Tag: Baroness Walmsley

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Walmsley on 2015-11-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the timetable for implementing the comprehensive legislative reform of health professional regulation to which they have committed.

Lord Prior of Brampton

This Government is grateful for the work of the Law Commissions of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in reviewing the regulation of health and (in England) social care professionals.

The Law Commissions made 125 recommendations to reform the existing complex and burdensome regulatory system. The joint four United Kingdom country response to the Law Commissions was published on 29 January 2015 which accepted wholly or in part the vast majority of its recommendations. A copy of the response is attached.

The Department is currently reviewing how best to take forward the work of the Law Commissions. We hope to be able to provide an update on this work soon.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Walmsley on 2016-02-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assurances the Department of Health has received that neurology services will not be disadvantaged in comparison to other condition areas by the absence of national clinical leadership for neurology services, in the light of NHS England’s decision not to renew the role of National Clinical Director for adult neurology.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s Medical Director, has undertaken a review of the National Clinical Director (NCD) resource designed to focus clinical advisory resources on areas where major programmes of work are currently being taking forward, or areas identified as priorities for improvement. As a result of the review, NHS England has proposed to change the way in which clinical advice is received in speciality areas in the future.

Where there will no longer be a specific NCD role, NHS England will secure expert clinical advice from its Clinical Networks and through its relationships with professional bodies and by appointing clinical advisors. For neurology it is planned that access to advice will be through clinical leads and members of the NHS England-funded neurology clinical networks, the Neurology Clinical Reference Group and Royal Colleges. It is expected that these new arrangements will be in place from 1 April 2016.

The Neurology Intelligence Network (NIN) is a joint partnership programme between Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England to support the generation and dissemination of neurology related health intelligence. PHE currently funds the on-going design, development and management of the NIN.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Walmsley on 2016-02-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they plan to make the Meningitis B vaccine available on the NHS to children born before 1 May 2015.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the independent expert body that advises ministers on immunisation matters, recommended a meningococcal B (MenB) immunisation programme that will protect infants because they are at highest risk, with the peak incidence of MenB being in infants at about five months of age. The MenB vaccine is offered to babies at two months of age, with further doses offered when they reach four and 12 months of age.

The JCVI keeps the eligibility criteria of all vaccination programmes under review and considers new evidence as it becomes available. If the JCVI provides further advice about the programme, we will consider this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Walmsley on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many organ donors are registered in each local authority and Parliamentary constituency.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Providing the complete information on the number of people who have joined the NHS Organ Donor Register by local authority and Parliamentary constituency in the main body of this reply would exceed the word limit for responses to written parliamentary questions. The information is therefore in the attached table.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Walmsley on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have assessed the amount of infection brought into hospitals by staff uniforms worn outside.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Department first published Uniforms and Work wear: An evidence base for developing local policy in 2007, with an update to this guidance published in March 2010. A copy of this document is attached.

The guidance was informed by two extensive literature reviews conducted by Thames Valley University and by practical research on washing uniform fabrics carried out at University College Hospital. Whilst there is a theoretical risk, this work‎ supported the conclusion that there was no evidence that uniforms and workwear played a direct role in spreading infection.

Nonetheless, the clothes that staff wear should facilitate good practice and minimise any risk to patients. Public attitudes and perceptions indicate that it is good practice for staff either to change at work or to cover their uniforms as they travel to and from work. Changing into and out of uniforms at work is included as a good practice example in the guidance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Walmsley on 2016-05-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether total Accident and Emergency (A&E) waiting times are calculated, for the purposes of reporting, from the time the ambulance arrives at A&E or from the time the patient enters the A&E Department.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Accident and emergency (A&E) waiting times for patients who arrive by ambulance start either when the ambulance crew hand over the patient to the A&E department, or 15 minutes after the ambulance registers its arrival at A&E, whichever is earlier.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Walmsley on 2016-06-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether x-ray equipment bought for a hospital trust by local fundraising efforts belongs to that trust or to NHS Property Services.

Lord Prior of Brampton

On the abolition of primary care trusts in April 2013, former primary care trust land, buildings and related contracts transferred either to NHS Property Services or to National Health Service trusts, depending on the details of the individual transfer schemes. Clinical equipment was not generally transferred to NHS Property Services.

