Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of avoidable hospital admissions of people with dementia in each of the last five years.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
This data is not held centrally. Within Hospital Episode Statistics data, it is not possible to determine if an admission is 'avoidable' or not. The concept of an avoidable admission is broad and not defined within this data set.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of care companies operating in the UK that have collapsed in each of the last five years.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Data is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of measles cases in England.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
In January 2019 Public Health England, Public Health Wales, the Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland and Health Protection Scotland published the United Kingdom Measles and rubella elimination strategy, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measles-and-rubella-elimination-uk-strategy
This strategy sets out four core components required to maintain elimination of measles and rubella:
- achieving and sustaining very high coverage of greater than or equal to 95% with two doses of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) through the routine childhood immunisation programme for those children less than five years old;
- providing opportunities for MMR catch-up to all population groups at risk for and susceptible to measles and/or rubella for those over five years old;
- strengthening surveillance systems by rigorous case investigation and laboratory confirmation of suspected sporadic cases and outbreaks; and
- improving the availability and use of high-quality, evidence-based information for health professionals and the public on the measles and MMR.
A multi-agency implementation board is working with national and local stakeholders to take forward the actions of the strategy.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on vaccine research to tackle antimicrobial resistance.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The Secretaries of State for Health and Social Care and for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs co-signed the foreword to the cross-Government United Kingdom vision for antimicrobial resistance in 2040 and five year national action plan, published in January, and recognising the key role vaccination plays in minimising infections in both humans and animals.
The national action plan includes the commitment to stimulate more research into new vaccines for humans and animals, as well as improving the effectiveness of existing ones.
The Departments are working across Government and its agencies to implement the commitments in the national action plan.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to fund at least one alcohol care team or specialist in every hospital in the UK.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, we are establishing specialist Alcohol Care Teams (ACTs) in hospitals with the highest rates of alcohol harm. It is estimated that this will prevent 50,000 admissions over five years.
All clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have been allocated a Health Inequalities Funding Supplement contribution to their indicative baselines. NHS England and NHS Improvement, through the Long Term Plan, have highlighted the evidence base for ACTs and indicated that where required, commissioners should utilise monies from this funding supplement to close health inequality gaps associated with alcohol dependence.
Additionally, for those areas with the highest levels of demand, additional targeted monies will be invested directly to ensure the provision of optimal ACTs starting from 2020/21.
Local authorities will also receive over £3 billion in 2019/20 to be used exclusively on public health including alcohol treatment services.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to fund at least one alcohol care team or specialist in every hospital.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, we are establishing specialist Alcohol Care Teams (ACTs) in hospitals with the highest rates of alcohol harm. It is estimated that this will prevent 50,000 admissions over five years.
All clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have been allocated a Health Inequalities Funding Supplement contribution to their indicative baselines. NHS England and NHS Improvement, through the Long Term Plan, have highlighted the evidence base for ACTs and indicated that where required, commissioners should utilise monies from this funding supplement to close health inequality gaps associated with alcohol dependence.
Additionally, for those areas with the highest levels of demand, additional targeted monies will be invested directly to ensure the provision of optimal ACTs starting from 2020/21.
Local authorities will also receive over £3 billion in 2019/20 to be used exclusively on public health including alcohol treatment services.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of training for NHS staff on diagnosing and treating alcohol abuse.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
United Kingdom medical schools determine the content of their own curricula. The delivery of these undergraduate curricula have to meet the standards set by the General Medical Council (GMC), who then monitor and check to make sure that these standards are maintained. The standards require the curriculum to be formed in a way that allows all medical students to meet the GMC’s ‘Outcomes for Graduates’ by the time they complete their medical degree, which describe knowledge, skills and behaviour they have to show as newly registered doctors.
The GMC’s ‘Outcomes for Graduates’ state that doctors must be able to recognise and identify factors that suggest patient vulnerability and take action in response. In particular, they must be able to recognise where addiction (including to alcohol) is contributing to ill health and take action by seeking advice from colleagues and making appropriate referrals. Furthermore, the GMC’s Generic Professional Capabilities Framework states that doctors in training must be able to do the same and act on this information.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
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 potential benefit to the welfare of doctors of limiting the number of night shifts a junior doctor can work in a month.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The junior doctors’ contract introduced in 2016 included measures aimed at improving the wellbeing of the junior doctor workforce including new, stronger limits on working hours and patterns. These included reducing the maximum number of consecutive nights shifts to four (down from seven) and ensuring at least 46 hours rest at the end of a run of three or four consecutive nights.
A joint review of the effectiveness of the contract has now been concluded by the British Medical Association (BMA) and NHS Employers which has resulted in even more robust safety and rest limits; for example, a rest period of 46 hours will be applied following any number of rostered night shifts. The BMA and NHS Employers have also agreed good rostering guidance that emphasises the need to have a balanced rota cycle with different types of shifts, including night shifts, evenly distributed to manage fatigue.
A junior doctors’ work schedule is designed to meet their training needs and this also, in practice, limits the number of night shifts they are expected to complete (as training usually takes place during the day time).
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what representations he has made to his Japanese counterpart to encourage the Japanese government to re-establish its HPV vaccination programme.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
No ministerial representations have been made to the Japanese government in relation to its human papillomavirus vaccination programme, but we promote the benefits of immunisation in all relevant interactions with partners both nationally and internationally.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
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 uptake of the HPV vaccination in each of the constituent parts of the UK since that vaccination programme began.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Health is a devolved matter and we can only provide data for England. The United Kingdom human papillomavirus immunisation programme began in 2008/09, with a three-dose schedule. In 2013/14, the UK moved to a two-dose schedule.
Public Health England collects annual coverage data for England, available to view at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake#hpv-vaccine-uptake
Coverage for the three-dose schedule (2008/09–2013/14) can be seen at the following link: