Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
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 potential merits of agreeing to the asks of the striking maternity support workers in Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. Resolution is for local determination by the employing organisation and respective trade unions. Employers are responsible for correctly and consistently implementing the NHS Job Evaluation scheme.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will hold discussions with striking maternity support workers in Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes constituency on their requests.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This is a local issue and resolution should be the product of local employer and trade union negotiations. It is for employers to correctly and consistently implement the NHS Job Evaluation scheme.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total value is of loans paid to NHS trusts; when his Department expects those loans to be repaid; and what the length of the term is of those loans.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The position on the loans that the Department has provided to National Health Service trusts (as at 31 March 2018), together with their length of term, is as follows:
Normal Course of Business Loans | £3.00 billion | Term varies, range 4 to 28 years |
Interim Capital Loans | £0.65 billion | Term varies, range 5 to 25 years |
Interim Revenue Loans | £7.35 billion | Term is 3 years |
The figures for 2018-19 will be released with the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts, in July 2019.
In 2018-19 the Department agreed extensions to many of the interim revenue loans that were due during the financial year and will continue to take refinancing decisions on loans due in the coming year, in light of the NHS’s wider financial position.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
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 on the adequacy of the number of dementia care beds in North East Lincolnshire.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Data from the Care Quality Commission show that in June 2019 there are 1,549 beds in care homes for dementia in North East Lincolnshire local authority.
Commissioning social care beds is a matter for local authorities who are best placed to understand the needs of local people and communities, and how best to meet them. For this reason, the Care Act 2014 placed duties on local authorities to shape their local markets so that there is an adequate supply of provision which ensures all adult social care service users have a choice of high quality services.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
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 on the effectiveness of inspection methods in care homes.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England and has a key responsibility in the overall assurance of safety and quality of health and adult social care services. The CQC monitors its own effectiveness of inspection methods in care home and other health settings in a number of ways to ensure that everyone is safe from harm, abuse and neglect. In addition, the CQC is currently collaborating with the University of Manchester’s Alliance Manchester Business School on research exploring the impact of the CQC on the quality of care.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
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 effect on the provision of accident and emergency care in Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust hospitals of the reduction in services at Louth hospital.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The provision of accident and emergency care in Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust is a matter for local determination. The Trust is also experiencing increases generally due to an upward trend in both accident and emergency (A&E) attendances and admissions from the East Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group area.
The Trust has planned for more growth in attendances and admissions in 2019/20 and is working with partners across Lincolnshire to manage increases in attendances/admissions by:
- Developing an Urgent Treatment Centre at the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital to handle non-emergency cases;
- Increasing the hours worked by consultants at the A&E at the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital;
- Working with East Midlands Ambulance Service to make sure they take patients to the most appropriate hospital within their region;
- Continuing to work closely to ensure the timely discharge of patients by having social services staff from local councils, including Lincolnshire County Council, working at the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital to facilitate this; and
- Working with clinical commissioning groups and other partners on activities to reduce attendances through better access to general practitioners and improve out of hospital provision.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has made to tackle the projected 7 per cent increase in A&E admissions in 2019-20 at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Trust hospitals.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The provision of accident and emergency care in Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust is a matter for local determination. The Trust is also experiencing increases generally due to an upward trend in both accident and emergency (A&E) attendances and admissions from the East Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group area.
The Trust has planned for more growth in attendances and admissions in 2019/20 and is working with partners across Lincolnshire to manage increases in attendances/admissions by:
- Developing an Urgent Treatment Centre at the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital to handle non-emergency cases;
- Increasing the hours worked by consultants at the A&E at the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital;
- Working with East Midlands Ambulance Service to make sure they take patients to the most appropriate hospital within their region;
- Continuing to work closely to ensure the timely discharge of patients by having social services staff from local councils, including Lincolnshire County Council, working at the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital to facilitate this; and
- Working with clinical commissioning groups and other partners on activities to reduce attendances through better access to general practitioners and improve out of hospital provision.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
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 adequacy of the level of training and support provided to those employed in the care sector.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government is working alongside stakeholders in the adult social care sector to ensure there is the right number of people, with the right skills, knowledge and values to meet increasing demand, and deliver high quality, person-centred care and support.
The Department’s delivery partner, Skills for Care, monitors levels of qualifications and training and works to improve standards and increase uptake of training and qualifications for those working in adult social care. This includes distributing £12 million a year through the Workforce Development Fund to support employers fund training.
We know that there is more that we can do, and the Government will publish a Social Care Green Paper at the earliest opportunity setting out proposals for reform to ensure the social care system is sustainable for the future. It will include a vision for the workforce, and proposals to boost recruitment, retention, and workforce development in the longer term.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to reduce patient notification errors due to NHS bodies having different communication systems.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
We are committed to creating a technology infrastructure that allows systems to communicate securely, using open standards for data and interoperability. This will enable health and care professionals to have access to the information they need to provide care. Effective technology supported by interoperability can reduce patient safety errors.
Interoperability and openness is one of the guiding principles set out in, ‘The future of healthcare: our vision for digital, data and technology in health and care’, published on 17 October 2018.
We are also investing in the development of Local Health and Care Record Exemplars (LHCRs). These will allow local areas to ensure data is collected consistently and made available to support joined up and safer patient care. LHCRs will give health and care staff better and faster access to vital information about the person in their care as patients move between different parts of the National Health Service and social care system. The first five Exemplars cover 23.5 million people and will each receive up to £7.5 million over two years.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has undertaken to ensure that health services such as access to continuing healthcare plans are available to people with hearing impairments or profound deafness.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
It is the responsibility of local providers and commissioners of NHS services to make the reasonable adjustments required by the Equality Act 2010 to ensure that disabled people, including those with hearing impairments, are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled people. Additionally, under the NHS Constitution, National Health Service organisations in England are required to provide high quality comprehensive services, based on clinical need, which do not discriminate between patients on the basis of disability, including hearing impairments.
NHS Continuing Healthcare is a package of care that is arranged and funded solely by the NHS. It is provided when an individual aged 18 or over has been found to have a ‘primary health need’ as set out in the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care.