Asked by: Stephen Lloyd (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what risk assessment East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust carried out on perinatal and other maternity-related deaths before removing consultant-led maternity services from that Trust area.
Answered by Philip Dunne
NHS Improvement advises that when making the decision in 2013 to consolidate consultant-led maternity services at one site, East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust considered a number of risks and mitigations, including risks to patient safety. As part of this assessment, the trust also looked at travel times.
The Government is clear that all service changes should be based on clear evidence that they will deliver better outcomes for patients. Any changes should meet the four tests for service change: they should have support from general practitioner (GP) commissioners, be based on clinical evidence, demonstrate public and patient engagement, and consider patient choice. Implementation of the agreed service changes is a matter for the local National Health Service. It is for the local NHS to keep any service change under review, in line with its role in ensuring services provided are high quality, safe and sustainable.
Asked by: Stephen Lloyd (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the equality implications of making human papilloma virus vaccination available to men who have sex with men between the ages of 16 and 40, while women over the age of 18 are not able to access the vaccine.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Government is advised on all immunisation matters by the independent expert Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The JCVI is currently considering possible extension of the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination programme to men who have sex with men (MSM) and to adolescent boys.
The JCVI has noted that if a targeted programme for MSM were to go ahead, then consideration would need to be given as to whether other groups should have access to HPV vaccination – for example, unimmunised women over 17 years of age.
A full equality impact assessment will be undertaken for any proposed changes to the HPV programme.
Asked by: Stephen Lloyd (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department and NHS England have taken to ensure that Grade 5 training opportunities are available for midwives.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government has mandated Health Education England (HEE) to provide national leadership on education, training and workforce development in the National Health Service. This mandate includes a commitment that HEE will ensure midwifery training produces midwives with the required competencies to practise in the new NHS.
It is ultimately the responsibility of individual employers to support the development of the staff they employ. However, as part of its core remit HEE will work with Local Education and Training Boards, regulatory bodies and healthcare providers to ensure professional and personal development continues beyond the end of formal training.
Asked by: Stephen Lloyd (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with Public Health England on a national strategy for increasing public awareness of cervical cancer symptoms.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Ministers have regular meetings with Public Health England (PHE) about their public awareness campaigns including Be Clear on Cancer. The focus of national Be Clear on Cancer awareness campaigns (led by PHE since 1 April 2013) to date has been on cancers with the largest number of avoidable deaths, compared with countries with the best survival rates. These include breast cancer (particularly targeting older women), bowel cancer, lung cancer, kidney/bladder cancers and stomach/oesophageal cancers. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that there is a “halo” effect from these campaigns which can help to encourage earlier presentation to general practitioners (GPs) with any worrying symptom.
The Department will continue to work with PHE, NHS England and other stakeholders, to keep these campaigns under review and work with relevant experts to see what might be done to tackle awareness of the symptoms of other cancers, such as cervical cancer.
In March 2010, new guidance was published for primary care on the management of young women who present with gynaecological symptoms, following concerns from the Advisory Committee on Cervical Screening that young women presenting to primary care with symptoms of cervical cancer were not always being given the best advice. The guidance was produced by a multi-disciplinary group, including professionals, patients and the voluntary sector. It was reviewed by a number of GPs, and was endorsed by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Physicians.
The guidance, ‘Clinical practice guidelines for the assessment of young women aged 20-24 with abnormal vaginal bleeding’ can be found at:
Women under 25 who are concerned about their risk of developing cervical cancer should contact their GP.
Asked by: Stephen Lloyd (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will launch targeted campaigns on cervical screening in regions where cervical screening rates have fallen below the national average.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The NHS Cervical Screening Programme promotes local public health service initiatives to encourage women to attend cervical screening, such as the Manchester campaign entitled “You Wouldn’t Miss…” – see the link below:
http://goodhealth-manchester.nhs.uk/test/cancer/cervicalCancerPosterCampaign.html
Cervical screening rates have been identified as a key issue by the Screening Programme Board. Public Health England is working with NHS England to develop a system of performance improvement through the use of performance floors, and strengthened governance for screening.
Cancer Research UK has undertaken work on improving bowel screening uptake in London, and the Department of Health Behavioural Insight team is developing a project on improving coverage in cervical screening. In addition, major research studies on increasing uptake of bowel and cervical screening are due to report in 2015-16.
Asked by: Stephen Lloyd (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions (a) his Department and (b) NHS England have had on the exclusion of indicators measuring over 75 mortality rates in the NHS Outcomes Framework.
Answered by Jane Ellison
It is not the case that indicators measuring the mortality rates of over 75s are excluded in the NHS Outcomes Framework. An overarching indicator in Domain 1, ‘Life Expectancy at 75’, is derived from mortality rates for people aged over 75 from all causes. This indicator captures premature mortality in a way that does not presume any age-determined limit to when a death is premature.
The cause-specific mortality rate indicators are capped at age 75 because the attribution of the cause of death is more problematic for older people, who often have co-morbidities. Therefore, these indicators could become misleading if they included those aged 75 and above.
However, the Department will keep under review outcome measures for older people as part of the next refresh of the NHS Outcomes Framework.
Asked by: Stephen Lloyd (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department has issued to clinical commissioning groups on the provision of hearing aids free at the point of delivery for patients with mild to moderate hearing loss.
Answered by Norman Lamb
The Department does not issue advice toclinical commissioning groups (CCGs) on hearing aid provision.
Local commissioners are responsible for commissioning the provision of hearing aids for mild to moderate hearing loss, based on the needs of their local population. In doing so, CCGs take into consideration relevant clinical guidance, which may include guidance from appropriate national bodies such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.