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Written Question
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome
Monday 25th November 2024

Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support people diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities collaboratively developed with the rare disease community. These include better coordination of care and improving access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs. We remain committed to delivering under the framework, and will publish an annual England action plan in 2025 which will report on progress.

NHS England commissions some specialist services for patients with EDS, currently delivered by two centres in England, the London North West University Healthcare Trust and the Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. The Complex EDS service provides diagnosis and advice to referrers on the treatment and management of complex cases.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Vaccination
Monday 25th November 2024

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what treatments are (a) available and (b) due to become available in the next 12 months on the NHS for people who have experienced adverse side effects to Covid-19 vaccines.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In the very rare event where an individual may have suffered a severe adverse reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine, care and treatment will be best met and managed by National Health Service local specialist services, augmented as appropriate by national specialist advice. Individuals will be treated and managed through existing healthcare services, with any treatment dependent on the individuals’ clinical needs.


Written Question
Maternity Services: Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Monday 25th November 2024

Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the investigation into maternity incidents at Gloucestershire Hospitals Foundation Trust has started.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The trust has committed to a thematic review of all neonatal and maternal deaths since 2019. This has started for neonatal deaths but not for maternal deaths, due to delays identifying an external assessor.

The trust is engaging with the NHS England South West Region to resolve this issue as soon as possible, and remains committed to publishing and sharing the findings from both reviews openly.


Written Question
Accident and Emergency Departments
Monday 25th November 2024

Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)

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 risks associated with aggregating NHS performance data; and what steps he is taking to provide transparent data on an individual hospital level for emergency departments.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is publishing more data about patient care in hospital emergency departments than ever before. Performance data is published at an organisational level, so that it is appropriately aligned with accountability.

The Government will continue to consider how to increase the transparency of National Health Service data as part of future reforms.


Written Question
Parkinson's Disease: Medical Treatments
Monday 25th November 2024

Asked by: Dan Norris (Labour - North East Somerset and Hanham)

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 help reduce the waiting list for people seeking treatment to relieve the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We recognise that patients have been let down whilst they wait for the care they need, including within neurology services. The NHS Constitution sets out that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment. We will deliver an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments per week, as a first step in our commitment to ensuring patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks.

At the national level, there are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with Parkinson’s disease, including the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit. These initiatives aim to reduce variation and deliver care more equitably across the country.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance, Parkinson’s disease: Diagnosis and management in primary and secondary care, updated in 2017, sets out best practice for clinicians in the identification and treatment of Parkinson’s, in line with the latest available evidence. The guidance states that if Parkinson's is suspected, people should be referred quickly to a specialist with expertise in the differential diagnosis of this condition.

We expect integrated care boards (ICBs) and National Health Service trusts to have due regard to relevant NICE guidelines. It is the responsibility of ICBs to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, in line with these NICE guidelines.

Once diagnosed, and with a management strategy in place, most people with Parkinson’s can be cared for through routine access to primary and secondary care. NHS England commissions the specialised elements of Parkinson’s care that patients may receive from 27 specialised neurological treatment centres across England. Within specialised centres, neurological multidisciplinary teams ensure patients can access a range of health professionals, including Parkinson’s disease nurses, psychologists, and allied health professionals such as dieticians and speech and language therapists, and that they can receive specialised treatment and support, according to their needs.


Written Question
Heart Diseases
Monday 25th November 2024

Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to implement a heart disease action plan.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are committed to ensuring that fewer lives are lost to the biggest killers, such as heart disease, which includes cardiovascular disease (CVD), and stroke. That is why in our Health Mission to build a National Health Service fit for the future, we have committed to reducing deaths from heart disease and strokes by a quarter within ten years.

We are taking steps to reduce heart disease. The NHS Long Term Plan set an aim to prevent up to 150,000 heart attacks, strokes, and dementia cases by 2029, and activity is underway. The NHS Health Check programme, England’s CVD prevention programme, engages over 1.3 million people a year and prevents approximately 500 heart attacks or strokes each year. To improve access and engagement with the NHS Health Check, we are developing a new digital service which people can use at home to understand and act on their CVD risk, providing people with a more flexible, accessible, and convenient service. We are also piloting a new programme to deliver more than 130,000 lifesaving heart health checks in the workplace. These checks can be completed quickly and easily by people at work across 48 local authorities until 31 March 2025.


