Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the administration of the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme cost the NHS Business Services Authority in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) administers the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, on behalf of the Department. Administration costs for the scheme were £600,000, £8.8 million, and £16.1 million for April 2021 to March 2022, April 2022 to March 2023, and April 2023 to March 2024, respectively. Payments made by the NHSBSA for the provision of medical records totalled £1,200, £72,000, and £73,100, for the same periods. The figures are provided to the nearest decimal place.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will meet the hon. Member for Rochdale to discuss (a) maternity and (b) accident and emergency services at Rochdale Infirmary.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
I would be happy to meet with the hon. Member for Rochdale to discuss maternity services at Rochdale Infirmary.
Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the cost to the NHS of missed appointments at (1) hospitals, and (2) GP surgeries, in each of the past five years.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is not possible to produce an estimate of the true cost to the National Health Service of these missed appointments, as this will depend on whether NHS staff were still able to use the time productively, for example by seeing other patients instead, or doing other work. NHS England advises local NHS organisations, general practices and trusts to plan for preventing and dealing with missed appointments. These include ensuring patients can cancel appointments in convenient ways, such as by text message or through online cancellation forms and offering telephone consultations if these better suit the patients’ requirements.
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 guidance she issues to mental health services on their obligations to a people that (a) police and (b) local authorities find too unwell to be in the community.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
On 26 January 2024, new statutory guidance was published for those being discharged from mental health inpatient settings. This sets out how health and care systems can work together effectively to support the discharge process from all mental health inpatient settings, and ensure the right support in the community. The guidance also includes best practice on how patients and carers should be involved in discharge planning. There are currently no plans to update this guidance covering the process for discharge.
The Mental Health Act Code of Practice provides statutory guidance on the care and treatment of patients detained under the Mental Health Act, including consideration of whether someone is ready to be discharged, and who should be involved in making this decision.
As part of its planning guidance, NHS England has asked all local systems to review their community mental health services to ensure that they have clear policies and practice in place for patients with serious mental illness, who require intensive community treatment and follow-up, but where engagement is a challenge. NHS England plans to provide national guidance by Autumn 2024, to support these reviews. NHS England will consider further steps as appropriate, following the completion of the reviews.
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 she will make it her policy to require an independent second assessment prior to discharging a person from mental health services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
On 26 January 2024, new statutory guidance was published for those being discharged from mental health inpatient settings. This sets out how health and care systems can work together effectively to support the discharge process from all mental health inpatient settings, and ensure the right support in the community. The guidance also includes best practice on how patients and carers should be involved in discharge planning. There are currently no plans to update this guidance covering the process for discharge.
The Mental Health Act Code of Practice provides statutory guidance on the care and treatment of patients detained under the Mental Health Act, including consideration of whether someone is ready to be discharged, and who should be involved in making this decision.
As part of its planning guidance, NHS England has asked all local systems to review their community mental health services to ensure that they have clear policies and practice in place for patients with serious mental illness, who require intensive community treatment and follow-up, but where engagement is a challenge. NHS England plans to provide national guidance by Autumn 2024, to support these reviews. NHS England will consider further steps as appropriate, following the completion of the reviews.
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 she is taking to ensure that mental health discharge processes protect the (a) patient and (b) community.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
On 26 January 2024, new statutory guidance was published for those being discharged from mental health inpatient settings. This sets out how health and care systems can work together effectively to support the discharge process from all mental health inpatient settings, and ensure the right support in the community. The guidance also includes best practice on how patients and carers should be involved in discharge planning. There are currently no plans to update this guidance covering the process for discharge.
The Mental Health Act Code of Practice provides statutory guidance on the care and treatment of patients detained under the Mental Health Act, including consideration of whether someone is ready to be discharged, and who should be involved in making this decision.
As part of its planning guidance, NHS England has asked all local systems to review their community mental health services to ensure that they have clear policies and practice in place for patients with serious mental illness, who require intensive community treatment and follow-up, but where engagement is a challenge. NHS England plans to provide national guidance by Autumn 2024, to support these reviews. NHS England will consider further steps as appropriate, following the completion of the reviews.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
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 People at the Heart of Care, published by her Department in December 2021, CP 560, what steps her Department has taken to raise awareness of Carer's Leave amongst unpaid carers.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to supporting unpaid carers to balance their caring alongside work, and to do so in a way that supports their own health and wellbeing.
