Written Assembly Questions tabled on 30 October 2014 for answer on 6 November 2014
R - Signifies the Member has declared an interest.
W - Signifies that the question was tabled in Welsh.
(Self identifying Question no. shown in brackets)
Written Questions must be tabled at least five working days before they are to be answered. In practice, Ministers aim to answer within seven/eight days but are not bound to do so. Answers are published in the language in which they are provided, with a translation into English of responses provided in Welsh.
To ask the Minister for Natural Resources
Russell George (Montgomeryshire): With reference to stage 2 of the Payment Region Technical Review Process, will the Minister make a statement on the way in which the expert panel operates, how it represents the views of industry stakeholders and how it is accountable to the Welsh Government? (WAQ67935)
Answer received on 6 November 2014
The Deputy Minister for Farming and Food (Rebecca Evans): The Technical Review Panel has 3 members with a balance of relevant expertise, one of whom was nominated jointly by farming industry bodies. The panel will examine the field survey reports submitted by appellants in respect of provisional decisions about payment region classifications for the Basic Payment Scheme and consider the evidence in the light of the regulations which define the payment regions. The Panel will then report to the Deputy Minister for Farming and Food recommending acceptance or rejection.
Russell George (Montgomeryshire): Will the Minister outline the methods, in addition to the use of aerial photographs, which are used in determining the result of farmers' appeals of their land regions for the Basic Payment Scheme? (WAQ67936)
Answer received on 6 November 2014
Rebecca Evans: The Technical Review Process has 2 stages. At Stage 1 the Welsh Government has used aerial photography and crop codes to decide whether reclassification should be agreed. Where there is no evidence to support reclassification, or the evidence is unclear or ambiguous, the case has been rejected and the farmer has been invited to proceed to stage 2.
Stage 2 requires the farmer to submit a detailed field report, prepared by a member of the CIEEM, a professional body of persons recognised as qualified
for this work, for consideration by an independent Review Panel. The report should include photographs, annotated maps and the results of pin tests to show
the percentage cover of semi-natural species.
Russell George (Montgomeryshire): Will the Minister outline the criteria used for classifying parcels of farmland at stage 2 of the Payment Region Technical Review Process? (WAQ67937)
Answer received on 18 November 2014
Rebecca Evans: The criteria for reclassifying land is the same for Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the Technical Review Process
The regions are defined in the legislation and the decision on reclassification under the Process is based on
which payment region land should fit. I have attached links to the relevant legislation.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2014/1835/pdfs/wsi_20141835_mi.pdf
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2014/2367/pdfs/wsi_20142367_mi.pdf
To ask the Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty
Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): Will the Minister outline how many applications for disabled facilities have been granted and how much money has been spent through this programme in the last 2 years? (WAQ67947)
Answer received on 6 November 2014
The Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty (Lesley Griffiths):During financial years 2011-12 and 2012-13, the number of mandatory Disabled Facilities Grants (DFG) approved was 4,540 and 4,594 respectively.
The total amount spent on completed DFGs in each of those financial years were £34.9 million and £32.7 million respectively.
Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): Will the Minister outline how much money has been saved by creating proper conditions at home for people with disabilities? (WAQ67948)
Answer received on 6 November 2014
Lesley Griffiths: We do not have firm figures on the potential savings home adaptations make. However, Care & Repair Cymru suggest for every pound spent on adaptations, £7is saved for Health and Social Care Services. Enabling people to remain in their own homes in comfort and security also has wider social benefits for communities across Wales.
Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): Will the Minister make a statement on whether he has considered sharing the costs of the Disabled Facilities Grant investments with the beneficiary? (WAQ67949)
Answer received on 6 November 2014
Lesley Griffiths: Disabled Facilities Grants are means-tested for all adults. Local Authority contributions can vary from nothing to 100%depending on an individual's financial circumstances.
Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): Will the Minister make a statement on what happens to the improvements funded by the Disabled Facilities Grant after the beneficiary dies? (WAQ6750)
Answer received on 6 November 2014
Lesley Griffiths: Often the only "improvement" in many cases is to the quality of life of the recipient and their family and/or carers.
