Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) mobile screening units and (b) other additional equipment will need to be purchased to increase the capacity of the breast screening programme to meet increased demand as a result of the computer error.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England is taking major steps to put in place additional capacity of screening services to respond to the breast screening incident.
NHS England is unable to state whether additional equipment will be required at this stage, however existing equipment will be used over evenings and weekends.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what role charities will play in the planned inquiry into the failure to invite women aged 68-71 to breast screening since 2009.
Answered by Steve Brine
The planned inquiry (independent review) will be chaired by Lynda Thomas, Chief Executive of Macmillian Cancer Support and Professor Martin Gore, Consultant Medical Oncologist and Professor of Cancer Medicine at the Royal Mardsen, with Peter Wyman, Chair of the Care Quality Commission as vice-chair.
The terms of reference for the review are still to be agreed with the Chairs.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ensure that NICE clarifies its guidance on the entitlement of patients of varying risk to Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation.
Answered by Steve Brine
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is responsible for the wording of its recommendations. NICE published final interventional procedures guidance in July 2017 on the use of transcatheter aortic valve implantation for aortic stenosis that recommends the procedure, provided that standard arrangements are in place for clinical governance, consent and audit.
NICE interventional procedures guidance makes recommendations about the safety of procedures and how well they work and does not constitute a direction to National Health Service trusts to provide the interventions; it provides information on the circumstances in which to do so might be the right course of action for an individual patient. Decisions about whether to provide a treatment are taken locally.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
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 ensure that medicines developed from public research are (a) accessible and (b) affordable.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) provides support for the development of new drugs, medical devices, diagnostics and treatments, primarily through its investment in research infrastructure in the National Health Service and through a range of research funding programmes. NIHR-supported research supports the early translational and clinical development of new medicines and generates high quality evidence which is made available to inform decisions about the NHS and patients on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of medicines, including through National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance. There is no explicit link between the terms of NIHR research grants and the price the NHS pays for medicines.
NICE technology appraisal guidance, and the associated funding requirement, play an important role in ensuring that patients have access to cost-effective new medicines, including medicines developed from public research. NICE assesses important new medicines through a robust evaluation process.
The NHS is required by law to ensure that all medicines recommended by NICE are generally funded within three months, ensuring patient access to cost-effective medicines in England. New medicines are not subject to payments under the voluntary Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, and NHS England monitors access to innovative medicines via the Innovation Scorecard in recognition of the value this Government places on innovation.
The Accelerated Access Review made recommendations to get transformative drugs and treatments to patients faster, while ensuring that the NHS gets value for money and remains at the forefront of innovation. The Department’s response sets out how it will work with industry and healthcare organisations to create an approvals system to ensure this happens. A total of £86 million of funding has already been committed to make the vision a reality.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
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 level service accessibility for patients requiring long-term mental health care in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) Lincoln constituency.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is currently working with partners to complete a Multi-Agency Review of Mental Health Crisis Services.
The Trust is working with its commissioners, South West Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group and Lincolnshire County Council, on a number of improvement programmes to support local and national priorities for mental health.
The Trust also works with a number of local mental health groups and organisations to provide care and support to people with long term mental health needs.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
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 effect of wholly owned subsidiary companies in the NHS on (a) joined-up care and (b) staff (i) coordination, (ii) retention and (iii) morale.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
It is for National Health Service organisations locally to assess the effect of establishing wholly owned subsidiaries. The aim of organisations who have established wholly owned subsidiaries is to support the efficient and effective delivery of healthcare locally while providing value for the taxpayer. In doing so, these organisations would have to engage fully with existing staff transferring to the wholly owned subsidiary, protecting their terms and conditions of service as well as ensuring that any newly recruited staff are offered terms and conditions that attract the skills they need, promote retention and improve morale. The legislation enabling wholly owned subsidiaries companies in the NHS was first passed in 2003 through the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003, which came into force on April 1 2004. That power was re-enacted into s46 of the NHS Act 2006, as the 2006 Act consolidated various pre-existing Acts.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
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 effect of the closure of Lincoln’s walk-in centre on people’s access to care in (a) Lincoln constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Following a review of the users and treatments provided at the Lincoln Walk in Centre (WiC), the West Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) determined that alternative provision, including out of hours general practitioner (GP) access, NHS 111 and Clinical Assessment Service, community hubs, increased primary capacity, and use of local pharmacy walk-in facilities would better meet the health needs of the local population in Lincoln.
The CCG worked in partnership with Lincolnshire Community Health Service, which provided the WiC services, to ensure an effective plan was in place to facilitate transition. This plan incorporated the introduction of triage at the WiC to direct the public to appropriate, alternative provision. The 33 GP practices within the CCG area have arrangements in place to support any increased demand following the WiC closure, including provision of nearly 200 additional GP appointments per day across the area. As a safeguard, the CCG is also supporting additional GP out of hours provision at weekends during March to mid-April, to enable the new service to become established. Since the weekday closure of the WiC, West Lincolnshire CCG report no adverse impact.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
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 ensure geographical equality in the level of breast cancer care in (a) Lincoln constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Steve Brine
Lincolnshire West Clinical Commissioning Group offer a triple assessment to all patients referred on the two week wait breast cancer pathway. This means that during an appointment the patient will see a surgeon, a mammography radiographer and a radiologist. This is in line with accepted best practice.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England has the power to prevent the implementation of minimum waiting times for routine elective care.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
NHS England does not encourage commissioners to apply minimum waits across their contracts but rather to concentrate on interventions that help manage the demand for elective care.
It remains the case that all patients should receive high quality and safe care in the right place at the right time within the 18-week Referral to Treatment standard.
Clinical priority remains the main determinant of when patients should be treated followed by the chronological order of when they were added to the waiting list.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the letter of 31 January 2018 from the right hon. Member for Lincoln on the closure of Lincoln's walk-in centre.
Answered by Steve Brine
I responded to the hon. Member’s letter on 5 March 2018.