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 discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on making the measles vaccination compulsory before children start school.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
There have been no discussions between the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education, on making the measles vaccination compulsory before children start school.
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 avoid detaining students with autism and learning disabilities in Assessment and Treatment Units.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Care, Education and Treatment Reviews (CETRs) have been established as the process for preventing admission or for making an effective plan for discharge for children and young people. In 2018/19 (up to the end of February 2019), 80% of pre-admission CETRs led to a decision not to admit the young person.
The NHS Long Term Plan commits to keyworker support by 2024 for every child or young person with a learning disability or autism with the most complex needs who are inpatients or at risk of being admitted to hospital.
The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health commits to improve care and extend access to mental health services for 70,000 more children and young people by 2020/21. As outlined in the Long Term Plan, by 2023/24 an extra 345,000 children and young people aged 0-25 will receive National Health Service-funded mental health 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, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of ensuring that there are asthma specialist pharmacists in all regions.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
No recent assessment has been undertaken on this subject.
There are currently 14 severe asthma centres in England. All specialist providers are required to develop a networked model of care as the vehicle for delivering an optimal pathway and maximising patient outcomes and experience.
It is expected that National Health Service patients with severe asthma are referred to their specialist asthma service by secondary care physicians where they will receive appropriate investigation and treatment.
Respiratory disease is a clinical priority within the recently published NHS Long Term Plan. The Plan has the overarching objective of improving outcomes for people with respiratory disease, including asthma.
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 provision of severe asthma services in (a) England and (b) North Staffordshire.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
No recent assessment has been made of the adequacy of provision of severe asthma services in England and North Staffordshire.
Respiratory disease is a clinical priority within the recently published NHS Long Term Plan. The Plan has the overarching objective of improving outcomes for people with respiratory disease, including asthma.
There are currently 14 severe asthma centres in England. All specialist providers are required to develop a networked model of care as the vehicle for delivering an optimal pathway and maximising patient outcomes and experience.
It is expected that National Health Service patients with severe asthma are referred to their specialist asthma service where they will receive appropriate investigation and treatment.
The closest specialist centres to North Staffordshire are located in Birmingham and Manchester. Services for patients in Stoke and North Staffordshire with severe asthma are provided by University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust. The Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust also supports asthma patients.
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 potential (a) health risks and (b) psychiatric side effects of oral corticosteroid treatments.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Oral corticosteroids have been used for many years in the treatment of a wide range of illnesses including allergic and inflammatory diseases, immune reactions and certain cancers, and for replacement therapy where the body does not produce enough cortisol.
Corticosteroids are life-saving medicines but have a wide range of side effects, including psychiatric side effects. These can include serious effects such as suicidal thoughts, psychotic reactions and behavioural disturbances. Symptoms typically emerge within a few days or weeks of starting the treatment. Patients and/or their carers should be warned by the prescribing physician that potentially severe psychiatric adverse reactions may occur with oral corticosteroids and encouraged to seek medical advice if any worrying psychological symptoms develop.
Other side effects of corticosteroids, particularly when taken long-term, include increased susceptibility to infection, disturbances of the nervous system, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, suppression of the adrenal glands, stomach ulcers and changes to the eye (glaucoma and cataract).
A detailed list of the side effects known to occur with corticosteroids is available in the product information for prescribers (the Summary of Product Characteristics and Patient Information Leaflet which are produced by the manufacturer and authorised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for each product. Key side effects are also detailed in the British National Formulary. As with all medicines, the safety of corticosteroids is kept under review by the MHRA and product information is updated and warnings issued when necessary.
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, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing personal social care that is free at the point of need for everyone over the age of 65.
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 Government has committed to publishing a Green Paper setting out its proposals for reform and will bring forward ideas for including an element of risk pooling in the system, which will help to protect people from the highest costs. As part of this, the Department will be considering a wide range of available options.
This Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to the care and support they need, but we are clear that there should continue to be a principle of shared responsibility, and that people should continue to expect to contribute to their care as part of preparing for later life.
The Green Paper remains a priority for this Government and we will be publishing it at the earliest opportunity.
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 potential merit of banning the (a) sale and (b) consumption of food in hospitals that is high in (i) fat and (ii) sugar.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The National Health Service regularly reviews options to improve the provision and sale of food in hospitals. From November 2016 to July 2017 the NHS consulted on banning the sale of sugar sweetened beverages on NHS premises. Following this the NHS Action on Sugar scheme was launched and has reduced sales from 15.6% in July 2017 to 7.4% in June 2018 (as a proportion of total beverage sales in participating trusts). All 220 trusts have committed to this scheme, and 23 have stopped selling sugar sweetened beverages altogether.
