Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many outpatient (a) ophthalmology, (b) medical ophthalmology, (c) optometry and (d) orthoptic appointments for children under 19 years of age took place in 2014-15.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The information is shown in the following table.
Information on outpatient ophthalmology, medical ophthalmology, optometry and orthoptic appointments for patients under 19 years of age in 2014-15.
Appointments
Treatment speciality | Attended first appointments | Attended appointments | All appointments |
Ophthalmology | 56,665 | 507,665 | 701,351 |
Medical Ophthalmology | 9,219 | 26,101 | 32,119 |
Optometry | 4,029 | 8,009 | 11,062 |
Orthoptics | 57,108 | 269,882 | 394,663 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre |
Notes:
The table contains the number of booked appointments for outpatients. They are recorded as one row per appointment that was made, whether it was attended or not.
A patient's treatment in outpatients can consist of a series of appointments; a distinction between the first in the series and subsequent appointments is commonly reported.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to improve consumer awareness of the presence of high-fructose corn syrup in food with better labelling.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Food Information for Consumers Regulation has recently overhauled the food labelling system. Under the regulations, any corn syrup must be clearly marked on all prepacked food products in the ingredients list. All ingredients must be listed by order of weight and in at least the minimum font size, making them clearly apparent to consumers.
In addition, nutrition labelling of pre-packed foods, including the amount of total sugars, will be mandatory from 13 December 2016. It will supplement the ingredient information on food labels. Some parts of the food industry already provide nutrition information.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to bring forward proposals to add junior doctors to the definition of worker in section 43K(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
Answered by Ben Gummer
The Employment Rights Act 1996, as amended by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 and more recent legislation, forms part of the wider employment rights legislation.
Junior doctors are protected by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, as they are employees of the National Health Service trusts at which they are based.
The Department supports NHS staff who wish to raise concerns and is implementing a range of measures to support the development of a culture in which staff are able to raise concerns without fear of repercussion or reprisal. The Department has made clear to NHS organisations that they should have policies and procedures to support and encourage staff to raise concerns, and that those concerns should be considered and, where appropriate, acted upon.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
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 (a) more cases of chronic lyme disease are correctly diagnosed and (b) more people with chronic lyme disease receive the appropriate treatment.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Our aim is to ensure that cases of Lyme disease at all its stages and manifestations are recognised and treated appropriately. The National Health Service provides medical care following international guidance and most cases are dealt with by general practitioners (GPs). To help ensure people receive the appropriate treatment Public Health England has published a referral pathway for GPs to follow. Where additional investigation is required, specialist referral may be necessary and a small number of NHS clinics will see complicated cases. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has been commissioned to develop guidelines for the recognition and treatment of Lyme disease; this is expected in June 2018.
Public Health England PHE) regularly review new tests for Lyme disease and participate in a Europe wide Quality Assurance programme to ensure that the most suitable tests available are used.
In addition, PHE provide information on Lyme disease and tick awareness to the medical profession and the public, and holds regular medical training days, and works with Lyme Disease Action to support the needs and interests of patients.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support and guidance his Department has provided to clinical commissioning groups and NHS mental health trusts to support innovative home treatment and specialist nursing in the community for patients requiring mental health treatment.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The majority of mental health commissioning is the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). The specialised commissioning teams within NHS England work with CCGs and providers to ensure that the impact of any changes to community based services and specialised services upon the whole care pathway are handled in a coordinated way.
The planning guidance for the National Health Service for 2016/17 includes a requirement for CCGs, with their mental health provider, to have in place a service development and improvement plan for the development of local Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Teams with a particular focus on ensuring that they are able to offer intensive home treatment with frequent visits to patients’ homes.
The recently published report of the independent Mental Health Taskforce sets out plans for expanding crisis resolution home treatment teams across England to ensure that each is available to deliver 24/7 treatment to support 12,000 more adults by 2020. This will be backed by over £400 million investment, as announced by the Prime Minister on 11 January, to enable 24/7 treatment in communities as a safe and effective alternative to hospital.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that the recommendations set out in the NHS England report Achieving world-class cancer outcomes: a strategy for England 2015-2020 are implemented without delay.
Answered by Jane Ellison
NHS England is currently working with partners across the health system to determine how best to take forward the recommendations to improve cancer outcomes set out in the new five-year strategy of the Independent Cancer Taskforce.
As part of putting in place a governance structure for delivery of the strategy, NHS England has appointed Cally Palmer as NHS National Cancer Director. She will lead the implementation of the strategy, as well as new cancer vanguards using outcomes-based commissioning to redesign care and patient experience. Ms Palmer is Chief Executive of the Royal Marsden Hospital.
The Independent Cancer Taskforce’s report outlines that earlier diagnosis could contribute to saving a further 11,000 lives per year.
Our announcement of a commitment that by 2020, National Health Service patients will be given a definitive cancer diagnosis or the all clear within 28 days of being referred by a general practitioner, means that patients, particularly those with harder to diagnose cancers, will be diagnosed faster and the period of anxiety while waiting will be reduced.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects to publish mandated NHS data and related data flows to regional cancer registries in recurrent and metastatic breast cancer.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The National Cancer Registry Service, within Public Health England, recognises the importance of the collection of data on recurrent and metastatic breast cancer. Further work is being scoped by NHS England and Public Health England based on the recommendation in the recent Independent Cancer Taskforce report to establish robust surveillance systems to collect this data on all cancers.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies referrals in Greenwich and Woolwich constituency received an assessment within 90 days in the last 12 months.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The information is not collected in the format requested.
The following attachment, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies contains referrals assessed in 28 and 90 days or less and referrals that waited 28 and 90 days or less to enter treatment, as a proportion of all referrals assessed between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2014, for England and NHS Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group.
Data is not published at constituency level.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies patients in Greenwich and Woolwich constituency waited less than 28 days for treatment in the last 12 months.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The information is not collected in the format requested.
The following attachment, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies contains referrals assessed in 28 and 90 days or less and referrals that waited 28 and 90 days or less to enter treatment, as a proportion of all referrals assessed between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2014, for England and NHS Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group.
Data is not published at constituency level.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies patients in Greenwich and Woolwich constituency waited less than 90 days for treatment in the last 12 months.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The information is not collected in the format requested.
The following attachment, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies contains referrals assessed in 28 and 90 days or less and referrals that waited 28 and 90 days or less to enter treatment, as a proportion of all referrals assessed between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2014, for England and NHS Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group.
Data is not published at constituency level.