Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 30 May 2019 to Question 256964, what the normal protocol is for proposing provisions agreed under the non-pay schedules in the NHS Handbook to (a) consultants and (b) associate doctors (SAS); and whether that protocol has been followed in relation to the enhanced shared parental leave NHS entitlement implemented in April 2019.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
NHS Employers have proposed to medical trades unions the adoption of a set of common provisions set out in the NHS Handbook. These terms and conditions include, but are not limited to, shared parental leave and redundancy. Medical trades unions have been invited to discuss the proposed changes in partnership through the established negotiation forums for the consultant and specialty and associate specialists (SAS) doctor contracts.
This is the same protocol as has previously been followed for proposing provisions agreed under the non-pay schedules in the NHS Handbook to consultants and SAS doctors.
In 2015, the NHS Staff Council agreed new redundancy provisions for the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service. The British Medical Association (BMA), who are part of the Staff Council, did not agree to amend the national terms and conditions which their members are employed upon. This resulted in redundancy terms being different for doctors compared with other National Health Service staff. In 2016 the new contract for doctors and dentists in training introduced schedules which brought them in line with the shared provisions for other NHS staff, including redundancy. However, as it stands, other grades of doctors still have anomalous redundancy arrangements compared with the rest of the NHS workforce.
The effect of the proposal to accept a set of common provisions on consultants and SAS doctors will be that these non-pay elements of their terms and conditions will be brought into line with doctors and dentists in training and Agenda for Change staff, bringing equity across staff groups.
The BMA have responded that whilst they are keen to incorporate the new provisions on shared parental leave, they do not wish to accept the set of common provisions from the NHS Handbook as they wish to maintain distinct terms and conditions of service for the groups they represent. The Government see no basis for maintaining separate terms and conditions for these groups of doctors in relation to the shared schedules.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on mandatory calorie labelling for restaurants, cafes and takeaways.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
My Rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on improving the health and wellbeing of children and families.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to tackle sexual harassment of NHS staff by members of the public.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
Employers are responsible for protecting their staff from sexual harassment by members of the public. Sexual harassment, a form of unlawful discrimination, should not be tolerated under any circumstances so staff who believe they have been subjected to it should report the incident(s). Employers should ensure they fully support these staff and work with them to ensure appropriate legal action is taken against perpetrators.
Our “call to action” to tackle bullying and harassment, led by the NHS Social Partnership Forum, chaired by Departmental ministers, is working with National Health Service system leaders, NHS organisations, staff and unions, to encourage the leadership and culture change required to eradicate bullying and all forms of harassment of our people. Now in its third year, one of the “call to action” priorities is tackling sexual harassment.
The partnership approach being adopted through our “call to action” will be built on by the interim NHS People Plan, published on 3 June 2019 which, over the summer, will develop a new offer for staff, part of which will be how to “create a healthy, inclusive and compassionate culture” including a focus on tackling bullying and harassment”.
The planned interventions and financial commitments from the “up to £2 million per year” allocated in the NHS Long Term Plan to tackling bullying and violence against staff, will be set out in the final NHS People Plan to be published after the Government’s Spending Review later this year.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all asthma inhalers are recycled.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The Sustainable Development Unit (SDU), a joint NHS England and Public Health England unit, has established a cross sector working group on low carbon inhalers. The group includes representation from a number of patient and clinician groups, as well as cross Government representation.
The SDU have recently reviewed a scheme operated by GSK that encourages return of inhalers for recycling, including recovery of the F-gases for reuse. The scheme is very welcome but limited in scope. The SDU has therefore invited industry suggestions to the national Low Carbon Inhalers Working Group on ways to increase recovery for environmentally safe disposal and recycling.
Furthermore, a cross system approach is now being developed into a system wide implementation plan, with specific actions being delivered by individual members of the group. All actions are supporting progress towards or exceed the NHS Long Term Plan commitment on low carbon inhalers. This will contribute to the overall National Health Service commitment in the Long Term Plan to reduce carbon emissions in line with the Climate Change Act.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
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 implications for his policies on increasing support for people who are self-harming of the Lancet article, Prevalence of non-suicidal self-harm and service contact in England, 2000–14: repeated cross-sectional surveys of the general population, published on 4 June 2019.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
We are aware of the rise in young people self-harming, which is why we included a new key area for action to address self-harming in the cross-government National Suicide Prevention Strategy in 2017.
