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, when his Department plans to publish the revised New Hospitals Programme to include the changes required to mandate only single patient rooms.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department is working closely with National Health Service trusts, clinical experts and representative groups on the single rooms policy for new hospitals that are part of the New Hospital Programme. The proposal to mandate 100% single rooms for the New Hospital Programme has been endorsed by NHS England executive quality group and we are working closely with schemes in the programme on how this will apply to them.
A final decision on single rooms policy for future hospital infrastructure outside of the scope of the New Hospital Programme will be made by NHS England and the New Hospital Programme is working closely with NHS England technical standards teams on this. This will be published by NHS England in due course.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the correct nutritional information is provided for hospital meals so that type 1 diabetics are able to calculate their correct dose of insulin.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Menus within the National Health Service (NHS) are written and dietary coded, using the British Dietetic Association Nutrition and Hydration Digest, to provide appropriate nutritional information so patients can access the food and drink they want which also meets their health needs. The National Food and Drink Standards for NHS hospitals, published November 2022, requires every trust to have access to appropriate catering dietetic advice and support.
Additionally, all NHS hospital meals are nutritionally analysed to ensure the correct combination of nutrients is achieved and no patient menu is passed until this has happened. This will be done by either a trust using in house dietetic support or by the meal provider if using external delivered meal services.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to (a) update the policy paper entitled Alcohol Strategy, published on 23 March 2012, CM 8336 and (b) commission a new alcohol strategy; and what recent assessment he has made into the potential merits of implementing minimum unit pricing.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
There are no current plans to introduce a standalone alcohol strategy. We have an existing agenda on tackling harms from alcohol, including an ambitious programme to establish specialist Alcohol Care Teams in hospitals.
The Government published ‘From harm to hope: A 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives’ on 6 December 2021. While the focus of the Strategy is drugs, commissioning and delivery of drug and alcohol treatment services are integrated in England. This means that implementation of the Strategy will also benefit people seeking alcohol treatment, through mechanisms such as new commissioning standards, plans to build back the workforce and new investment to rebuild local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England.
We look forward to seeing the findings from the evaluations of impact of minimum unit pricing in Scotland and Wales. We will consider those findings in detail once available.
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, whether the quality assurance and governance processes set out in contracts for homecare medicines service in England include as key performance indicators for monthly performance assessment the number of (a) delayed deliveries, (b) delayed treatment initiations and (c) missed doses.
Answered by Will Quince
Homecare providers are assessed on a monthly basis against national Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for National Health Service framework agreements and regionally for local contracting. Regular formal assessments are made through face-to-face meetings with the National Homecare Medicines Committee (NHMC) and NHS England. These KPIs include delayed deliveries and missed doses.
When KPIs or NHS hospitals report that service levels do not meet the relevant standards, the NHMC enacts an escalation process. Where this process is in place, the affected homecare provider will provide each NHS organisation with a summary of the issues, mitigations and expected timescales for recovery. If necessary, the Care Quality Commission and the General Pharmaceutical Council are also informed.
The National Clinical Homecare Association is working with the British Society for Rheumatology to arrange discussions with its members, the NHMC and NHS England regarding the safety and performance of the Homecare Medicine Delivery Service.
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 powers NHS England has to hold homecare medicines services providers to account for (a) delayed deliveries, (b) delayed treatment initiation and (c) missed doses of medicines.
Answered by Will Quince
Homecare providers are assessed on a monthly basis against national Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for National Health Service framework agreements and regionally for local contracting. Regular formal assessments are made through face-to-face meetings with the National Homecare Medicines Committee (NHMC) and NHS England. These KPIs include delayed deliveries and missed doses.
When KPIs or NHS hospitals report that service levels do not meet the relevant standards, the NHMC enacts an escalation process. Where this process is in place, the affected homecare provider will provide each NHS organisation with a summary of the issues, mitigations and expected timescales for recovery. If necessary, the Care Quality Commission and the General Pharmaceutical Council are also informed.
The National Clinical Homecare Association is working with the British Society for Rheumatology to arrange discussions with its members, the NHMC and NHS England regarding the safety and performance of the Homecare Medicine Delivery Service.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department provided advice to hospitals on the purchase of air purifiers that use technology deemed safe by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.
Answered by Will Quince
NHS England is developing new guidance in relation to the use of ultraviolet air cleaners in the National Health Service which will be consistent with all relevant guidance and standards.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve mental health hospitals.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government has committed to build 40 new hospitals by 2030. The announced schemes include new mental health hospitals.
There are currently two mental health hospitals in the New Hospital Programme. An updated secure facility at Northgate Hospital in Morpeth, has received £43.09 million and a specialist facility in the new hospital scheme at St Ann’s, Dorset has received £2.37 million to date. In addition, the Department is also investing in the eradication of mental health dormitories to replace with single en-suite rooms. We have also provided £150 million to the National Health Service to improve mental health facilities connected to accident and emergency and enhance patient safety in mental health units.
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 assessment he has made of the potential merits for (a) survivability and (b) preventing future disability of designating strokes as Category 1 for the purpose of ambulance response times.
Answered by Will Quince
No specific assessment has been made. The ambulance response time standards were established based on the findings of the Ambulance Response Programme, which analysed more than 14 million 999 calls.
NHS England is providing targeted support to some hospitals facing the greatest delays in the transfer of patients from ambulances and a Winter Improvement Collaborative programme to identify the causes of handover delays and implement best practice. This will be supported by an additional £3.3 billion in 2023/24 and 2024/25 to improve urgent and emergency care performance. The National Health Service will set out detailed recovery plans in the new year, including plans to improve Category 2 ambulance response times to pre-pandemic levels.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of using of hotels used by York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust staff as temporary accommodation for people seeking asylum on community tensions.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The record numbers of individuals illegally crossing the Channel has impacted not only our ability to find suitable accommodation for people as quickly as is necessary to meet our statutory need, but also our engagement with MPs and Local Authorities.
As advised in my letter to MPs issued on 18th November we have taken immediate steps to rectify this and improve levels of engagement with key stakeholders around required hotel accommodation sites, to ensure colleagues are kept updated and better informed and to ensure we understand and act on any concerns appropriately and swiftly. These performance standards will be reviewed regularly and, wherever possible, service levels will be progressively raised. We also continue to work closely with local authorities on full asylum dispersal to ensure fairer distribution across the UK.
Using hotels to accommodate asylum seekers is not a long-term solution. Central to our focus is the impact on local communities, including access to public services, community cohesion and public order; delivering value for money for the taxpayer; and reducing pull factors to enter the UK illegally. It is against these criteria that we will consider further contingency accommodation options.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with representatives from York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on hotel rooms used by NHS staff before signing contracts to use hotels in York for asylum seekers.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The record numbers of individuals illegally crossing the Channel has impacted not only our ability to find suitable accommodation for people as quickly as is necessary to meet our statutory need, but also our engagement with MPs and Local Authorities.
As advised in my letter to MPs issued on 18th November we have taken immediate steps to rectify this and improve levels of engagement with key stakeholders around required hotel accommodation sites, to ensure colleagues are kept updated and better informed and to ensure we understand and act on any concerns appropriately and swiftly. These performance standards will be reviewed regularly and, wherever possible, service levels will be progressively raised. We also continue to work closely with local authorities on full asylum dispersal to ensure fairer distribution across the UK.
Using hotels to accommodate asylum seekers is not a long-term solution. Central to our focus is the impact on local communities, including access to public services, community cohesion and public order; delivering value for money for the taxpayer; and reducing pull factors to enter the UK illegally. It is against these criteria that we will consider further contingency accommodation options.