Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Health and Care Integration

Tuesday 19 April 2022 · 10 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 4 Partly answered 5 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Ministerial steps include publishing an integration White Paper and creating integrated care partnerships.
  • Local authorities seeking to tackle hospital backlogs will have access to appropriate funding.
  • Local government's central role in integrating health and social care services will continue, with shared responsibility between local authorities and the NHS.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Andrew Lewer Con
NHS Social Care
Context

The integration of NHS and local government care services is under discussion.

Question

What steps are being taken to ensure that health and care services are well integrated?

Answer from Sajid Javid

We have published an integration White Paper drawing on pandemic experience, created integrated care partnerships like those in mid-Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire, showing how we can bring together health and local social care services.

Answered
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Q2 Ben Bradley Con
NHS Local Government
Context

The discharge fund is set to end as covid regulations come to an end, leaving local authorities vulnerable in the absence of formal procedures to pass funding from the NHS to local government services.

Question

Will my right hon. Friend assure me that where local authorities seek to tackle hospital backlogs they will have access to appropriate funding?

Answer from Sajid Javid

I can give the assurance requested. We are already putting in record funding and the plan set out earlier this month will make a real difference by integrating NHS and local authority care services.

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Q3 Andrew Lewer Con
NHS Social Care Local Government
Context

The importance of local government in ensuring efficient use of resources through the joint delivery of services.

Question

Can he assure me that the central role of local government in integrating health and social care services will continue? Will adult social care be taken over by the NHS?

Answer from Sajid Javid

I am pleased to give that assurance. The White Paper signals our intention to go further and faster on health and care integration, ensuring overall responsibility is shared between local authorities and the NHS.

Answered
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Q4 Valerie Vaz Lab Walsall and Bloxwich
NHS
Context

Walsall Manor Hospital has been merged with the Royal Wolverhampton without local consultation, raising concerns about integration.

Question

How can integration take place when Walsall Manor does not have a full-time chief executive? Will the Secretary of State ensure that Walsall Manor gets its own chief executive?

Answer from Sajid Javid

My understanding is that what is happening in her area is about a shared management team that shares best practice and tries to address challenges together, rather than any kind of formal merger.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Ensuring Walsall Manor has its own chief executive for integration was not directly addressed

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Q5 Alex Norris Labour (Co-op) Nottingham North and Kimberley
NHS
Context

Tens of thousands of patients are fit to leave hospital but cannot due to lack of social care, calling for local health leaders to drive this issue urgently.

Question

Will the Secretary of State concede that local health leaders should be driving the resolution of this issue locally as a matter of urgency?

Answer from Sajid Javid

The new integrated care systems are all about it. My understanding is that the hon. Gentleman sat on the Health and Care Public Bill Committee which made this a reality.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Conceding urgency of local health leaders' action was not directly addressed

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Q6 Wes Streeting Lab Ilford North
NHS Social Care
Context

More than 20,000 patients fit to leave hospital but cannot be discharged; more than 22,000 waiting over 12 hours in A&E; heart attack and stroke victims wait an hour for ambulances. The Government's failure to fix the social care crisis causes huge pressures on the NHS.

Question

Is it not the case that after a decade of underinvestment in the NHS, a failure to fix social care and the absence of a plan even to address staffing challenges, we have a permanent crisis?

Answer from Sajid Javid

That is not the case at all. The NHS and social care face unprecedented pressure because of the pandemic; staff absences are higher than normal times but the NHS is providing support with record funding for both NHS and adult social care.

Not addressed: Conceding a permanent crisis due to underinvestment was not addressed, instead citing the pandemic as cause

How: Citing The Pandemic As The Main Cause

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Q7 Jake Berry Con
NHS
Context

Working with local authorities and GP services to increase face-to-face GP appointments.

Question

What action is being taken by the Government to ensure that people in east Lancashire can see their general practitioner face to face?

Answer from Sajid Javid

My right hon. Friend is right to raise the issue. We have measures like the £250 million access fund announced a few months ago, which should help improve face-to-face access as we move past the pandemic peak.

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Q8 Martyn Day SNP
NHS Social Care
Context

The Scottish Government has improved terms and conditions for care workers through national pay bargaining, attracting more people to the social care career. This contrasts with England and Wales where staff are paid less.

Question

Integration and service improvement cannot be delivered without sufficient staff, and the only way to attract people to a career in social care is by valuing them. In Scotland, they are already paid better than those in England and Wales, and through the national care service the Scottish Government will improve terms and conditions for care workers, through the introduction of national pay bargaining. Have the UK Government considered following the Scottish Government's approach and commitments?

Answer from Sajid Javid

Integration between the NHS and social care requires the right level and quality of workforce, both in the NHS and in adult social care. In the NHS in England, we have more doctors and nurses—more people working than ever before. In adult social care, we are recruiting at high levels, not least because of the huge recruitment campaign we ran with the sector, and some of the other changes we made, including the £400 million-plus of retention funding over the winter period. In addition, the support for the workforce more generally is making a real difference.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not address whether UK Government has considered adopting Scottish approach or national pay bargaining specifically.

How: Discussed Recruitment And Funding In General

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Q9 Peter Bone Con
NHS Social Care Local Government
Context

In north Northamptonshire, integration is progressing well under Councillor Helen Harrison's leadership. However, there are concerns that the NHS might overwhelm local government in such partnerships.

Question

In north Northamptonshire, integration is getting on very well, with Councillor Helen Harrison heading the adult social services. However, going back to what my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton South (Andrew Lewer) said, there is the worry that because the NHS is so big it will overwhelm local government. I have told the Secretary of State that they do not want to mess with Helen Harrison, but can he ensure that there is a mechanism for reviewing that?

Answer from Sajid Javid

I know that my hon. Friend knows Helen Harrison extremely well, but he is right to talk about the importance of the NHS and the adult social care sector and local authorities working together. We must make sure that it is a true partnership, where one does not overwhelm the other and they work together towards their shared interests.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not specify a mechanism for review as requested.

How: Emphasised Importance Of Partnership Without Addressing Review Mechanisms

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Q10 Helen Morgan Lib Dem North Shropshire
NHS Social Care
Context

There are urgent care crises in Shropshire, specifically at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, where medically fit patients cannot be discharged into community social care due to insufficient resources.

Question

One key cause of the urgent care crisis in Shropshire, in the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, is the inability to discharge patients who are medically fit to go home into social care in the community. Shropshire Council's resource challenges in that area are well known. Will the Secretary of State commit to putting extra resource into social care in Shropshire so that the medically fit can be discharged into the community when they are ready?

Answer from Sajid Javid

The hon. Lady is absolutely right to raise this issue, and the whole House heard just before the recess the results of the independent work done by Donna Ockenden. The hon. Lady is right to talk about that and the pressure that has been faced locally. I understand that she has already reached out to my hon. Friend the Minister for Health and that he will be meeting her to discuss just that.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not commit to additional resources specifically, only mentioned a meeting would take place.

How: Acknowledged Issue But Did Not Provide Commitment

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