Mentions:
1: Rebecca Long Bailey (Lab - Salford and Eccles) generation, whether they come here to call Britain their home or have third, fourth or fifth-generation children - Speech Link
2: Rebecca Long Bailey (Lab - Salford and Eccles) amazing businesses and charitable and social organisations such as Irish in Britain, Irish Community Care - Speech Link
3: Karen Bradley (Con - Staffordshire Moorlands) I am proud that my children have that Irish link, even though I do not, and that they can proudly say - Speech Link
4: Martin Docherty-Hughes (SNP - West Dunbartonshire) She has been a leader of the palliative care community not just in Scotland, but across the whole of - Speech Link
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will ask the Care Quality Commission to undertake an assessment of the quality of the commissioning of children's palliative care services by integrated care boards.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) recently completed the integrated care system (ICS) assessment pilots, which included an assessment of how health and social care provision is planned, coordinated, and delivered in a cohesive way.
For the pilots, the CQC assessed data and local intelligence relating to the safety and effectiveness of different types of services across primary care, secondary care, and adult social care. This included hospices and other palliative and end of life care services. ICS assessments do not inspect individual services or focus on specific sectors. The CQC seeks information from local and regional CQC operations teams, NHS England, and professional regulators such as the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, to identify areas of good practice and high-performing services, as well as risks and concerns relating to specific providers or sectors. The CQC looks at aggregate ratings of different types of services within a geographical area to identify areas of risk that might require a particular focus during assessments.
The CQC’s ICS assessment methodology incorporates interviews and focus groups with commissioners, providers, patient representative groups, and voluntary and community sector organisations to understand how people experience care. Work continues to define the final methodology and approach, in line with the existing Departmental priorities.
The Department is in ongoing discussions with NHS England about oversight and accountability of National Health Service palliative and end of life care commissioning, and I have met with NHS England officials personally on this matter on a number of occasions. We remain committed to improving patient access to, and quality of, palliative and end of life care, and are working with NHS England to achieve this.
NHS England has developed a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of their local population, enabling integrated care boards (ICBs) to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities, and ensure that funding is distributed fairly, based on prevalence.
Additionally, as of April 2024, NHS England will include palliative and end of life care in the list of topics for regular performance discussions between national and regional leads. These meetings will provide an additional mechanism for supporting ICBs to continue improving palliative and end of life care for their local population.
Mentions:
1: Kate Hollern (Lab - Blackburn) crumbling.Last Wednesday represented a vital opportunity for the Government to take action and put palliative - Speech Link
2: Sam Tarry (Lab - Ilford South) That particularly awful example means that 42% of children living in families with three or more children - Speech Link
3: Helen Hayes (Lab - Dulwich and West Norwood) for their children safely. - Speech Link
4: Keir Mather (Lab - Selby and Ainsty) How can British workers be productive if they have to leave the workforce to care for parents or children - Speech Link
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with integrated care boards on estimates they have made of how many children are accessing palliative care in their areas.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While there is no explicit requirement for integrated care boards (ICBs) to identify how many children and young people specifically access palliative and end of life care services, the commissioning of palliative care services is the statutory duty of ICBs, which must commission these services in response to the needs of their population.
In July 2022, NHS England published statutory guidance for commissioners on palliative and end of life care, setting out the considerations for ICBs to meet their legal duties, and making clear reference to the importance of access to services.
NHS England has also published a service specification for children and young people, which provides guidance on undertaking assessments to enable high-quality commissioning of services, that meet both population need and preferences.
The Department is in ongoing discussions with NHS England about oversight and accountability of National Health Service palliative and end of life care commissioning, including for children and young people.
From April, NHS England will include palliative and end of life care in the list of topics for its regular performance discussions between national and regional leads. These national meetings will provide an additional mechanism for supporting ICBs to continue to improve palliative and end of life care for their local population.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how she plans to distribute funding through the Children's Hospice Grant in the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England currently supports palliative and end of life care for children and young people through the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant. Last year, NHS England confirmed that it will be renewing the funding for 2024/25, once again allocating £25 million of funding for children’s hospices using the same prevalence-based allocation approach as in 2022/23 and 2023/24. This prevalence-based approach ensures funding matches local need.
The distribution of the 2024/25 funding to children’s hospices will be via integrated care boards (ICBs), in line with the wider move to a devolved National Health Service, in which ICBs are best placed to meet the health and care needs of their local population.
The Department and NHS England hope to be able to provide the greater clarity that the sector is seeking on this important funding stream to children’s hospices, in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that people receive a good standard of hospice care if they reside in an area covered by an integrated care board that provides less than the national average level of funding for hospices.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people, and their families, at end of life. Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations who receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. Charitable hospices are autonomous organisations that provide a range of services which go beyond that which statutory services are legally required to provide. Consequently, the funding arrangements reflect this.
In July 2022, NHS England published statutory guidance for commissioners on palliative and end of life care, setting out the considerations required for integrated care boards (ICBs), in order to meet their legal duties. This can be found at the following link:
NHS England has also published service specifications, for both adults and children and young people, which provide guidance on undertaking assessments to enable high-quality commissioning of services that meet both the population need and preferences. These can be found at the following link:
The Department is in ongoing discussions with NHS England about the oversight and accountability of NHS palliative and end of life care commissioning. We remain committed to improving patient access to, and quality of, palliative and end of life care, and are working with NHS England to reduce disparities in the standard of palliative and end of life care across the country.
From April 2024, NHS England will include palliative and end of life care in the list of topics for its regular performance discussions between national and regional leads. These national meetings will provide an additional mechanism for supporting ICBs in continuing to improve palliative and end of life care for their local population. Additionally, NHS England has commissioned the development of a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of those in their local population, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities.
Mentions:
1: Rosie Winterton (Lab - Doncaster Central) I call the shadow Health and Social Care Secretary. - Speech Link
2: Peter Gibson (Con - Darlington) funding for the NHS will be used sensibly by the ICB in fulfilling its statutory duty to commission palliative - Speech Link
3: Sarah Dyke (LD - Somerton and Frome) Those care homes provide an essential service. - Speech Link
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how she plans to distribute the £25 million committed to children’s hospices in 2024-25.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England currently supports palliative and end of life care for children and young people through the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant. Last year, NHS England confirmed that it will be renewing the funding for 2024/25, once again allocating £25 million of funding for children’s hospices, using the same prevalence-based allocation approach as in 2022/23 and 2023/24. This prevalence-based approach ensures funding matches local need.
The distribution of the 2024/25 funding to children’s hospices will be via integrated care boards (ICBs), in line with the wider move to a devolved National Health Service, in which ICBs are best placed to meet the health and care needs of their local population.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
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 potential merits of publishing a long-term strategy for supporting the palliative care needs of children and young people.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While the National Health Service has always been required to commission appropriate palliative and end of life care services to meet the reasonable needs of the population, palliative care services were added to the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission, promoting a more consistent national approach and supporting commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this statutory duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance on palliative and end of life care, and a service specification for children and young people.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had discussions with NHS England on the adequacy of (a) regional planning and (b) accountability for children’s palliative care.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is in ongoing discussions with NHS England about the oversight and accountability of National Health Service palliative and end of life care commissioning.
From April 2024, NHS England will include palliative and end of life care in the list of topics for its regular performance discussions between national and regional leads.
NHS England has commissioned the development of a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together relevant, all-age local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of those in their local population, including children, enabling integrated care boards to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities.