Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has had recent discussions with NHS England on the establishment of a National Clinical Director for Allergy of State for Health and Social Care.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
NHS England and NHS Improvement have no current plans to appoint a National Clinical Director for allergy. This is kept under review and new National Clinical Directors or Specialty Advisers are appointed as necessary. The Department hosted a roundtable meeting in January 2022, attended by NHS England and NHS Improvement and stakeholders, where the potential benefits of a National Clinical Director for Allergy was discussed.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with NHS England on the establishment of a National Clinical Director for Allergies.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
NHS England and NHS Improvement have no current plans to appoint a National Clinical Director for allergy. This is kept under review and new National Clinical Directors or Specialty Advisers are appointed as necessary. The Department hosted a roundtable meeting in January 2022, attended by NHS England and NHS Improvement and stakeholders, where the potential benefits of a National Clinical Director for Allergy was discussed.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to improve the quality of residential care in Dagenham and Rainham.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Although 81% of adult social care providers and 73% of care home beds are rated as good or outstanding by the Care Quality Commission, it is completely unacceptable that standards in some settings fall below those rightly expected by care users and their families.
The Department is working with the adult social care sector to implement Quality Matters – a shared commitment to achieve high quality adult social care for service users, families, carers and everyone working in the sector, through six actions.
The Care Act 2014 placed a duty on local authorities in England to promote a diverse, sustainable, high quality market of care and support providers for people in their local area to meet their needs. The Department has supported local authorities with their market related duties through a sector-led approach and has brought together guidance and support in an on-line hub available on GOV.UK.
This summer we will publish plans to reform our social care system to make it sustainable for the future. The consultation will set out options to put the social care system on a more secure footing and address issues to improve the quality of care and reduce variation in practice, including for those in the Dagenham and Rainham area.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many trainees qualified in allergy in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017 and how many will qualify in 2018.
Answered by Steve Barclay
The number of doctors who obtained their certificate of completion of training in the allergy specialty and paediatric allergy, immunology and infectious diseases in 2016 and 2017 is shown in the table below:
Medicine Group specialty/subspecialty | Completed | Completed |
Allergy | 2 | 0 |
Paediatric allergy, immunology and infectious diseases | 4 | 2 |
Source: Health Education England
The number of trainees that will qualify in 2018 will be known at the end of the academic year.
Primary care also has a vital role in the management of allergies. The Royal College of General Practitioners offers a range of resources to educate general practitioners about the various presentations of allergic disease, how to assess an atopic patient and when to investigate in primary care or refer to secondary care.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons there is not a lead official for allergy in his Department.
Answered by Steve Brine
Since 1 April 2013, NHS England has been responsible for securing high quality outcomes for people with long term conditions, including allergies. Departmental staff support ministers on a wide range of issues, including those concerning allergies, and work closely with NHS England to secure the necessary expertise when needed.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department provides to clinical commissioning groups on the allergy quality standard.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department provides no specific advice to clinical commissioning groups about either the Drug Allergy Quality Standard, published in July 2015, or the Food Allergy Quality Standard, published in March 2016.
Quality Standards, published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) are important in setting out to patients, the public, commissioners and providers what a high quality service should look like in a particular area of care. Quality standards are based on NICE guidance and other NICE-accredited sources and NHS England promotes their use in local service delivery.
National Health Service organisations must have regard to NICE Quality Standards in planning and delivering services as part of a general duty to secure continuous improvement in quality. However, the quality standards do not provide a comprehensive service specification and are not mandatory.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the level of knowledge which doctors are expected to have on allergies; and whether that level of knowledge is tested both at undergraduate and postgraduate level examinations.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Department does not set curricula for the education and training of the health and social care workforce and therefore does not hold the information requested.
The standards around the education of healthcare professions are set by the appropriate regulatory body. In the case of doctors this is the General Medical Council (GMC), while the Nursing and Midwifery Council sets the standards for the education of nurses and midwives, including health visitors.
The GMC sets the educational standards for all United Kingdom doctors through undergraduate and postgraduate education and training. It ensures that this reflects the needs of patients, medical students and doctors in training, and the healthcare systems across the UK.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that health visitors, midwives, community doctors and nurses are allergy-aware.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Department does not set curricula for the education and training of the health and social care workforce and therefore does not hold the information requested.
The standards around the education of healthcare professions are set by the appropriate regulatory body. In the case of doctors this is the General Medical Council (GMC), while the Nursing and Midwifery Council sets the standards for the education of nurses and midwives, including health visitors.
The GMC sets the educational standards for all United Kingdom doctors through undergraduate and postgraduate education and training. It ensures that this reflects the needs of patients, medical students and doctors in training, and the healthcare systems across the UK.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which Minister of his Department leads on policy relating to allergies.
Answered by Steve Brine
As the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Primary Care, I am responsible for policy relating to long term conditions, including allergies.