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 he is taking to help ensure long-term funding for hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure that patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting, and palliative and end of life care, including hospices, will have a big role to play in that shift.
Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people at end of life and their loved ones.
Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by ICB area, and will, in part, be dependent on the breadth of a range of palliative and end of life care provision within their ICB footprint.
I recently met with NHS England, and discussions have begun on how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to, and quality of, palliative and end of life care. We will consider next steps on palliative and end of life care, including funding, in the coming months.
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 he is taking to help reduce the time taken by the Health and Care Professions Council to process accreditations for people with international qualifications.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made by the Government. The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) oversees the work of the statutory bodies that regulate health professionals in the United Kingdom, including the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
On 30 August 2024, the PSA published its 2023/24 performance review of the HCPC. The HCPC met 16 out of 18 of the PSA’s Standards of Good Regulation. The HCPC met all four of the PSA’s standards on registration including Standard 11, that the regulator’s process for registration, including appeals, operates proportionately, fairly, and efficiently, with decisions clearly explained.
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 assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Health and Care Professions Council in accrediting people with international qualifications.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made by the Government. The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) oversees the work of the statutory bodies that regulate health professionals in the United Kingdom, including the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
On 30 August 2024, the PSA published its 2023/24 performance review of the HCPC. The HCPC met 16 out of 18 of the PSA’s Standards of Good Regulation. The HCPC met all four of the PSA’s standards on registration including Standard 11, that the regulator’s process for registration, including appeals, operates proportionately, fairly, and efficiently, with decisions clearly explained.
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 has made an assessment of the potential merits of NHS England underwriting leases for GP practices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the GP Contracts, premises liabilities are the responsibility of the contractor. Overall contractual payments reflect this arrangement, with the National Health Service also reimbursing direct premises costs including rent, business rates, water, and clinical waste.
There are 8,842 practice premises across England, of these, 51% are leased premises. The NHS is not a formal party to the leases on these properties. If NHS England were to consider a formal underwriting of the leases, legal advice notes, that would constitute a commitment, which would require capitalisation under the International Financial Accounting Standard IFRS16, and limited NHS capital budgets would have to be diverted to offset this commitment, in addition to the payment of rents against the properties.
This would provide, in effect, a double payment of costs against the asset and would commit substantial capital funds to the exercise, limiting the ability of integrated care systems to invest in the primary care estate, address secondary and community care, mental health services, and critical and usual infrastructure maintenance requirements, significantly adversely affecting the overall investment plans for communities. As a result, NHS England considers that a formal underwriting of leases would not provide best use of public funds.
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 has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the lack of shared IT systems between primary, secondary and mental healthcare on (a) patients and (b) healthcare professionals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made. Shared care records are in place in all integrated care boards, allowing information from general practice and acute settings to be shared for direct care.
The Frontline Digitisation programme is working to improve the digital maturity of all providers so that they have adequate enabling hardware, robust connectivity, electronic patient record systems, and other core capabilities in place.
The Data Information and Smart Data Bill announced in the King's Speech will include the statutory power to require IT suppliers to adhere to information standards. This will help ensure there is a ‘common language’ for health and care software systems to talk to each other, across all health and care settings.
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, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of funding arrangements for hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care, including at end of life. We understand that, financially, times are difficult for many voluntary and charitable organisations, including hospices, due to the increased cost of living. We want a society where these costs are manageable for both voluntary organisations, like hospices, and the people whom they serve.
The Government is going to shift the focus of healthcare out of the hospital and into the community, and we recognise that hospices will play a vital role. We will consider next steps, including funding, on palliative and end of life care more widely in the coming months.
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 recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the level of funding for hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care, including at the end of their life. I know that hospices provide fantastic services to many people.
The government is going to shift the focus of healthcare out of the hospital and into the community.
We recognise the value of the voluntary sector, including hospices, and we will continue to work closely with the sector to understand the pressures they are under.