Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of public funding for Devon Hospiccare in Exeter.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included in the list of services that the integrated care boards (ICBs) in England, including the NHS Devon ICB, under which Devon Hospiscare falls, must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices like Devon Hospiscare, also play in providing support to people at end of life, and their loved ones.
We do understand that, financially, times are difficult for many voluntary and charitable organisations, including hospices, due to a range of concurrent cost pressures. We will consider next steps on palliative and end of life care, including funding, in the coming months.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 further regulating social care micro-providers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England. The CQC has powers under the Health and Care Act 2008 to regulate adult social care services, to make sure they provide safe, effective, compassionate, and high-quality care. Where concerns on quality or safety are identified, the CQC uses the regulatory and enforcement powers it has available, and will take action to ensure the safety of people drawing on care and support.
Providers of any size are required to be registered with, and therefore regulated by, the CQC, when they carry out personal care for people who are unable to provide it for themselves because of old age, illness, or disability, as defined in Regulation 2 (Interpretation) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014).
Any amendments to the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 would be subject to the usual Parliamentary process, which would include a public consultation, and thus an opportunity to consider the merits of further regulation of social care providers.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with adult social care providers on the planned level of funding for the (a) NHS and (b) social care in the next four financial years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department holds regular meetings with adult social care stakeholders, including service providers and representative bodies, to discuss key issues and developments, such as the impact of the Budget on the sector.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to implement the recommendations within the Blood Cancer UK report entitled, UK Blood Cancer Action Plan, published on 4 September 2024.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Poole on 11 October 2024 to Question 7389.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been reported missing from (a) hospitals and (b) other health care settings in each of the last four years for which data is available.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows a count of patient safety incidents, reported as occurring where the incident category is absconder or missing patient, broken down by care setting, each year from 2020/21 to 2023/24:
Care setting of occurrence | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Acute or general hospital | 13,792 | 15,541 | 17,545 | 13,911 |
Ambulance service | 76 | 64 | 143 | 141 |
Community and general dental service | 6 | 13 | 61 | 1 |
Community nursing, medical and therapy service, including community hospital | 814 | 745 | 801 | 309 |
Community optometry or optician service | 81 | 295 | 284 | 0 |
Community pharmacy | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
General practice | 8 | 3 | 9 | 17 |
Learning disabilities service | 143 | 164 | 143 | 94 |
Mental health service | 10,654 | 11,396 | 13,281 | 7,146 |
Total | 25,574 | 28,222 | 32,275 | 21,620 |
Source: National Reporting and Learning System, NHS England.
Notes:
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has for the role hospices will play in shifting care into the community.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have committed to develop a 10-Year Health Plan to deliver an National Health Service fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our stakeholders as we develop the plan.
One of the three shifts that the plan will deliver is around the Government’s determination to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community. This includes our commitment to trial neighbourhood health centres, to ensure that patients receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting. Palliative and end of life care services, including hospices, will play an important role in our considerations of the services those centres should host. More information about how they can input into the 10-Year Health Plan is available at the following link:
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 (a) increase funding for epilepsy research and (b) improve treatment options for patients with epilepsy.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research into epilepsy via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR spent almost £19 million on 46 epilepsy research projects in the five years from April 2019 to March 2024. Additionally, over this period, more than 9,500 people were enabled to participate in epilepsy research by the NIHR Clinical Research Network, now the NIHR Research Delivery Network.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including epilepsy. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
The NIHR also works closely with other Government funders, including UK Research and Innovation, which is funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and includes the Medical Research Council, to fund research into epilepsy to improve treatments and prevent poor health outcomes for patients.
We want a society where every person, including those with long-term conditions such as epilepsy, receives high-quality, compassionate continuity of care, with their families and carers supported. We will change the National Health Service so that it becomes not just a sickness service, but one that is able to prevent ill health in the first place. This will help us be better prepared for the change in the nature of disease, and allow our services to focus more on the management of chronic, long-term conditions, including epilepsy.
