitals Foundation Trust has started.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The trust has committed to a thematic review of all neonatal and maternal deaths since 2019. This has started for neonatal deaths but not for maternal deaths, due to delays identifying an external assessor.
The trust is engaging with the NHS England South West Region to resolve this issue as soon as possible, and remains committed to publishing and sharing the findings from both reviews openly.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to recommendation 44 of the Report of the Morecambe Bay Investigation, published in March 2015, what steps his Department has taken to establish a proper framework on which future investigations could be promptly established.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that all women and babies received safe, personalised, equitable, and compassionate care. We are determined to learn lessons from inquiries and investigations.
The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch became an independent investigations body known as the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) in April 2023, through the Health and Care Act 2022. Its role is to investigate incidents occurring during the provision of health care services that have, or may have, implications for patient safety. The HSSIB will conduct investigations using a no-blame approach, that is supported by a safe space which encourages participants, including patients, families, and staff, to share information in confidence. This aims to encourage the spread of a culture of learning within the National Health Service and independent sector.
As set out in the Health and Care Act 2022, the HSSIB will also provide advice, guidance, and training to NHS bodies upon request. The HSSIB has established their own processes and principles around matters such as evidence handling and access to documentation.
NHS England has created a National Independent Patient Safety Investigation Framework, which is an internally focussed approach to support the commissioning and management of independent investigations.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will launch a new National Maternity Safety Ambition.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Maternity Safety Ambition was launched in 2015 and will end in 2025. As part of our consultation on the 10-year health plan, we will first consider the best ways to improve maternity safety so that the NHS has the tools it needs to deliver improved safety outcomes for women and their babies and to meet any associated targets.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total cost to NHS hospitals was of using (a) agency and (b) bank staff in each year since 2010-11.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
A table showing agency spend for the years 2011/12 to 2019/20 and bank spend between 2017/18 to 2019/20 is attached. Agency spend data is not available for 2010/11 and bank spend is not available before 2017/18. Data for bank and agency spending in 2020/21 is not yet available.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the extent of shortages in (a) midwives and (b) obstetricians in the NHS in England.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The recent Birthrate Plus assessment identified a national differential in England of 844 full-time equivalent (FTE) or 3.5% of midwives between employed FTE staff in post and the total number of funded posts and 1,088 FTE or 4.4% of midwives between the total number of funded posts and the number of posts recommended using the Birthrate Plus midwifery workforce planning tool.
The Department has not made an assessment of the extent of shortages in obstetricians in the National Health Service in England.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many midwives Birthrate Plus suggests the NHS in England currently needs.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The recent Birthrate Plus assessment identified a national differential in England of 844 full-time equivalent (FTE) or 3.5% of midwives between employed FTE staff in post and the total number of funded posts and 1,088 FTE or 4.4% of midwives between the total number of funded posts and the number of posts recommended using the Birthrate Plus midwifery workforce planning tool.
The Department has not made an assessment of the extent of shortages in obstetricians in the National Health Service in England.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the number of ambulance handover delays by trust since 1 April 2021.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Information on the longest waiting time for a 999 call to be answered by each ambulance service is not routinely collected centrally. Information on the number of ambulance handover delays by trust since 1 April 2021 is not available in the format requested, as the information is not routinely collected centrally outside of the winter period. The following table shows the mean average response times in hours, minutes and seconds for each ambulance category in each month from April to September 2021.
Category 1 | Category 2 | Category 3 | Category 4 | |
April | 07:00 | 20:16 | 59:21:00 | 01:45:36 |
May | 07:25 | 24:35:00 | 01:24:22 | 02:31:44 |
June | 07:54 | 30:42:00 | 01:54:40 | 02:30:34 |
July | 08:33 | 41:04:00 | 02:33:43 | 02:57:40 |
August | 08:28 | 38:39:00 | 02:14:24 | 02:39:44 |
September | 09:01 | 45:30:00 | 02:35:45 | 03:07:45 |
Source: Statistics » Ambulance Quality Indicators (england.nhs.uk)
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the average response times for each ambulance category by month from April to September 2021.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Information on the longest waiting time for a 999 call to be answered by each ambulance service is not routinely collected centrally. Information on the number of ambulance handover delays by trust since 1 April 2021 is not available in the format requested, as the information is not routinely collected centrally outside of the winter period. The following table shows the mean average response times in hours, minutes and seconds for each ambulance category in each month from April to September 2021.
Category 1 | Category 2 | Category 3 | Category 4 | |
April | 07:00 | 20:16 | 59:21:00 | 01:45:36 |
May | 07:25 | 24:35:00 | 01:24:22 | 02:31:44 |
June | 07:54 | 30:42:00 | 01:54:40 | 02:30:34 |
July | 08:33 | 41:04:00 | 02:33:43 | 02:57:40 |
August | 08:28 | 38:39:00 | 02:14:24 | 02:39:44 |
September | 09:01 | 45:30:00 | 02:35:45 | 03:07:45 |
Source: Statistics » Ambulance Quality Indicators (england.nhs.uk)
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the longest waiting time for a 999 call to be answered by each ambulance service (a) from 1 to 15 October 2021 and (b) for the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Information on the longest waiting time for a 999 call to be answered by each ambulance service is not routinely collected centrally. Information on the number of ambulance handover delays by trust since 1 April 2021 is not available in the format requested, as the information is not routinely collected centrally outside of the winter period. The following table shows the mean average response times in hours, minutes and seconds for each ambulance category in each month from April to September 2021.
Category 1 | Category 2 | Category 3 | Category 4 | |
April | 07:00 | 20:16 | 59:21:00 | 01:45:36 |
May | 07:25 | 24:35:00 | 01:24:22 | 02:31:44 |
June | 07:54 | 30:42:00 | 01:54:40 | 02:30:34 |
July | 08:33 | 41:04:00 | 02:33:43 | 02:57:40 |
August | 08:28 | 38:39:00 | 02:14:24 | 02:39:44 |
September | 09:01 | 45:30:00 | 02:35:45 | 03:07:45 |
Source: Statistics » Ambulance Quality Indicators (england.nhs.uk)
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many of the 1,500 maternity safety recommendations made to maternity units in England by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch in 2020-21 his Department has assessed as having been implemented in full.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Responsibility for monitoring the implementation of the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch’s (HSIB) national patient safety recommendations rest with the recipient organisations. The National Patient Safety Committee, coordinated by NHS England and NHS Improvement, has established a pilot to examine how the implementation of all the HSIB’s national recommendations could be monitored, the potential resources required and information that may aid future evaluation. The National Patient Safety Committee’s draft report on the pilot is currently undergoing review and is expected to be finalised this year.
Responsibility for monitoring the implementation of the maternity safety recommendations made by the HSIB rests with individual National Health Service trusts. The HSIB works closely with trusts on addressing emerging themes from the investigations and has quarterly review meetings where trusts provide feedback on the actions being taken to implement the recommendations. The HSIB will raise any immediate concerns to the Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement via governance and assurance meetings.