Equipment donated after April 2013 directly to individual NHS hospital trusts and x-ray equipment bought for a trust by local fundraising efforts would belong to the NHS trust unless it has been specifically transferred to NHS Property Services under the terms of a particular transfer scheme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Walmsley on 2016-07-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the advice by Professors Stanley, Lawler, Graham, and others, to extend HPV vaccinations to boys to curb the spread of throat and other cancers.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, the expert committee that advises Ministers on immunisation related issues, is currently in the process of considering the impact and cost-effectiveness of extending the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination to adolescent boys. This includes assessing all the necessary evidence and information on the potential impact of a boys vaccination programme on non-cervical cancers caused by HPV.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Walmsley on 2016-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action is being taken to increase diagnosis of patients with atrial fibrillation.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England’s Sustainable Improvement Team is taking action to promote the use of GRASP-AF (Guidance on Risk Assessment and Stroke Prevention for Atrial Fibrillation) within general practitioner (GP) practices in England. GRASP-AF is an audit tool developed by and trialled in the National Health Service which greatly simplifies the process of identifying patients with Atrial Fibrillation (AF) who are not receiving the right management to help reduce their risk of stroke.

The Sustainable Improvement Team is also working with NHS RightCare, a programme committed to improving people’s health and outcomes, to help promote the use of GRASP-AF in the programme’s 65 first wave clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). NHS RightCare’s ‘Commissioning for Value’ packs help CCGs identify priority areas such as AF, and the GRASP AF tool provides a practical method of addressing any inequalities. NHS England’s intention is that the work with NHS RightCare will increase the number of CCGs using GRASP-AF in a systematic way.

Anonymised data from GRASP-AF can be uploaded to CHART Online, a secure web enabled tool that helps practices improve performance through comparative data analysis. This allows practices and CCGs to benchmark their management of AF with other practices across England and so help identify and reduce any variation in practice.

The use of GRASP-AF is voluntary and its use therefore varies across CCGs. Currently 2,248 GP practices have uploaded data from GRASP-AF to CHART online across 151 out of the 209 CCGs. Of these, 19 CCGs have all GP practices in their area uploading data.

In addition to the NHS action outlined above, all local authorities in England are required to offer the NHS Health Check programme, with the large majority commissioning general practice to provide them on their behalf. More than 15 million people aged 40-74 are, have been or will be eligible for an NHS Health Check between 2014 and 2018. The programme’s best practice guidance recommends that a pulse check is carried out as part of the process of taking a blood pressure reading and those individuals who are found to have an irregular pulse rhythm should be referred for further investigation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Walmsley on 2016-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of clinical commissioning groups have undertaken a systematic audit across GP practices to identify people with (1) possible undiagnosed atrial fibrillation, and (2) atrial fibrillation at high risk of stroke who are not anticoagulated or maintained in therapeutic range.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England’s Sustainable Improvement Team is taking action to promote the use of GRASP-AF (Guidance on Risk Assessment and Stroke Prevention for Atrial Fibrillation) within general practitioner (GP) practices in England. GRASP-AF is an audit tool developed by and trialled in the National Health Service which greatly simplifies the process of identifying patients with Atrial Fibrillation (AF) who are not receiving the right management to help reduce their risk of stroke.

The Sustainable Improvement Team is also working with NHS RightCare, a programme committed to improving people’s health and outcomes, to help promote the use of GRASP-AF in the programme’s 65 first wave clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). NHS RightCare’s ‘Commissioning for Value’ packs help CCGs identify priority areas such as AF, and the GRASP AF tool provides a practical method of addressing any inequalities. NHS England’s intention is that the work with NHS RightCare will increase the number of CCGs using GRASP-AF in a systematic way.

Anonymised data from GRASP-AF can be uploaded to CHART Online, a secure web enabled tool that helps practices improve performance through comparative data analysis. This allows practices and CCGs to benchmark their management of AF with other practices across England and so help identify and reduce any variation in practice.

The use of GRASP-AF is voluntary and its use therefore varies across CCGs. Currently 2,248 GP practices have uploaded data from GRASP-AF to CHART online across 151 out of the 209 CCGs. Of these, 19 CCGs have all GP practices in their area uploading data.

In addition to the NHS action outlined above, all local authorities in England are required to offer the NHS Health Check programme, with the large majority commissioning general practice to provide them on their behalf. More than 15 million people aged 40-74 are, have been or will be eligible for an NHS Health Check between 2014 and 2018. The programme’s best practice guidance recommends that a pulse check is carried out as part of the process of taking a blood pressure reading and those individuals who are found to have an irregular pulse rhythm should be referred for further investigation.