Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to require imported eggs to meet the UK's animal welfare standards.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government shares the public’s high regard for the UK’s environmental protections, food standards and animal welfare.
The Government recognises farmers’ concerns about imports produced using methods not permitted in the UK. We have been clear that we will use our Trade Strategy to promote the highest food production standards.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of NHS targets for incentivising improvement in patient experience.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to putting patients first, ensuring that they are seen on time, and that they have the best possible experience while they wait for care. Although no specific assessment has been made of the adequacy of National Health Service targets for incentivising improvement in patient experience, the Government is committed to making improvements. We have an ambitious set of targets that will tackle issues that matter to patients, including returning to the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment.
We also want to improve experience for patients living with complex, long-term, or serious illnesses, like cancer. We are committed to meeting all three NHS cancer waiting time standards across England, so that no patient waits longer than they should for cancer diagnosis or treatment.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help improve data collection on the (a) prevalence and (b) impact on (i) public health and (ii) the NHS of long-term health conditions.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government wants a society where every person, including those with a long-term condition, and their families and carers, receives high-quality, compassionate continuity of care. We will change the National Health Service so that it becomes not just a sickness service, but one able to prevent ill health in the first place. This will help us be better prepared for the change in the nature of disease and allow our services to focus more on the management of chronic, long-term conditions.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning most services for people with long term conditions. ICBs are allocated funding by NHS England to meet local needs and priorities, and improve outcomes. NHS England continues to set national standards, service specifications, and clinical access policies, to which ICBs are expected to apply.
We recognise that, in order to ensure the NHS is fit for the future, we must improve care for those with long-term conditions. One of the working groups supporting the development of the 10-Year Health Plan has been asked to develop a vision for how the NHS can evolve to provide responsive, joined-up care to better support individuals with complex health needs who may require frequent, ongoing engagement with the NHS. The group, chaired by Dr Claire Fuller and Caroline Abrahams CBE, will consider what improved care would look like for both individuals living with a single or multiple long-term conditions, including, for example, mental health conditions or disabilities, as well as individuals with multiple complex needs, including those that are frail or approaching the end of their life.
We know that appropriate work is generally good for health and wellbeing. We want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live.
Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group, so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key.
The Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Work and Pensions are committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, and have a range of support available so individuals can stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care, as well as support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants.
As part of the Get Britain Working plan, the Government is launching Keep Britain Working, an independent review into the role of United Kingdom employers in reducing health-related inactivity, and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces.
As ICBs are responsible for commissioning most services for people with long term conditions, most of the data regarding the prevalence of long-term health conditions is collected at the ICB level, although the 10-Year Health Plan will also be focussing on the improved use of data in the health system, as part of the shift from analogue to digital.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department will take steps to establish a cross-departmental long-term conditions taskforce to help (a) improve care for those with long-term conditions and (b) people back into work.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government wants a society where every person, including those with a long-term condition, and their families and carers, receives high-quality, compassionate continuity of care. We will change the National Health Service so that it becomes not just a sickness service, but one able to prevent ill health in the first place. This will help us be better prepared for the change in the nature of disease and allow our services to focus more on the management of chronic, long-term conditions.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning most services for people with long term conditions. ICBs are allocated funding by NHS England to meet local needs and priorities, and improve outcomes. NHS England continues to set national standards, service specifications, and clinical access policies, to which ICBs are expected to apply.
We recognise that, in order to ensure the NHS is fit for the future, we must improve care for those with long-term conditions. One of the working groups supporting the development of the 10-Year Health Plan has been asked to develop a vision for how the NHS can evolve to provide responsive, joined-up care to better support individuals with complex health needs who may require frequent, ongoing engagement with the NHS. The group, chaired by Dr Claire Fuller and Caroline Abrahams CBE, will consider what improved care would look like for both individuals living with a single or multiple long-term conditions, including, for example, mental health conditions or disabilities, as well as individuals with multiple complex needs, including those that are frail or approaching the end of their life.
We know that appropriate work is generally good for health and wellbeing. We want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live.
Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group, so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key.
The Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Work and Pensions are committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, and have a range of support available so individuals can stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care, as well as support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants.
As part of the Get Britain Working plan, the Government is launching Keep Britain Working, an independent review into the role of United Kingdom employers in reducing health-related inactivity, and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces.
As ICBs are responsible for commissioning most services for people with long term conditions, most of the data regarding the prevalence of long-term health conditions is collected at the ICB level, although the 10-Year Health Plan will also be focussing on the improved use of data in the health system, as part of the shift from analogue to digital.