If the recipient of a Disabled Facilities Grant dies however, there is no requirement for the adaptation to be reused or returned.
To ask the Minister for Health and Social Services
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister provide a statement on the tests conducted on the chemotherapy drug Abraxane with regards to 'quality of life'? (WAQ67938)
Answer received on 6 November 2014
The Minister for Health and Social Services (Mark Drakeford): In September the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group recommended the use of Abraxane in combination with gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of adult patients with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Abraxane is therefore available within Wales as a cost-effective intervention with a positive impact on quality of life
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister provide a statement on the criteria used by the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group for the selection and approval of the cancer drug, Abraxane? (WAQ67939)
Answer received on 6 November 2014
Mark Drakeford: In September the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group (AWMSG) recommended the use of Abraxane
in combination with gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of adult patients with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.
AWMSG took end of life criteria into account during the appraisal.
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister please provide a statement on the criteria used by the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group for the selection and approval of cancer drugs? (WAQ67940)
Answer received on 6 November 2014
Mark Drakeford: Information on the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group (AWMSG) health technology appraisal process for all medicines can be obtained from:
http://www.awmsg.org/healthcare_horizon_scanning.html.AWMSG has the remit to appraise newly licensed medicines not on the NICE work programme, including
license extensions and/or new formulations of existing medicines.
Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): Will the Minister make a statement on waiting time targets for monitoring patients suffering from chronic diseases? (WAQ67941)
Answer received on 6 November 2014
Mark Drakeford: Secondary care services for patients suffering from chronic diseases share the same waiting times targets as other conditions.
Welsh Government policy on the care and monitoring of people with chronic conditions, however, is focused on improving the planning and delivery of effective and integrated primary care. We want primary care organised and coordinated around preventing or delaying the onset of avoidable chronic conditions through promoting healthy lifestyles, identifying those people at increased risk of chronic disease, and agreeing with these individuals how to minimise and monitor these risks.
Where chronic disease does occur, we want this to be detected and treated promptly with the majority of care provided at, or as close to, home as possible. This includes primary care teams working in partnerships with individuals to agree and monitor progress with goals and actions through a personal care plan to support them to manage their own health and wellbeing and avoid problems and exacerbations.
The introduction of the NHS Outcomes Framework includes a greater emphasis on primary care to ensure there is a focus on the effective treatment of chronic conditions, as close to the patient's home as possible. There is a long standing agreed performance management target for health boards to reduce the percentage of people admitted or readmitted to hospital within a year as an emergency for a basket of eight chronic conditions. Latest data shows on an all-Wales level, both the number of admissions and readmissions continues to fall.
Chronic conditions specific delivery plans (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, liver and neurological conditions) have been developed which reinforce our overall approach to the management of chronic conditions. These plans include service performance measures. Annual priorities have been set for each plan. Health boards have produced local delivery plans against which performance is monitored. Annual reports highlighting performance have been published for the cancer, stroke and heart disease plans.
General practice has a key role in monitoring and managing the ongoing health and wellbeing of people with chronic disease. The latest General Medical Services contract: Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) annual report shows that people with chronic conditions are receiving more comprehensive primary care services, including monitoring and check ups, than ever before. Key results include 97% of people with COPD receiving flu vaccinations, 91% of people on the stroke and transient ischaemic attack register had a blood pressure measurement of 150/90mmHG or less and 84% of patients on the coronary heart disease register had a cholesterol measurement of 5mmol/l or less. These are improvements on previous years' data.
Further detail can be found using the following link: http://wales.gov.uk/statistics-and-research/general-medical-services-contract/?lang=en.
Recent changes to QOF have been designed to promote collaboration between clusters of general practices to identify and deliver improved primary care, including the ongoing care and monitoring of people with chronic conditions.
Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): How does the Minister plan to improve waiting time targets for monitoring patients with chronic conditions? (WAQ67942)
Answer received on 6 November 2014
Mark Drakeford: Secondary care services for patients suffering from chronic diseases share the same waiting times targets as other conditions.
