Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 assessment of the adequacy of the General Ophthalmic Services sight test fee for opticians; and how many opticians stopped providing NHS services in the most recent 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The level of the National Health Service sight test fee is considered annually, taking into account evidence provided by the optical fee negotiating committee, affordability for the NHS, alongside information regarding patient access to sight testing services, which continue to be widely available.
Although 254 contracts for providing NHS sight testing services were terminated between February 2023 and January 2024, 179 new contracts were awarded. There are various reasons why contractors choose to stop providing NHS sight testing services, including retirement, selling the practice to a new owner, and ceasing trading as a business.
Mar. 25 2024
Source Page: One-off payments of up to £3,000 for over 27,000 health workersFound: Tens of thousands of staff at non-NHS organisations including community nurses, physiotherapists and
Correspondence Mar. 26 2024
Committee: Health and Social Care Committee (Department: Department of Health and Social Care)Found: Minister of State on update on funding of the Agenda for Change pay deals for non-NHS organisations 21.03.24
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of NHS dental practices were in dispute with her Department about reconciling payments for NHS work on 30 January 2024; and what assessment she has made of the (a) clarity and (b) ease of the reconciliation process.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Year-end reconciliation is a national process carried out, in the most part, by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA), and commissioned by NHS England.
As of 31 January 2024, there were 38 unresolved queries from contract holders about their year-end outcome for 2022/23. This equates to 0.6% of the 6673 contracts within the NHS BSA responsibility to reconcile. There are a further proportion of contracts, 1,946, that remain within the remit of integrated care boards to reconcile, where data is not held centrally.
The process of year end reconciliation is a vital part of ensuring contract holders are held accountable for the activity they have been contracted to deliver, and to ensure taxpayers get value for money from the £3 billion National Health Service dentistry budget.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the annual cost to her Department is of contracts with Elysium Healthcare (a) nationally and (b) in Cheshire.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not and has not held any contracts with Elysium Healthcare. Contracts with Elysium Healthcare are held with local National Health Service bodies, for instance NHS trusts.
Mentions:
1: Andrea Leadsom (Con - South Northamptonshire) The Department recently published our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry, which will make dental - Speech Link
Mar. 26 2024
Source Page: NHS general ophthalmic service fees and optical voucher values from April 2024Found: NHS general ophthalmic service fees and optical voucher values from April 2024
Mar. 26 2024
Source Page: NHS general ophthalmic service fees and optical voucher values from April 2024Found: NHS general ophthalmic service fees and optical voucher values from April 2024
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure that General Practices have adequate funding in (a) Penrith and The Border constituency and (b) Cumbria.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The majority of the Department’s funding is allocated to NHS England. In turn, NHS England allocates funding to integrated care boards (ICBs) for primary care, taking account of nationally agreed contracts, such as general practitioner (GP) contracts. The Department and NHS England set the contract and associated funding for GPs each year in consultation with the profession. ICBs have delegated responsibility for commissioning healthcare services, including GP services, for their populations.
In 2022/23, practices in NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB received £171.07 per registered patient and practices in NHS North East and North Cumbria ICB received £173.00 per registered patient. This is higher than the England average of £163.50 per registered patient.
Spending on GPs has risen by almost a fifth in real terms, or 19%, between 2017/18 and the most recent data in 2021/22, from £11.3 billion to £13.5 billion. The Government continues to invest in GPs to ensure it is sustainable in the long-term.
Apr. 15 2024
Source Page: Annual report on procurement activity in Scotland 2021-2022Found: Health NHS Highland Health NHS Lanarkshire Health NHS Lothian Health NHS National Procurement