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
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.
Nov. 09 2011
Source Page: PCT Estate: Future ownership and management of estate in the ownership of Primary Care Trusts in England. 27 p.Found: This will include any contracts for estates and facilities management services and works associated with
May. 30 2024
Source Page: Preparations for an Autumn/Winter 2024/25 flu and COVID-19 seasonal campaignFound: Contracts will last from 1 September 2024 to 31 March 2026 to minimise the administrative burden and
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: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
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
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.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of NHS England underwriting leases for GP practices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the GP Contracts, premises liabilities are the responsibility of the contractor. Overall contractual payments reflect this arrangement, with the National Health Service also reimbursing direct premises costs including rent, business rates, water, and clinical waste.
There are 8,842 practice premises across England, of these, 51% are leased premises. The NHS is not a formal party to the leases on these properties. If NHS England were to consider a formal underwriting of the leases, legal advice notes, that would constitute a commitment, which would require capitalisation under the International Financial Accounting Standard IFRS16, and limited NHS capital budgets would have to be diverted to offset this commitment, in addition to the payment of rents against the properties.
This would provide, in effect, a double payment of costs against the asset and would commit substantial capital funds to the exercise, limiting the ability of integrated care systems to invest in the primary care estate, address secondary and community care, mental health services, and critical and usual infrastructure maintenance requirements, significantly adversely affecting the overall investment plans for communities. As a result, NHS England considers that a formal underwriting of leases would not provide best use of public funds.
May. 24 2024
Source Page: Procurement Act 2023 guidance documents - Define phaseFound: touch contracts, defence and security contracts, and utilities contracts).
May. 24 2024
Source Page: Procurement Act 2023 guidance documents - Plan phaseFound: Relevant authority’ is defined in section 12ZB of the National Health Services Act 2006 and includes NHS
Mentions:
1: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con - Life peer) to develop and implement a new public procurement regime for more than £300 billion-worth of public contracts - Speech Link
2: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab - Life peer) backbone of our economy, especially in the regions and nations of the UK where access to government contracts - Speech Link
3: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con - Life peer) Unlike a regular dynamic market, contracts are advertised only to members of the market. - Speech Link
Oct. 12 2009
Source Page: The use of 084 telephone numbers in the NHS. Incl. annex. 18 p.Found: The use of 084 telephone numbers in the NHS. Incl. annex. 18 p.