Our close work with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on its Online Harms White Paper will also help to tackle online harms associated with harmful suicide and self-harm content across the internet, including social media.
We continue to fund research into self-harming through the multi-centre study for self-harm in England, which will look at self-harming in children and young people in more detail over the next two years.
Through the NHS Long Term Plan we have also invested £249 million to ensure every emergency department has a mental health liaison team in place by 2020/21, which are well placed to treat people who present at hospital for self-harm. The Plan also commits to developing integrated models of primary and community care to support people with complex needs, including self-harming.
Investment in the Mental Health Five Year Forward View and NHS Long Term Plan will deliver timely, high-quality mental health support, including by 2023/24. By expanding services and working with schools and colleges an additional 345,000 children and young people aged 0-25 will be able to access comprehensive support.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the interim report: Independent Review of National Cancer Screening Programmes, published May 2019, whether he plans to increase support for the recruitment and training of new cancer experts to enable NHS services to cope with increasing demand for cancer services over the next 10 years.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The National Health Service currently has a record number of specialist cancer staff and has committed to recruit an additional 1,500 staff across seven priority cancer specialisms by 2021.
The NHS interim People Plan, published on 3 June 2019, acknowledges that further action must be taken to increase the numbers of nurses in this field. It will undertake a detailed review of all branches of nursing in advance of the full People Plan, in order to identify steps to grow and recruit a world class cancer workforce to the NHS.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
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 of the adequacy of the number of district nurses; and what steps he is taking to increase the (a) retention and (b) recruitment of district nurses.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The latest NHS Digital workforce statistics (February 2019) showed that there were 4,324 full-time equivalent district nurses working in National Health Service trusts.
NHS Improvement and NHS Employers are working in partnership to support trusts to improve retention of the whole nursing workforce including district nurses. They offer targeted support to trusts to collaborate on key issues affecting retention such as flexible working, supporting new starters and older workers, and development and career planning.
Health Education England (HEE) is responsible for setting the number of District Nurse Specialist Practitioner Qualification training places available each year in England, which is based on its assessment of service gaps and predicted workforce needs.
HEE has agreed to provide funding for all community nursing specialist practice qualifications until 2020. In addition to this, a District Nurse (Level 7) Apprenticeship standard is currently in development, which will provide an alternative route into the profession.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
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 of the quality of care and therapy provision for people with opioid addiction.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) routinely carries out reviews of substance misuse services. In their most recent assessment the CQC rated the majority of residential substance misuse centres and community substance misuse centres as good or outstanding.
Public Health England (PHE) has published a comprehensive review of the evidence on the drug misuse treatment system in England. In comparison with other countries and the international research, it shows the system is performing well but there are some areas where we can improve. Although the review covers drug treatment effectiveness, it does not address the quality of care and therapy. The review is available to view at the following link:
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the number of NHS learning disability nurses.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department and Health Education England are undertaking work to ensure that the National Health Service has access to learning disability nurses required to deliver high quality care. This includes ensuring nurses in other sectors have opportunities within their competency frameworks to develop their skills further to work in mental health and learning disability nursing and offering postgraduate students who commenced their loan funded studies in 2018/19 a £10,000 incentive payment once they take up employment in the field.
In addition, Health Education England continues to work with stakeholders across the health and social care system to raise the profile of learning disability nursing, including working with the university sector to recruit more students onto courses and in partnership with the University and Colleges Admissions Service a recruitment campaign which is run during university clearing.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to bring forward a social care Green Paper.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
As people live longer than ever before, sometimes with complex care needs, we need to ensure the social care system is sustainable in the longer term. The Green Paper remains a priority for the Government. We are continuing to work on it closely, taking the time to consult with key stakeholders and take their feedback into consideration. As such, it will be published at the earliest opportunity.