Welsh Government policy on the care and monitoring of people with chronic conditions, however, is focused on improving the planning and delivery of effective and integrated primary care. We want primary care organised and coordinated around preventing or delaying the onset of avoidable chronic conditions through promoting healthy lifestyles, identifying those people at increased risk of chronic disease, and agreeing with these individuals how to minimise and monitor these risks.
Where chronic disease does occur, we want this to be detected and treated promptly with the majority of care provided at, or as close to, home as possible. This includes primary care teams working in partnerships with individuals to agree and monitor progress with goals and actions through a personal care plan to support them to manage their own health and wellbeing and avoid problems and exacerbations.
The introduction of the NHS Outcomes Framework includes a greater emphasis on primary care to ensure there is a focus on the effective treatment of chronic conditions, as close to the patient's home as possible. There is a long standing agreed performance management target for health boards to reduce the percentage of people admitted or readmitted to hospital within a year as an emergency for a basket of eight chronic conditions. Latest data shows on an all-Wales level, both the number of admissions and readmissions continues to fall.
Chronic conditions specific delivery plans (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, liver and neurological conditions) have been developed which reinforce our overall approach to the management of chronic conditions. These plans include service performance measures. Annual priorities have been set for each plan. Health boards have produced local delivery plans against which performance is monitored. Annual reports highlighting performance have been published for the cancer, stroke and heart disease plans.
General practice has a key role in monitoring and managing the ongoing health and wellbeing of people with chronic disease. The latest General Medical Services contract: Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) annual report shows that people with chronic conditions are receiving more comprehensive primary care services, including monitoring and check ups, than ever before. Key results include 97% of people with COPD receiving flu vaccinations, 91% of people on the stroke and transient ischaemic attack register had a blood pressure measurement of 150/90mmHG or less and 84% of patients on the coronary heart disease register had a cholesterol measurement of 5mmol/l or less. These are improvements on previous years' data. Further detail can be found using the following link: http://wales.gov.uk/statistics-and-research/general-medical-services-contract/?lang=en.
Recent changes to QOF have been designed to promote collaboration between clusters of general practices to identify and deliver improved primary care, including the ongoing care and monitoring of people with chronic conditions.
Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): Will the Minister make a statement on current monitoring programmes for patients with chronic diseases? (WAQ67943)
Answer received on 6 November 2014
Mark Drakeford: Secondary care services for patients suffering from chronic diseases share the same waiting times targets as other conditions.
Welsh Government policy on the care and monitoring of people with chronic conditions, however, is focused on improving the planning and delivery of effective and integrated primary care. We want primary care organised and coordinated around preventing or delaying the onset of avoidable chronic conditions through promoting healthy lifestyles, identifying those people at increased risk of chronic disease, and agreeing with these individuals how to minimise and monitor these risks.
Where chronic disease does occur, we want this to be detected and treated promptly with the majority of care provided at, or as close to, home as possible. This includes primary care teams working in partnerships with individuals to agree and monitor progress with goals and actions through a personal care plan to support them to manage their own health and wellbeing and avoid problems and exacerbations.
The introduction of the NHS Outcomes Framework includes a greater emphasis on primary care to ensure there is a focus on the effective treatment of chronic conditions, as close to the patient's home as possible. There is a long standing agreed performance management target for health boards to reduce the percentage of people admitted or readmitted to hospital within a year as an emergency for a basket of eight chronic conditions. Latest data shows on an all-Wales level, both the number of admissions and readmissions continues to fall.
Chronic conditions specific delivery plans (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, liver and neurological conditions) have been developed which reinforce our overall approach to the management of chronic conditions. These plans include service performance measures. Annual priorities have been set for each plan. Health boards have produced local delivery plans against which performance is monitored. Annual reports highlighting performance have been published for the cancer, stroke and heart disease plans.
