Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will encourage Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group to commission a minor eye conditions service in Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport constituency.
Answered by Alistair Burt
General practitioners (GPs), working with secondary care consultants, nurses and lay members, are best placed to co-ordinate the commissioning of high quality care for their patients. They ensure that commissioning decisions are underpinned by clinical insight and knowledge of local health care needs.
Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have the freedom and autonomy to take responsibility for meeting the needs of local patients and the public by working closely with secondary care, other health and care professionals and with community partners to design joined up services. As such, while CCGs are led by primary care professionals, they are also guided by the expertise of other local clinicians.
The current commissioning arrangements encourage innovation by placing commissioning with those who know patients best and are aware of the latest clinical evidence and technological advances in health and care.
NHS England advises that Northern, Eastern and Western Devon CCG have no imminent plans to commission a specific minor eye conditions service at this time. CCGs are also able to commission services from local optometrists to provide treatment for minor eye conditions if they feel that is necessary to meet local needs.
Those concerned they may have a minor eye condition can visit their GP, optical practice or pharmacy.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons people in Plymouth who have epilepsy are waiting six months from having a seizure to see a consultant of specialist nurse.
Answered by Jane Ellison
There are no national measures or means by which the Department monitors frequency of patients reviews, either by consultants or nurses. Guidance is issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence however this does not replace the skills and knowledge of health professionals in managing patients. The arrangements for the management and follow up of people with epilepsy are a local matter and decisions on the frequency with which patients are seen should be made on a case by case basis, taking into account the individual circumstances of each patient.
NHS England advises that the maximum wait for outpatients to receive a neurology appointment is 12 weeks currently. Additionally 92% of patients are being seen under the specified ‘Referral To Treatment’ waiting times of 18 weeks which is within the national target.
The information on the number of people with epilepsy in Plymouth is not available in the format requested.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people with epilepsy there are in Plymouth.
Answered by Jane Ellison
There are no national measures or means by which the Department monitors frequency of patients reviews, either by consultants or nurses. Guidance is issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence however this does not replace the skills and knowledge of health professionals in managing patients. The arrangements for the management and follow up of people with epilepsy are a local matter and decisions on the frequency with which patients are seen should be made on a case by case basis, taking into account the individual circumstances of each patient.
NHS England advises that the maximum wait for outpatients to receive a neurology appointment is 12 weeks currently. Additionally 92% of patients are being seen under the specified ‘Referral To Treatment’ waiting times of 18 weeks which is within the national target.
The information on the number of people with epilepsy in Plymouth is not available in the format requested.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what measures his Department uses to identify how often people with a diagnosis of epilepsy receive treatment from a consultant or nurse.
Answered by Jane Ellison
There are no national measures or means by which the Department monitors frequency of patients reviews, either by consultants or nurses. Guidance is issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence however this does not replace the skills and knowledge of health professionals in managing patients. The arrangements for the management and follow up of people with epilepsy are a local matter and decisions on the frequency with which patients are seen should be made on a case by case basis, taking into account the individual circumstances of each patient.
NHS England advises that the maximum wait for outpatients to receive a neurology appointment is 12 weeks currently. Additionally 92% of patients are being seen under the specified ‘Referral To Treatment’ waiting times of 18 weeks which is within the national target.
The information on the number of people with epilepsy in Plymouth is not available in the format requested.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to ensure levels of bursaries and salary support for trainee clinical psychologists for the 2017-18 cohort are adequate to ensure a diverse future workforce.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Health Education England (HEE) funding for trainees in clinical psychology is currently determined at a local level based on local need and is subject to annual workforce planning. For 2016-17, HEE will fund those commissions set out in the HEE Commissioning and Investment Plan for 2016-17. HEE’s plans for training clinical psychologists remain unchanged from 2015-16 with 526 commissions proposed for 2016-17. HEE will set out its plans for 2017-18 training commissions in its next annual Commissioning and Investment Plan or Workforce Plan for England which is expected to be published in December 2016 prior to the start of the financial year.
