Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment has been made of the presence of flammable cladding on hospitals; what the timetable is for assessing all hospital buildings for the presence of such cladding; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Philip Dunne
As part of the response to the tragic events at Grenfell Tower, actions have been implemented across the National Health Service to assess the risks of similar issues and ensure that the NHS estate is safe. The process of checking and testing the NHS’s estate is continuing.
Fire safety checks of NHS facilities are regularly undertaken in line with legislation and guidance. Hospitals are well prepared – each one has a tailored fire safety plan, which includes assessment of the provision of fire safety precautions including alarms and evacuation plans. But nothing is more important than the safety of patients and staff, so on a precautionary basis we asked all hospitals to conduct additional checks. Jim Mackey, Chief Executive of NHS Improvement instigated inspections by local fire and rescue services on 24 June 2017. All NHS trusts and foundation trusts were asked to carry out urgent fire safety checks following the Grenfell Tower fire. All NHS trusts have provided assurance that they have undertaken a fire risk assessment in the past 12 months.
As of 7 July, six trusts had been identified with buildings with aluminium composite material cladding, and they have therefore initiated additional fire safety precautions.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the planned new database for cervical screening will be in place by November 2017; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Mowat
NHS England is working with Primary Care Support England to develop a new information system for the NHS Cervical Screening Programme. A key element of this is a database to ensure women are managed accurately and safely through the programme. This will be particularly important when the programme converts from cytology screening to human papilloma virus primary screening by April 2019.
The new database is currently in development and is planned to be introduced from mid-2018. The original timeframe (first – second quarter 2017) was reviewed and revised to ensure the database solution is fit for purpose and implemented safely and effectively, to realise the intended benefits for service users.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, who the diversity champion is on his departmental board.
Answered by David Mowat
The Department of Health is committed to promoting and achieving equality and diversity in the workplace. We aim to attract and retain people who are the best in their field, with the right skills and competencies and from a diverse range of backgrounds. This diversity makes the Department better able to serve the citizens of the United Kingdom.
The Departmental Board has appointed the Diversity Champions shown in the table below
Diversity Topic | Board Champion |
Race | Lee McDonough |
Gender | Tamara Finkelstein |
LGBT | Clara Swinson |
Disability | David Williams |
Social Mobility | Mark Davies |
Health and Wellbeing | Gina Radford |
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to reply to the letter of 18 November 2016 from the hon. Member for Dewsbury on acute hospital services in the Kirklees area.
Answered by Philip Dunne
I responded to the hon. Member on 15 December.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the new cervical screening database will be ready in time for the rollout of HPV primary screening.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
NHS England is working with primary care support providers to develop a new cervical screening call and recall system. We expect the new cervical screening call and recall system to be introduced by April 2019. In addition, NHS England is working closely with Public Health England to align implementation plans for human papillomavirus (HPV) primary screening. We expect HPV screening to be rolled out from April 2019.
NHS England closely monitors the coverage rates for cervical screening in all age groups and is committed to improving coverage. Local NHS England commissioners analyse coverage rates within their area and work with healthcare professionals to improve coverage. This includes sharing and implementing best practice such as cervical screening guides for general practitioner practices or targeting practices with low coverage rates. At a national level NHS England is working with Public Health England to make evidence based improvements such as improving invitation letters to patients to encourage more to attend their cervical screening appointment.
NHS England is working in partnership with Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support on the ACE (Accelerate, Coordinate, Evaluate) Programme aiming to generate knowledge about effective approaches to achieve earlier diagnosis. A number of ACE test sites are evaluating approaches to increase screening rates in a range of groups, including black and ethnic minority women, women with learning disabilities and women from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve cervical screening coverage.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
NHS England is working with primary care support providers to develop a new cervical screening call and recall system. We expect the new cervical screening call and recall system to be introduced by April 2019. In addition, NHS England is working closely with Public Health England to align implementation plans for human papillomavirus (HPV) primary screening. We expect HPV screening to be rolled out from April 2019.
NHS England closely monitors the coverage rates for cervical screening in all age groups and is committed to improving coverage. Local NHS England commissioners analyse coverage rates within their area and work with healthcare professionals to improve coverage. This includes sharing and implementing best practice such as cervical screening guides for general practitioner practices or targeting practices with low coverage rates. At a national level NHS England is working with Public Health England to make evidence based improvements such as improving invitation letters to patients to encourage more to attend their cervical screening appointment.
NHS England is working in partnership with Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support on the ACE (Accelerate, Coordinate, Evaluate) Programme aiming to generate knowledge about effective approaches to achieve earlier diagnosis. A number of ACE test sites are evaluating approaches to increase screening rates in a range of groups, including black and ethnic minority women, women with learning disabilities and women from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans the Government has to fund and run national awareness campaigns on cervical cancer prevention.
Answered by David Mowat
Public Health England’s (PHE) ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaigns aim to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of specific cancers, and to encourage those with symptoms to see their doctor promptly. The decision on which cancers should be the focus of ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaigns is informed by a steering group, whose members include primary and secondary care clinicians, and key voluntary sector organisations.
PHE is currently developing a generic approach which will enable us to cover a range of symptoms in one campaign. A regional pilot campaign to raise awareness of a range of abdominal symptoms that can indicate a wider number of cancers, including cervical, and the need to visit the doctor promptly with these symptoms will run from 9 February until 31 March 2017 in the East and West Midlands. This work has been developed with the help of a number of experts, including clinicians and charities.
As usual, the regional pilot will be evaluated and results will help inform decisions about whether to expand this campaign nationally in the future.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to encourage diversity in the workforce of ambulance services in England.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Ambulance services, like all employers across the National Health Service, are responsible for improving the diversity of their workforce to reflect the communities they serve.
This month, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives pledged their commitment to NHS England’s Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) in a renewed effort to improve diversity in ambulance trusts.
As part of their NHS standard contract, each ambulance trust will focus on four WRES indicators. They will set short, medium and long term goals to address:
- the number of black and minority ethnic staff in their workplaces;
- the shortlisting and application rates of candidates from BME backgrounds;
- bullying, harassment and abuse by patients and the public; and
- bullying, harassment and abuse by colleagues.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what advice his Department gives to clinical commissioning groups on how to respond in circumstances where a private provider of patient transport services has its ambulances seized by bailiffs; and on how many occasions such a seizure has taken place.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The contractual arrangements entered into by clinical commissioning groups are matters for the organisations concerned and for NHS England. The Department is aware from media accounts that such a seizure of vehicles took place in June of this year in Sussex.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of relative levels of productivity in community pharmacy and secondary care in each year since 2005.
Answered by David Mowat
We have made no assessment of productivity in community pharmacies.