General practice has a key role in monitoring and managing the ongoing health and wellbeing of people with chronic disease. The latest General Medical Services contract: Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) annual report shows that people with chronic conditions are receiving more comprehensive primary care services, including monitoring and check ups, than ever before. Key results include 97% of people with COPD receiving flu vaccinations, 91% of people on the stroke and transient ischaemic attack register had a blood pressure measurement of 150/90mmHG or less and 84% of patients on the coronary heart disease register had a cholesterol measurement of 5mmol/l or less. These are improvements on previous years' data. Further detail can be found using the following link: http://wales.gov.uk/statistics-and-research/general-medical-services-contract/?lang=en.
Recent changes to QOF have been designed to promote collaboration between clusters of general practices to identify and deliver improved primary care, including the ongoing care and monitoring of people with chronic conditions.
Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): Will the Minister make a statement on the need to change the protocols used for monitoring patients with chronic diseases? (WAQ67944)
Answer received on 6 November 2014
Mark Drakeford: Secondary care services for patients suffering from chronic diseases share the same waiting times targets as other conditions.
Welsh Government policy on the care and monitoring of people with chronic conditions, however, is focused on improving the planning and delivery of effective and integrated primary care. We want primary care organised and coordinated around preventing or delaying the onset of avoidable chronic conditions through promoting healthy lifestyles, identifying those people at increased risk of chronic disease, and agreeing with these individuals how to minimise and monitor these risks.
Where chronic disease does occur, we want this to be detected and treated promptly with the majority of care provided at, or as close to, home as possible. This includes primary care teams working in partnerships with individuals to agree and monitor progress with goals and actions through a personal care plan to support them to manage their own health and wellbeing and avoid problems and exacerbations.
The introduction of the NHS Outcomes Framework includes a greater emphasis on primary care to ensure there is a focus on the effective treatment of chronic conditions, as close to the patient's home as possible. There is a long standing agreed performance management target for health boards to reduce the percentage of people admitted or readmitted to hospital within a year as an emergency for a basket of eight chronic conditions. Latest data shows on an all-Wales level, both the number of admissions and readmissions continues to fall.
Chronic conditions specific delivery plans (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, liver and neurological conditions) have been developed which reinforce our overall approach to the management of chronic conditions. These plans include service performance measures. Annual priorities have been set for each plan. Health boards have produced local delivery plans against which performance is monitored. Annual reports highlighting performance have been published for the cancer, stroke and heart disease plans.
General practice has a key role in monitoring and managing the ongoing health and wellbeing of people with chronic disease. The latest General Medical Services contract: Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) annual report shows that people with chronic conditions are receiving more comprehensive primary care services, including monitoring and check ups, than ever before. Key results include 97% of people with COPD receiving flu vaccinations, 91% of people on the stroke and transient ischaemic attack register had a blood pressure measurement of 150/90mmHG or less and 84% of patients on the coronary heart disease register had a cholesterol measurement of 5mmol/l or less. These are improvements on previous years' data. Further detail can be found using the following link: http://wales.gov.uk/statistics-and-research/general-medical-services-contract/?lang=en.
Recent changes to QOF have been designed to promote collaboration between clusters of general practices to identify and deliver improved primary care, including the ongoing care and monitoring of people with chronic conditions.
Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): Will the Minister make a statement on plans that aim to improve the monitoring process for patients with chronic conditions? (WAQ67945)
Answer received on 6 November 2014
Mark Drakeford: Secondary care services for patients suffering from chronic diseases share the same waiting times targets as other conditions.
Welsh Government policy on the care and monitoring of people with chronic conditions, however, is focused on improving the planning and delivery of effective and integrated primary care. We want primary care organised and coordinated around preventing or delaying the onset of avoidable chronic conditions through promoting healthy lifestyles, identifying those people at increased risk of chronic disease, and agreeing with these individuals how to minimise and monitor these risks.
Where chronic disease does occur, we want this to be detected and treated promptly with the majority of care provided at, or as close to, home as possible. This includes primary care teams working in partnerships with individuals to agree and monitor progress with goals and actions through a personal care plan to support them to manage their own health and wellbeing and avoid problems and exacerbations.
