Found: DSPs that are failing to offer their services nationally, and thus operating in breach of their NHS

Found: We will then be able to adjust the recovery plan, potentially increasing NHS contracts by up to 10%

Found: of there being any meaningful move towards the integration of coronial pathology services into NHS

Found: Summary Integrating Coronial work into NHS contracts needs to be a priority An ill-thought out

Found: a code of conduct, which became the Code of Conduct for NHS Managers, to be incorporated into NHS

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of dental practices that have announced that they plan to withdraw from NHS contracts since 7 February 2024.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Monthly data on the Units of Dental Activity (UDA) delivered is published by the NHS Business Services Authority, although this data has an approximate two-month time lag, and therefore we expect data for February 2024 to be published around Mid-May. Otherwise, UDA delivery data is available at the following link:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/english-contractor-monthly-general-dental-activity

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions her Department has had with (a) dental practices in South Leicestershire constituency and (b) the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board on (i) dental contract (A) reform and (B) value, (ii) units of dental activity rates and (iii) taking steps to increase access to dentistry.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning National Health Service dental services. Our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients, and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments. The plan sets out a number of actions which will improve access for patients, by helping the sector to recover activity more quickly, address underlying issues, and set out the action needed for longer term reform of the system. This includes a new patient premium to support dentists in taking on new NHS patients, an uplift to the minimum Units of Dental Activity (UDA) rate, new dental vans to bring dental care to our most isolated communities, and the Golden Hello incentives to encourage dentists into under-served areas. We are also developing further recommendations for dental contract reform, and will consult with the sector before an announcement on this, later this year.

Data on the number and value of NHS contracts in the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICB, and the number of UDAs commissioned and delivered, is available on the NHS Business Services Authority’s Open Data Portal, at the following link:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/access-our-data-products/open-data-portal-odp

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of NICE's commercial negotiations with Vertex on NHS contracts.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government wants National Health Service patients to benefit from effective treatments, in a way that represents value, and is fair to all parties. The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations on whether medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS, based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. The NICE develops its recommendations independently based on an assessment of the available evidence, and through engagement with interested parties.

The NICE is currently developing guidance for the NHS on whether the disease modifying treatments Symkevi, Orkambi, and Kaftrio, which contains elexacaftor, tezacaftor and ivacaftor, should be routinely funded by the NHS. Following a recent consultation on its draft recommendations, the NICE has now reached a point in the process where it can pause guidance development to allow further commercial negotiations between NHS England and the company. An update on the anticipated date for the publication of final guidance will be provided by the NICE once timelines are confirmed.

NHS England has been able to reach commercial agreements with many companies for medicines being evaluated by the NICE, that have enabled the NICE to recommend them for NHS use.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many qualified pathologists work for the coroner service.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The standard NHS histopathology contract does not include coronial post-mortem work, which is separately commissioned by individual coroner areas. Consequently, it is not possible to identify the number of pathologists undertaking coronial work from the number currently holding NHS contracts, and this information is not centrally collated from other sources.

Found: currently have the contractual levers to ensure that the full value of the pay uplifts delivered through NHS

Found: the levels of ownership of all DHSC group bodies) and where it delivers healthcare services through NHS

Found: and from July 2022 NHS dental practices were asked to return to delivering 100% of their NHS

Found: recovering, and from July 2022 NHS dental practices were asked to return to delivering 100% of their NHS

Found: reduction of 40 ktCO2e per year from 2024 • implement new procurement guidance for suppliers bidding for NHS

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the current regulation of people, who are not healthcare professionals, and who provide aesthetic treatments in Scotland, and what steps it is taking to ensure that these treatments are provided by adequately qualified, regulated and insured individuals.

Answered by Minto, Jenni - Minister for Public Health and Women's Health

The Scottish Government recognises there is no specific legislation to prevent individuals who are not health professionals and who operate from unregistered premises from carrying out non-surgical cosmetic procedures that pierce or penetrate the skin, and the risks associated with this.

Following the Scottish Government’s 2020 consultation on the regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures (that pierce or penetrate the skin), officials are working on introducing secondary legislation to enable Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to regulate independent healthcare services, including non-surgical cosmetic procedures, which are provided by pharmacists and pharmacy technicians from premises other than registered pharmacies, and/or outwith the terms of NHS contracts. This will be brought forward by the end of Summer 2024.

In addition, officials are engaging with the UK Department of Health and Social Care regarding their recent consultation on the Licensing of non-surgical cosmetic procedures and working with stakeholders in Scotland, including healthcare professionals, hair and beauty industry representatives and Environmental Health Officers, to consider the potential scope of further regulation in Scotland. This work includes consideration of the levels of training and qualifications required to safely perform various types of non-surgical cosmetic procedures that pierce or penetrate the skin.

Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-23928 by Jenni Minto on 3 January 2024, when it plans to bring forward secondary legislation to enable the regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

Answered by Minto, Jenni - Minister for Public Health and Women's Health

The secondary legislation to enable HIS to regulate independent healthcare services, including non-surgical cosmetic procedures, which are provided by pharmacists and pharmacy technicians from premises other than registered pharmacies and/or outwith the terms of NHS contracts, will be brought forward by the end of Summer 2024.

The scoping of further regulation of non-surgical cosmetics procedures, including consideration of the level of training required to perform these procedures, is underway.

Closed Consultation: Consultation on the Regulation of Non-Surgical Cosmetic Procedures in Scotland

Found: We also asked whether pharmacists who provide services outside of NHS contracts should be brought under