Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what comparative assessment his Department has made of the merits of (a) splitting Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation Trust into separate trusts and (b) retaining that Trust as a single trust.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No comparative assessment has been made of the merits of splitting Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust into separate trusts and retaining it as a single trust.
Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust is committed to delivering improved services for its patients in Norfolk and Suffolk in line with the agreed local mental health strategies for children, adults and older people in Norfolk and Suffolk. It is working collaboratively with its National Health Service and local authority partners to strengthen the local accountability of services and ensure that they are developed in a more integrated way with other local providers, for the benefit of patients in both Norfolk and Suffolk.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether patient deaths reported to the National Reporting & Learning System by the Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation Trust in 2018-19 included deaths of those using addiction services.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Trust reports deaths of patients who are accessing their services, or who have been discharged from these services within the last six months if there is evidence of a patient safety incident. This would include patients who are also known to partner services, such as addiction services.
The Trust adheres to the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) guidance as outlined within the Degree of Harm document available on the NHS Improvement website which specifically highlights “deaths from drugs and alcohol”. This is available at the following link:
https://improvement.nhs.uk/documents/1673/NRLS_Degree_of_harm_FAQs_-_final_v1.1.pdf
The guidance directs organisations to consider whether there is immediate evidence of a patient safety incident. If not, then no report would be made. However if further evidence comes to light, or post Coroner’s inquest, the cause of death is identified as a patient safety incident, the organisation would at this point make a report to the NRLS.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the workforce implementation plan will include the level of investment required to fund proposed increases in NHS staffing levels.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
A final workforce implementation plan will be published later in the year, taking into account the outcomes of the Spending Review.
We recognise the importance of workforce training to underpin effective long-term National Health Service planning. That is why we have already made commitments in this Spending Review into the next Spending Review period – for example on medical training places. At the forthcoming Spending Review, we will consider proposals from the NHS for a multi-year funding plan for clinical training places, based on the workforce requirements of the NHS plan.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with officials from other Departments on the availability and price of fresh fruit and vegetables in UK shops to support its healthy eating policies.
Answered by Steve Brine
There are ongoing discussions between officials in the Department of Health and Social Care and other Government departments on improving the nation’s health and wellbeing, including improving diets. These include formal monthly and quarterly meetings as part of the governance of the childhood obesity programme.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
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 consistency of the (a) procedures and, (b) prescribing practice Clinical Commissioning Groups.
Answered by Steve Brine
It is important that the National Health Service achieves the greatest value from the money that it spends. In 2017, the cost of prescriptions dispensed in the community was £9.17 billion, and we know that across England there is significant variation in what is being prescribed and to whom.
NHS England has partnered with NHS Clinical Commissioners to support clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in ensuring that they use their prescribing resources effectively and deliver the best patient outcomes from the medicines their local population use.
During 2017/18 CCG guidance was published by NHS England and NHS Clinical Commissioners (NHSCC) for:
- Items that should not be routinely prescribed in primary care (November 2017); and
- Conditions for which over the counter items should not routinely be prescribed in primary care (March 2018).
The aim of this is to reduce unwarranted variation in prescribing, and introduce a more equitable framework from which CCGs can take individual and local implementation decisions.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason there has been a reduction in the per-placement funding support for the nursing degree course at the University of Suffolk.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
Placement funding for nursing degree courses is paid to placement providers by Health Education England in line with a nationally agreed tariff price. The tariff payment rate has not changed since April 2017 and remains fixed at £3,112 per year for each whole time equivalent placement.
Tariff payments also attract a market forces factor payment, an additional payment to compensate for unavoidable cost differences between healthcare providers, based on their geographical location.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
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 (a) level of and (b) reasons for the variation between Clinical Commissioning Groups in the prescription of continuous glucose monitors for young people suffering from type 1 diabetes.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department has made no assessment. Ultimately it is for clinical commissioning groups, who are primarily responsible for commissioning diabetes services, to meet the requirements of their population. In doing so, they need to ensure that the services they provide are fit for purpose, reflect the needs of the local population, including young people, are based on the available evidence and take into account national guidelines.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has provided to Clinical Commissioning Groups on charging for letters which patients require in order to progress benefits claims.
Answered by Steve Brine
Under the terms of their contracts, as set out in National Health Service (General Medical Services (GMS) Contracts) and (Personal Medical Services (PMS) Agreements) Regulations 2015), general practitioners (GPs) must provide medical certificates to prove incapacity to work free of charge and cannot charge their registered patients for anything other than specific items as set out in the PMS Regulations. This includes some letters and medical reports, such as private sick notes or immunisations in connection with travel abroad.
GPs must provide these statements of incapacity to professionals working for the Health Assessment Advisory Service (part of the Department for Work and Pensions) when requested. If other statutory bodies are requesting this information to support a benefits claim, GPs are entitled to charge for this information, but the body requesting it must pay this charge rather than the patient.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that medically unqualified staff do not make additions to patients' medical notes.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
In 2016, the Information Governance Alliance published the NHS Records Management Code of Practice which sets out what people working with, or in, National Health Service organisations in England need to do to manage records correctly.
The Code of Practice is based on current legal requirements and professional best practice. It includes advice that each NHS organisation should have an overall policy statement on how it manages all its records, including electronic records.
It is the responsibility of each NHS organisation to ensure that staff are assigned access to patient records based on their role in the organisation and that, where appropriate, they should document their actions and decisions in patients’ records.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued on which people are authorised to make notes on a patient's medical record.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
In 2016, the Information Governance Alliance published the NHS Records Management Code of Practice which sets out what people working with, or in, National Health Service organisations in England need to do to manage records correctly.
The Code of Practice is based on current legal requirements and professional best practice. It includes advice that each NHS organisation should have an overall policy statement on how it manages all its records, including electronic records.
It is the responsibility of each NHS organisation to ensure that staff are assigned access to patient records based on their role in the organisation and that, where appropriate, they should document their actions and decisions in patients’ records.