Written Question
Health Services: Women
Monday 25th November 2024

Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the research and development of femtech solutions; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of femtech solutions on women's health outcomes.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

While no explicit discussions have been held or assessments made, supporting patients’ equitable access to innovative technologies, and empowering their decision-making in care are key priorities for the Department and NHS England. The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the research delivery arm of the Department, has funded and continues to fund research relevant to FemTech. For example, a recent study used new technology to analyse magnetic resonance images using artificial intelligence software to aid the diagnosis of endometriosis. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including FemTech solutions.


Written Question
Sepsis: Research
Monday 25th November 2024

Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of providing funding for research into the early detection of sepsis.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including sepsis diagnosis. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients, and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.

In the last five years, the NIHR has invested over £9.2 million into 10 research projects to improve the diagnosis of sepsis. In addition, the NIHR Research Delivery Network, which helps patients, the public, and health and care organisations to participate in high quality research, has supported 19 studies on sepsis diagnosis.

The NIHR’s investment into sepsis diagnosis includes research into the application of novel point-of-care diagnostic tests for sepsis, predicting those most at-risk of developing sepsis, and evaluating the accuracy of pre-existing measures to identify patients with suspected sepsis.

For example, the NIHR funded the Prehospital early warning scores for adults with suspected sepsis (PHEWS) study, which aimed to determine the impact and accuracy of early warning scores to identify sepsis requiring urgent treatment. In 2024, the PHEWS study found that the National Early Warning score, a standardized early warning system based on simple measurements used to identify acutely ill patients, including those with sepsis, was as good as or better than all the other scores to prioritize people with suspected sepsis, and avoided missing patients with sepsis. This finding supports the early diagnosis of sepsis in patients, therefore reducing treatment delay, and consequentially deaths caused by sepsis.

The UK Health Security Agency is conducting ongoing work to explore the development of two diagnostic tests to bridge gaps in early detection and disease confirmation, and inform detection and ongoing management.


Written Question
Alcoholism and Drugs: Rehabilitation
Monday 25th November 2024

Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to announce (a) whether Drug Strategy funding for drug and alcohol treatment providers will be renewed and at what levels and (b) the length of the funding cycle; and if he will take steps to ensure that local authorities have adequate notice of alcohol and drug treatment funding.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government supports investment in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services, to ensure that those people with a substance use need get appropriate help and support. In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department has allocated local authorities a further £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. This is alongside £105 million made available by the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to improve employment and housing support.

My Rt. Hon. friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced updates to the fiscal framework, and earlier this year launched the Spending Review which has now settled the 2025/26 departmental budgets. She has also made it clear that the Government will conclude a multi-year Spending Review in spring 2025. In future, we anticipate that Spending Reviews will be set every two years to cover a three-year period, including a one-year overlap with the previous Spending Review, helping build in greater certainty and stability over public finances.

Now that the Autumn Budget has been completed, the Department is working to be able to announce future funding allocations for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery systems. We will communicate with the sector about this as soon as we are able to, as we recognise the importance of this information in maintaining delivery and planning for 2025/26.


Written Question
Prostate Cancer: Screening
Monday 25th November 2024

Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment NHS England has made of the potential impact of the Royal Marsden Man Van project on prostate cancer testing in areas with high rates of late diagnosis.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England has not made a specific assessment.

We will find the safest and most effective way to screen for prostate cancer. The Department is investing £16 million into the Prostate Cancer UK led Transform screening trial, which seeks to diagnose prostate cancer as early as possible. This trial will compare the most promising tests that look for prostate cancer in men that do not have symptoms, and aims to address disparities in early detection rates across different groups.

NHS England has funded 10 clinical audits, which includes audit work on prostate cancer. Using routine data, collected on patients diagnosed with cancer in a National Health Service setting, the audit will look at what is being done well, where it’s being done well, and what needs to be done better. This will seek to reduce unwarranted variation in treatment and reduce inequalities across different groups.