Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of planned budget reductions for community pharmacy on patient and health services in (a) Sheffield and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber.
Answered by Alistair Burt
We are consulting the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, other pharmacy bodies and patient and public representatives on our proposals. An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.
NHS England has a statutory duty to ensure the adequate provision of National Health Service pharmaceutical services across England and will ensure that duty continues to be met in Sheffield.
Community pharmacy is a vital part of the NHS and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review, the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020-21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.
The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public.
Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the contribution of community pharmacies to (a) local minor ailments services, (b) needle exchanges and (c) local commissioned services; and what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the closure of such pharmacies on (i) such services, (ii) patient care, (iii) GP practices and (iv) hospitals.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Department has not made a specific assessment of the contribution of community pharmacies to local minor ailment services, needle and syringe exchange services and other locally commissioned services. However, information available from the Health and Social Care Information Centre shows that during 2014/15, 1,863 community pharmacies were commissioned to provide local minor ailment services and 29 were commissioned to provide needle and syringe exchange services, as National Health Service pharmaceutical services. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and local authorities are, however, able to commission local services and it is very likely that local authorities commission needle and syringe exchange services from community pharmacies and CCGs commission minor ailment services. However, this information is not available nationally.
Community pharmacy is a vital part of the NHS and can play an important role in delivering services such as management of minor ailments locally, needle and syringe exchange services and other locally commissioned services. The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering high quality clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public.
In the Spending Review the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.
Our proposals are about improving services for patients and the public and securing efficiencies and savings. A consequence may be the closure of some pharmacies but that is not our aim. The community pharmacy proposals for 2016/17 and beyond, on which we have consulted, are being considered in respect to the public sector equality duty, the family test and relevant duties of the Secretary of State under the NHS Act 2006. An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.
Local commissioning and funding of services from community pharmacies will be unaffected by these proposals.
NHS England has taken account of the potential impact of a pharmacy minor ailments service on general practitioner services and other parts of the NHS. The findings of the Minor Ailment study (‘MINA’ study), conducted by the University of Aberdeen, in collaboration with NHS Grampian and the University of East Anglia, on behalf of Pharmacy Research UK in 2014, were considered. In addition, evaluations of local minor ailments schemes have continued to inform decision-making about local commissioning of such schemes.
Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much prescriptions for Sativex were issued in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Information is not collected centrally on the number of prescriptions issued. However, information is available on the number of prescription items dispensed for Sativex in England between 2010 and 20141.
Sativex prescription items written in the United Kingdom and dispensed in the community in England | ||
| Prescription items (000s) | Net ingredient cost (£000s) 2 |
2010 | 2.5 | 841.8 |
2011 | 3.0 | 1,185.0 |
2012 | 2.8 | 1,141.0 |
2013 | 2.8 | 1,158.1 |
2014 | 2.7 | 1,148.3 |
Source: Prescription Cost Analysis system data provided by the Health and Social Care Information Centre
Notes:
1 2015 full year data will be published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre on 7 April 2016 and will be available using the following link:
http://www.hscic.gov.uk/pubs/prescostanalysiseng2015
2 Net ingredient cost is the basic cost of a drug. It does not take account of discounts, dispensing costs, fees or prescription charges income.
Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of medicinal cannabis use to the NHS in each of the last three years.
Answered by George Freeman
We have made no such estimates.
Herbal cannabis is not licensed as a medicine and, under section 7(4) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, a pharmacist would need to obtain a licence from the Home Office if they were to dispense cannabis.
Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the difference in cost to the public purse of people using medicinal cannabis rather than prescription drugs in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Freeman
We have made no such estimates.
Herbal cannabis is not licensed as a medicine and, under section 7(4) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, a pharmacist would need to obtain a licence from the Home Office if they were to dispense cannabis.
Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people using cannabis in the UK for medicinal purposes; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Freeman
We have made no such estimates.
Herbal cannabis is not licensed as a medicine and, under section 7(4) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, a pharmacist would need to obtain a licence from the Home Office if they were to dispense cannabis.
Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what contingency plans are in place to alleviate the increased demands on neighbouring GP practices when a practice closes.
Answered by Alistair Burt
NHS England is statutorily accountable for ensuring that patients have access to a general practitioner (GP) practice. In the event of a practice closure, NHS England will assess the need for a replacement provider before dispersing a list when a GP surgery closes. A decision to disperse a list will be made on the basis that there is capacity in neighbouring practices to absorb the additional patient numbers.
