Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of installing HEPA filter air purifiers in schools and hospitals.
Answered by Will Quince
No specific assessment has been made. However, new guidance in relation to the application to ultraviolet air cleaners and HEPA filters in the National Health Service was published on 9 May 2023 by NHS England which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with (a) arthritis and (b) other long-term conditions who receive homecare medicines services (i) receive medicine doses and (ii) other treatment promptly.
Answered by Will Quince
National Homecare Medicines Committee (NHMC) regional lead members and NHS England Commercial Medicines Unit use and reference the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Standards for homecare medicines service, which are embedded into all framework agreement service specifications for the providers of this service. These professional standards provide a broad framework which support teams involved in homecare services to deliver a safe, effective and quality-driven service for patients. These standards can be found at the following link:
In 2014, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society published the Handbook for Homecare Services in England to aid implementation of these standards. This identified examples of good practice which may be used by homecare teams to develop robust arrangements for compliance with those standards. The NHMC holds regular meetings with all homecare providers focused on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for standards based on those contained in Appendix 10 National KPI definitions of the Handbook for Homecare Services in England.
Homecare providers are assessed on a monthly basis against their KPIs at a national level for NHS England framework agreements and at a regional level for National Health Service regional contracting, and more formally on a regular basis through face-to-face meetings with NHMC and NHS England. The quality assurance and governance process covers the monitoring of patients’ adverse events, complaints and incidents.
When the KPIs from individual contracts or reports from NHS hospitals indicate that service levels are not to the high standard expected, the NHMC Supplier Engagement sub-group has an escalation process.
Each Chief Pharmacist within each NHS organisation is the responsible officer for the homecare medicines services that the hospital provides. Where the escalation process is in place, the affected homecare provider will engage with this process and provide communication to each NHS organisation with a summary of the issues, mitigations and expected timescales for recovery. If necessary, the regulators, the Care Quality Commission and the General Pharmaceutical Council, are also informed.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help address feedback raised by patients in NHS reviews; and what steps he is taking to improve homecare medicines services.
Answered by Will Quince
National Homecare Medicines Committee (NHMC) regional lead members and NHS England Commercial Medicines Unit use and reference the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Standards for homecare medicines service, which are embedded into all framework agreement service specifications for the providers of this service. These professional standards provide a broad framework which support teams involved in homecare services to deliver a safe, effective and quality-driven service for patients. These standards can be found at the following link:
In 2014, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society published the Handbook for Homecare Services in England to aid implementation of these standards. This identified examples of good practice which may be used by homecare teams to develop robust arrangements for compliance with those standards. The NHMC holds regular meetings with all homecare providers focused on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for standards based on those contained in Appendix 10 National KPI definitions of the Handbook for Homecare Services in England.
Homecare providers are assessed on a monthly basis against their KPIs at a national level for NHS England framework agreements and at a regional level for National Health Service regional contracting, and more formally on a regular basis through face-to-face meetings with NHMC and NHS England. The quality assurance and governance process covers the monitoring of patients’ adverse events, complaints and incidents.
When the KPIs from individual contracts or reports from NHS hospitals indicate that service levels are not to the high standard expected, the NHMC Supplier Engagement sub-group has an escalation process.
Each Chief Pharmacist within each NHS organisation is the responsible officer for the homecare medicines services that the hospital provides. Where the escalation process is in place, the affected homecare provider will engage with this process and provide communication to each NHS organisation with a summary of the issues, mitigations and expected timescales for recovery. If necessary, the regulators, the Care Quality Commission and the General Pharmaceutical Council, are also informed.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government takes to respond to complaints on the reliability of homecare medicines services.
Answered by Will Quince
National Homecare Medicines Committee (NHMC) regional lead members and NHS England Commercial Medicines Unit use and reference the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Standards for homecare medicines service, which are embedded into all framework agreement service specifications for the providers of this service. These professional standards provide a broad framework which support teams involved in homecare services to deliver a safe, effective and quality-driven service for patients. These standards can be found at the following link:
In 2014, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society published the Handbook for Homecare Services in England to aid implementation of these standards. This identified examples of good practice which may be used by homecare teams to develop robust arrangements for compliance with those standards. The NHMC holds regular meetings with all homecare providers focused on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for standards based on those contained in Appendix 10 National KPI definitions of the Handbook for Homecare Services in England.
Homecare providers are assessed on a monthly basis against their KPIs at a national level for NHS England framework agreements and at a regional level for National Health Service regional contracting, and more formally on a regular basis through face-to-face meetings with NHMC and NHS England. The quality assurance and governance process covers the monitoring of patients’ adverse events, complaints and incidents.
When the KPIs from individual contracts or reports from NHS hospitals indicate that service levels are not to the high standard expected, the NHMC Supplier Engagement sub-group has an escalation process.
Each Chief Pharmacist within each NHS organisation is the responsible officer for the homecare medicines services that the hospital provides. Where the escalation process is in place, the affected homecare provider will engage with this process and provide communication to each NHS organisation with a summary of the issues, mitigations and expected timescales for recovery. If necessary, the regulators, the Care Quality Commission and the General Pharmaceutical Council, are also informed.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to improve the quality of homecare medicines services.