The introduction of the NHS Outcomes Framework includes a greater emphasis on primary care to ensure there is a focus on the effective treatment of chronic conditions, as close to the patient's home as possible. There is a long standing agreed performance management target for health boards to reduce the percentage of people admitted or readmitted to hospital within a year as an emergency for a basket of eight chronic conditions. Latest data shows on an all-Wales level, both the number of admissions and readmissions continues to fall.
Chronic conditions specific delivery plans (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, liver and neurological conditions) have been developed which reinforce our overall approach to the management of chronic conditions. These plans include service performance measures. Annual priorities have been set for each plan. Health boards have produced local delivery plans against which performance is monitored. Annual reports highlighting performance have been published for the cancer, stroke and heart disease plans.
General practice has a key role in monitoring and managing the ongoing health and wellbeing of people with chronic disease. The latest General Medical Services contract: Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) annual report shows that people with chronic conditions are receiving more comprehensive primary care services, including monitoring and check ups, than ever before. Key results include 97% of people with COPD receiving flu vaccinations, 91% of people on the stroke and transient ischaemic attack register had a blood pressure measurement of 150/90mmHG or less and 84% of patients on the coronary heart disease register had a cholesterol measurement of 5mmol/l or less. These are improvements on previous years' data. Further detail can be found using the following link: http://wales.gov.uk/statistics-and-research/general-medical-services-contract/?lang=en.
Recent changes to QOF have been designed to promote collaboration between clusters of general practices to identify and deliver improved primary care, including the ongoing care and monitoring of people with chronic conditions.
Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): What improvements can be made in order to increase the number of patients seen during check-up consultations? (WAQ67946)
Answer received on 6 November 2014
Mark Drakeford: Secondary care services for patients suffering from chronic diseases share the same waiting times targets as other conditions.
Welsh Government policy on the care and monitoring of people with chronic conditions, however, is focused on improving the planning and delivery of effective and integrated primary care. We want primary care organised and coordinated around preventing or delaying the onset of avoidable chronic conditions through promoting healthy lifestyles, identifying those people at increased risk of chronic disease, and agreeing with these individuals how to minimise and monitor these risks.
Where chronic disease does occur, we want this to be detected and treated promptly with the majority of care provided at, or as close to, home as possible. This includes primary care teams working in partnerships with individuals to agree and monitor progress with goals and actions through a personal care plan to support them to manage their own health and wellbeing and avoid problems and exacerbations.
The introduction of the NHS Outcomes Framework includes a greater emphasis on primary care to ensure there is a focus on the effective treatment of chronic conditions, as close to the patient's home as possible. There is a long standing agreed performance management target for health boards to reduce the percentage of people admitted or readmitted to hospital within a year as an emergency for a basket of eight chronic conditions. Latest data shows on an all-Wales level, both the number of admissions and readmissions continues to fall.
Chronic conditions specific delivery plans (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, liver and neurological conditions) have been developed which reinforce our overall approach to the management of chronic conditions. These plans include service performance measures. Annual priorities have been set for each plan. Health boards have produced local delivery plans against which performance is monitored. Annual reports highlighting performance have been published for the cancer, stroke and heart disease plans.
General practice has a key role in monitoring and managing the ongoing health and wellbeing of people with chronic disease. The latest General Medical Services contract: Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) annual report shows that people with chronic conditions are receiving more comprehensive primary care services, including monitoring and check ups, than ever before. Key results include 97% of people with COPD receiving flu vaccinations, 91% of people on the stroke and transient ischaemic attack register had a blood pressure measurement of 150/90mmHG or less and 84% of patients on the coronary heart disease register had a cholesterol measurement of 5mmol/l or less. These are improvements on previous years' data. Further detail can be found using the following link: http://wales.gov.uk/statistics-and-research/general-medical-services-contract/?lang=en.
Recent changes to QOF have been designed to promote collaboration between clusters of general practices to identify and deliver improved primary care, including the ongoing care and monitoring of people with chronic conditions.