Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much was spent on the NHS frontline digitisation programme in the 2022-23 financial year; and what assessment she has made of the impact of that expenditure.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2022/23, the Frontline Digitisation programme provided £393 million of capital funding and £45.29 million of revenue funding directly to 159 NHS secondary care provider trusts.
The funding is closely monitored throughout the year by the Frontline Digitisation programme’s finance team. The programme’s engagement and assurance teams also monitor progress and delivery throughout the year.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much has been spent on improving cyber security of the health and care system in each year since 2016; and how much and what proportion of that expenditure was (a) internal and (b) on contracted suppliers.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested on cyber spending covers sensitive details about cyber security investment for the National Health Service. Releasing this information at the level of any annual breakdown may assist in determining the effectiveness of detecting cyber-attacks on the NHS, and could compromise measures to protect NHS IT systems, leaving them vulnerable to future cyber-attacks.
However, in total, £338 million has been invested nationally to improve the cyber security of the health and care system between 2016 and 2023. This is core spend and excludes investment by local organisations, and wider national or local IT investment which supports better security, such as Microsoft licensing for NHS organisations.
Cyber improvement programmes will always seek to use internal resource where skillsets are available. External subject matter expertise support is brought in to support delivery where these are not available within the Department.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 329 of his Departmental Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, how much and what proportion of the £432 million allocated for NHS technology programmes was used for (a) improvements for managing and sharing digital patient records between health care providers across the country, (b) transforming remote monitoring of patients and (c) raising digital maturity; what the outcomes of that expenditure was; and whether external suppliers were contracted for the purposes of delivering that work.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2022/23, the Frontline Digitisation programme provided £393 million of capital funding and £45.29 million of revenue funding directly to 159 National Health Service secondary care provider trusts. The figures referred to by the Department are a contribution to the overall Transformation Portfolio, which funds a wide array of work, including the deployment of the Electronic Patient Record Systems and Shared Care Records. The intended outcome of this expenditure is to support the implementation of digital capabilities and enable infrastructure to meet our core digitisation standards and improve digital maturity.
As part of digitising adult social care, £2.3 million supported approximately 13,000 people with vital signs remote monitoring technology over 2022/23. The intended outcome of this expenditure is to reduce avoidable hospital admissions and improve quality of care. Funding allocations were agreed directly with integrated care boards and NHS trusts. However, external suppliers may have been contracted at a local level.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the implementation plan for a cyber resilient health and adult social care system in England has been published.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The purpose of the implementation plan is to provide details on how we are going to be delivering our strategy over the current spending period. The plan will be published in spring 2024, but we are already delivering on the strategy through an ambitious Cyber Improvement Programme, aiming to invest up to £147.6 million by April 2025.
This programme is looking to further strengthen existing national cyber security controls for health and care, which already includes cyber monitoring 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through NHS England’s Cyber Security Operations Centre, national-scale defences from cyberattack, such as Secure Boundary, and nationally provided cyber incident response contracts in the event of a cyber incident.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether a supplier working group to better facilitate ongoing communication and dialogue with industry relating to health and social care data and cyber security has been established.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have multiple mechanisms for engaging and working closely with suppliers, including supplier summits, direct relationships and through local organisations. In addition, we will shortly be launching the Cyber Suppliers Network to facilitate dialogue and visibility of ongoing efforts to more effectively secure data and manage cybersecurity.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
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 potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to give patients the right to an urgent second medical opinion.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department is actively considering how this proposal can be developed and implemented in the National Health Service. My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, has asked the Patient Safety Commissioner to convene NHS England and others to urgently consider this matter in detail and to make recommendations.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December to Question 99836, how many DTAC-required NHS contracts have been awarded to companies that are not DTAC-compliant.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not held centrally. The NHS Digital Health Technology Standards Audit did not ask National Health Service organisations to differentiate within the contracts that were awarded before and post Digital Technology Assessment Criteria launch.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December to Question 99836, if he will publish the directory of products meeting DTAC standards.
Answered by Will Quince
The directory of products meeting Digital Technology Assessment Criteria standards is an ambition for late 2023/24. It is intended that this will be publicly available.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December to Question 99836, what penalties will be faced by companies that are not DTAC compliant as part of remedial action plans.
Answered by Will Quince
National Health Service organisations are responsible for ensuring that products that they procure and use meet the Digital Technology Assessment Criteria standards. The intention from remedial action plans is that NHS organisations ensure that all the companies that supply technologies or provide digital services are complaint with the minimum legislation and NHS standards that are in place to protect patients.
Actions plans will be led by NHS organisations and will focus on working with suppliers to swiftly achieve compliance. If compliance cannot be achieved, then NHS organisations will need to consider contractual measures that can be used. Any products that are identified as being in breach of Medical Device Regulations will be reported to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consequences will be faced by digital services providers to the NHS that are not compliant with DTAC standards.
Answered by Will Quince
National Health Service organisations are responsible for ensuring that products that they procure and use meet the Digital Technology Assessment Criteria standards. The intention from remedial action plans is that NHS organisations ensure that all the companies that supply technologies or provide digital services are complaint with the minimum legislation and NHS standards that are in place to protect patients.
Actions plans will be led by NHS organisations and will focus on working with suppliers to swiftly achieve compliance. If compliance cannot be achieved, then NHS organisations will need to consider contractual measures that can be used. Any products that are identified as being in breach of Medical Device Regulations will be reported to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.