Every parliamentary written question tabled by Daisy Cooper this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 101–116 of 116 · Department of Health and Social Care
Whether he plans to visit Watford General Hospital before his Department's review of the New Hospital Programme is complete.
Ministers regularly consider visits across the country. Any plans to visit specific locations will be notified to the Hon. Members in advance.
What assessment he has made of the potential merits of permitting GPs to prescribe a third epi pen to school children with severe allergies when school policies require them to leave one of the two provided by the NHS on the school premises during term time.
Clinicians are responsible for making prescribing decisions for their patients and, where appropriate, can prescribe the number of EpiPens needed, taking into account best practice, the patient's needs, and any local or national guidance. There are already some children in England with severe allergies who have four EpiPens prescribed to them, two for use at home, and two for use at school.
Whether he has received recent representations from the charitable hospice sector on the impact of statutory funding levels on the adequacy of (a) service levels, (b) staffing levels and (c) patient 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 at end of life, and their loved ones. Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by integrated care board (ICB) area, and will, in part, be dependent on the breadth of palliative and end of life care provision within each ICB catchment area.I am aware from meetings with, and published reports and correspondence from, the charitable hospice sector linking the level of statutory funding for hospices to reductions in the adequacy of service levels, staffing levels, and patient care. I have also recently met NHS England and discussions have begun on how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to, and the quality of, palliative and end of life care.We, alongside key partners NHS England, will continue to proactively engage with our stakeholders, including the voluntary sector and independent hospices, on an ongoing basis, in order to understand the issues they face. We will consider next steps on palliative and end of life care, including funding, in the coming months.
With reference to the conclusions of the report entitled Transplant care in the UK: a patient perspective, published by Kidney Care UK in July 2024, if he will take steps to ensure people who have received a transplant have access to adequate psychological support.
The Department, NHS England, and NHS Blood and Transplant are working together to implement the recommendations of the Organ Utilisation Group’s 2023 report through the Implementation Steering Group for Organ Utilisation. The recommendations state that psychological and social care support must be available for patients both around the time of transplant, and in follow-up.In addition, NHS England’s Service Specification for Renal Transplantation mandates that commissioned providers have access to both physiotherapy and psychological support services. NHS England is reviewing all specialised renal service specifications, including the requirements to offer these services. These will be line with the recommendations of NHS England’s Renal Service Transformation Programme (RSTP) toolkit.The RSTP toolkit aims to support renal providers across England to transform care for patients with kidney disease. It includes ensuring all patients have access to physiotherapy and psychological care. Providers in England are supported by the NHS England commissioned Renal Clinical Networks to implement principles of the toolkit.
How many staff have left the NHS ophthalmic sector to join ophthalmic units in independent treatment centres.
The Department does not hold the information requested.
With reference to the oral contribution of Baroness Merron of 11 September 2024, House of Lords, Official Report, column 1565, what steps he is taking to engage with people who have been diagnosed with HIV but who have not accessed HIV care in the last year.
We are making progress in ending new transmissions of HIV within England by 2030 but we know more work needs to be done to achieve our ambitions. The Department, the UK Health and Security Agency, NHS England and a broad range of system partners are working together to develop a new HIV Action Plan, including a focus on HIV care, and retention and reengagement, which we aim to publish by summer 2025.NHS England’s Service Specification for Adult Specialised Services for People Living with HIV requires all service providers to have a policy describing how they aim to ensure retention in care, and re-engage those lost to care. This service specification is available at the follow link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/New-HIV-prescribed-service-specification-version-4.4.pdfCommissioning responsibility for adult specialist services for people living with HIV has been delegated by NHS England to integrated care boards (ICB) in the East of England, the Midlands and the North West regions of England from April 2024, with the South West, South East, London, and the North East regions of England to follow in April 2025. NHS England National Specialised Commissioning does not have specific details on the activities of individual ICBs regarding any funded programmes for HIV services to find and re-engage with people living with HIV who have not accessed HIV care in the last year.We are making excellent progress with the blood borne virus opt-out testing programme in the highest HIV prevalence areas, helping us reach those who do not typically engage with sexual health services and those who are not engaged in care. In its first 28 months, the programme has identified 1,360 undiagnosed or untreated HIV cases, and over 5,000 cases of untreated or undiagnosed hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
Whether any HIV peer support services were (a) wholly or (b) partially funded by the public purse in 2023-24
The Adult service specification for people living with HIV sets out the requirement for HIV services to ensure that people living with HIV have access to emotional and psychological support, including peer support. However, NHS England Specialised Commissioning does not directly commission HIV peer support services and does not hold any information or data on whether HIV peer support services have been wholly or partially funded by local National Health Service health systems.