To assess GP service provision in an area, NHS England works with the Care Quality Commission and local clinical commissioning groups. The Primary Care Outcomes Framework is published nationally and is derived from data submitted by individual practices on service levels and outcomes alongside national patient survey data on patient satisfaction. In terms of overall strategy, the provision of primary care will be part of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) which is published in each local authority area and reported through the local Health & Well-being Board. The JSNA will identify any gaps and risks in the provision of primary care to the local population which, in turn, will then inform commissioning strategies for that area.
There is no national guidance on the ratio of patients to doctors in GP practices. In recent years, the development of the wider primary care teams (with nurses, healthcare assistants, pharmacists and therapists) means that a focus on the ratio of patients to doctors has less meaning than in previous years. The national workforce survey allows NHS England to benchmark individual practices in terms of the staffing to patient ratio.
Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what obligations NHS England has to provide patients access to a GP practice.
Answered by Alistair Burt
NHS England is statutorily accountable for ensuring that patients have access to a general practitioner (GP) practice. In the event of a practice closure, NHS England will assess the need for a replacement provider before dispersing a list when a GP surgery closes. A decision to disperse a list will be made on the basis that there is capacity in neighbouring practices to absorb the additional patient numbers.
To assess GP service provision in an area, NHS England works with the Care Quality Commission and local clinical commissioning groups. The Primary Care Outcomes Framework is published nationally and is derived from data submitted by individual practices on service levels and outcomes alongside national patient survey data on patient satisfaction. In terms of overall strategy, the provision of primary care will be part of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) which is published in each local authority area and reported through the local Health & Well-being Board. The JSNA will identify any gaps and risks in the provision of primary care to the local population which, in turn, will then inform commissioning strategies for that area.
There is no national guidance on the ratio of patients to doctors in GP practices. In recent years, the development of the wider primary care teams (with nurses, healthcare assistants, pharmacists and therapists) means that a focus on the ratio of patients to doctors has less meaning than in previous years. The national workforce survey allows NHS England to benchmark individual practices in terms of the staffing to patient ratio.
Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what measures NHS England uses to assess GP service provision to an area.
Answered by Alistair Burt
NHS England is statutorily accountable for ensuring that patients have access to a general practitioner (GP) practice. In the event of a practice closure, NHS England will assess the need for a replacement provider before dispersing a list when a GP surgery closes. A decision to disperse a list will be made on the basis that there is capacity in neighbouring practices to absorb the additional patient numbers.
To assess GP service provision in an area, NHS England works with the Care Quality Commission and local clinical commissioning groups. The Primary Care Outcomes Framework is published nationally and is derived from data submitted by individual practices on service levels and outcomes alongside national patient survey data on patient satisfaction. In terms of overall strategy, the provision of primary care will be part of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) which is published in each local authority area and reported through the local Health & Well-being Board. The JSNA will identify any gaps and risks in the provision of primary care to the local population which, in turn, will then inform commissioning strategies for that area.
There is no national guidance on the ratio of patients to doctors in GP practices. In recent years, the development of the wider primary care teams (with nurses, healthcare assistants, pharmacists and therapists) means that a focus on the ratio of patients to doctors has less meaning than in previous years. The national workforce survey allows NHS England to benchmark individual practices in terms of the staffing to patient ratio.
Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidelines have been issued to GP practices on the safe ratio of patients to doctors in GP practices.
Answered by Alistair Burt
NHS England is statutorily accountable for ensuring that patients have access to a general practitioner (GP) practice. In the event of a practice closure, NHS England will assess the need for a replacement provider before dispersing a list when a GP surgery closes. A decision to disperse a list will be made on the basis that there is capacity in neighbouring practices to absorb the additional patient numbers.
To assess GP service provision in an area, NHS England works with the Care Quality Commission and local clinical commissioning groups. The Primary Care Outcomes Framework is published nationally and is derived from data submitted by individual practices on service levels and outcomes alongside national patient survey data on patient satisfaction. In terms of overall strategy, the provision of primary care will be part of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) which is published in each local authority area and reported through the local Health & Well-being Board. The JSNA will identify any gaps and risks in the provision of primary care to the local population which, in turn, will then inform commissioning strategies for that area.
There is no national guidance on the ratio of patients to doctors in GP practices. In recent years, the development of the wider primary care teams (with nurses, healthcare assistants, pharmacists and therapists) means that a focus on the ratio of patients to doctors has less meaning than in previous years. The national workforce survey allows NHS England to benchmark individual practices in terms of the staffing to patient ratio.