The Government is currently consulting on the implementation of the education funding reforms for pre-registration undergraduate and postgraduate nursing, midwifery and allied health courses which are currently funded through both HEE funded tuition, a National Health Service bursary and reduced rate loan for maintenance. Respondents to the consultation may wish to raise issues relating to the funding for courses operating outside of this model, such as clinical psychology training programmes. The Government will consider these in the context of its consultation response.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to consult on levels of bursaries and salary support for trainee clinical psychologists for the 2017-18 cohort.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Health Education England (HEE) funding for trainees in clinical psychology is currently determined at a local level based on local need and is subject to annual workforce planning. For 2016-17, HEE will fund those commissions set out in the HEE Commissioning and Investment Plan for 2016-17. HEE’s plans for training clinical psychologists remain unchanged from 2015-16 with 526 commissions proposed for 2016-17. HEE will set out its plans for 2017-18 training commissions in its next annual Commissioning and Investment Plan or Workforce Plan for England which is expected to be published in December 2016 prior to the start of the financial year.
The Government is currently consulting on the implementation of the education funding reforms for pre-registration undergraduate and postgraduate nursing, midwifery and allied health courses which are currently funded through both HEE funded tuition, a National Health Service bursary and reduced rate loan for maintenance. Respondents to the consultation may wish to raise issues relating to the funding for courses operating outside of this model, such as clinical psychology training programmes. The Government will consider these in the context of its consultation response.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to ensure that the workforce requirements for the delivery of the NHS England transformation plan can be met with qualified clinical psychologists within the five-year timescale of the plan.
Answered by Alistair Burt
As set out in the independent Mental Health Taskforce report, Health Education England is working with NHS England, Public Health England, the Local Government Association and local authorities, professional bodies, charities, experts-by-experience and others to develop a costed, multi-disciplinary, five-year workforce strategy. This will focus on the future shape and skill mix of the workforce required to deliver both the Taskforce’s recommendations and the workforce recommendations set out in the Future in Mind strategy for improving children and young people’s mental health.
Health Education England will also consider the future requirements for training new clinical psychologists and psychotherapists as part of its workforce strategy. Health Education England published its commissioning and investment plan for 2016/17 which sets out plans to commission 526 training places for clinical psychologists in 2016/17 and 43 child psychotherapist places.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many specialist centres for severe asthma there are in England.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Services for people with severe asthma are commissioned by NHS England in line with a national specification to ensure patient numbers are sufficient to support safe services. NHS England has no plans to change the way it commissions these services in south west England.
Nationally, there are 27 trusts that have identified themselves as providing severe asthma services. NHS England is revising the national service specification to assist local teams in verifying and redefining the local service model to confirm the severe asthma services within each region.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to create a specialist centre for severe asthma in the South West of England.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Services for people with severe asthma are commissioned by NHS England in line with a national specification to ensure patient numbers are sufficient to support safe services. NHS England has no plans to change the way it commissions these services in south west England.
Nationally, there are 27 trusts that have identified themselves as providing severe asthma services. NHS England is revising the national service specification to assist local teams in verifying and redefining the local service model to confirm the severe asthma services within each region.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to simplify and make more accessible the diagnostic pathway in order to improve speed of diagnosis and access to support.
Answered by Jane Ellison
In September 2015, the NHS England Board approved the development of a personalised medicine strategy for the National Health Service which will be based around four overarching principles: the prediction and prevention of disease; more precise diagnoses; targeted and personalised interventions; and a more participatory role for patients.
The strategy will build on the 100,000 Genomes Project, which is moving the NHS to a new model of diagnosis and treatment based on the understanding of underlying genetic causes and drivers of disease and a comprehensive phenotypic characterisation of the disease (rather than deduction from symptoms and individual diagnostic tests). Personalised medicine informs the selection of the most appropriate treatment and better outcomes for individual patients – the right drug at the right time, earlier screening and treatment, smarter monitoring and the adjustment of treatments.
Furthermore, the Independent Cancer Taskforce recognised the need for more accessible molecular diagnostic provision in their report ‘Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes’ published in July 2015. In September 2015, the Department confirmed a commitment from NHS England to implement the Taskforce’s recommendations on molecular diagnostics.
NHS England is currently working with partners across the healthcare system to determine how best to take forward the recommendations of the Taskforce, and has appointed Cally Palmer as National Cancer Director to lead on implementation, as well as new cancer vanguards to redesign care and patient experience.
She has set up a new Cancer Transformation Board to implement the strategy, and this met for the first time on Monday 25 January 2016. There will also be a Cancer Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Harpal Kumar, to oversee and scrutinise the work of the Transformation Board. Timeframes and phasing for implementation will be dependent on the final financial settlement reached as a result of the spending review.