With reference to the conclusions of the report entitled Transplant care in the UK: a patient perspective, published by Kidney Care UK in July 2024, if he will take steps to ensure all chronic kidney disease patients who have received a transplant have access to physiotherapy services.
The Department, NHS England, and NHS Blood and Transplant are working together to implement the recommendations of the Organ Utilisation Group’s 2023 report through the Implementation Steering Group for Organ Utilisation. The recommendations state that psychological and social care support must be available for patients both around the time of transplant, and in follow-up.In addition, NHS England’s Service Specification for Renal Transplantation mandates that commissioned providers have access to both physiotherapy and psychological support services. NHS England is reviewing all specialised renal service specifications, including the requirements to offer these services. These will be line with the recommendations of NHS England’s Renal Service Transformation Programme (RSTP) toolkit.The RSTP toolkit aims to support renal providers across England to transform care for patients with kidney disease. It includes ensuring all patients have access to physiotherapy and psychological care. Providers in England are supported by the NHS England commissioned Renal Clinical Networks to implement principles of the toolkit.
Whether any Integrated Care Boards fund programmes which (a) find and (b) re-engage with people living with HIV who have not accessed HIV care in the last year
We are making progress in ending new transmissions of HIV within England by 2030 but we know more work needs to be done to achieve our ambitions. The Department, the UK Health and Security Agency, NHS England and a broad range of system partners are working together to develop a new HIV Action Plan, including a focus on HIV care, and retention and reengagement, which we aim to publish by summer 2025.NHS England’s Service Specification for Adult Specialised Services for People Living with HIV requires all service providers to have a policy describing how they aim to ensure retention in care, and re-engage those lost to care. This service specification is available at the follow link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/New-HIV-prescribed-service-specification-version-4.4.pdfCommissioning responsibility for adult specialist services for people living with HIV has been delegated by NHS England to integrated care boards (ICB) in the East of England, the Midlands and the North West regions of England from April 2024, with the South West, South East, London, and the North East regions of England to follow in April 2025. NHS England National Specialised Commissioning does not have specific details on the activities of individual ICBs regarding any funded programmes for HIV services to find and re-engage with people living with HIV who have not accessed HIV care in the last year.We are making excellent progress with the blood borne virus opt-out testing programme in the highest HIV prevalence areas, helping us reach those who do not typically engage with sexual health services and those who are not engaged in care. In its first 28 months, the programme has identified 1,360 undiagnosed or untreated HIV cases, and over 5,000 cases of untreated or undiagnosed hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
Pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2024 to Question 3798 on NHS: Training, how many of the rejected or unsuccessful direct entry applicants were not accepted (a) due to the lack of a suitable place and (b) because demand for places exceeded supply in (i) 2021-2022, (ii) 2022-2023 and (iii) 2023-2024.
The Department does not hold the specific information requested. The number of posts available on the Science Training Programme each year is derived from a process of expressions of interest from host bodies, which are reviewed by national and regional commissioners and the National School of Healthcare Science. Available post numbers are therefore driven by demand for applicants and capacity in the host bodies.
With reference to the conclusions of the report entitled Transplant care in the UK: a patient perspective, published by Kidney Care UK in July 2024, if he will take steps to ensure that eligible kidney disease patients facing kidney failure are pre-emptively placed on transplant waiting lists before undergoing dialysis.
NHS England’s Service Specification for Renal Transplantation identifies transplant as the optimal treatment option for patients with stage five chronic kidney disease (CKD 5) and mandates that all commissioned providers should assess the benefits and risks of transplantation with patients, six months ahead of commencing dialysis treatment.In 2022, NHS England’s Renal Services Transformation Programme produced a toolkit to support renal providers across England to transform care for patients with kidney disease. This includes principles around improving transplantation services and increasing pre-emptive transplantation rates for patients. The toolkit also includes a self-assessment questionnaire, with four key principles, to support renal providers to improve transplantation services for patients with CKD 5. Providers in England are supported by the NHS England commissioned Renal Clinical Networks to improve patient care, with all networks having identified transplantation improvement workstreams and clinical leads.The Department, NHS Blood and Transplant, and NHS England are working together to improve utilisation of all solid organs following recommendations from the Organ Utilisation Group 2023 report. This includes equity of access to transplant for all patients across the country.
