Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to support people with communication needs access (a) online appointment bookings and (b) other digital healthcare services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
All National Health Service organisations and publicly funded social care providers in England are required to meet the Accessible Information Standard in order to meet the communication needs of patients and carers with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss.
Patients are able to request general practice appointments and manage secondary care appointments through local online tools and the NHS App, which can also be accessed through a web browser. The NHS App is designed to meet international accessibility standards and the services are routinely tested with a range of people with accessibility issues. User reviews and research show the NHS App and website to be highly usable and simple to use. Local online tools must also meet minimum accessibility standards.
Digital healthcare services are part of a multi-channel offering, and patients unable to use digital channels can continue to access services via telephone and through traditional face to face services. Digital services must be designed to alleviate healthcare inequalities rather than exacerbate them. Our goal is to ensure that reducing healthcare inequalities and improving digital inclusion have due focus in wider inclusive user design and delivery for all digital health products and services, including through implementation of the NHS England Digital Inclusion Framework.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of career development and progression opportunities for the social care workforce supporting people with disabilities; and if he will take steps to increase (a) the pay scales of that workforce in line with a minimum of NHS band 3 and (b) other measures that support the (i) development and (ii) retention of that workforce.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no assessment on the potential impact of changes in the number of people working in the social care sector on services for people with disabilities. Although the Department does not collect statistics on the number of people working in social care on services for people with disabilities, the latest data from Skills for Care shows that in 2023/24, there were 1.705 million filled posts for the adult social care sector. This marks an increase of 4.2% on the previous year.
The Department is continuing the development of the Care Workforce Pathway, the first national career structure for adult social care. The first phase of the pathway was published on 10 January 2024, following a call for evidence and development with a sector specific expert consultation group.
Enhancing skills for staff working in social care is of critical importance. The pathway sets out the knowledge, skills, behaviours, and values needed to work in adult social care, as well as a clear career structure. The pathway includes suggested learning programmes which are available for funding through the Adult Social Care Learning and Development Support Scheme (LDSS), which launched in September. The LDSS course list provides a variety of sector specific training courses and qualifications.
We are introducing the first ever Fair Pay Agreement to the adult social care sector. This will empower worker representatives, employers, and others to negotiate pay, and terms and conditions in a regulated and responsible manner. We will engage those who draw upon, work in, and provide care and support, as well as local authorities, unions, and others from across the sector. The exact structure of that agreement is subject to consultation and negotiation.
This work in combination will be an important part of the first step towards a National Care Service.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of changes in the number of people working in the social care sector on services for people with disabilities; and what steps he is taking to help improve (a) pay, (b) training, (c) career progression opportunities and (d) other recruitment and retention measures in that sector.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no assessment on the potential impact of changes in the number of people working in the social care sector on services for people with disabilities. Although the Department does not collect statistics on the number of people working in social care on services for people with disabilities, the latest data from Skills for Care shows that in 2023/24, there were 1.705 million filled posts for the adult social care sector. This marks an increase of 4.2% on the previous year.
The Department is continuing the development of the Care Workforce Pathway, the first national career structure for adult social care. The first phase of the pathway was published on 10 January 2024, following a call for evidence and development with a sector specific expert consultation group.
Enhancing skills for staff working in social care is of critical importance. The pathway sets out the knowledge, skills, behaviours, and values needed to work in adult social care, as well as a clear career structure. The pathway includes suggested learning programmes which are available for funding through the Adult Social Care Learning and Development Support Scheme (LDSS), which launched in September. The LDSS course list provides a variety of sector specific training courses and qualifications.
We are introducing the first ever Fair Pay Agreement to the adult social care sector. This will empower worker representatives, employers, and others to negotiate pay, and terms and conditions in a regulated and responsible manner. We will engage those who draw upon, work in, and provide care and support, as well as local authorities, unions, and others from across the sector. The exact structure of that agreement is subject to consultation and negotiation.
This work in combination will be an important part of the first step towards a National Care Service.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
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 trends in the regional variation of funding for charitable hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. The Government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting and hospices will have a big role to play in that shift.
Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding from the National Health Service. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by integrated care board (ICB) area, and will, in part, be dependent on the local population need and a system-wide approach using a range of palliative and end of life care provision within their ICB footprint.
We have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver an NHS 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.
More information about how members of the public, patients, healthcare staff and stakeholder organisations can input into the 10-Year Health Plan is available at the following link:
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
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 adequacy of funding for charitable hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. The Government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting and hospices will have a big role to play in that shift.
Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding from the National Health Service. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by integrated care board (ICB) area, and will, in part, be dependent on the local population need and a system-wide approach using a range of palliative and end of life care provision within their ICB footprint.
We have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver an NHS 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.
More information about how members of the public, patients, healthcare staff and stakeholder organisations can input into the 10-Year Health Plan is available at the following link:
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government plans to replace all radiotherapy machines older than ten years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government announced last week that £70million will be spent on new radiotherapy machines, which will help ensure that the most advanced treatment is available to patients who need it.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
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 increase funding for children's mental health.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are discussing our future investment in children and young people’s mental health services. Departmental budgets for 2025/26 will be confirmed at the next Budget on 30 October 2024.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
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 14 May 2024 to Question 25289 on Visual Impairment: Rehabilitation, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) holding and (b) collecting data on the provision of vision rehabilitation support.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Department is working with local authorities and other organisations to identify the data needed to support the delivery of adult social care, and provide insight into adult social care outcomes. We are committed to reducing the burden of data collection on local authorities and adult social care providers, so the benefits of any new data collection will need to be balanced against the potential burden it would create.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data her Department holds on the provision of vision rehabilitation support services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Department does not collect or hold this information. However, the Department is working with local authorities and other organisations to identify the data needed to support the delivery of adult social care, and provide insight into adult social care outcomes.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
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) discharge patients from hospitals and (b) reduce the number of patients in hospital who do not meet residency criteria.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Government is investing £600 million this year and £1 billion next year through the Discharge Fund for local authorities and National Health Service integrated care boards to spend flexibly based on their local needs. This will include the purchase of short-term packages of care, community-based reablement capacity and building the workforce capacity needed to continue to support care users.
We are also supporting all systems to improve their care transfer hubs through the support offer set out in the 'Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care', which includes webinars, actions learning sets and sharing best practice. Care transfer hubs link across health, social care, the voluntary sector and housing partners to coordinate complex discharges. This will help to ensure patients are discharged safely and to the right setting as soon as possible.