Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the Government has spent on developing community services for autistic people and people with learning disabilities since (a) the publication of the Building the Right Support National Plan in 2015 and (b) the Care Quality Commission’s report on Winterbourne View in 2011.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The information requested is not held centrally in the format requested.
The following table shows NHS England’s national investment since 2019/20 to support the NHS Long Term Plan commitments for people with a learning disability and autistic people. These include the development of community health services which will help people to live in the community, help prevent people going into mental health hospitals and support timely discharge.
| 2019/20 budget | 2020/21 budget | 2021/22 budget | 2022/23 budget |
Community services | £17 million | £20 million | £62 million | £51 million |
Children and young people keyworkers | £0 million | £3 million | £14 million | £29 million |
Source: NHS England
Note: Community Services includes:
- Community development Care (Education);
- Treatment Reviews Learning from Lives and Deaths – people with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR); and
- Diagnostic pathway for autistic children and young people.
The following table shows the national Funding Transfer Agreement (FTA) funding which supports the discharge of long stay patients into the community.
| 2019/20 budget | 2020/21 budget | 2021/22 budget | 2022/23 budget |
FTA funding | £80 million | £83 million | £84 million | £84 million |
Source: NHS England
The Building the Right Support Delivery Board has set up a task and finish group to look at how to improve national oversight of NHS and local authority spend related to Building the Right Support.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the number of alcohol-related deaths per year.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
We are providing new funding for local government to improve drug and alcohol misuse treatment and recovery services in England and increasing the availability of inpatient detoxification beds. We are also investing £27 million to establish alcohol care teams in the 25% of hospitals in England with the greatest need.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy paper entitled The Government’s Alcohol Strategy, published on 23 March 2012, CM 8336, whether his Department plans to publish a new strategy to help tackle (a) the number of deaths and (b) the cost to society due to harmful alcohol consumption.
Answered by Maggie Throup
There are no current plans to publish a new alcohol strategy. However, we continue to address the harms caused by alcohol misuse including through establishing specialist alcohol care teams in hospitals.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Legionnaires Disease (a) cases and (b) deaths in hospitals there have been since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic; what steps hospitals have taken to protect people with that condition from additional harm during the pandemic; and whether this will be investigated as part of the covid-19 Inquiry.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The data is not available in the format requested. The COVID-19 infection prevention and control guidance aimed to support healthcare organisations to maintain the safety of patients and staff. Organisations continue to be responsible for managing the risks associated with infectious agents, such as legionnaires, by completing risk assessments approved through local governance procedures.
The recommended terms of reference for the COVID-19 Inquiry include examining the management of the pandemic in hospitals, including infection prevention and control and the consequences of the pandemic on provision for non-COVID-19 related conditions and needs. The Government will consider these recommendations and publish the Inquiry's final terms of reference in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of alcohol on health inequalities; and what steps they are taking to reduce alcohol’s role as a significant driver of health inequalities.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Individuals from lower socioeconomic groups are more likely experience greater levels of alcohol-related harm compared to higher socioeconomic groups, including alcohol-related hospital admissions and deaths. Through the 10-year drug strategy, the Government has invested £532 million into rebuilding local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England. All local areas will receive additional funds through a phased approach according to need, with 50 of the most deprived areas receiving a greater share of the funding in 2022/23. As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, we have invested £27 million to establish specialist Alcohol Care Teams in the 25% of hospitals with the highest rates of alcohol-mortality and deprivation.
Since 2020/21, the Government has also provided £50.4 million to provide substance misuse treatment services for people sleeping rough through the Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Grant. The Government will provide additional investment of up to £186.5 million during the current Spending Review period, including £15 million announced through the cross-Government drugs strategy.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will publish the clinical evidence used to create the latest version of the guidance on care home visiting, updated 24 February 2022.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
While there was no specific clinical evidence provided prior to the publication of the guidance published on 24 February, the update was based on advice from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Its advice recommended that:
- the end of February was not an appropriate time to stand down isolation guidance in vulnerable settings. This advice was based on COVID-19 infection across vulnerable settings being severe, resulting in high numbers of hospitalisations and deaths in the past;
- Prevalence remains high, the future epidemic trajectory unpredictable and the removal of restrictions will mean more residents/patients being newly exposed to infection. Furthermore, reinfection with Omicron is more common than with previous variants. The UKHSA has advised that changes in vulnerable settings should not be in lockstep but rather a step behind wider society given levels of community infection are a key risk in outbreaks;
- The purpose of staying away from the setting or self-isolation of residents/patients is to protect vulnerable people in these settings from the risk of transmission of infection. Self-isolation and reduced contact are a standard public health intervention to prevent infection, which is especially important in closed settings with highly vulnerable people; and
- Increased contact with COVID-19 positive individuals is more likely to lead to outbreaks, which can have severe impacts in vulnerable settings and on their ability to deliver a service. For all settings, this can mean a closure to all but emergency admissions and visiting (particularly impactful in care homes and prisons), cohorting of staff and residents/ patients resulting in reduced capacity, and areas of the service being shut, for example, wings in hospitals.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to increase funding for liver disease scanning and testing in community diagnosis centres; what steps he is taking to reduce liver disease deaths; what assessment he has made of the reasons for the increase in those deaths; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Spending Review 2021 allocated £2.3 billion for diagnostics to increase the number of community diagnostic centres to at least 100 sites by March 2025. This will increase diagnostic capacity for tests, such as ultrasounds, blood tests and computed tomography scans, to diagnose liver disease and improve earlier diagnosis and health outcomes. There are no plans to increase funding for liver disease scanning or testing specifically.