What steps his Department has taken to help reduce waiting lists for a kidney transplant.
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) manage the NHS Organ Donor Register and National Transplant Register in the United Kingdom. They are working to reduce the number of patients on the waiting list by revising the National Organ Retrieval Service to improve its efficiency, supporting clinical teams to increase the use of extended criteria donors, implementing new technology to improve non-use rates, and growing the UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme to enable more centres to share kidneys across the country.The Department, NHSBT, and NHS England are working together to improve utilisation of all solid organs following recommendations from the Organ Utilisation Group 2023 report. This includes considering how Assessment and Recovery Centres could be established and where deceased donor kidneys are perfused and assessed, with the potential to increase kidneys for transplantation by up to 400 per year.
Whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the value for money of ophthalmic care in independent treatment centres.
It is the responsibility of individual commissioners to commission services and agree contracts most suitable for their local context. Contracts between commissioners and providers must comply with the NHS Payment Scheme, a set of prices and rules used to deliver the most efficient, cost-effective care to patients. These unit prices are consistent across independent providers and National Health Service providers.
Whether hospice funding will be included in his Department's 10-year plan for health and care.
We want a society where every person, as well as their families and carers, receives high-quality, compassionate care, from diagnosis through to end of life.I recently met NHS England and discussions have begun on how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to, and the quality of, palliative and end of life care in England. We will consider next steps on palliative and end of life care, including hospice funding, in the coming months.We have committed to develop a 10-Year Health Plan to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our stakeholders, including those in the hospice sector, as we develop the plan.The engagement process has been launched, and I would encourage the palliative and end of life care sector, including hospice providers, service users and their families, to engage with that process to allow us to fully understand what is not working as well as it should and what the potential solutions are. More information is available at the following link:https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/The Department does not collect or hold data on the number of people waiting for places in hospices run by charitable organisations.
What data his Department (a) collects and (b) holds on the number of people waiting for places in hospices run by charitable organisations.
We want a society where every person, as well as their families and carers, receives high-quality, compassionate care, from diagnosis through to end of life.I recently met NHS England and discussions have begun on how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to, and the quality of, palliative and end of life care in England. We will consider next steps on palliative and end of life care, including hospice funding, in the coming months.We have committed to develop a 10-Year Health Plan to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our stakeholders, including those in the hospice sector, as we develop the plan.The engagement process has been launched, and I would encourage the palliative and end of life care sector, including hospice providers, service users and their families, to engage with that process to allow us to fully understand what is not working as well as it should and what the potential solutions are. More information is available at the following link:https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/The Department does not collect or hold data on the number of people waiting for places in hospices run by charitable organisations.
Pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2024 to Question 3791 on Respiratory Syncytial Virus: Vaccination, whether he has received any advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on whether that vaccine should be extended to those children over one year old with spinal muscular atrophy type 1.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has not provided advice on whether the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine should be extended to children over the age of one year with spinal muscular atrophy type 1.The JCVI considered a range of evidence in advising who should be offered an immunisation, including the impact of the vaccine in different age groups, as well as the capacity of the National Health Service to deliver the programme alongside other important healthcare priorities.The vaccine for the national RSV programmes, Pfizer’s Abrysvo, is approved only for use in pregnant women, for infant protection, and older adults, following clinical trials in these groups. The JCVI has not provided advice on other groups, as the analysis that informed their advice looked at burden by age.In June 2023, the JCVI advised that existing infant risk groups eligible for RSV monoclonal antibody immunisation should preferentially be protected with nirsevimab over palivizumab. While children over the age of one year with spinal muscular atrophy type 1 are not currently in the eligible cohort, the JCVI’s advice is that NHS specialised commissioning should work within the existing guidance on preventative treatment for children considered to be at equivalent risk based on clinical judgment. The JCVI may provide further advice on the use of RSV monoclonal antibody immunisation in risk groups outside of the current recommendations in the future.