At the national level, there are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with epilepsy, including the RightCare Epilepsy Toolkit and the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology, with further information on both available, respectively, at the following two links:
https://gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk/academy-resources/population-health/
https://gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk/medical_specialties/neurology/
NHS England has also established a Neurology Service Transformation Programme, a multi-year, clinically led programme to develop a new model of integrated care for neurology services, including for epilepsy.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to roll out NHS-funded Hybrid Close Loop technology to all Type 1 Diabetics in the UK.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In December 2023, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published the Technology Appraisal guidance, and recommended that the National Health Service in England makes Hybrid Closed Loop (HCL) systems available to eligible adults, and all children and young people, those under 19 years old, with type 1 diabetes. The NICE and NHS England agreed on a phased implementation period for HCL over five-years, and without the usual 90-day funding mandate. This is because of a need to build essential workforce competencies within specialist adult services. The NHS England HCL Implementation Strategy, published in January 2024, set out how local systems can meet the needs of the eligible population living with type 1 diabetes. The initial phase of the roll out of HCL systems started earlier this year, in April 2024. Further information on the HCL Implementation Strategy is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/hybrid-closed-loop-technologies-5-year-implementation-strategy/
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 impact of the introduction of the National Care Institute for Health and Care Excellence severity modifier in 2022 on the (a) appraisal of Enhertu for HER2-low secondary breast cancer and (b) availability of new treatments for secondary breast cancer over the next (i) five, (ii) ten and (iii) twenty years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for developing the methods and processes it uses in its evaluations independently, and in consultation with stakeholders. The severity modifier that the NICE introduced in 2022 is based on evidence of societal preferences, and was introduced as part of a comprehensive review of the NICE’s methods and processes, following extensive public and stakeholder engagement. The severity modifier was designed to be opportunity cost neutral in relation to the end of life modifier that it replaced, and to apply to a broader range of conditions than had benefited from the end of life modifier.
The NICE was unfortunately unable to recommend Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) for the treatment of HER2-low secondary breast cancer in its final guidance published in July 2024, despite the topic being awarded a severity weighting. Other drugs for advanced cancer, including breast cancer, have been approved using these methods.
No assessment has been made on the likely impact on appraisals of future breast cancer medicines. However, since its introduction, the severity modifier has resulted in a higher approval rate for cancer medicines than under the NICE’s previous methods, and has also allowed greater weight to be applied to non-cancer medicines that address a broader range of severe diseases, enabling the NICE to recommend medicines for conditions such as cystic fibrosis and hepatitis D. The NICE is keeping the impact of the severity modifier under review and is scoping further research into society’s preferences on how much additional weighting to give to health benefits for people with severe diseases.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make representations to NICE on their decision to no longer offer Enertu for women suffering from metastatic HER2-LOW breast cancer.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions on whether new medicines should be routinely funded by the National Health Service in England are taken by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on the basis of an evaluation of a treatment’s costs and benefits. NICE’s methods are internationally respected, and have been developed through extensive work with industry, academics and the public to ensure they appropriately capture the costs and benefits, and best reflect social values. These are very difficult decisions to make, and it is important that they are made independently and based on the available evidence.
We understand that despite NICE instigating an exceptional pause in the process to allow for commercial negotiations to take place with the companies, Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca, a deal to enable patient access to this treatment on the NHS in England has not been reached.
We know NICE’s announcement has come as a blow to many women and their families. We understand that NICE and NHS England have already sought to apply as much flexibility as they can in their considerations of Enhertu and have made it clear to the companies that their pricing of the drug remains the main obstacle to access.
Within 16 weeks of the publication of final guidance, companies can also request a rapid review to consider new patient access scheme proposals, with the aim of establishing a pricing agreement that would improve cost-effectiveness and enable patient access to high-cost medicines. The Government wants to see a deal reached to make Enhertu available. NICE and NHS England remain open to considering an improved offer from the companies through the rapid review process, and we strongly encourage the companies to come back to the table.