A targeted incentive scheme from 2016/17 – 2018/19 aimed to improve the food available for sale on NHS premises, targeting price promotions and adverts for unhealthy food and drink, encouraging trusts to provide healthy options 24/7, and setting limits on the percentage of packaged food and confectionary meeting defined calorie limits. Engagement with providers suggests that the scheme had a notable impact in raising the profile of healthy food and drink and in supporting negotiation with industry partners to ensure hospitals can lead by example. All elements of the incentive scheme are intended to transfer to the new National Standards for Healthcare food, which are due for publication later this year and which will draw on engagement with retailers, suppliers and patients.
Patient nutrition is also currently covered by the five core standards enforced by the NHS Standard Contract which includes the Government buying standards and the British Dental Association nutrition digest. Patient menus need to meet the nutritional elements of both, including targets on sugar and fat, taking into account that catering requirements for groups who are nutritionally at risk often differ from those of the general populace. All organisations carry out nutritional screening using a tool such as the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool to identify where patients may be at risk. Work is ongoing via the Healthcare food standards and strategy group to continue to build on current guidance and targets for sugar, fat and salt.
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 steps his Department has taken to improve outpatient waiting times for adults suffering from an eating disorder.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Government is committed to reducing waiting times for people of all age groups who suffer with an eating disorder. Within the NHS Long Term Plan ambitions, the Clinical Review of NHS Access Standards aims to “test four-week waiting times for adult and older adult community mental health teams, with selected local areas”. This will form part of wider testing of the new and integrated models of primary and community mental health care.
The recently-published ‘Guidance for operational and activity plans: assurance statements’, to accompany the NHS Planning Guidance for 2019/20, makes clear that these new models will include services for adults with eating disorders.
In 2019-20, NHS England will begin funding a number of pilot sites for these new models across the country, including services for adults with eating disorders. Selected sites will work towards maximising access and minimising waits to improve patient care. Sites will be selected within regions over the coming months and will be given pump prime funding.
In parallel to this, NHS England is rolling out the New Care Models in Mental Health programme, delegating specialised commissioning budgets for adult eating disorder inpatient services to provider collaboratives. These collaboratives will have the power to transform pathways of care and maximise access to dedicated community-based provision to avoid need for admissions as far as possible, building on the success of pilot sites where this work is already underway.
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 evaluate the potential effect on the gender pay gap in medicine of the Government’s decision not to include (a) consultants and (b) specialist and associate speciality doctors in the NHS shared parental leave entitlement implemented in April 2019.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The shared parental leave arrangements introduced in April 2019 were part of the Agenda for Change pay and contract reform agreement and enacted via changes to the National Health Service Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook.
The provisions were extended to doctors and dentists in training, by virtue of the fact that their contractual arrangements mirror certain non-pay schedules from the NHS Handbook.
The current terms and conditions for consultants and specialty and associate specialist (SAS) doctors do not share these same schedules and therefore the changes do not automatically apply to these staff.
We firmly believe that all members of NHS staff should be treated equally. Established routes for contractual changes are via NHS Employers. Medical trades unions have been invited by NHS Employers to adopt the same non-pay schedules from the NHS Handbook for consultant and SAS doctors as have already been adopted by doctors and dentists in training, including those relating to shared parental leave.
An evaluation on the potential effect on the gender pay gap in medicine of not including consultants and specialty and associate specialist doctors in the NHS shared parental leave entitlement has not been planned.
The Department has commissioned an independent review into the gender pay gap in medicine, chaired by Professor Dame Jane Dacre. The review, which commenced in April 2018, is currently examining qualitative and quantitative evidence which will help identify the impact of cultural, practical and psychological issues that contribute to the gender pay gap in medicine.
The evidence collected and examined will go on to produce a series of implementable recommendations for publication in September 2019.
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, if he will review his decision not to include (a) consultants and (b) speciality and associate specialist doctors in the eligibility criteria for NHS shared parental leave entitlement implemented in April 2019.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The shared parental leave arrangements introduced in April 2019 were part of the Agenda for Change pay and contract reform agreement and enacted via changes to the National Health Service Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook.
The provisions were extended to doctors and dentists in training, by virtue of the fact that their contractual arrangements mirror certain non-pay schedules from the NHS Handbook.
The current terms and conditions for consultants and specialty and associate specialist (SAS) doctors do not share these same schedules and therefore the changes do not automatically apply to these staff.
We firmly believe that all members of NHS staff should be treated equally. Established routes for contractual changes are via NHS Employers. Medical trades unions have been invited by NHS Employers to adopt the same non-pay schedules from the NHS Handbook for consultant and SAS doctors as have already been adopted by doctors and dentists in training, including those relating to shared parental leave.
An evaluation on the potential effect on the gender pay gap in medicine of not including consultants and specialty and associate specialist doctors in the NHS shared parental leave entitlement has not been planned.
The Department has commissioned an independent review into the gender pay gap in medicine, chaired by Professor Dame Jane Dacre. The review, which commenced in April 2018, is currently examining qualitative and quantitative evidence which will help identify the impact of cultural, practical and psychological issues that contribute to the gender pay gap in medicine.
The evidence collected and examined will go on to produce a series of implementable recommendations for publication in September 2019.