Asked by: Oliver Heald (Conservative - North East Hertfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the quality and rigour of checks made by locum agencies of the character and credentials of staff to be provided to the NHS or social services; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Providers of regulated health and social care services must be registered with the Care Quality Commission and comply with certain fundamental standards, including those relating to the employment of fit and proper persons.
In the National Health Service, employing organisations have the overarching responsibility for auditing and monitoring compliance of third party suppliers of temporary workers (including locum doctors) to ensure that they operate to the same level of standards in relation to undertaking pre-appointment checks as outlined by the NHS Employment Check Standards. Under the framework agreements, all external staffing providers (including contractors and agencies) are required to provide assurances that they have robust recruitment processes in place in line with the NHS Employment Check Standards.
Care workers also routinely use agencies to secure employment or apply to care homes and care providers directly. Employers in the care sector have a duty of care to patients and their families to take all appropriate action to ensure employees have the appropriate credentials to enable them to work in the sector. In cases of direct payment, where the council pays the care-recipient directly to employ a carer, this responsibility falls to the care recipient.
Asked by: Oliver Heald (Conservative - North East Hertfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what checks locum agencies are required to make when they sub-contract the provision of staff to other locum agencies for temporary workers in the NHS or social services; what steps are taken to ensure proper checks are made on the quality and character of such staff; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Providers of regulated health and social care services must be registered with the Care Quality Commission and comply with certain fundamental standards, including those relating to the employment of fit and proper persons.
In the National Health Service, employing organisations have the overarching responsibility for auditing and monitoring compliance of third party suppliers of temporary workers (including locum doctors) to ensure that they operate to the same level of standards in relation to undertaking pre-appointment checks as outlined by the NHS Employment Check Standards. Under the framework agreements, all external staffing providers (including contractors and agencies) are required to provide assurances that they have robust recruitment processes in place in line with the NHS Employment Check Standards.
Care workers also routinely use agencies to secure employment or apply to care homes and care providers directly. Employers in the care sector have a duty of care to patients and their families to take all appropriate action to ensure employees have the appropriate credentials to enable them to work in the sector. In cases of direct payment, where the council pays the care-recipient directly to employ a carer, this responsibility falls to the care recipient.
Asked by: Oliver Heald (Conservative - North East Hertfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 3 December 2014 to Question 216204, what progress the working group on vaginal tapes and mesh has made concerning transvaginal mesh implants; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Freeman
The working group on vaginal tapes and mesh is now finalising its interim recommendations which NHS England expects to publish in November 2015, subject to its internal governance processes.
Asked by: Oliver Heald (Conservative - North East Hertfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will maintain its funding for carers; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Spending on social care is a local decision made by individual councils. There is no specific Departmental grant relating to carers and as such funding for carer support is ultimately a local decision. There are however a number of legal duties and non-ring-fenced monies specifically earmarked for carer support that set expectations, as set out below.
This year, the Better Care Fund will provide £5.3 billion of investment in better integrated care, based on joint plans that have been developed locally and putting resources where the local National Health Service and social services think it is needed. Social care protection is a national condition of the Better Care Fund – no plan has been approved without clear proof of this. The plans also set out how much will be spent collectively on carer-specific services.
Under the Care Act, local authorities have a duty to assess carers and meet their eligible needs for support, putting them on an equal footing with the people they care for. Local authorities will also be able to meet needs which are not considered eligible. The Department of Health has provided £104 million of funding to local authorities for these rights in 2015/16. The majority of funding for implementation of these and other rights under the Care Act will be in the Better Care Fund (with some coming from a separate grant).
The Department of Health has also made available additional funding of £400 million to the NHS between 2011 and 2015 to enable carers to take a break from their caring responsibilities to sustain them in their caring role. The carers’ breaks funding of £130 million for 2015 – 16 will also be in the Better Care Fund.
The Department for Education has also separately provided £800 million funding to local authorities to fund short breaks for disabled children and their families.
Funding for adult social care from 2016/17 onwards will be decided at this year’s spending review.
Asked by: Oliver Heald (Conservative - North East Hertfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people with asthma have a written asthma action plan; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
We are not able to provide a figure for how many people currently have a written asthma plan. However, the Government’s mandate to NHS England for 2015/16 says that everyone with a long term condition, including asthma, should be offered a personalised care plan.
NHS England is working with stakeholders to help ensure that people with long term conditions have a personalised care and support plan, developed collaboratively with healthcare professionals. It has produced a set of handbooks for commissioners and care practitioners to help them in implementing personalised care and support planning, and further support and resources will be developed in conjunction with partners, including support for patients and carers.
Asked by: Oliver Heald (Conservative - North East Hertfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of how healthcare data and digital information could be used to help reduce variations in asthma care across the UK.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare for People with Respiratory Disease, published in 2012 provides information on regional variations in a variety of areas related to asthma including prevalence and hospital admissions.
The Atlas has been put together by a wide range of organisation including the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care, the British Lung Foundation and Asthma UK, and can be downloaded at:
http://www.rightcare.nhs.uk/index.php/atlas/respiratorydisease/
This information will allow researchers as well as those planning and commissioning NHS services to understand the impact of unwarranted variation on outcomes and to use the data to drive change locally so that care can be improved.
Asked by: Oliver Heald (Conservative - North East Hertfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the accessibility of radiotherapy for cancer patients in Letchworth Garden City.
Answered by Jane Ellison
No assessment has been made by the Department.
NHS England advises that the closest radiotherapy services to Letchworth Garden City are at Mount Vernon Hospital in Hillingdon and Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge.
NHS England is currently holding a public consultation on changes to the way radiotherapy services are commissioned and where they are provided.
NHS England will continue to review the need for additional Radiotherapy facilities outside the current centres if it benefits sufficient numbers of patients and will ensure that any changes are economically and clinically viable and enhance the existing care pathways.
Asked by: Oliver Heald (Conservative - North East Hertfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to provide satellite radiotherapy centres for patients who live in places which are inaccessible for existing radiotherapy centres; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
NHS England will continue to review the need for additional radiotherapy facilities outside the current centres if the case for change is of benefit to sufficient patients to deem it economically viable and if it enhances the existing pathways of cancer care.
The Radiotherapy Clinical Reference Group is planning to build on an earlier assessment of radiotherapy demand and capacity for England by considering aspects such as innovative treatments, stock of equipment and how need differs across different localities. This national overview will enable commissioners to ensure that the right services are in the right places to meet future demand, including innovative forms of radiotherapy.
Asked by: Oliver Heald (Conservative - North East Hertfordshire)
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 journey time by car from Letchworth Garden City to Mount Vernon Hospital in Hillingdon.
Answered by Jane Ellison
No assessment has been made by the Department.
Asked by: Oliver Heald (Conservative - North East Hertfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans NHS England has to ensure GP services in Buntingford expand in line with the increases in population as a result of new and proposed housing developments.
Answered by Dan Poulter
We are advised that NHS England is working closely with East and North Hertfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, existing Buntingford general practitioner practices and East Hertfordshire District Council on this issue. The demands that planned housing development will place on local services are understood, and a range of options continues to be explored, including relocation of existing services to larger facilities and new primary care services.