As indicated in People at the Heart of Care in 2021, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) are the lead department for carer’s leave. DBT has carried out a range of activities to raise awareness of Carer’s Leave, including producing associated guidance available through GOV.UK, working closely stakeholders such as carer and business representative organisations and promoting Carers Leave through the ‘Help to Grow’ website.
The Department for Health and Social Care continues to seek and use opportunities to raise awareness of support services and relevant legislation, including carer’s leave, amongst unpaid carers. This includes through our ongoing engagement with carer representative organisations, the use of GOV.UK and engagement in events such as during Carers Week, which this year takes place in June 2024.
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 she will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) an ageing population and (b) trends in the level of comorbidities on demand for rehabilitation services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Effective capacity and demand planning supports the provision of adequate rehabilitation packages. The 2023-2025 Better Care Fund Policy Framework requires local areas to agree and submit a plan showing:
- expected demand for intermediate care services, and other short-term care, to help people to remain independent at home;
- services to support this recovery, including rehabilitation and reablement;
- expected capacity in the health and wellbeing board area to meet this demand.
Appropriate capacity should be commissioned, within available budgets, for people with step-down intermediate care needs. This includes, but is not limited to, older people and those with comorbidities.
In addition, the Major Conditions Strategy outlines our approach in tackling six groups of major health conditions, by creating a health and care system that is faster, simpler, and fairer, focusing on prevention, proactive care and more person-centred care.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
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 NHS England on progress on improving outcomes for patients suffering from pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tackling cancer is a key priority for the Government. Ministers and officials continue to work closely with NHS England to increase positive outcomes for all cancer types, including pancreatic cancer. The National Health Service is delivering a range of interventions expected to increase early diagnosis and improve outcomes for those with pancreatic cancer. This includes: providing a route into pancreatic cancer surveillance for those at inherited high-risk, to identify lesions before they develop into cancer, and diagnose cancers sooner; creating new pathways to support faster referral routes for people with non-specific symptoms that could be linked to a range of cancer types; and increasing direct access for general practitioners to arrange diagnostic tests.
NHS England is also funding a new audit into pancreatic cancer to increase the consistency of access to treatments, and to stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes. The Royal College of Surgeons began work on this audit in October 2022, and the first report is expected in October 2024. In addition to this, the Getting it Right First Time team in NHS England is undertaking a deep dive into pancreatic cancer, which will highlight actions NHS providers need to take to improve services, as well as gathering examples of good practice to share.
The NHS is working towards its Long Term Plan ambition of diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage one and two by 2028. Achieving this will mean that an additional 55,000 people each year will survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis. With progress made on reducing waiting times, cancer is being diagnosed at an earlier stage more often, with survival rates improving across almost all types of cancer.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
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 help increase awareness of the symptoms of heart valve disease in women.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England continues to work with its partners in raising awareness of aortic stenosis, with a particular focus on women. NHS England is also working to increase access to cardiac surgery. The breathlessness pathway, launched in April 2023, encourages general practitioners to examine all patients for the signs of valvular heart disease. Heart valve disease is a focus for cardiac networks, with pathways in in place to improve early detection of valve disease in the community.
In November 2023, a dedicated Heart Valve Disease (HVD) Expert Advisory Group was convened to provide NHS England’s Cardiac Transformation Programme with leadership, advice, quality assurance, expert review, and endorsement of the projects and deliverables that comprise the HVD workstream, with a focus on improving the speed and equity of access to high quality treatment for heart valve patients.
To improve the early detection and diagnosis of heart valve disease across England, including aortic stenosis, £2.3 billion has been committed to open 160 community diagnostic centres by March 2025. This will increase the volume of diagnostic activity and further reduce patient waiting times. The centres have delivered over 5 million additional tests since July 2021, including those that detect cardiovascular disease.
In addition, the National Health Service is investing in cardiac networks to support whole pathway improvements. These networks have been developed to take an evidenced based, clinically led, whole pathway approach to improvement, from prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and through to end-of-life care.