Answered by Will Quince
National Homecare Medicines Committee (NHMC) regional lead members and NHS England Commercial Medicines Unit use and reference the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Standards for homecare medicines service, which are embedded into all framework agreement service specifications for the providers of this service. These professional standards provide a broad framework which support teams involved in homecare services to deliver a safe, effective and quality-driven service for patients. These standards can be found at the following link:
In 2014, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society published the Handbook for Homecare Services in England to aid implementation of these standards. This identified examples of good practice which may be used by homecare teams to develop robust arrangements for compliance with those standards. The NHMC holds regular meetings with all homecare providers focused on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for standards based on those contained in Appendix 10 National KPI definitions of the Handbook for Homecare Services in England.
Homecare providers are assessed on a monthly basis against their KPIs at a national level for NHS England framework agreements and at a regional level for National Health Service regional contracting, and more formally on a regular basis through face-to-face meetings with NHMC and NHS England. The quality assurance and governance process covers the monitoring of patients’ adverse events, complaints and incidents.
When the KPIs from individual contracts or reports from NHS hospitals indicate that service levels are not to the high standard expected, the NHMC Supplier Engagement sub-group has an escalation process.
Each Chief Pharmacist within each NHS organisation is the responsible officer for the homecare medicines services that the hospital provides. Where the escalation process is in place, the affected homecare provider will engage with this process and provide communication to each NHS organisation with a summary of the issues, mitigations and expected timescales for recovery. If necessary, the regulators, the Care Quality Commission and the General Pharmaceutical Council, are also informed.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an estimate with Cabinet colleagues of the amount and proportion of public sector spending on food that was (a) locally-produced and (b) certified to high environmental production standards in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The public sector procures approximately £5bn of food and catering services annually, with hospitals, prisons, armed forces and central Government departments required to comply with the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services (GBSF). Defra consulted on updates to the GBSF last year, including proposals to increase the amount of food procured to higher environmental production standards, such as LEAF and organic within the public sector.
We are currently considering how best to update the GBSF to support the transition to a healthier, more sustainable food system. The updated standards will be forward-looking, and we will not be producing a retrospective review of spend over the last 12 months.
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, how many people died in Yorkshire Ambulance Service ambulances waiting outside hospitals in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Will Quince
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has reported on excess mortality throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In the year to 24 February 2023, there were 45,232 excess deaths in England. Excess deaths are not reported by ambulance service region.
Tables showing the ambulance response times against the national standards in the last 12 months by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service and in England are attached.
The information requested on serious incidents in ambulance trusts across the last 12 months is shown in the attached table.
No such estimate of excess deaths attributed to long ambulance waiting times has been made. There are a wide variety of factors contributing to excess deaths. It is likely that a combination of factors has contributed to excess deaths over the last 12 months, including high flu prevalence, cold weather, the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 and health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
The number of deaths in ambulances waiting outside hospitals is not collected centrally.
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, if he will make an estimate of the number of excess deaths that can be attributed to long waiting times at Yorkshire Ambulance Service in the last 12 months.
Answered by Will Quince
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has reported on excess mortality throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In the year to 24 February 2023, there were 45,232 excess deaths in England. Excess deaths are not reported by ambulance service region.
Tables showing the ambulance response times against the national standards in the last 12 months by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service and in England are attached.
The information requested on serious incidents in ambulance trusts across the last 12 months is shown in the attached table.
No such estimate of excess deaths attributed to long ambulance waiting times has been made. There are a wide variety of factors contributing to excess deaths. It is likely that a combination of factors has contributed to excess deaths over the last 12 months, including high flu prevalence, cold weather, the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 and health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
The number of deaths in ambulances waiting outside hospitals is not collected centrally.
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 data his Department holds on (a) excess deaths and (b) ambulance waiting times in (i) York Ambulance Service and (ii) England in the last 12 months.
Answered by Will Quince
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has reported on excess mortality throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In the year to 24 February 2023, there were 45,232 excess deaths in England. Excess deaths are not reported by ambulance service region.
Tables showing the ambulance response times against the national standards in the last 12 months by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service and in England are attached.
The information requested on serious incidents in ambulance trusts across the last 12 months is shown in the attached table.
No such estimate of excess deaths attributed to long ambulance waiting times has been made. There are a wide variety of factors contributing to excess deaths. It is likely that a combination of factors has contributed to excess deaths over the last 12 months, including high flu prevalence, cold weather, the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 and health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
The number of deaths in ambulances waiting outside hospitals is not collected centrally.
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, how many serious incidences have been recorded by each of the Ambulance Trusts in each of the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Will Quince
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has reported on excess mortality throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In the year to 24 February 2023, there were 45,232 excess deaths in England. Excess deaths are not reported by ambulance service region.
Tables showing the ambulance response times against the national standards in the last 12 months by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service and in England are attached.
The information requested on serious incidents in ambulance trusts across the last 12 months is shown in the attached table.
No such estimate of excess deaths attributed to long ambulance waiting times has been made. There are a wide variety of factors contributing to excess deaths. It is likely that a combination of factors has contributed to excess deaths over the last 12 months, including high flu prevalence, cold weather, the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 and health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
The number of deaths in ambulances waiting outside hospitals is not collected centrally.