The National Health Service is introducing an indicator to support the earlier detection of liver disease in those most at-risk cohorts by incentivising improved access to cirrhosis and fibrosis tests for alcohol dependent in-patients. The NHS Health Check invites adults aged 40 to 74 years old for an overall health check, which can provide early detection and identify potential risks of liver disease. Local authorities are responsible for assessing alcohol risk through the NHS Health Check and providing specialist treatment services for dependent drinkers. The NHS has invested £27 million to establish specialist alcohol care teams in hospitals with the highest rates of admissions related to alcohol dependence.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has published Liver Disease Profiles, which showed the main increase in liver disease mortality was due to additional alcoholic liver disease deaths in 2020. Additional deaths from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and from hepatitis B related end-stage liver disease/hepatocellular carcinoma also showed a smaller increase. Deprivation is also identified as an influential factor on liver disease mortality, with those living in the most deprived areas being more adversely affected.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many stillbirths have taken place in hospitals in England in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This information is not held in the format requested as the there is no available data on whether stillbirths occur in or out of hospitals.
However, the following table shows data from the Office of National Statistics’ child mortality dataset on the number of stillbirths in England in each year from 2011 to 2019. Data for 2020 is not yet available.
Year | Number of stillbirths in England |
2019 | 2,346 |
2018 | 2,520 |
2017 | 2,679 |
2016 | 2,895 |
2015 | 2,952 |
2014 | 3,047 |
2013 | 3,103 |
2012 | 3,357 |
2011 | 3,619 |
Note:
Data shows babies born at 24 weeks gestational age or greater which did not breathe or show signs of life.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
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 reduce deaths from alcohol in the North East.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, we have provided national funding to support the implementation of specialist alcohol care teams in the 25% of hospitals with the highest rates of alcohol-related harm. 12 hospitals have received funding so far, of which two are in the North East - South Tyneside and Sunderland. A second wave of sites will be announced shortly.
We are also investing £533 million over three years to support local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England. This funding will be targeted to areas of highest need first. Office for Health Improvement and Disparities will soon be informing local areas of their funding allocations. As part of this funding, an inpatient detoxification grant, available until 2024/25, has been allocated increasing the availability of inpatient detoxification beds nationally.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk to hospital patients of catching the Omicron variant of COVID-19 from unvaccinated hospital staff; what estimate they have made, if any, of how many patients (1) may catch Omicron this way, and (2) may die as a result; and what plans they have, if any, to put in place processes by which unvaccinated staff may be subject to criminal liability for infecting patients with COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We are still in the early stages of understanding the impact of the Omicron variant on vaccine efficacy, where evidence is limited. NHS England and NHS Improvement do not hold data of how many patients have acquired COVID-19, including the Omicron variant, whilst in hospital or how they became infected.
NHS England and NHS Improvement work with National Health Service trusts to ensure hospitals are implementing robust COVID-19 infection prevention and control measures in all areas to prevent the transmission of the virus. This includes physical distancing, optimal hand hygiene, equipment and environment decontamination and extended use of face masks by healthcare staff, patients and visitors, which is continually reviewed.
We have no plans to put in place processes by which unvaccinated staff may be subject to criminal liability for infecting patients with COVID-19. Organisations are responsible for ensuring safe systems of work, including managing the risk associated with infectious agents through the completion of risk assessments approved through local governance procedures. National guidance outlines the recommended principles to support local decision making within individual organisations. The vaccination programme has significantly weakened the link between cases, hospitalisations and deaths and will continue to be our first line of defence against COVID-19. We encourage those who are eligible for a booster vaccination, including NHS staff, to ensure they have this vital extra protection.